Brahms years of life. Brief biography of Johannes Brahms. Training from knowledgeable experts

The son of poor parents (his father was a double bass player in the city theater), he did not have the opportunity to receive an excellent musical education and studied piano playing and composition theory from Ed. Markzena, in Altona. I owe further improvement to... Read all

Johannes Brahms (German: Johannes Brahms) (May 7, 1833, Hamburg - April 3, 1897, Vienna) is one of the most important German composers.

The son of poor parents (his father was a double bass player in the city theater), he did not have the opportunity to receive an excellent musical education and studied piano playing and composition theory from Ed. Markzena, in Altona. I owe further improvement to myself. In 1847, Brahms made his first public appearance as a pianist.

Later, in 1853, he met Robert Schumann, for whose high talent he had special reverence. Schumann paid great attention to Brahms' talent, which he expressed very flatteringly in a critical article in a special musical organ: “Neue Zeitschrift für Musik.”

Brahms's first work was piano pieces and songs, published in Leipzig in 1854. Constantly changing his location in Germany and Switzerland, Brahms wrote a number of works in the field of piano and chamber music. From 1862 he settled in Vienna, where he was conductor at the Singakademie, and from 1872-1874 he conducted the famous concerts of the Musikfreunde society. Later, Brahms devoted most of his activity to composition.

He wrote more than 80 works, such as: single and polyphonic songs, a serenade for orchestra, variations on a Haydn theme for orchestra, two sextets for string instruments, two piano concertos, several sonatas for one piano, for piano with violin, with cello, piano trios, quartets and quintets, variations and various pieces for piano, cantata “Rinaldo” for solo tenor, male choir and orchestra, rhapsody (based on an excerpt from Goethe’s “Harzreise im Winter”) for solo viola, male choir and orchestra , “German Requiem” for solo, choir and orchestra, “Triumphlied” (on the occasion of the Franco-Prussian War), for choir and orchestra; "Schicksalslied", for choir and orchestra; violin concerto, concerto for violin and cello, two overtures: tragic and academic.

But Brahms was especially famous for his symphonies. Already in his early works, Brahms showed originality and independence. Through hard work, Brahms developed a style for himself. From the general impression of his works, it cannot be said that Brahms was influenced by any of the composers who preceded him. But at the same time, it should be noted that, striving for independence and originality, Brahms often falls into artificiality and dryness. The most outstanding work, in which Brahms’s creative power was especially pronounced and original, is his “German Requiem”.

Among the masses of the public, the name of Brahms is very popular, but those who think that this popularity is a consequence of his own compositions will be mistaken. Brahms transferred Hungarian melodies to the violin and piano, and these melodies, called “Hungarian dances,” entered the repertoire of a number of the most outstanding violin virtuosos and served mainly to popularize the name of Brahms among the masses

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Brahms's contemporaries, as well as later critics, considered the composer both an innovator and a traditionalist. His music, in its structure and compositional techniques, showed continuity with the works of Bach and Beethoven. Although his contemporaries found the works of the German romantic too academic, his skill and the contribution he made to the development of musical art aroused the delight of many outstanding composers of subsequent generations. Meticulously conceived and impeccably structured, Brahms's works became the starting point and inspiration for an entire generation of composers. However, behind this external scrupulousness and uncompromisingness hid the truly romantic nature of the great composer and musician.

Brief biography Johannes Brahms and read many interesting facts about the composer on our page.

short biography Brahms

Outwardly, the biography of Johannes Brahms is unremarkable. The future genius of musical art was born on May 7, 1833 in one of the poorest quarters of Hamburg in the family of musician Johann Jacob Brahms and housekeeper Christiane Nissen.

The father of the family at one time became a professional musician in the class of string and wind instruments, against the will of his parents. Perhaps it was the experience of parental misunderstanding that made him pay close attention to the musical abilities of his own sons, Fritz and Johannes.

Indescribably rejoicing at the talent for music that appeared early in his youngest son, his father introduced Johannes to his friend, pianist Otto Friedrich Kossel, when the boy was only 7 years old. Teaching Johannes the technique of playing the piano, Kossel instilled in him the desire to recognize the essence of music in music.

After only three years of study, Johannes will play in public for the first time in his life, performing a quintet Beethoven And Mozart piano concerto . Concerned about the health and talent of his student, Kossel opposes the proposed tour of America for the boy. He introduces young Johannes to the best music teacher in Hamburg, Edvard Marxen. Having heard the talented performance of the future composer, Marxen offered to teach him for free. This completely satisfied the financial interest of Johannes’s parents, justified in their plight, and prompted them to abandon the idea with America. Johannes's new teacher taught him piano, Special attention devoting to the study of music Bach and Beethoven, and was the only one who immediately supported his inclinations to write.

Forced, like his father, to earn a crust of bread by playing in the evenings in the smoky rooms of port bars and taverns, Brahms studied with Edvard Marxen during the daytime. Such a load on Johannes’s immature body had a bad effect on his already weak health.

Creative dating

His demeanor made Brahms stand out among his peers. He was not distinguished by the freedom of behavior inherent in many creative people; on the contrary, the young man seemed detached from everything that was happening around him and completely absorbed in internal contemplation. His passion for philosophy and literature made him even more lonely among his Hamburg acquaintances. Brahms decides to leave his hometown.

In by next years he meets many prominent personalities in the musical world of that time. Hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi, 22-year-old violinist and personal accompanist of the King of Hanover Joseph Joachim, Franz Liszt and, finally, Robert Schumann - these people appeared one after another in the life of young Johannes in just one year, and each of them played an important role in the development of a composer.

Joachim became a close friend of Brahms until the end of his life. It was on his recommendation that in 1853 Johannes visited Düsseldorf, Schumann . Hearing the latter play, the enthusiastic Brahms, without waiting for an invitation, performed several of his compositions in front of him. Johannes became a welcome guest in the home of Robert and Clara Schumann, who were amazed by Brahms both as a musician and as a person. Two weeks of communication with the creative couple became a turning point in the life of the young composer. Schumann tried in every possible way to support his friend, popularizing his work in the highest musical circles of that time.

A few months later, Johannes returned from Düsseldorf to Hamburg, helping his parents and expanding his circle of acquaintances in Joachim's house. Here he met Hans von Bülow, a famous pianist and conductor of the time. On March 1, 1854, he publicly performed Brahms's work.

In July 1856, Schumann for a long time suffered from mental disorder, died. The experience of the loss of a deeply respected friend gave rise to a desire in Brahms’s soul to express himself in music: he begins work on the famous “German Requiem”.

There is no prophet in his own country

Brahms dreamed of getting a good place in Hamburg to live and work in his hometown, but nothing was offered to him. Then, in 1862, he decided to go to Vienna, hoping with his successes in the musical capital of the world to impress the Hamburg public and win favor with him. In Vienna he quickly gained universal recognition and was very pleased with it. But he never forgot about his Hamburg dream.

Later, he realized that he was not created for long, routine work in an administrative position, which distracted him from creativity. And indeed, he never stayed anywhere for more than three years, be it the head of the Choir Chapel or the head of the Society of Music Lovers.

In his declining years

In 1865, news of his mother’s death came to him in Vienna; Brahms took the loss very hard. As a truly creative person, he translated every emotional shock into the language of notes. The death of his mother pushed him to continue and complete the “German Requiem,” which later became a special phenomenon of European classics. At Easter 1868, he first presented his creation in the main cathedral of Bremen, the success was stunning.

