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diff --git a/40644-0.txt b/40644-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b13a8e --- /dev/null +++ b/40644-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13220 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40644 *** + +[Illustration: J. Brahms] + + + + + THE LIFE + OF + JOHANNES BRAHMS + + BY + FLORENCE MAY + + IN TWO VOLUMES + VOL. II. + + _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + LONDON + EDWARD ARNOLD + 41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, BOND STREET, W. + 1905 + + (_All rights reserved_) + + + + + CONTENTS OF VOL. II. + + + CHAPTER XII + 1862-1864 + PAGE + Vienna--Musical societies--Leading musicians--The Prater--Brahms' + appearance at a Hellmesberger Quartet concert--Brahms' first + concert in Vienna--Conductorship of Hamburg Philharmonic--First + Serenade at Gesellschaft concert--Brahms' second concert--Richard + Wagner--Second Serenade at Vienna Philharmonic concert--Return + to Hamburg--Brahms elected conductor of Vienna + Singakademie--Return to Vienna--Singakademie concerts under + Brahms 1 + + + CHAPTER XIII + 1864-1867 + + Frau Schumann in Baden-Baden--Circle of friends there--Hermann + Levi--Madame Pauline Viardot-Garcia--The Landgräfin of + Hesse and the Pianoforte Quintet--Concert-journey--The Horn + Trio--Frau Caroline Schnack--Last visit to Detmold--First + Sonata for Pianoforte and Violoncello--The German Requiem--Brahms + at Zürich--Billroth--Brahms and Joachim on a concert-tour + in Switzerland--Hans v. Bülow--Reinthaler 27 + + + CHAPTER XIV + 1867-1869 + + Brahms' holiday journey with his father and Gänsbacher--Austrian + concert-tour with Joachim--The German Requiem--Performance + of the first three choruses in Vienna--Tour with Stockhausen in + North Germany and Denmark--Performance of the German + Requiem in Bremen Cathedral--Brahms settles finally in Vienna--Brahms + and Stockhausen give concerts in Vienna and Budapest 57 + + + CHAPTER XV + 1869-1872 + + Brahms and Opera--Professor Heinrich Bulthaupt--The + Liebeslieder--First performance--The Rhapsody (Goethe's 'Harzreise') + performed privately at Carlsruhe--First public performance at + Jena--Geheimrath Gille--The 'Song of Triumph'--Performance of + first chorus at Bremen--Bernhard Scholz--The 'Song of Destiny'--First + performance--Death of Johann Jakob Brahms--First + performance of completed 'Triumphlied' at Carlsruhe--Summary + of Brahms' work as a composer since 1862 89 + + + CHAPTER XVI + 1872-1876 + + Publication of the 'Triumphlied' with a dedication to the German + Emperor William I.--Brahms conducts the 'Gesellschaft + concerts'--Schumann Festival at Bonn--Professor and Frau + Engelmann--String Quartets--First performances--Anselm Feuerbach + in Vienna--Variations for Orchestra--First performances--'Triumphlied' + at Cologne, Basle, and Zürich--Resignation of + appointment as 'artistic director' to the Gesellschaft--Third + Pianoforte Quartet 115 + + + CHAPTER XVII + 1876-1878 + + Tour in Holland--Third String Quartet--C minor Symphony--First + performances--Varying impressions created by the work in + Vienna and Leipzig--Brahms and Widmann at Mannheim--Second + Symphony--Vienna and Leipzig differ as to its merits 145 + + + CHAPTER XVIII + 1878-1881 + + Hamburg Philharmonic Jubilee Festival--Violin Concerto; first + performance by Joachim--Pianoforte Pieces, Op. 76--Sonata for + Pianoforte and Violin--First performances--Brahms at + Crefeld--Rhapsodies for Pianoforte--Heuberger's studies with + Brahms--Second Schumann Festival at Bonn--Brahms' two + Overtures--Breslau honorary degree 169 + + + CHAPTER XIX + 1881-1885 + + Second Pianoforte Concerto--First visit to the ducal castle of + Meiningen--'Nänie'--Frau Henriette Feuerbach--Hans von + Bülow in Leipzig--Brahms' Vienna friends--Dr. and Frau + Fellinger--Pianoforte Trio in C major--First String + Quintet--The 'Parzenlied'--Third Symphony 193 + + + CHAPTER XX + 1885-1888 + + Vienna Tonkünstlerverein--Fourth Symphony--Hugo Wolf--Brahms + at Thun--Three new works of chamber music--First performances + of the second Violoncello Sonata by Brahms and Hausmann--Frau + Celestine Truxa--Double Concerto--Marxsen's death--Eugen + d'Albert--The Gipsy Songs--Conrat's translations from the + Hungarian--Brahms and Jenner--The 'Zum rothen Igel'--Ehrbar's + Brahms'-birthday asparagus luncheons--Third Sonata + for Pianoforte and Violin 214 + + + CHAPTER XXI + 1889-1895 + + Hamburg honorary citizenship--Christmas at Dr. Fellinger's--Second + String Quintet--Mühlfeld--Clarinet Quintet and Trio--Last + journey to Italy--Sixtieth birthday--Pianoforte Pieces--Billroth's + death--Brahms' collection of German Folk-songs--Life at + Ischl--Clarinet Sonatas--Frau Schumann, Brahms, and Joachim + together for the last time 239 + + + CHAPTER XXII + 1895-1897 + + The Meiningen Festival--Visit to Frau Schumann--Festival at + Zürich--Brahms in Berlin--The 'Four Serious Songs'--Geheimrath + Engelmann's visit to Ischl--Frau Schumann's death--Brahms' + illness--He goes to Carlsbad--The Joachim Quartet in Vienna--Brahms' + last Christmas--Brahms and Joachim together for the + last time--The Vienna Philharmonic concert of March 7--Last + visits to old friends--Brahms' death 267 + + + CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF WORKS 293 + + WORKS EDITED BY BRAHMS 299 + + ARRANGED CATALOGUE OF WORKS 300 + + INDEX 303 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + BRAHMS AT ISCHL _Frontispiece_ + + BRAHMS AT THE AGE OF FORTY _To face page_ 122 + + BRAHMS' LODGINGS AT ISCHL " 202 + + BRAHMS' LODGINGS NEAR THUN " 230 + + SILHOUETTE BY DR. BÖHLER " 260 + + BRAHMS AT DR. FELLINGER'S " 276 + + + + + THE LIFE OF JOHANNES BRAHMS + + + + + CHAPTER XII + 1862-1864 + + Vienna--Musical societies--Leading musicians--The Prater--Brahms' + appearance at a Hellmesberger Quartet concert--Brahms' first + concert in Vienna--Conductorship of the Hamburg Philharmonic--First + Serenade at Gesellschaft concert--Brahms' second concert--Richard + Wagner--Second Serenade at Vienna Philharmonic concert--Return + to Hamburg--Brahms elected conductor of the Vienna + Singakademie--Return to Vienna--Singakademie concerts under Brahms. + + +It would be interesting, on accompanying Johannes Brahms in imagination +on his first visit to Vienna--a visit that was to lead to results +scarcely less important to his career than those of the first +concert-journey through the provincial towns of Hanover undertaken nine +years and a half previously--to describe the gradual change which had +taken place in the musical life of the imperial city since the times +when it had counted Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven in turn among its +inhabitants. It would, however, lead too far from the purpose of this +narrative to follow the course by which the art of music, from being a +luxury to be enjoyed chiefly by the rich--and in Vienna, perhaps, +especially amongst the great capitals of Europe--had been opened to the +cultivation of the masses of citizens. Suffice it to say that in the +autumn of 1862 the conditions of musical activity in the Austrian +capital were essentially the same as we know them in 1905. + +The Court Opera, the home of which was the Kärthnerthor Theater, was +conducted by Otto Dessoff, who had been a distinguished pupil of the +Leipzig Conservatoire, and had succeeded the celebrated capellmeister, +Carl Anton Eckert, on his resignation of the post in 1860. In intimate +though not official connection with the opera were the Philharmonic +concerts given in the same building. These, started in 1849 by the +orchestral musicians of the opera as their own undertaking, had, after a +period of varying fortune, entered upon a flourishing phase of +existence. They were conducted by Dessoff in virtue of his position as +capellmeister of the opera, and though his rather cold style at first +prevented his winning Austrian sympathy, he by-and-by succeeded in +making good his footing by his musicianship and thoroughness, and by the +perfect finish of rendering that was attained by the orchestra under his +direction. + +The annual orchestral concerts given by the great Gesellschaft der +Musikfreunde (Society of Music-lovers), founded in 1813, took place in +the Redoubtensaal, and, though given under the Society's own 'artistic +director,' had, during the eight or nine years preceding the appointment +of Johann Herbeck to this post (1859), been dependent on the services of +the opera orchestra. Herbeck, feeling the inconveniences of such an +arrangement, determined to form an orchestra of his own, and, whilst +successfully carrying out his project, sought to make amends for the +first inevitable lack of complete finish in his performances by +cultivating a liberal spirit in the choice of programmes, and +introducing from time to time unfamiliar works by the best modern +classical composers. From this period the Gesellschaft and the +Philharmonic concerts came more or less to represent severally the +liberal and the conservative spirit of classical art, though it must be +added that Dessoff cherished the wish to educate his audience to wider +powers of appreciation, and sometimes included the name of Schumann in +the Philharmonic programmes, which, before his advent, had been closed +to works of more modern tendency than those of Mendelssohn. + +Parallel with these two institutions for the performance of instrumental +music were two choral societies, both supplied by amateurs. The +Singverein, a branch of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, which in 1862 +was, like the orchestra, under Herbeck's direction, occupied itself with +every kind of classical choral music in turn, and, occasionally giving +concerts independently, often joined forces in public performance with +the orchestra. The Singakademie, founded in 1858 by a circle of +amateurs, made a special point of early church music, and of _a capella_ +singing, but usually devoted one of its three or four annual concerts to +the performance of an oratorio or other great work, when, of course, the +services of an orchestra were engaged. Under the direction of its first +conductor, F. Stegmayer, the Singakademie gave the first performance in +Vienna of portions of Schumann's 'Faust' (January 6, 1861) and of Bach's +'Matthew Passion' (April 15, 1862). + +Occupying a position in Vienna at the very top of his profession, partly +in virtue of the musical prestige attaching to his family name, but +mainly as the result of his personal gifts and attainments, was the +violinist Josef Hellmesberger, director and professor of the +conservatoire (itself another branch of the great Gesellschaft der +Musikfreunde), concertmeister of the opera, and therefore also of the +Philharmonic concerts, late artistic director of the Gesellschaft +(1851-1859), leader of the only resident and justly celebrated string +quartet party called by his name, and accomplished virtuoso. +Hellmesberger's playing lacked broadness of tone, but was distinguished +by grace, poetic sentiment, and a facile instinct for his composer's +intention. He possessed a good knowledge of the orchestra, and was a +fair pianist. + +Of other musicians resident in the Austrian capital in 1862 are to be +mentioned the great contrapuntist Sechter, nearly approaching the end of +his career, who, in his position of professor of composition at the +conservatoire, had in his time taught several of the younger men next to +be referred to; Nottebohm, professor of counterpoint at the +conservatoire, known to the world by his writings on music, especially +those on Beethoven's sketch-books; Rudolph Bibl, organist of the +cathedral, and later, of the imperial chapel; Julius Epstein, professor +of the pianoforte at the conservatoire, distinguished pianist and +widely-reputed teacher, and esteemed, not only on account of his +professional standing, but also by reason of his kindness to all persons +having any sort of claim on his courtesy. + +The composer Carl Goldmark, who has since attained European reputation +with his opera 'The Queen of Sheba,' had been almost entirely resident +in Vienna since his sixteenth year, and now at thirty was rising to +fame. Peter Cornelius, composer of the comic opera 'The Barber of +Bagdad,' and already mentioned in our narrative as a disciple of Weimar, +was living at this time in the Austrian capital. Anton Brückner was +favourably esteemed by some of the first resident musicians, though he +had not yet been called there. Carl Tausig, one of the greatest of +pianoforte virtuosi, whose sympathies were much with the New-Germans, +settled in Vienna for a few years from 1861, and gave occasional +concerts there which were but partially successful. + +Of writers and critics, Edward Hanslick, Carl Ferdinand Pohl, and Selmar +Bagge, all believers in the art of tradition and in its modern +development as represented by the name of Schumann, were in the flower +of their activity. Bagge's name is interesting in the history of Brahms' +career on account of the sympathetic and detailed reviews of the +composer's works which appeared from time to time in the _Deutsche +Musikzeitung_, a paper founded by him in 1860. It became defunct at the +close of 1863, when Bagge left Vienna to take up the editorship of the +_Allgemeine Musikzeitung_, which he retained for two years. Very able +articles were published in this periodical of Brahms' works as they +appeared, some of them written by Bagge himself, and others by Hermann +Deiters, a musical scholar and critic of exceptional insight and power +of happy expression. Bagge remained just long enough in Vienna to +witness the interest aroused by Brahms' first appearances there, to +which, very likely, the remembrance of the articles of the _Deutsche +Musikzeitung_ gave additional stimulus. + +Of publishers, the name of C. A. Spina should be gratefully remembered +as that of the man to whom the world is indebted for the publication of +many great and long-neglected works of Schubert. A large number of the +master's half-forgotten manuscripts--those of the Octet, the C major +Quartet, the B flat and B minor Symphonies amongst them--were found by +Spina when he took over the business of his predecessors, the firm of +Diabelli, and were gradually placed by him in the possession of the +world. + +On his arrival in Vienna, Brahms put up at the Hôtel Kronprinz in the +Leopoldstadt, moving soon afterwards into a room at 39, Novaragasse, of +the same inexpensive quarter, then called the Jägerzeil. Several of his +old friends were fortunately at hand. Grädener had given up his position +in Hamburg the preceding year to try his fortune in Vienna; Frau +Passy-Cornet, whose name calls the concert of 1848 to remembrance, was +now a professor of singing at the Vienna Conservatoire; and, a very few +weeks after Brahms' arrival, Arthur Faber, lately married to Fräulein +Bertha Porubszky, brought his bride to their home in the imperial city. +His house was, of course, open to Johannes, who spent many, and +especially Sunday, evenings with these friends. Amongst the most +treasured memories of their early wedded life are those of performances +of his compositions, played as he could play when quietly at ease with a +few sympathetic friends for all audience. + +From the first he felt at home in Vienna. The good-natured, easy-going +Austrian people attracted him, and he at once conceived an affection for +the Prater, in the immediate vicinity of which his hotel was situated. +This great park of the Kaiserstadt contains, indeed, attractions to suit +every variety of taste. There is the Hauptallée, with its broad drive +and shady walks, its open-air cafés and music of military bands, which +play waltzes and various dance movements as they are played in no other +city. There is the Würstelprater, the playground of children and other +simple folk, where, in the fine-weather season, a continual fair goes +on with shows and games and entertainments of every kind likely to +attract the patronage of the multitude, and where in the Hungarian +restaurant, the 'Czarda,' real gipsy music played by a real gipsy band +may daily be heard. There is the wild portion, bounded on one side by +the Danube canal and stretching for some little distance beyond the +town, where the solitary walker may fancy himself in a forest far from +human habitation. Brahms, on this occasion of his first visit to Vienna, +particularly attached himself to the Würstelprater, for which he ever +after retained his partiality. The motley life to be seen there amused +and interested him. He came to be a frequent listener at the 'Czarda,' +and it is whispered that the spirit of fun has occasionally prompted +him, when at the height of his fame, to prevail upon a party of friends +to take a turn in his company on the curvetting horses of one or other +of the 'carrousels' which are amongst the most popular attractions of +this part of the grounds. + +One of Brahms' first visits was to Julius Epstein. He did not send in +his name, and, as the professor was engaged with someone else at the +moment, was not admitted. A second call was successful. 