Brahms: His Life And WorkKarl Geiringer's biography of Brahms is generally regarded as the finest study of the composer ever published in any language. It is based upon the great body of material in the archives of the Viennese Society of Friends, for which Dr. Geiringer was curator from 1930–1938, and which contains more than a thousand letters written by and to Brahms. These letters, exchanged with family and with his famous contemporaries, reveal his loneliness, grim humor, loyalty, painful shyness, and enthusiasm for the music of Beethoven and Schubert—moods that the self-effacing composer did not publicly display. Divided into sections on Brahms's solitary, scholarly existence and his fruitful composing career—including examinations of rare first drafts—the biography relates how crises in Brahms's personal life were translated into his music, and how he often managed to ignore or suppress them. Supplemented with a new appendix on "Brahms as a Reader and Collector," this third edition of a classic biography is both a literary and musicological event. |
Contents
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 18331853 | 14 |
SEVEN EVENTFUL MONTHS | 28 |
STURM UND DRANG 18541856 | 41 |
VIII | 78 |
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF THE GESELL | 111 |
ON THE SUMMIT 18761879 | 121 |
XI | 138 |
XII | 161 |
COMPOSITIONS FOR THE ORGAN | 222 |
COMPOSITIONS FOR ORCHESTRA | 247 |
SONGS FOR ONE TWO AND FOUR VOICES | 266 |
SMALLER CHORAL WORKS | 292 |
LARGE CHORAL WORKS | 306 |
The Man and the Artist | 327 |
BRAHMS WRITES LETTERS | 344 |
BRAHMS AS A READER AND COLLECTOR | 369 |
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Common terms and phrases
accompaniment Agathe artist Bach bass beautiful Beethoven Billroth Brahms wrote Brahms's Bülow canon chamber music character charming choir choral chorus Christiane Brahms Clara Schumann comp complete composer composer's compositions concert conductor creative dear death delighted Detmold Düsseldorf Eduard Marxsen Elise Brahms expression father feeling felt Ferdinand Hiller Finale friendship Fritz German Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde give Hamburg Hans von Bülow happy Hermann Levi impression inspired Ischl Jakob Brahms Joachim Johann Jakob Johannes Brahms Joseph Joachim later Leipzig Letter from Christiane Letter from Elise Liebeslieder magnificent major Mandyczewski manuscript Marxsen master mature Meiningen melody ment minor mood Motets mother musician Nänie never opera orchestra performance period pianist piano pianoforte pieces played Pörtschach published Quintet Requiem Robert Schumann Scherzo second movement Simrock solo Sonata songs String Quartet summer Symphony theme tion Trio variations Vienna Viennese Violin voice Wagner whole words write written young youth