In 1871, Brahms rented an apartment in Vienna, which became his relatively permanent place of residence for the rest of his life. It must be admitted that, due to his increasing self-centeredness over the years, Johannes Brahms had a rare talent for pushing people away. IN last years In his life, he ruined relationships with many new acquaintances and distanced himself from old ones. Even his close friend Joachim broke off all relations with him. Brahms stood up for his wife, whom he suspected of treason, and this greatly offended the jealous husband.

The composer loved to spend summers in resort towns, finding there not only healing air, but also inspiration for new works. In winter, he gave concerts in Vienna as a performer or as a conductor.

In recent years, Brahms retreated more and more into himself, becoming gloomy and gloomy. He did not write large works now, but, as it were, summed up his work. His last public appearance was performing his Fourth Symphony. In the spring of 1897, Brahms died, leaving the world immortal scores and the Society of Music Lovers. On the day of the funeral, the flags on all ships in the port of Hamburg were flown at half-staff.

“...Swallowed by the boundless aspiration of fatal selfless love”

“I think only in music, and if this goes on,
I’ll turn into a chord and disappear into the sky.”

From a letter from J. Brahms to Clara Schumann.

Brahms' biography contains the fact that in the summer of 1847, 14-year-old Johannes went to the southeast of Hamburg to improve his health. Here he teaches the daughter of Adolf Giesmann to play the piano. It was with Lizhen that a series of romantic interests in the composer’s life would begin.

Clara Schumann occupied a special place in Brahms' life. Having first met this amazing woman in 1853, he carried throughout his life bright feelings for her and deep reverence for her husband. The Schumann couple's diaries were full of references to Brahms.

Clara, a mother of six children, was 14 years older than Johannes, but this did not stop him from falling in love. Johannes admired her husband Robert and adored his children, so there could be no question of an affair between them. A storm of feelings and fluctuations between passion for a married woman and respect for her husband resulted in music for the old Scottish ballad “Edward.” Having gone through many trials, the love of Johannes and Clara remained platonic.

Before his death, Schumann suffered greatly from mental illness. The way Brahms took care of her during this difficult period for Clara and cared for her children like a father was the highest manifestation of Love, which only a person with a noble soul is capable of. He wrote to Clara:

“I always want to talk to you only about love. Every word that I write to you that does not speak of love makes me repent. You taught me and continue to teach me daily to admire and learn what love, affection and devotion are. I always want to write to you as touchingly as possible about how sincerely I love you. I can only ask you to take my word for it..."

To console Clara, in 1854 he wrote Variations on a Theme by Schumann for her.

Robert's death, contrary to the expectations of others, did not lead to a new stage in the relationship between Clara and Brahms. He corresponded with her for many years and helped her children and grandchildren in every possible way. Clara's children would later name Brahms as one of their number.

Johannes outlived Clara by exactly a year, as if to confirm that this woman was the source of life for him. The death of his beloved shocked the composer so much that he composed the Fourth Symphony, one of his most significant works.

However, being the strongest, this heartfelt passion was not the last in Brahms’ life. Friends invited the maestro to spend the summer of 1858 in Göttingen. There he met the charming owner of a rare soprano, Agathe von Siebold. Being passionately in love with this woman, Brahms wrote with pleasure for her. Everyone was confident in their imminent marriage, but the engagement was soon called off. After that, he wrote to Agatha: “I love you! I must see you again, but I am unable to wear the shackles. Please write to me... can I... come again to hold you in my arms, kiss you and tell you that I love you.” They never saw each other again, and Brahms later confessed that Agatha was his “last love.”

6 years later, in 1864, in Vienna, Brahms would teach music to Baroness Elisabeth von Stockhausen. A beautiful and gifted girl will become the composer’s next passion, and again this relationship will not sprout.

At the age of 50, Brahms met Hermine Spitz. She had a beautiful soprano and later became the main performer of his songs, especially rhapsodies. Inspired by his new passion, Brahms created many works, but his romance with Hermine also did not last long.

Already in adulthood, Brahms recognizes that his heart inseparably belonged and will always belong to his only Mistress - Music. For him, creativity was the organizing core around which his life revolved, and everything that distracted this man from creating musical works had to be torn out of his thoughts and heart: be it a respectable position or a beloved woman.

Interesting Facts

• Brahms outdid himself in his mastery of counterpoint techniques. Its most complex forms became natural means of expressing the composer’s emotions.
• His first symphony was a truly epic work. Having begun writing it in 1854, he first performed the work 22 years later, all the while undergoing rigorous revisions.
• The so-called War of the Romantics was largely a musical dispute between the radicals in music Wagner and Liszt on the one hand, and the conservatives Brahms and Clara Schumann on the other. As a result, contemporaries perceived Brahms as hopelessly outdated, and yet he is very popular today.
• Brahms did not write any other work for as long as the German Requiem. It also became the composer's longest work. For his text, Brahms himself personally selected quotes from the Lutheran Bible. It should be noted that the canonical requiem should be composed of excerpts from the liturgical mass, but this is not the case main feature textual component of Brahms's work. None of the selected quotes contains the name of Jesus Christ, which was done deliberately: in response to objections, Brahms said that for greater universality and inclusiveness of the text he might even rename it “Human Requiem”.

• Most of Brahms's works are short works of an applied nature. The influential American critic B. Heggin argued that Brahms was especially good in small genres, to which he would classify the Hungarian Dances, the Waltz for piano duet and the Love Waltzes for vocal quartet and piano, as well as some of his many songs, especially “Wiegenlied”.
• The main theme in the finale of the First Symphony is a reminiscence of the main theme of the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. When one of the critics, noticing this, boasted to Brahms of his powers of observation, he replied that any donkey could have noticed it.
• The biography of Brahms notes that at the age of 57 the composer announced the end of his creative career. However, after this, simply unable to stop composing, he gave the world some truly incredibly beautiful works: the Clarinet Sonata, the Trio and the Quintet.
• In 1889, an audio recording was made of Brahms performing one of his Hungarian dances. There is much debate about whose voice is heard on the record, but there is no doubt that the thunderous performance belongs to Brahms himself.

• In 1868, Brahms wrote the widely known “Lullaby” (“Wiegenlied”), based on a folk text. He composed it especially for the birthday of the son of Bertha Faber, his good friend.
• Brahms was the music teacher of famous film composer Max Steiner in his early childhood.
• His home in the small town of Lichtenthal, Austria, where Brahms worked on the chamber works of the middle period and many of his major works, including the German Requiem, is preserved to this day as a museum.

Heavy character

Johannes Brahms became famous for his gloominess and disregard for all secular norms of behavior and conventions. He was quite harsh even with close friends; they say that once, when leaving some company, he apologized that he had not offended everyone.

When Brahms and his friend, violinist Remenyi, having secured a letter of recommendation, arrived in Weimar to Franz Liszt, the king of the German musical world, Brahms remained indifferent to both Liszt and his work. The maestro was indignant.

Schumann sought to attract the attention of the musical community to Brahms. He sent the composer with a letter of recommendation to the publishers to Leipzig, where he performed two sonatas. Brahms dedicated one of them to Clara Schumann, the second to Joachim. He did not write a word about his patron on the title pages...not a word.

In 1869, Brahms arrived in Vienna at the suggestion of an envious Wagner met with a barrage of newspaper criticism. It is precisely the poor relationship with Wagner that researchers explain the absence of operas in Brahms’s legacy: he did not want to invade his colleague’s territory. According to many sources, Brahms himself deeply admired Wagner's music, showing ambivalence only towards Wagner's theory of dramatic principles.