'My name is +Johannes Brahms,' he said as he entered; and his simple manner at once +attracted Epstein, who was well acquainted with his published works. An +opportunity was arranged without delay for his introduction to some of +the leading musicians of the city. + + 'Brahms in 1862 played the Quartets in G minor and A major with the + members of the Hellmesberger Quartet (Hellmesberger, Dobyhal and + Röver) at my house in the Schulerstrasse, in the first place,' + writes Professor Epstein to the author. 'We were all delighted and + carried away. The works were shortly afterwards played in public by + Brahms with the same colleagues.' + +The G minor Quartet was, in fact, included in the list of works +announced by Hellmesberger for the ensuing season, and the immediate +interest awakened in musical circles by the arrival of the composer is +even more strikingly testified by the fact that on October 14, only +five weeks after his departure from Hamburg, the name of the orchestral +Serenade in D major appeared in the forecast of the Gesellschaft season +published in the _Blätter für Theater, Künst und Musik_. + +On Sunday evening, November 16, Brahms made his first appearance before +his new public at Hellmesberger's Quartet concert, which took place, as +usual, in the Vereinsaal (the concert-room of the Gesellschaft der +Musikfreunde) before an audience that crowded every part of the house in +anticipation of the début in Vienna of 'Schumann's young prophet.' The +first and last numbers of the programme of three works were severally +Mendelssohn's String Quartet in E flat and Beethoven's in C sharp minor, +Op. 131, Brahms' G minor Pianoforte Quartet occupying the place of +honour between them. If we were to judge of the result by the press +reviews of the day, which were either unfavourable or reserved, it would +be impossible to chronicle a success, and yet that the work was +essentially successful is established by the fact that the composer +received overtures after the concert from more than one Vienna +publisher, which, however, he declined. He had certainly made his mark +in his own characteristic way even before the 16th. A private circle of +admirers began to form round him, and he was sufficiently encouraged to +venture on a concert of his own, which took place in the Vereinsaal on +November 29. + +On this occasion the Pianoforte Quartet in A major headed the programme, +the composer being assisted in its performance by the three members of +the Hellmesberger party with whom he had already appeared. The remaining +instrumental numbers were pianoforte solos, the concert-giver's Handel +Variations and Fugue, Bach's F major Toccata for organ, and Schumann's C +major Fantasia, Op. 17. + +As regards the general audience, the concert was an unmistakable +success. The room was fairly filled, and enough money taken to cover +expenses. This, however, by the way. The circumstance most worthy of +record is that artist and public found themselves _en rapport_. The +performer had the infallible instinct of having with him the sympathy of +his hearers, and played his best, giving out what was really in him as +he had probably never been able to do before his indifferent or +sceptical audiences in Germany. A friendly reception was accorded to the +quartet, which was followed with close attention. Enthusiasm could +scarcely have been looked for on a first hearing of so original a work. +The variations and fugue, however, called forth a storm of applause that +was renewed after the performance of Schumann's fantasia, the divine +last movement of which was given with ideal insight and noble +inspiration. The press notices, though respectful, were disappointing in +regard to Brahms the composer. + + 'The quartet by no means pleased us, and we are glad that the + unfavourable impression it created was obliterated by the + variations which followed....' Hanslick wrote (_die Presse_). + 'Brahms' talent has hitherto been displayed at its best in + variation form, which requires, above all, facility in inventing + figures, and unity of mood.... The unsatisfactory features of his + creative style are more apparent in the quartet. The first subject + has not enough significance. The composer chooses themes rather + with a view to their capacity for contrapuntal treatment than on + account of their intrinsic merit, and those of the quartet sound + dry and flat.... The quartet and others of the composer's works + remind us of Schumann's last period; the early works of his first + period; but none of Brahms' yet known compositions can take their + place beside those of Schumann's ripe middle period.' + +As a pianist, Brahms was mentioned in the papers in more decided terms +of appreciation. Bagge says: + + 'We have to bestow high praise not only on the enormous technical + acquirement, but also on a performance instinct with musical + genius, on a treatment of the instrument as fascinating as it was + original.' + +The playing of Bach's organ toccata is especially mentioned in terms of +high admiration; the touch employed for the passages written for the +pedals 'gave the pianoforte the effect of an organ.' The performance of +each number was musical through and through, and although 'he has not +the unfailing certainty nor the outward brilliancy of the virtuoso, he +reaches and fascinates his audience by other means.' + +The delightful natural letter to his parents, published by Reimann, +written after the concert, shows the pleasure derived by Brahms from +feeling his audience in sympathy with him: + + 'DEAR PARENTS, + + 'I was very happy yesterday, my concert went quite excellently, + much better than I had hoped. + + 'After the quartet had been sympathetically received, I had great + success as a player. Every number was greatly applauded, I think + there was real enthusiasm in the room. + + 'Now I could very well give concerts, but I do not wish to do so, + for it takes up too much time so that I can do nothing else.... + + 'I played as freely as though I were sitting at home with friends; + one is certainly influenced quite differently by the public than by + ours. + + 'You should have seen the attention and seen and heard the + applause.... I am very glad I gave the concert. You are probably + rid of your guests again now and will be able to find a moment of + time to write to me? + + 'Tell the contents of this letter to Herr Marxsen and say also that + Börsendorfer[1] will not be able to send a piano before the New + Year as so many are required for concerts. Shall I see about + another for him? I await orders.... + + 'I think my serenade will be given next Monday. + + 'I should have liked to introduce some of my vocal things in my + concert yesterday, but it gave me a terrible amount of running + about and unpleasantness and that is one of my reasons for wishing + to be quiet now.[2] + + 'Did you sit together on Wednesday over the egg-punch? Write to me + about it and anything else.