Being extremely demanding of himself and his work, Brahms destroyed many of his early works, which included works performed in his time before Schumann. The zeal of the great perfectionist reached the point that after many years, in 1880, he addressed a letter to Elisa Giesmann with a request to send manuscripts of his music for the choir so that he could burn them.

Composer Hermann Lewy once expressed the opinion that Wagner's operas were better than Gluck's. Brahms lost his temper, declaring that these two names should not even be spoken together, and immediately left the meeting without even saying goodbye to the owners of the house.

Everything happens for the first time...

• In 1847, Brahms played solo for the first time, playing Sigismund Thalberg's Fantasia on the piano.
• His first full recital in 1848 consisted of a performance of Bach's Fugue, as well as works by Marxen and his contemporary, the virtuoso Jacob Rosenstein. The concert that took place did not in any way distinguish the 16-year-old boy from local and foreign performers. This confirmed Johannes in the idea that the role of a performer was not his calling, and prompted him to purposefully start composing musical works.
• Brahms's first work, the Sonata in fis-moll (opus 2), was written in 1852.
• For the first time he published his works under own name in Leipzig in 1853.
• The similarity of Brahms's works with the late Beethoven was noticed back in 1853 by Albert Dietrich, which he mentioned in a letter to Ernst Naumann.
• The first high position in Brahms' life: in 1857, he was invited to the Kingdom of Detmold to teach Princess Frederica to play the piano, lead the court choir and, as a pianist, perform in concerts.
• The premiere of the first piano concerto, held in Hamburg on January 22, 1859, was received very coldly. And at the second concert he was booed. Brahms wrote to Joachim that his playing was brilliant and decisive... a failure.
• In the autumn of 1862, Brahms first visited Vienna, which later became his second home.
• Brahms' first symphony was published in 1876, but he began writing it in the early 1860s. When this work was first presented in Vienna, it was immediately called “Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony.”

sources of inspiration

Remenyi introduced Brahms to gypsy folk music in the Csardas style. Her motifs later formed the basis of his most popular works, including " Hungarian dances».

His joint work with Joachim in Gottingen, where he recorded student songs, was reflected and became the basis for his “Academic Overture”. During the same period of time he wrote his ambitious First Piano Sonata.

When Brahms learned of Schumann's nervous breakdown, he hurried to Düsseldorf to support his family. During this time he would write his early masterpieces, including the First Piano Trio.

Working at the court of Detmold, the great composer rested his soul after the troubled years spent in Düsseldorf. It was this bright spiritual mood that was transmitted to the orchestral serenades in B major and D major written in Detmold.

The presented list is far from complete, but contains only the most famous films in which excerpts from these works by the composer are heard.

Films about Brahms and his work

Among the films telling about the life and work of J. Brahms, the most significant are:

• Documentary film “Who's Who. Famous composers: Brahms" (2014), USA. Scriptwriter, producer and director M. Hossick. The 25-minute film will tell about the life and creative path of the great composer, introducing viewers to the places where he grew up, lived and worked.
• Author’s series of programs by A. Vargaftik “Scores don’t burn” (2002-2010), Russia. This is a story about the “bearded man,” his works and little-known details of his personal life. The author of the programs talks lively and interestingly about Brahms, bypassing academic cliches. The film features the composer's music and shows places associated with his life.
• A unique musical documentary film “Schumann. Clara. Brahms" (2006), Germany. The authors of the film paid more attention to fate and creative path Robert and Clara Schumann. Since their lives were closely connected with Brahms for many years, the film also tells about him. This is not just a story about an outstanding trio, there are episodes of magnificent performances of their music by Hélène Grimaud, Albrecht Mayer, Truls Merck and Anna Sophie von Otter, in addition, the presented musicians share their experience of knowing the Schumanns and Brahms, their vision of their difficult destinies.

Video: watch a film about Johannes Brahms

Brahms's first music lessons were given by his father; later he studied with O. Kossel, whom he always remembered with gratitude. In 1843 Kossel handed over his student to E. Marxen. Marxen, whose pedagogy was based on the study of the works of Bach and Beethoven, quickly realized that he was dealing with an extraordinary talent. In 1847, when Mendelssohn died, Marxen said to a friend: “One master has left, but another, greater one, is coming to replace him - this is Brahms.”

In 1853, Brahms finished his studies and in April of the same year went on a concert tour with his friend, E. Remenyi: Remenyi played the violin, Brahms played the piano. In Hannover they met another famous violinist, J. Joachim. He was amazed by the power and fiery temperament of the music that Brahms showed him, and the two young musicians (Joachim was then 22 years old) became close friends. Joachim gave Remenyi and Brahms a letter of introduction to Liszt, and they went to Weimar. The maestro played some of Brahms' works from sight, and they made such a strong impression on him that he immediately wanted to “rank” Brahms with the advanced movement - the New German School, which was headed by himself and R. Wagner. However, Brahms resisted the charm of Liszt's personality and the brilliance of his playing. Remenyi remained in Weimar, while Brahms continued his wanderings and eventually ended up in Düsseldorf, in the house of R. Schumann.

Schumann and his wife, pianist Clara Schumann-Wick, had already heard about Brahms from Joachim and warmly received the young musician. They were delighted with his writings and became his most staunch adherents. Brahms lived in Düsseldorf for several weeks and headed to Leipzig, where Liszt and G. Berlioz attended his concert. By Christmas Brahms arrived in Hamburg; he left his hometown as an unknown student, and returned as an artist with a name about which the great Schumann’s article said: “Here is a musician who is called upon to give the highest and ideal expression to the spirit of our time.”

In February 1854, Schumann tried to commit suicide in a nervous attack; he was sent to a hospital, where he eked out his days until his death (in July 1856). Brahms rushed to the aid of Schumann's family and took care of his wife and seven children during the period of difficult trials. He soon fell in love with Clara Schumann. Clara and Brahms, by mutual agreement, never spoke of love. But the deep mutual affection remained, and throughout her long life Clara remained Brahms's closest friend.

In the autumn months of 1857-1859, Brahms served as a court musician at the small princely court in Detmold, and spent the summer seasons of 1858 and 1859 in Göttingen. There he met Agathe von Siebold, a singer and daughter of a university professor; Brahms was seriously attracted to her, but hastened to retreat when the topic of marriage came up. All subsequent passions of Brahms's heart were fleeting in nature. He died a bachelor.

Brahms' family still lived in Hamburg, and he constantly traveled there, and in 1858 he rented a separate apartment for himself. In 1858-1862, he successfully led a women's amateur choir: he really liked this activity, and he composed several songs for the choir. However, Brahms dreamed of becoming a conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1862, the former director of the orchestra died, but the place went not to Brahms, but to J. Stockhausen. After this, the composer decided to move to Vienna.

By 1862, the luxurious, colorful style of Brahms's early piano sonatas gave way to a calmer, stricter, classical style, which manifested itself in one of his best works - Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel. Brahms moved further and further away from the ideals of the New German School, and his rejection of Liszt culminated in 1860, when Brahms and Joachim published a very harsh manifesto, which, in particular, said that the works of the followers of the New German School "contradict the very spirit of music."

The first concerts in Vienna were not met with a very friendly reception by critics, but the Viennese willingly listened to Brahms the pianist, and he soon won everyone’s sympathy. The rest was a matter of time. He no longer challenged his colleagues; his reputation was finally established after the resounding success of the German Requiem, performed on April 10, 1868 in cathedral Bremen. Since then, the most notable milestones in Brahms' biography have been the premieres of his major works, such as the First Symphony in C minor (1876), the Fourth Symphony in E minor (1885), and the Quintet for clarinet and strings (1891).

Best of the day

Johannes Brahms, whose biography this article is devoted to, is a talented composer and performing musician, the author of many beautiful works created for a variety of orchestral instruments.

He entered the history of art as a representative of romanticism, characterized by the depiction of strong passions and characters inspired by rapprochement with healing nature.

Who was this man - Johannes Brahms (in German: Johannes Brahms)? What is remarkable about his creative endeavors and works? What contribution did he make to the musical art of his time? In this article, which examines the personal life and creative biography of Brahms, you can find answers to these and many other questions.

Parental influence

At first, Brahms' biography was unremarkable and ordinary. Ordinary child from a poor family, living in a poor quarter in a small, uncomfortable apartment.

Johannes, born in the German city of Hamburg in the spring of 1833, was the second son of a double bassist musician who served in the city theater - Jacob Brahms and his wife Christiane Nissen, who worked as a housekeeper in an apartment building.

Brahms's father was a strong and strong-willed personality, a talented performer who has been in love with music since childhood. He had to defend his creative calling in front of his adamant parents, who did not want to see their son playing wind instruments.

Jacob Brahms knew what lay behind parental misunderstanding and inflexibility, and he did not want his boys to ever experience something similar.

Therefore, from childhood, the father instilled in his sons a love of music and the ability to defend their opinions. How glad he was when he saw in his youngest the true makings of a great musician!

At first, the head of the family personally taught his son, helping him master all kinds of musical instruments. In these lessons, he not only instilled in little Johannes the correct technique of performance, but also tried to help him feel the rhythm, love the melody, and understand the art of musical notation.

The son was making progress, and he no longer had enough of his father’s knowledge.

Training from knowledgeable experts

At the age of seven, the boy was sent to study by his parent’s friend, the talented pianist Kossel. He not only taught the child to play the piano correctly, but also helped him understand the theory of composition, as well as penetrate into the essence of musical art.

Thanks to Otto Kossel, little Brahms began performing at public concerts, talentedly performing compositions by Beethoven and Mozart. Could anyone have thought that this gifted pianist boy would soon become the great composer Johannes Brahms himself!

The public noted the talented performer, and he was invited to tour America. However, paying attention to the age and health of the young pianist, his teacher convinced his parents to abandon such a risky but well-paid idea and persistently advised the child to continue studying with the composer and pianist involved in pedagogy, Eduard Marxen.

In his classes, the famous musician paid special attention to the study of the works of Bach and Beethoven, and also developed individual creative thoughts and impulses in the boy.

Since Johannes began studying with Marxen (by the way, he did not take money from the talented student), he began playing musical instruments in the evenings in dirty bars and taverns located near the port. Such an unimaginable burden had a deplorable effect on the already weak health of the child.

The formation of creativity

At the age of fourteen, Johannes Brahms gave his first solo orchestra as a pianist. His talented playing and precise execution of complex compositions captivated the ear and captivated the imagination.

However, around this time, the musician began to realize that he could not limit himself only to the brilliant performance of other people's compositions. He wanted to write music himself in order to convey his inner emotions and sensations, in order to make the audience cry and worry, freezing in anticipation of the continuation.

The young man turned out to be right in his desire to create. Very soon, Brahms' music will become popular and famous, it will be admired and criticized, it will make listeners applaud in ecstasy and whistle in bewilderment - it will not leave anyone indifferent.

The development of Brahms's work was greatly influenced by useful acquaintances that occurred in the life of a young man in 1853. A few months before this date, Johannes wrote his first work - a sonata. A little later, a scherzo for piano was written (and published in 1854), as well as piano songs and short plays.

Creative dating

Despite his aloofness and unsociability, or perhaps precisely because of these qualities, Johannes Brahms won the favor of many talented original personalities. Among his friends, who became support, support and inspiration for the young man, one should definitely mention the Hungarian violinists Remenyi and Joseph Joachim (with the latter, Johannes maintained warm, close relations for many decades). What role did these people play in the life and music of Brahms?

Thanks to Joachim's recommendations, Remenyi and Brahms met Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann. The first was delighted with the works of Brahms and invited him to join his community, which went down in the history of musical art under the name “New German School”. However, Johannes remained indifferent to the work and performance of the famous composer-teacher. He had a different view of music and art.

Acquaintance with Schumann became a significant milestone in the biography of Brahms. This bright follower of romanticism was considered an outstanding composer and music critic. He wrote his works in the spirit of democratic and realistic tendencies, closely related to the traditions of German classical music.

Robert Schumann, like his wife Clara, liked Brahms's bold and vibrant works. He even praised him on the pages of his music newspaper.

Acquaintance with the famous pianist and influential teacher had a huge impact on Brahms’s entire subsequent creative and personal life. He admired the woman and was in love with her, he wrote for her and dedicated many of his works to her, she played his compositions and popularized his creations at her concerts and performances.

An important episode in Brahms’s creative biography is considered to be his acquaintance with the pianist Hans von Bülow, who in March 1854 became one of the first to publicly perform a composition by the young Johannes at his next concert.

Life outside of your hometown

Having become famous, Brahms wanted to live with his parents to help and support them. However, life decreed otherwise. In his native Hamburg they were in no hurry to invite a celebrity to work, so the aspiring composer had to seek recognition in Vienna.

Life in this big city had a positive impact on the musician’s creativity and financial situation. He worked as a conductor at the Singing Academy, as well as a conductor at the Philharmonic, where he later served as artistic director.

However, public positions did not bring satisfaction to Johannes. He wanted to create, so he devoted a lot of time and effort to his work. The premieres of his musical creations attracted full houses and increased the already recognized fame of the composer.

For example, the first hearing of the “German Requiem,” written under the influence of the death of his friend Schumann, took place in the Bremen Cathedral and was a resounding success. Other premieres of Brahms' major works - the First Symphony, the Fourth Symphony and the Clarinet Quintet - also became well-attended and generally recognized.

We will talk about other outstanding works of the composer below.

"Hungarian dances"

This work was first published in 1869. It became a kind of calling card of the talented composer.

How did Johannes Brahms write "Hungarian Dance"? He, imbued with a true love for the colorful Hungarian folklore, created his works selflessly and diligently, creating plays that harmoniously fit into the overall cycle.

Brahms was introduced to the traditional music of the Hungarian people by his friend, already mentioned earlier in our article, Ede Remenyi. He performed original folk tunes on the violin with such enthusiasm that the young and sophisticated Johannes wanted to create his own creations on this theme.

His first works were “Hungarian Dances” for four-hand performance on the piano; later he skillfully arranged folk motifs for simultaneous performance on the piano and violin.

The public enthusiastically accepted Hungarian folklore, polished by the classical techniques of the romantic composer.

"Lullaby"

Also one of the most widespread works of the German musician, being part of his symphony written in 1868. It is interesting that in the first version, Brahms’ “Lullaby” did not involve verbal accompaniment.

However, later, when the composer met a certain Bertha Faber, who wanted to sing a previously unperformed composition to her newborn first-born, Johannes himself wrote a rhymed composition to the music of his “Lullaby”. Brahms called this simple, but beautiful in its simplicity, song “Good evening, good night.”

Since then, this composition has gained worldwide popularity. It is performed by famous singers and artists of both domestic and foreign stage. And although the variations of the text may differ somewhat from the original, they still clearly and unambiguously convey the expressive and gentle talent of the German composer.