[3] + + 'The publishers here, especially Spina and Levi, have been pressing + me for things since the quartet, but much pleases me better in + North Germany and particularly the publishers, and I would rather + go without the two or three extra Louis-d'ors that these would + perhaps pay. + + 'Does Avé often go to see you? Has he told you anything particular + about Stockhausen? + + 'How about the photograph of the girls' quartet? Am I not to have + it? N.B. Every time I write I forget to ask about Fritz.... Is he + very industrious? He ought to make up his mind to give Trio + concerts in Hamburg next winter. I would help him in every way.... + + 'Write soon and have love + 'from your + 'JOHANNES. + + 'Hearty greetings to Herr Marxsen, and do not forget about + Börsendorfer.'[4] + +The two Pianoforte Quartets were despatched to Simrock, and were +published by the firm early in 1863--the first one in G minor, being +dedicated to Baron Reinhard von Dalwigk, Court Intendant to the +Grand-Duke of Oldenburg, a really musical amateur and a warm supporter +of Brahms; and the second, in A major, to Frau Dr. Elisabeth Rösing of +Hamm, in whose house it was written. + +The tone of the above extracts tells how lovingly the composer's +thoughts turned to his home at the moment he was feeling conscious of a +real success; and the question about Stockhausen may be taken as an +indication of the clinging wistfulness with which he was bringing +himself to resign the hope of being able to settle near his family as +conductor of the Philharmonic--a position he would at the time have been +proud to accept. The decision of the committee was now almost a foregone +conclusion, though it was not formally arrived at till the following +year. What it was may be told in the following extract from a letter +written to Avé Lallement on January 31, 1863, by Joachim, whose +influence with the committee had been energetically exerted in favour of +his Johannes: + + '... What can I say further about your plan with Stockhausen? You + know how highly I esteem his talent, and he is certainly the best + musician among the singers, but how anyone, having to choose the + director of a concert institution between him and Johannes, can + decide for the former, I, with my limited musical understanding, + cannot comprehend! It is precisely as a man upon whom one can rely + that I regard Johannes so highly, with his gifts and his will! + There is nothing he cannot undertake, and, with his earnestness, + overcome! You know that as well as I, and if all of you in the + committee and orchestra had met him with confidence and affection + (as you, his friend, always do in private) instead of with doubt + and airs of protection, it would have removed the asperity from his + nature; whereas it must constantly make him more bitter, with his + touching, almost childlike patriotism for Hamburg, to see himself + put second. I dare not dwell on the thought, it would make me too + unhappy, that his narrow compatriots have deprived themselves of + the means of making him more contented and gentle, and happier in + the exercise of his genius. I should like to give the committee a + moral cudgelling (and a bodily one too!) for having left you in the + lurch with your plan. The slight to Johannes will not be forgotten + in the history of art! But basta!'[5] + +To the advertisement of the Hamburg Philharmonic programme of March 6, +1863, the words were added, 'Herr Julius Stockhausen has kindly +undertaken to conduct the second and third numbers'; and a fortnight +later Stockhausen's appointment as capellmeister to the society for the +following season, 1863-64, was announced. + +Meanwhile Johannes in Vienna may still, in the beginning of November, +1862, have clung to hope in view of the forthcoming performance of his +serenade at the Gesellschaft concert of the 14th under Herbeck. The +reception of the work proved, in fact, as favourable as might reasonably +have been expected. It was listened to with respect by public and +critics, and some of its parts, notably the first minuet, were greeted +with manifestations of decided approval. + +'The serenade, a fine, interesting, and intellectual work, deserved +warmer acknowledgment,' wrote Speidel in the _Wiener Zeitung_. +Hanslick, in the _Presse_, pronounced it one of the most charming of +modern orchestral compositions, but took exception to the first subject +of the opening movement, as he had objected to that of the A major +Quartet, as being workable rather than original or significant. + + 'The first minuet seems to us the pearl of the work and perhaps the + prettiest movement as yet written by Brahms. The instrumental + colouring and the grace of the melody give it the characteristic of + night music, and it is full of moonlight and the scent of lilac.' + +A remarkable review--remarkable from its admirable appreciation of +Brahms' creative personality--was despatched to Leipzig by the Vienna +correspondent of the _Neue Zeitschrift_, who signs himself 'S.,' and +appeared in the Vienna résumé contained in the paper's issue of March +23: + + 'As regards Brahms' serenade which has been favourably received, + albeit in my opinion too severely criticised, only thus much; it is + one of the most charming examples, not only of the class of + composition from which it has sprung, but of all that has followed + Beethoven up to the comprehensive conquests, as to contents and + form, of the rising New Germany. + + 'It is fresh and rich in themes of which nearly every one is + pervaded by a rare grace, and a brightness of tone becoming every + day more unusual. The score convincingly exhibits, moreover, one of + the most prominent sides of Brahms' musical individuality. I would + call this a power of refashioning, in the best spirit of the + present day, the contrapuntal forms of canon and fugue and of their + degenerate and inferior representatives. Brahms succeeds in this, + as in the majority of his works, in reconsecrating and carrying on + the spiritual treasure inherited from Bach, Beethoven and Schumann, + in the light of modernity. This fundamental characteristic is still + more striking in a second great work of the composer, for the + hearing of which opportunity is promised. I will therefore go on to + remark on the orchestral colouring of the serenade, which, without + being exaggerated, is, throughout, fresh and significant of + youthful power. I should find it very difficult to express a + preference for either of the six movements, whilst to speak of + either of the several parts of this, in its way, masterly whole as + inferior in excellence to others, appears to me utterly impossible. + The _vox populi_, however, with which the principal journals here + coincide on this occasion, has pronounced in favour of the first + minuet and scherzo and the certainly wonderfully tender slow + movement.' + +Brahms appeared on December 20 at Frau Passy-Cornet's concert in the +Vereinsaal, playing Beethoven's E flat Sonata for pianoforte and violin +with Hellmesberger, and some Schumann solos (Romance and Novelette), +and, in spite of his frequently avowed distaste for public appearances, +gave a second concert on January 6, 1863, in order to bring forward some +of his songs. On this occasion he played Bach's Chromatic Fantasia, +Beethoven's C minor Variations, his own Sonata in F minor Op. 5, and +Schumann's Sonata in the same key Op. 14, with omission of the scherzo. + + 'Brahms' playing,' wrote the Vienna correspondent of the _Signale_, + 'is always attractive and convincing. His rendering of Bach's + Chromatic Fantasia and of Beethoven's Variations was of the highest + interest.... After repeated recalls Brahms treated his audience to + another piece, a four-hand march by Schubert arranged for two + hands. The delightful freshness of this composition gave no little + pleasure.' + +Frau Wilt, one of the first resident singers, performed several of the +concert-giver's songs, amongst them being 'Treue Liebe' (Op. 7, No. 1), +'Parole' (Op. 7, No. 2), and 'Liebestreue' ('O