Symphony No. 3

It was written by the composer in Wiesbaden, at the age of fifty. Brahms's Symphony No. 3 unexpectedly and harmoniously embodied the classical and romantic traditions of that time. The dramaturgy of this work is original: from the disturbing but bright motives of the first part, the composer leads his listeners to a dramatic, one might even say, mournful ending. At that time, this approach was considered avant-garde and caused a storm of conflicting feelings and emotions among the musician’s admirers.

Brahms' Symphony No. 3 was dedicated to his beloved friend Hans von Bülow.

Other famous works

Below are other talented works by composer Johannes Brahms.

Piano. To perform on this musical instrument, the German composer created such exciting, beautiful works as three intermezzos, two rhapsodies, three sonatas, “Variations on a Theme of R. Schumann,” various waltzes and others.

Essays for organ. These compositions include “Eleven” as well as two preludes and numerous fugues.

For orchestra. Among his works for orchestral performance, Brahms wrote four symphonies, two serenades, “Variations on a Theme by J. Haydn”, “Academic Overture”, “Tragic Overture”, etc.

Vocal essays. For solo or choral performance, the German musician created the following compositions: “Triumphal Song”, “German Requiem”, “Rinaldo Cantata”, “Song of the Parks”, “Songs of Mary”, as well as many arrangements of folk songs, seven motets, about two hundred romances and so on.

The only thing Brahms didn't write was an opera.

Personal life of the composer

At the age of fourteen, at one of the Hamburg resorts, the heart of a gifted performer beat faster for the first time at the sight of young Lieschen, his accidental student.

This was followed by an acquaintance with the legendary and extraordinary personality - Clara Schumann, who was thirteen years older than Johannes. Despite the age difference and the woman’s marriage (her husband was a good friend and benefactor of Brahms), the lovers corresponded tenderly and even met secretly in one of the rented apartments.

Many of the composer's works were written for Clara, including his Fourth Symphony. However, their relationship, even after Robert’s death, did not end in marriage.

The composer's subsequent chosen ones were the singer Agathe von Siebold, Baroness Elisabeth von Stockhausen and the singer Hermine Spitz. However, this relationship also ended in nothing.

As Johannes himself later admitted, his heart was given to only one Mistress - the incomparable Music.

Last years

Towards the end of his life, Brahms became increasingly unsociable and withdrawn. He turned away from many friends and acquaintances, becoming practically a recluse in his own apartment. Before his death, the composer practically did not write, appeared little in public, and even stopped performing his compositions.

The great musician died early in the morning of April 3, 1897.

His work is still considered the best example of musical romanticism of the nineteenth century. Brahms's works are still as popular and performed in modern society as they were in the old days.

As long as there are people who are capable of responding to music with all their hearts, and as long as Brahms’s music generates precisely such a response in them, this music will live.
G. Gal

Having entered musical life as the successor of R. Schumann in romanticism, J. Brahms followed the path of a broad and individual implementation of the traditions of different eras of German-Austrian music and German culture as a whole. During the period of development of new genres of program and theatrical music (F. Liszt, R. Wagner), Brahms, who turned mainly to classical instrumental forms and genres, seemed to prove their viability and promise, enriching them with the skill and attitude of a modern artist. No less significant are vocal works (solo, ensemble, choral), in which the range of tradition is especially felt - from the experience of the Renaissance masters to modern everyday music and romantic lyrics.

Brahms was born into a musical family. His father, who went through a difficult journey from a wandering artisan musician to a double bassist with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, gave his son initial skills in playing various string and wind instruments, but Johannes was more attracted to the piano. Success in his studies with F. Kossel (later with the famous teacher E. Marxen) allowed him to take part in a chamber ensemble at the age of 10, and at 15 to give a solo concert. From an early age, Brahms helped his father support his family, playing the piano in port taverns, making arrangements for the publisher Kranz, working as a pianist in the opera house, etc. Before leaving Hamburg (April 1853) on a tour with the Hungarian violinist E. Remenyi ( From the folk tunes performed in concerts, the famous “Hungarian Dances” for piano 4 and 2 hands were subsequently born) he was already the author of numerous compositions in various genres, most of them destroyed.

The very first published works (3 sonatas and a scherzo for piano, songs) revealed the early creative maturity of the twenty-year-old composer. They aroused the admiration of Schumann, whose meeting in the autumn of 1853 in Düsseldorf determined the entire subsequent life of Brahms. Schumann's music (its influence was especially directly felt in the Third Sonata - 1853, in the Variations on a Theme of Schumann - 1854 and in the last of the four ballads - 1854), the whole atmosphere of his home, the closeness of artistic interests (in his youth, Brahms, like Schumann, was fond of romantic literature - Jean-Paul, T. A. Hoffmann, I Eichendorff, etc.) had a huge impact on the young composer. At the same time, the responsibility for the fate of German music, as if Schumann placed it on Brahms (he recommended him to Leipzig publishers, wrote an enthusiastic article about him “New Paths”), the catastrophe that soon followed (the suicide attempt made by Schumann in 1854, his stay in hospital for the mentally ill, where Brahms visited him, finally, Schumann’s death in 1856), a romantic feeling of passionate attachment to Clara Schumann, whom Brahms devotedly helped in these difficult days - all this exacerbated the dramatic tension of Brahms’ music, its stormy spontaneity (First concert for piano and orchestra - 1854-59; sketches for the First Symphony, Third Piano Quartet, completed much later).

In terms of his way of thinking, at the same time, Brahms was initially characterized by a desire for objectivity, for strict logical orderliness, characteristic of the art of the classics. These traits were especially strengthened with Brahms’s move to Detmold (1857), where he took the position of musician at the princely court, led the choir, studied the scores of the old masters, G. F. Handel, J. S. Bach, J. Haydn and V. A. Mozart, created works in genres characteristic of the music of the 18th century. (2 orchestral serenades - 1857-59, choral works). His interest in choral music was also fostered by his studies with an amateur women's choir in Hamburg, where Brahms returned in 1860 (he was very attached to his parents and his hometown, but never received a permanent job there that would satisfy his aspirations). The result of the creativity of the 50s - early 60s. chamber ensembles with the participation of piano began - large-scale works, as if replacing Brahms symphonies (2 quartets - 1862, Quintet - 1864), as well as variation cycles (Variations and fugue on a theme by Handel - 1861, 2 notebooks of Variations on a theme by Paganini - 1862-63 ) are wonderful examples of his piano style.

In 1862, Brahms went to Vienna, where he gradually settled for permanent residence. A tribute to the Viennese (including Schubert) tradition of everyday music were waltzes for piano in 4 and 2 hands (1867), as well as “Songs of Love” (1869) and “New Songs of Love” (1874) - waltzes for piano in 4 hands and a vocal quartet, where Brahms sometimes comes into contact with the style of the “King of Waltzes” - J. Strauss (son), whose music he highly appreciated. Brahms also gained fame as a pianist (he performed since 1854, especially willingly performed the piano part in his own chamber ensembles, played Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, his own works, accompanied singers, traveled to German Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Hungary, and various German city), and after the performance in 1868 in Bremen of the “German Requiem” - his largest work (for choir, soloists and orchestra on texts from the Bible) - and as a composer. The strengthening of Brahms' authority in Vienna was facilitated by his activity as director of the choir of the Singing Academy (1863-64), and then of the choir and orchestra of the Society of Music Lovers (1872-75). Brahms was intensively active in editing piano works by W. F. Bach, F. Couperin, F. Chopin, R. Schumann for the publishing house Breitkopf and Hertel. He contributed to the publication of works by A. Dvořák, a then little-known composer who owed Brahms his warm support and participation in his destiny.

Complete creative maturity was marked by Brahms's turn to the symphony (First - 1876, Second - 1877, Third - 1883, Fourth - 1884-85). On the approaches to realizing this main work of his life, Brahms honed his skills in three string quartets (First, Second - 1873, Third - 1875), in the orchestral Variations on a Theme of Haydn (1873). Images close to symphonies are embodied in “Song of Fate” (after F. Hölderlin, 1868-71) and in “Song of the Parks” (after J. V. Goethe, 1882). The bright and inspired harmony of the Violin Concerto (1878) and the Second Piano Concerto (1881) reflected the impressions of his trips to Italy. The ideas of many of Brahms’s works are connected with its nature, as well as with the nature of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany (Brahms usually composed in the summer months). Their spread in Germany and beyond was facilitated by the activities of outstanding performers: G. Bülow, conductor of one of the best Meiningen orchestras in Germany; violinist J. Joachim (Brahms's closest friend) - leader of the quartet and soloist; singer J. Stockhausen and others. Chamber ensembles different compositions(3 sonatas for violin and piano - 1878-79, 1886-88; Second sonata for cello and piano - 1886; 2 trios for violin, cello and piano - 1880-82, 1886; 2 string quintets - 1882, 1890), Concerto for violin and cello and orchestra (1887), works for a cappella choir were worthy companions to the symphonies. These works are from the late 80s. prepared the transition to the late period of creativity, marked by the dominance of chamber genres.

Very demanding of himself, Brahms, fearing the exhaustion of his creative imagination, thought about stopping his composing activities. However, a meeting in the spring of 1891 with the clarinetist of the Meiningen Orchestra R. Mühlfeld prompted him to create a Trio, a Quintet (1891), and then two sonatas (1894) with the participation of the clarinet. At the same time, Brahms wrote 20 piano pieces (op. 116-119), which, together with clarinet ensembles, became the result of the composer’s creative quest. This especially applies to the Quintet and to the piano intermezzos - “sorrowful notes of the heart”, combining the rigor and confidence of the lyrical statement, the sophistication and simplicity of the writing, and the pervasive melodiousness of intonations. Published in 1894, the collection “49 German Folk Songs” (for voice and piano) was evidence of Brahms’s constant attention to folk song - his ethical and aesthetic ideal. Brahms worked on arrangements of German folk songs (including for a cappella choir) throughout his life; he was also interested in Slavic (Czech, Slovak, Serbian) melodies, recreating their character in his songs based on folk texts. “Four Strict Tunes” for voice and piano (a kind of solo cantata on texts from the Bible, 1895) and 11 choral organ preludes (1896) supplemented the composer’s “spiritual testament” with an appeal to the genres and artistic means of Bach’s era, which were equally close to the structure of his music, as well as folk genres.

In his music, Brahms created a truthful and complex picture of the life of the human spirit - stormy in sudden impulses, persistent and courageous in internal overcoming obstacles, cheerful and cheerful, elegiacally soft and sometimes tired, wise and strict, gentle and spiritually responsive. A craving for positive conflict resolution, to rely on sustainable and eternal values human life, which Brahms saw in nature, folk song, in the art of the great masters of the past, in cultural tradition his homeland, in simple human joys, is constantly combined in his music with a feeling of unattainable harmony, growing tragic contradictions. Brahms's 4 symphonies reflect different aspects of his worldview. In the First - a direct heir to Beethoven's symphonism - the sharpness of the immediately flaring dramatic collisions is resolved in a joyful, hymn finale. The second symphony, truly Viennese (its origins are Haydn and Schubert), could be called a “symphony of joy.” The third - the most romantic of the entire cycle - goes from an enthusiastic rapture of life to gloomy anxiety and drama, suddenly retreating before the “eternal beauty” of nature, a bright and clear morning. The fourth symphony - the crown of Brahms's symphonism - develops, according to I. Sollertinsky's definition, “from elegy to tragedy.” The greatness of those built by Brahms - the largest symphonist of the second half of the 19th century V. - buildings does not exclude the general deep lyricism of tone, inherent in all symphonies and which is the “main tonality” of his music.

E. Tsareva

Deep in content, perfect in skill, Brahms's work belongs to the remarkable artistic achievements of German culture of the second half of the 19th century. During the difficult period of its development, during the years of ideological and artistic confusion, Brahms acted as a successor and continuer classic traditions. He enriched them with the achievements of German romanticism. Great difficulties arose along this path. Brahms sought to overcome them by turning to understanding the true spirit of folk music, the richest expressive possibilities of the musical classics of the past.

“Folk song is my ideal,” said Brahms. Even in his youth, he worked with the village choir; later he spent a long time as a choral conductor and, invariably turning to German folk songs, promoting and processing them. That is why his music has such unique national features.

Brahms treated folk music of other nationalities with great attention and interest. The composer spent a significant part of his life in Vienna. Naturally, this entailed the inclusion of nationally unique elements of Austrian folk art into Brahms’ music. Vienna also determined great importance in the works of Brahms, Hungarian and Slavic music. “Slavicisms” are clearly noticeable in his works: in the frequently used turns and rhythms of the Czech polka, in some techniques of intonation development, modulation. The intonations and rhythms of Hungarian folk music, mainly in the verbunkos style, that is, in the spirit of urban folklore, were clearly reflected in a number of Brahms’s works. V. Stasov noted that the famous “Hungarian Dances” of Brahms are “worthy of their great glory.”

Sensitive insight into the mental structure of another nation is available only to artists who are organically connected with their national culture. This is Glinka in “Spanish Overtures” or Bizet in “Carmen”. Such is Brahms - an outstanding national artist of the German people, who turned to the Slavic and Hungarian folk elements.

In his declining years, Brahms dropped a significant phrase: “The two most important events of my life were the unification of Germany and the completion of the publication of Bach’s works.” Here, seemingly incomparable things stand in the same row. But Brahms, usually stingy with words, put deep meaning into this phrase. Passionate patriotism, a vested interest in the fate of his homeland, and an ardent faith in the strength of the people were naturally combined with a sense of admiration and admiration for the national achievements of German and Austrian music. The works of Bach and Handel, Mozart and Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann served as his guiding lights. He also closely studied ancient polyphonic music. Trying to better understand the laws of musical development, Brahms paid great attention to issues of artistic mastery. He wrote down Goethe’s wise words in his notebook: “Form (in art.- M.D.) is formed by thousands of years of efforts of the most remarkable masters, and those who follow them cannot master it so quickly.”

But Brahms did not turn away from new music: rejecting any manifestations of decadence in art, he spoke with a feeling of true sympathy about many of the works of his contemporaries. Brahms highly appreciated “Die Meistersinger” and much of “Die Walküre”, although he had a negative attitude towards “Tristan”; admired the melodic gift and transparent instrumentation of Johann Strauss; spoke warmly of Grieg; Bizet called the opera “Carmen” his “favorite”; I found in Dvorak “a real, rich, charming talent.” Brahms's artistic tastes show him as a lively, spontaneous musician, alien to academic isolation.

This is how he appears in his work. It is full of exciting life content. In the difficult conditions of German reality in the 19th century, Brahms fought for individual rights and freedom, and praised courage and moral fortitude. His music is full of anxiety for the fate of man and carries words of love and consolation. She has a restless, excited tone.

The warmth and sincerity of Brahms' music, close to Schubert, are most fully revealed in the vocal lyrics, which occupy a significant place in his creative heritage. Brahms' works also contain many pages of philosophical lyricism, which is so characteristic of Bach. In developing lyrical images, Brahms often relied on existing genres and intonations, especially Austrian folklore. He resorted to genre generalizations and used dance elements of the landler, waltz, and czardas.