versenk,' Op. 3, No. 1). + + 'This new experience was most agreeable and welcome to the whole + public. All these songs breathe a fine sensibility, and are full of + truth to life and nature.' + +This second concert, indeed, stamped Brahms' visit to Vienna with the +seal of decisive and permanent success--a success not immediately wide +or popular, but which marked the beginning of a new epoch in the musical +life of the city. Though he could not stoop to the attempt to dazzle his +public by phenomenal feats of virtuosity, the grace, tenderness, and +truth of his musical nature appealed to his southern audience, whilst +the significance of his genius dawned on the perception of one or two +discerning musicians. In a word, he had found a public which partially +understood him; and a performance of the second serenade was announced +for one of the Philharmonic concerts. + +Before the opening of the New Year, musical attention in Vienna was +turned to Richard Wagner, who conducted three concerts devoted to +selections from his own compositions, and was received and discussed +with the extremes of enthusiasm and disapproval that usually attended +his appearances and the early productions of his works. + + 'One evening,' writes Hanslick many years later,[6] 'when we + listened to Brahms' sextet after attending a concert of excerpts + from Wagner's "Tristan" in the afternoon, it was as though we were + suddenly transported to a world of pure beauty.[7] ... The general + impression made in public by the two men was almost as different as + that of their music. Brahms approached the conductor's desk with + almost awkward modesty; he responded reluctantly and doubtfully to + the most stormy calls and could not disappear again quickly + enough.' + +The attraction felt by Hanslick for Brahms' art increased with each +opportunity of becoming acquainted with it. He secured his services as +pianist at a lecture on Beethoven--one of a series--given by him in +January, when Johannes, whose pianistic répertoire was almost +inexhaustible, performed the thirty-three Variations on a waltz by +Diabelli. + +Wagner remained at Penzing, a suburb of Vienna, until the spring, and +Brahms, who was on cordial terms with Tausig and Cornelius, paid him a +visit in Tausig's company. He was much pleased by Wagner's reception of +him, and spoke heartily of the pleasure he had found in his society. +There was no future personal intercourse between the two composers, who +were too widely separated by disposition, tastes, and artistic faith to +grow into intimacy, though it should never be forgotten that Brahms +felt, from first to last, immense respect for Wagner's gifts and +achievement. + +One of our composer's engrossing occupations during his nearly eight +months' stay in Vienna was the study of Schubert's manuscripts, which +Spina was delighted to show him, generously allowing him to copy from +them for his own pleasure as he felt inclined. Shortly before his return +home he sent some of the treasures thus obtained for Dietrich's perusal. + + '... It occurs to me that I can send you my Marienlieder and + Variations for four hands which arrived lately, and I enclose with + them some extracts from an Easter cantata of Schubert's which I + copied from the manuscript. They are not specially selected + portions of Lazarus. By no means; I merely wrote the beginning and + end of the first part. The music is as fine throughout; Simon's + aria--oh, if I could send you the whole, you would be enchanted + with such loveliness!...' + +He decides to send in the same parcel, for Albert's inspection, the +string quintet which he had taken to Vienna to get quite to his liking. + +The second Serenade was announced for the Philharmonic concert of March +8 as the opening number of the programme, to be followed by Joachim's +Hungarian Concerto, with Laub as solo violinist, and this by a new +symphony by M. Kässmeyer--an astonishingly progressive list, which was +due to Dessoff's influence and was approvingly remarked upon by Hanslick +in his review of the 11th of the month. Meanwhile difficulties presented +themselves.[8] The discontent of the members of the orchestra was +apparent during the first rehearsals of Brahms' work; complaints were +heard of the great difficulty of performing many of the passages, and at +the general rehearsal open mutiny broke out. The first clarinettist +suddenly rose, and, in the name of the body of instrumentalists, +declared their refusal to perform the composition. Dessoff, white with +agitation, instantly replied by laying down his bâton and announcing his +resignation of the post of conductor; Hellmesberger, as concertmeister, +followed suit, and the first flutist, Franz Doppler, a celebrated +performer, joined them. This decided matters. The malcontents gave way, +the rehearsal proceeded, and the performance on the 8th was so greatly +appreciated by the public that R. Hirsch, who made his début as Brahms' +critic in the _Wiener Zeitung_ in connexion with the occasion, and who +for many years systematically (and perhaps conscientiously) decried his +works, could find nothing worse to say than that the serenade would find +many friends amongst those able to content themselves with modest gifts. + + 'Brahms should be on his guard against excess of things. The + exorbitant applause raised by his friends had the effect of + procuring him very loud hisses from other parties.' + + 'If either of the younger composers has the right not to be + ignored, it is Brahms,' wrote Hanslick. 'He has shown himself, in + each of his lately-performed works, as an independent, original + individuality, a finely-organized, true, musical nature, as an + artist ripening towards mastership by means of unwearied, conscious + endeavour. His A major Serenade is the younger, tender sister of + the one in D lately produced by the Gesellschaft and is conceived + in the same peaceful, dreamy garden mood.... The work had an + extremely favourable reception. The hearty applause became + proportionately greater at the close as the modest composer made + himself ever smaller in his seat in the gallery.' + +Hanslick pronounced the Hungarian Concerto + + 'a tone-poem full of mind and spirit, of energy and tenderness. One + might almost regret Joachim's achievements as a virtuoso, which + must be the only cause that his powers are so seldom concentrated + on the composition of a great work.' + +The music season was now coming to a close, but the many attractions of +Vienna--and not least among them its beautiful neighbourhood, with which +Brahms' frequent long walks with Nottebohm, Faber, Epstein, and others +gradually made him familiar--inclined him to stay on for some weeks +longer; and it was not until the spring had well set in that he set out +for Hanover _en route_ for Hamburg, carrying with him many new +possessions as mementoes of his visit, engravings of some of his +favourite pictures in the Belvedere Gallery,[9] and the entire +collection of the then published works of Schubert, presented to him by +Spina, being the principal. He had a particular reason for wishing to +pass a day or two with his friend. He was to be introduced to Fräulein +Amalie Weiss, to whom Joachim had lately become engaged. This lady had +entered into a three years' engagement as first contralto on the stage +of the Hanover court opera in the spring of 1862, and it was not long +before her gifts attracted the enthusiastic interest of the celebrated +court concertmeister of the same capital. The two artists were betrothed +in February, 1863, and the birthday of the Queen of Hanover, April 14, +was celebrated by a festival performance of Gluck's 'Orpheus,' +conducted, by Her Majesty's express desire, by Joachim, in which +Fräulein Weiss appeared with brilliant success in the title-rôle. +Brahms, on his arrival a little later on, was a delighted witness of a +repetition of the opera. Frau Amalie Joachim, who retired from the stage +on her marriage (June, 1863), gradually acquired a very great reputation +as a