These images are also present in Brahms' instrumental works. Here the features of drama, rebellious romance, and passionate impetuosity emerge more sharply, which brings him closer to Schumann. In Brahms's music there are also images imbued with cheerfulness and courage, courageous strength and epic power. In this area, he appears as a continuer of Beethoven's traditions in German music.

An acutely conflicting content is inherent in many of Brahms' chamber instrumental and symphonic works. They recreate exciting emotional dramas, often of a tragic nature. These works are characterized by the excitement of the narrative; there is something rhapsodic in their presentation. But freedom of expression in Brahms’s most valuable works is combined with an iron logic of development: he tried to clothe the boiling lava of romantic feelings in strict classic shapes. The composer was overwhelmed by many ideas; his music was saturated with figurative richness, contrasting changes of moods, and a variety of shades. Their organic fusion required strict and clear work of thought, high contrapuntal technique, ensuring the connection of disparate images.

But not always and not in all of his works Brahms managed to balance emotional excitement with the strict logic of musical development. Those close to him romantic the images sometimes came into conflict with classic method of presentation. The disturbed balance sometimes led to vagueness, hazy complexity of expression, and gave rise to incomplete, unsteady outlines of images; on the other hand, when the work of thought took precedence over emotionality, Brahms’ music acquired rational, passive-contemplative features (Tchaikovsky saw only these, distant to him, sides in Brahms’s work and therefore could not correctly evaluate it. Brahms’ music, in his words, “accurately teases and irritates the musical feeling”; he found it dry, cold, foggy, vague. ).

But on the whole, his works captivate with their remarkable skill and emotional spontaneity in conveying significant ideas and carrying them out logically. For, despite the inconsistency of individual artistic decisions, Brahms’s work is permeated with the struggle for the true content of music, for the high ideals of humanistic art.

Life and creative path

Johannes Brahms was born in northern Germany, in Hamburg, on May 7, 1833. His father, who came from a peasant family, was a city musician (horn player, later double bassist). The composer's childhood was spent in poverty. WITH early age, thirteen years old, he is already performing as a tapper at dance evenings. In the following years, he earned money by giving private lessons, playing as a pianist during theater intermissions, and occasionally participating in serious concerts. At the same time, having taken a composition course with the respectable teacher Eduard Marxen, who instilled in him a love of classical music, he composed a lot. But the works of the young Brahms are unknown to anyone, and in order to earn a penny, one has to write salon plays and transcriptions, which are published under various pseudonyms (about 150 opuses in total.) “Few people lived as hard as I did,” Brahms said, recalling the years of his youth.

In 1853, Brahms left his hometown; Together with the violinist Eduard (Ede) Remenyi, a Hungarian political emigrant, he went on a long concert tour. His acquaintance with Liszt and Schumann dates back to this period. The first of them treated the hitherto unknown, modest and shy twenty-year-old composer with his usual benevolence. An even warmer welcome awaited him at Schumann's. Ten years have passed since the latter stopped taking part in the “New Musical Journal” he created, but, amazed by Brahms’ original talent, Schumann broke the silence - he wrote his last article entitled “New Paths”. He called the young composer a complete master who “perfectly expresses the spirit of the times.” The work of Brahms, and by this time he was already the author of significant piano works (among them three sonatas), attracted everyone's attention: representatives of both the Weimar and Leipzig schools wanted to see him in their ranks.

Brahms wanted to stay away from the hostility of these schools. But he fell under the irresistible charm of the personality of Robert Schumann and his wife, the famous pianist Clara Schumann, for whom Brahms maintained love and faithful friendship over the next four decades. The artistic views and convictions (as well as prejudices, in particular against Liszt!) of this wonderful couple were indisputable for him. And therefore, when at the end of the 50s, after the death of Schumann, the ideological struggle for his artistic heritage, Brahms could not help but take part in it. In 1860, he spoke in print (for the only time in his life!) against the assertion of the New German school that its aesthetic ideals were shared by All the best composers in Germany. Due to an absurd coincidence, along with the name of Brahms, this protest bore the signatures of only three young musicians (including the outstanding violinist Joseph Joachim, a friend of Brahms); the rest, more famous names turned out to be omitted from the newspaper. This attack, composed moreover in harsh, inept terms, was met with hostility by many, in particular Wagner.

Not long before, Brahms's performance of his First Piano Concerto in Leipzig was marked by a scandalous failure. Representatives of the Leipzig school reacted to him just as negatively as the Weimarians. Thus, having abruptly broken away from one bank, Brahms was unable to land on the other. A courageous and noble man, he, despite the difficulties of existence and the cruel attacks of the militant Wagnerians, did not make creative compromises. Brahms closed himself off, isolated himself from polemics, and outwardly withdrew from the struggle. But he continued it in his creativity: taking the best from the artistic ideals of both schools, with your music proved (though not always consistently) the inseparability of the principles of ideology, nationality and democracy as the foundations of life-truth art.

The beginning of the 60s was, to a certain extent, a time of crisis for Brahms. After storms and fights, he gradually comes to realize his creative tasks. It was at this time that he began long-term work on major vocal-symphonic works (“German Requiem”, 1861-1868), on the First Symphony (1862-1876), intensively manifested himself in the field of chamber literature (piano quartets, quintet, cello sonata). Trying to overcome romantic improvisation, Brahms intensively studied folk song, as well as Viennese classics (songs, vocal ensembles, choirs).

1862 is a turning point in Brahms' life. Unable to find a use for his powers in his homeland, he moved to Vienna, where he remained until his death. A wonderful pianist and conductor, he is looking for a permanent position. Hometown Hamburg refused him this, inflicting an unhealed wound. In Vienna, he twice tried to gain a foothold in the service as the head of the Singing Chapel (1863-1864) and conductor of the Society of Friends of Music (1872-1875), but left these positions: they did not bring him much artistic satisfaction or material security. Brahms's position improves only in the mid-70s, when he finally receives public recognition. Brahms performs a lot with his symphonic and chamber works, visiting a number of cities in Germany, Hungary, Holland, Switzerland, Galicia, and Poland. He loved these trips, meeting new countries, and as a tourist he was in Italy eight times.

The 70s and 80s were the time of Brahms's creative maturity. During these years, symphonies, violin and Second piano concertos, many chamber works (three violin sonatas, Second cello sonata, Second and Third piano trios, three string quartets), songs, choirs, and vocal ensembles were written. As before, Brahms in his work turns to a variety of genres of musical art (with the exception of musical drama, although he intended to write an opera). He strives to combine deep content with democratic clarity and therefore, along with complex instrumental cycles, he creates music of a simple everyday nature, sometimes for home music playing (vocal ensembles “Songs of Love”, “Hungarian Dances”, waltzes for piano, etc.). Moreover, working on both levels, the composer does not change his creative style, using his amazing contrapuntal skill in popular works and without losing simplicity and warmth in his symphonies.

The breadth of Brahms's ideological and artistic horizons is also characterized by a kind of parallelism in solving creative problems. Thus, almost simultaneously he wrote two orchestral serenades of different types (1858 and 1860), two piano quartets (op. 25 and 26, 1861), two string quartets (op. 51, 1873); immediately after the completion of the Requiem, he began to write “Songs of Love” (1868-1869); along with the “Festive”, he creates the “Tragic Overture” (1880-1881); The First, “pathetic” symphony is adjacent to the Second, “pastoral” (1876-1878); The third, “heroic” - with the Fourth, “tragic” (1883-1885) (To draw attention to the dominant aspects of the content of Brahms’ symphonies, their conventional names are indicated here.). In the summer of 1886, such contrasting works of the chamber genre as the dramatic Second Cello Sonata (Op. 99), the bright, idyllic Second Violin Sonata (Op. 100), the epic Third Piano Trio (Op. 101) and passionately excited, pathetic Third Violin Sonata (op. 108).

At the end of his life - Brahms died on April 3, 1897 - his creative activity weakened. He conceives a symphony and a number of other major works, but carries out his plans only for chamber plays and songs. Not only has the circle of genres narrowed, the circle of images has narrowed. One cannot help but see in this a manifestation of the creative fatigue of a lonely person, disappointed in the struggle of life. The painful illness that brought him to the grave (liver cancer) also took its toll. Nevertheless, these recent years have also been marked by the creation of truthful, humanistic music that glorifies high moral ideals. It is enough to cite as examples the piano intermezzos (op. 116-119), the clarinet quintet (op. 115) or the “Four Strict Tunes” (op. 121). And Brahms captured his undying love for folk art in a wonderful collection of forty-nine German folk songs for voice and piano.

Style Features

Brahms is the last major representative of German music of the 19th century, who developed the ideological and artistic traditions of advanced national culture. His work, however, is not without some contradictions, for he was not always able to understand the complex phenomena of our time and was not involved in the socio-political struggle. But Brahms never betrayed high humanistic ideals, did not compromise with bourgeois ideology, and rejected everything false and transitory in culture and art.

Brahms created his own original creative style. His musical language is marked by individual characteristics. Typical for him are the intonations associated with German folk music, which affects the structure of themes, the use of melodies based on triad tones, and the plagal turns inherent in ancient layers of song. And plagality plays a big role in harmony; Often a minor subdominant is also used in major, and a major subdominant in minor. Brahms's works are characterized by modal originality. The “flickering” of major and minor is very characteristic of it. Thus, Brahms’s main musical motif can be expressed by the following scheme (the first scheme characterizes the thematic theme of the main part of the First Symphony, the second – a similar theme of the Third Symphony):

The given ratio of thirds and sixths in the structure of the melody, as well as the techniques of third or sixth doubling, are favorites of Brahms. In general, it is characterized by emphasizing the third degree, which is the most sensitive in the coloring of the modal inclination. Unexpected modulation deviations, modal variability, major-minor mode, melodic and harmonic major - all this is used to show variability and richness of shades of content. Complex rhythms, the combination of even and odd meters, the introduction of triplets, dotted rhythm, and syncopation into a smooth melodic line also serve this purpose.

Unlike rounded vocal melodies, Brahms' instrumental themes are often open-ended, making them difficult to remember and perceive. This tendency to “open” thematic boundaries is caused by the desire to maximally saturate the music with development (Taneev also strived for this.). B.V. Asafiev rightly noted that in Brahms, even in lyrical miniatures, “one can feel development».

Brahms's interpretation of the principles of formation is particularly unique. He was well aware of the vast experience accumulated by European musical culture, and, along with modern formal schemes, he resorted to long-ago, seemingly out-of-use ones: such as the old sonata form, variation suite, basso ostinato techniques; he gave a double exposure in a concert, applying the principles of concerto grosso. However, this was not done for the sake of stylization, not for aesthetic admiration of outdated forms: such a comprehensive use of established structural patterns was of a deeply fundamental nature.

In contrast to the representatives of the Liszt-Wagnerian movement, Brahms wanted to prove his ability old compositional means for transmission modern building thoughts and feelings, and practically proved this with his creativity. Moreover, he considered the most valuable, vital means of expression, defended in classical music, as a weapon in the struggle against the decay of form and artistic arbitrariness. An opponent of subjectivism in art, Brahms defended the precepts of classical art. He turned to them also because he sought to curb the unbalanced impulse of his own fantasy, which overwhelmed his excited, anxious, restless feelings. He did not always succeed in this; sometimes, when implementing large-scale plans, significant difficulties arose. All the more persistently Brahms creatively implemented old forms and established principles of development. He brought a lot of new things into them.

Of great value are his achievements in the development of variation principles of development, which he combined with sonata principles. Drawing on Beethoven (see his 32 variations for piano or the finale of the Ninth Symphony), Brahms achieved contrasting, but purposeful, “through” dramaturgy in his cycles. Evidence of this is the Variations on a Theme of Handel, on a Theme of Haydn or the brilliant passacaglia of the Fourth Symphony.

In his interpretation of the sonata form, Brahms also gave individual solutions: he combined freedom of expression with the classical logic of development, romantic emotion with a strictly rational conduct of thought. The multiplicity of images in the embodiment of dramatic content is a typical feature of Brahms' music. Therefore, for example, five themes are contained in the exposition of the first part of the piano quintet, three different themes have the main part of the finale of the Third Symphony, two secondary ones - in the first part of the Fourth Symphony, etc. These images are contrasted, which is often emphasized by modal relationships ( for example, in the first part of the First Symphony, the secondary part is given in Es-dur, and the final one in es-moll; in the similar part of the Third Symphony, when comparing the same parts A-dur - a-moll; in the finale of the named symphony - C-dur - c -moll, etc.).

Brahms paid special attention to the development of the images of the main party. Its themes are often repeated throughout the movement without changes and in the same key, which is characteristic of the rondo sonata form. This also reveals the ballad features of Brahms' music. The main part is sharply contrasted with the final (sometimes connecting) part, which is endowed with an energetic dotted rhythm, marching, and often proud turns drawn from Hungarian folklore (see the first movements of the First and Fourth Symphonies, the violin and Second Piano Concerto, and others). The side parts, based on the intonations and genres of Viennese everyday music, are unfinished in nature and do not become the lyrical centers of the part. But they are an effective factor in development and are often subject to major changes in development. The latter is carried out concisely and dynamically, since the development elements have already been introduced into the exhibition.

Brahms excelled in the art of emotional switching, combining images of different qualities in a single development. This is helped by multilaterally developed motive connections, the use of their transformation, wide application contrapuntal techniques. Therefore, he was extremely successful in returning to the starting point of the narrative - even within the framework of a simple three-part form. This is even more successfully achieved in the sonata allegro when approaching the reprise. Moreover, to intensify the drama, Brahms, like Tchaikovsky, likes to shift the boundaries of development and reprise, which sometimes leads to the refusal to fully carry out the main part. Accordingly, the importance of the coda increases as a moment of highest tension in the development of the part. Remarkable examples of this are contained in the first movements of the Third and Fourth Symphonies.

Brahms is a master of musical dramaturgy. Both within the boundaries of one part and throughout the instrumental cycle, he gave a consistent statement of a single idea, but, focusing all attention on internal logic of musical development, often neglected externally colorful presentation of thoughts. This is Brahms's attitude to the problem of virtuosity; This is also his interpretation of the capabilities of instrumental ensembles and orchestras. He did not use purely orchestral effects and, in his passion for full and dense harmonies, doubled the parts, combined voices, and did not strive to individualize and contrast them. Nevertheless, when the content of the music required it, Brahms found the unusual flavor he needed (see the examples above). Such self-restraint reveals one of the most characteristic features of his creative method, which is characterized by noble restraint of expression.

Brahms said: “We can no longer write as beautifully as Mozart; let’s try to write at least as purely as he did.” We are talking not only about technique, but also about the content of Mozart’s music, its ethical beauty. Brahms created music much more complex than Mozart, reflecting the complexity and contradictions of his time, but he followed this motto, because the creative life of Johannes Brahms was marked by the desire for high ethical ideals, a sense of deep responsibility for everything he did.