concert-singer, and was a much-admired interpreter of Brahms' +songs. + +Brahms returned to Hamburg on May 5, and, after passing his thirtieth +birthday with his family, took a lodging at Blankenese, on the Elbe, +where an unexpected meeting with some of the former members of his +Ladies' Choir agreeably reminded him of the charming society that had +now quite fallen through, having served its purpose in the composer's +course of self-training. Various plans for work and recreation for the +summer and autumn months were under consideration, but were to be set +aside. Before the month was out, Brahms received a convincing proof of +the impression his visit had made in Vienna by getting a call to return +there. The post of conductor to the Singakademie had fallen vacant by +the death of Stegmayer, and, at the general meeting of the society in +the course of May, Brahms was elected successor to the post. There was a +severe competition between two sections of the members, a large and +influential party, led by Prince Constantin Czartoriska, being strongly +in favour of the election of Franz Krenn, an excellent musician of the +old school, who belonged to Vienna as choir-master of the parish church +of St. Michael, and professor of composition at the conservatoire, and +who had conducted one of the Singakademie concerts during Stegmayer's +illness. It happened, however, that amongst those members of the +committee who desired that the practices and performances of the society +should be placed under the direction of a young, resolute, and energetic +musician, were several gentlemen belonging to the circle of enthusiastic +admirers of Brahms' art which had sprung into existence almost +simultaneously with his first appearance in Vienna, and had increased +with each opportunity that had offered itself there for the hearing of +his music. Amongst them were Dr. Scholz, a surgeon; Herr Adolf Schultz, +a merchant; and Herr Franz Flatz, an insurance official of Vienna; and +at their head Dr. Josef Gänsbacher, son of the distinguished musician +and church composer Johann Gänsbacher, the pupil of Vogler and +Albrechtsberger, acquaintance of Haydn and Beethoven, friend of Weber +and Meyerbeer, and capellmeister of the cathedral from 1823 until his +death in 1844. + +Dr. Josef Gänsbacher, whose name has become known in the musical world +of many countries by its appearance on the title-page of Brahms' first +sonata for pianoforte and violoncello, was, in 1863, a young doctor of +jurisprudence and advocate's draughtsman. Later on he adopted music as a +profession, and became a valued teacher of singing, professor at the +conservatoire, and violoncellist. He was one of Brahms' earliest and +truest friends in Vienna, and became a devotee of his art even before +making his personal acquaintance. He had considerable influence with the +members of the Singakademie, and representatives of both sections of the +committee called on him at his bureau to solicit his help, Prince +Czartoriska presenting himself in person in Krenn's favour. Gänsbacher's +sympathies, however, were all the other way; and, being selected by his +party to make a speech at the general meeting in Brahms' interest, he +used such forcible arguments as to bring over several of Krenn's +supporters and to win the election for his own side by a majority of +one. + +It was in every way characteristic of our composer that he could not at +once decide either to accept or reject the offer of the appointment, and +was only at length brought to a resolution by a telegraphic request for +his final answer. + + 'The resolve to give away one's freedom for the first time is + exceptional,' he wrote to the committee, 'but anything coming from + Vienna sounds doubly pleasant to a musician and whatever may call + him thither is doubly attractive.'[10] + +Something of what it cost Brahms to send his affirmative decision may be +perceived in a letter to Hanslick, which indicates, also, the quick +advance of friendship between the two men: + + 'DEAR FRIEND, + + 'You will wonder that most glad and grateful reply has not arrived + sooner to yours and many other kind letters received by me. I seem + to myself as one who has been praised beyond desert, and should + like to creep into hiding for awhile. I resolved, on receipt of the + telegraphic despatch ... to be content with such a flattering + summons and not to tempt the gods further ... and since nothing + more is in question than whether I have the courage to say "yes," + it shall be so. Had I refused, my reasons would not have been + understood by the academy or by you Viennese generally....' + +These occurrences put an end to the various holiday projects which +Brahms had been considering. 'I cannot make up my mind to deprive my +parents of any of our short time together,' he wrote in answer to +Dietrich's pressing invitation, and remained quietly near and at +Hamburg. He began at once to occupy himself with plans for his +programmes, and begged Dietrich's advice 'as a very experienced and +learned court-conductor' on matters connected with his new duties. 'I +feel enormously diffident,' he says, 'about trying my talent for these +things in Vienna.' + +Allowing himself but three days _en route_ for a visit to beautiful +Lichtenthal, a suburb of Baden-Baden, where Frau Schumann had purchased +a house the previous year on giving up her residence in Berlin, Brahms +was back again in Vienna by the last week of August, and soon engaged +with characteristic earnestness in work connected with his new +appointment. His scheme for the weekly practices of the Singakademie +season included works by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and +masters of the earlier period whose music was a speciality of the +society. The first concert of the season 1863-64, given on November 15 +under his direction, presented the following programme: + + 1. Bach: Cantata, 'Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss.' + (First time in Vienna.) + + 2. Beethoven: 'Opferlied.' + + 3. H. Isaak (late + 15th cent.): Three German Folk-songs-- + _a._ 'Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen.' + _b._ 'Es ist ein Schnitter heisst der Tod.' + _c._ 'Ich fahr dahin wenn es muss seyn.' + + 4. Schumann: 'Requiem für Mignon.' (First time in Vienna.) + +The co-operating artists were Frau Wilt and Frau Ferrari; Herr Danzer, +Herr Dalfy, and Herr Organist Bibl. No doubt could be felt at the close +of the performances of Brahms' gifts as a conductor. + + 'The concert was not only excellent in itself, but was, with + exception of the first performance in Vienna of Bach's "Matthew + Passion," by far the most noteworthy achievement in the record of + the Singakademie, and gave us the opportunity of recognising + Brahms' rare talent as a conductor.' + +Bach's cantata was rendered 'with splendid colouring and spiritual +insight'; the three delightful Volkslieder 'opened all hearts.' These +were received with such stormy applause that a fourth, not less +acceptable, was added. Considerable surprise seems to have been +excited, not by the conductor's inspired conception of the works +performed, but by the precision and clearness of his beat, which, +remarks one critic, + + 'could hardly have been expected of an artist who has shown + himself, in his creations and performances, so essentially a + romanticist and dreamer.' + +These last words sound strange as coming from a writer in Vienna who may +be supposed to have gained some knowledge of the serenades, the B flat +sextet, and the two pianoforte quartets, and they are quoted, not +because of their aptness, but as illustrating a difficulty which the +composer's individuality, reflected in his works as in a mirror, caused +for many a long year to some of his less competent, even though +friendly, critics--the difficulty of knowing how to classify him. From +an early period his determination was strong to bring the womanly +tenderness and dreamy romance that were in him under the complete +control of his energetic will, to give supreme dominance in art, as in +life, to understanding rather than to emotion, to possess and be master +of his powers; but, during the earlier years of his activity, the subtle +poetic charm dwelling within his works made itself felt by many +sympathetic listeners who could not immediately follow their +closely-woven texture, and who were puzzled by his independent +treatment--at times almost amounting to a re-creation--of traditional +form. Hence, he has not seldom been spoken of as essentially a +romanticist long since his position as the representative descendant of +Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven was recognised by those most competent to +judge. + +Meanwhile his art was gradually spreading through Europe. On November 10 +the first serenade was given at Zürich under Fichtelberger, the +conductor of the subscription concerts. The work deserved a warmer +reception than was accorded it, in the opinion of the _Neuer Zürcher +Zeitung_, whose critic recognised in Brahms a composer, not only of +profound knowledge, but of inborn genius. He did not commit himself to +pronouncement as to whether the composer's creative power would be of +sufficient force to discover really 'new paths,' or would prove better +qualified for making further developments within the already conquered +domain of musical art, but thought the serenade pointed to the latter +probability. + +The B flat Sextet was performed at a concert given in Hamburg in +November by Rosé and Stockhausen, whose friendship with Brahms had not +been allowed to suffer by the action of the Philharmonic committee. The +composition was given in Vienna at the Hellmesberger concert of December +27, when it awakened extraordinary interest and sympathy. In the +Austrian capital, as elsewhere, it was the first of the composer's +important works to become popular. + +Christmas Eve was passed with the Fabers, Brahms being, as ever, the +most cordial, happy, childlike guest. He continued, during the first +years of his subsequent residence in Vienna, to spend the festival with +these friends, who took pains to invite his favourite companions to meet +him. Nottebohm was always of the party. Amongst his presents one +Christmas for the gift-making ceremony at home in Hamburg, was a +sewing-machine for his sister, who had expressed a wish for such a +possession as a help in her employment. After the lapse of a few +seasons, however, Brahms for a great many years habitually declined all +invitations for Christmas Eve, only breaking his rule by occasionally +spending it with Frau Schumann. Within the last decade of his life he +again changed his custom, and passed the evening regularly in the happy +home circle of some friends to whom the reader will be introduced in a +later chapter. + +The second and third concerts of the Singakademie took place on January +6 and March 20, with the subjoined programmes: + + PROGRAMME OF JANUARY 6. + + 1. Mendelssohn: Eight-part Motet. + + 2. Joh. Eccard (1553-1611): 'The Christian's Easter + Day Song of Triumph' + (double chorus). + + 3. Heinrich Schütz (1583-1672): 'Saul's Conversion' + (triple chorus). + + 4. Giov. Gabrielli (1557-1613): 'Benedictus' (double + chorus). + + 5. Giov. Rovetta (1643-1668): 'Salve Regina.' + + 6. Beethoven: 'Elegischer Gesang' (chorus + with string accompaniment). + 7. Three German Folk-songs. + + 8. J. S. Bach: Motet, 'Liebster Gott wann + werd' ich sterben.' + + PROGRAMME OF MARCH 20. + + J. S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio. (First performance in Vienna.) + + With the assistance of the Imperial and Royal Court-Opera Orchestra. + +They do not seem to have been so successful as the first. The public +found the programme of January 6 monotonous. Hirsch, in his notice of +the concert in the _Wiener Zeitung_, goes so far as to speak of +'shipwreck,' while Hanslick himself owns that the performance of the +earlier numbers had the 'character of an improvisation or a practice +rather than a concert production.' The three German folk-songs (the two +last harmonized by Brahms) were so warmly received that the conductor's +Minnelied, 'Der Holdseliger' was given in addition. The success of the +Bach cantata was injured by a contretemps. The Börsendorfer piano, sent +in the absence of an organ, was too high in pitch and therefore +unavailable. + +The concert of March 20, at which the Christmas Oratorio was given, +seems to have been rather overshadowed by the performance of Bach's 'St. +John's Passion' by the Gesellschaft forces at a somewhat earlier date. + +The satisfaction and confidence extended to the conductor by the +Akademie remained undiminished, however, by the falling-off in the +success of the second and third public performances, and were expressed +at the close of the subscription season by the arrangement of an extra +concert devoted to Brahms' compositions. The instrumental numbers on +this occasion were the B flat Sextet, played by the Hellmesberger party, +and a Sonata for two pianofortes--in reality the arrangement in this +form of the manuscript string quintet with two violoncelli, to which +reference has already been made. Tausig, a great admirer of Brahms' +genius, who took the Paganini Variations under his especial care later +on, was the composer's colleague in the performance, for which, +therefore, every advantage was secured; but Brahms had not yet, as it +seemed, found the right medium for the expression of his thoughts. The +sonata fell flat, making no impression on the audience. There were +several vocal numbers, and amongst them was the charming 'Wechsellied +zum Tanze,' No. 1 of the three Quartets for solo voices, Op. 31, which +stand in an anticipatory relation to the 'Liebeslieder.' They show +Brahms in his graceful, playful, genial mood. The 'Wechsellied' is in +dance measure, and has two alternative melodies severally adapted to the +character of Goethe's verses--the first in E flat, allotted to the +contralto and bass, the 'indifferent' pair; the second in A flat, to the +soprano and tenor, the 'tender' pair. Brahms has delightfully expressed +the difference of mood animating the two couples, and, by the simple +device of writing the first of the two little duets in imitation, the +bass following the contralto at a bar's distance, has suggested a tone +of bright enjoyment which contrasts effectively with the romantic spirit +of the lovers' song. The four voices combine towards the close of the +composition, which comes to an end in the key of the lover's melody. + + ALTERNATIVE DANCE SONG BY GOETHE. + + THE INDIFFERENT PAIR. + + Come, fairest maid, come with me to the dancing; + Dancing belongs to our festival day. + Though not my sweetheart, yet that may soon follow, + Follows it never, then let us still dance. + Come, fairest maid, come with me to the dancing; + Dancing belongs to our festival day. + + THE TENDER PAIR. + + Loved one, without thee what were there in pleasure? + Sweet one, without thee what joy in the dance? + If not my sweetheart, what care I for dancing? + Art thou it ever, then life is a feast. + Loved one, without thee what were there in pleasure? + Sweet one, without thee what joy in the dance? + + THE INDIFFERENT PAIR. + + Let them go loving and let us go dancing! + Languishing love careth not for the dance. + Circle we gaily amid the gay couples, + Wander the others in forest's dim shade. + Let them go loving and let us go dancing, + Languishing love careth not for the dance. + + THE TENDER PAIR. + + Let them go twirling and let us go wander! + Wand'ring of lovers is heaven's own dance. + Cupid is near, and he hears them deriding, + Certain and swift he will have his revenge. + Let them go twirling and let us go wander, + Wand'ring of lovers is heaven's own dance. + +No. 2 of the same opus--'Neckereien' (Raillery), the text of which is a +Moorish folk-song, is full of graceful fun. In this the tenors and +basses alternate with the sopranos and contraltos; the youths court the +girls, who will rather be transformed into little doves, little fishes, +little hares, than have anything to do with them. The suitors, on the +other hand, hint that such changes may be of small avail against little +guns, little nets, little dogs. + +No. 3, also set to a national text, this time Bohemian, is a charming +four-part song, with a graceful accompaniment in waltz rhythm, and is +developed from the melody used by Brahms in No. 5 of his set of waltzes +for pianoforte. These quartets were composed at Detmold. + +On May 10 the annual foundation concert of the Singakademie took +place--as usual, before a private audience. The programme will be +perused with interest by English-speaking readers: + + 1. Schumann: First and second movements from + 'Requiem für Mignon.' + + 2. Haydn: Duet for Soprano and Tenor. + + 3. Schumann: Stücke im Volkston for Violoncello + and Pianoforte. + + 4. John Bennet (1599): Madrigal (for chorus). + + 5. John Morley (1595): Dance Song (for chorus). + + 6. Schumann: Two Duets from the 'Spanisches + Liederspiel.' + + 7. Brahms: Two Songs for Soprano. + + 8. Schumann: Fifth and sixth movements from the + 'Requiem für Mignon.' + +The fourth and fifth numbers of the programme were no doubt selected by +Brahms from a collection of early English madrigals, edited by J. J. +Maier of Munich. + +Our composer's appointment as conductor of the Singakademie lapsed at +the end of the season. By the rules of the society, election took place +triennially, and Stegmayer's death had left only a year to run. Brahms' +re-election was a matter of course, and was accepted by him, though not +without doubt and hesitation; but his resolution failed him later on, +and before the end of the summer he sent his resignation to the +committee. + +In the course of the year, Spina of Vienna (Cranz of Hamburg) published +a setting of the 13th Psalm for three-part women's Chorus, with +accompaniment for organ or pianoforte; and four Duets for Contralto and +Baritone, dedicated to Frau Amalie Joachim. Breitkopf and Härtel issued +two Motets for five-part mixed Chorus _a capella_ (the first set to a +verse of a church hymn by Paul Speratus, 1484-1551; the second to words +from the 51st Psalm); a Sacred Song by Paul Fleming, 1609-1640 (set for +two-part mixed Chorus, and written in double canon); and the three +Quartets for Solo voices to which we have already referred as Op. 31. + +Rieter-Biedermann published a set of nine Songs (Op. 32), No. 9 of which +is the exquisite 'Wie bist du meine Königin,' one of the most fragrant +love-songs ever composed; and a set of German Folk-songs, without opus +number, dedicated to the Vienna Singakademie. + +An Organ Fugue in A flat minor was published as a supplement to No. 29 +of the _Allgemeine Musikzeitung_, edited, as the reader may remember, by +Selmar Bagge. + +[1] Head of the celebrated Vienna firm of pianoforte-makers. + +[2] The _Deutsche Musikzeitung_ of November 29, the very day of the +concert, announces vocal duets and choruses by Brahms as part of the +programme. The review of the concert in the same paper concludes: 'Frau +Passy-Cornet and Herr Fürchtgott assisted the concert-giver, whose +programme was altered, by performing songs and ballads.' + +[3] Egg-punch was a birthday institution in the family. The Wednesday in +question was probably the birthday of Brahms' mother. + +[4] Reimann's 'Johannes Brahms.' Published in facsimile opposite p. 28. + +[5] Moser's 'Joseph Joachim,' p. 177. + +[6] 'Aus meinem Leben.' + +[7] Probably a private performance. Hellmesberger's published programmes +give the first concert performance of the work by his quartet party as +on December 27, 1863. + +[8] 'Brahms Erinnerungen,' by Franz Fribberg (_Berliner Tagblatt_, +December 18, 1898). + +N.B.--Fribberg was a member of the Philharmonic orchestra of Vienna at +the period in question. + +[9] The collection is now in the Imperial Gallery on the Burg Ring. + +[10] This and the extract immediately following are from some letters +first published by Hanslick in the _Neue Freie Presse_ of July 1, 1897, +and republished in _Am Ende des Jahrhunderts_ ('Der Modernen Oper,' Part +VIII.): 'Johannes Brahms.' + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + 1864-1867 + + Frau Schumann in Baden-Baden--Circle of friends there--Hermann + Levi--Madame Pauline Viardot-Garcia--The Landgräfin of Hesse and + the Pianoforte Quintet--Death of Frau Brahms--Concert-journey--The + Horn Trio--Frau Caroline Schnack--Last visit to Detmold--First + Sonata for Pianoforte and Violoncello--The German Requiem--Brahms + at Zürich--Billroth--Brahms and Joachim on a concert-tour in + Switzerland--Hans von Bülow--Reinthaler. + + +In the year 1864, or possibly at the end of 1863, the domestic troubles +that had arisen from Jakob Brahms' early marriage with a delicate woman +nearly twenty years his senior came to a crisis which Johannes, loving +both father and mother with tender devotion, could no longer bear. By +his wish the ill-assorted couple separated. Jakob had long since become +fairly prosperous in a small way, holding a recognised position as a +double-bass player amongst the orchestral musicians of Hamburg, and had +even been appointed a member of the Philharmonic band since +Stockhausen's election as the society's conductor. He now found quarters +for himself in the Grosser Bleichen; the home in the Fuhlentwiethe was +given up. Fritz, who, in spite of his want of energy, was doing well as +a teacher, took lodgings in Theaterstrasse, and Frau Brahms and Elise +removed to comfortable rooms in the Lange Reihe, Johannes, poor as he +was, taking upon himself the sole responsibility of their maintenance. +The time was still distant, in spite of the composer's steadily-growing +fame, when his circumstances were to become prosperous. Had money-making +been one of his immediate objects, he could certainly have attained it +with little difficulty; but his aims were wholly ideal, and directly +included pecuniary profit only so far as this was necessary for his own +decent maintenance and for the exercise of ungrudging generosity to his +family. His income, derived from the sale of his copyrights and from his +public activity as a pianist--for he practically gave up teaching on +going to Vienna--sufficed for these ends; he had learned from early +youth to find happiness in the realities of life, and to treat as +superfluities as many things as possible. The cultivation of happiness +he viewed, not only as a part of wisdom, but as a duty. 'Let us, so far +as we may, retain a fresh, happy interest in life, which we have at any +rate to live' was not with him a mere phrase to be offered for the +benefit of a friend in trouble, but one of the abiding principles by +which he shaped his own daily existence. + +No year would have been possible to Brahms without sight of his parents +and he stayed near them for part of the summer, his first visit after +embracing father and mother being, as usual, to Marxsen. Further plans +were not difficult to arrange, and chief among them was that of a long +visit to Baden-Baden. 'Johannes took us by surprise on July 30' is Frau +Schumann's entry, in her diary, of his arrival. He stayed on for the +remainder of the season, residing in a charming villa close to the +grounds of the Kurhaus, which was placed at his disposal by Rubinstein, +who had taken it for the summer, but left in August. + +Frau Schumann's residence at Baden-Baden brought in its train results +which are of much interest in the history of Brahms' career. The +not-distant capital of the duchy of Baden, Carlsruhe, was to become, in +the course of the next few years, an important centre for the +cultivation of his art. It seems convenient, therefore, to mention at +once the names of a few members of a group of friends belonging to Frau +Schumann's circle who resided or stayed frequently in the neighbourhood, +and with whom Brahms became more or less intimate. + +Jakob Rosenhain (born 1813), a composer now forgotten, but esteemed in +his day, and recognised both by Schumann and Mendelssohn, lived at +Baden-Baden, and was sometimes to be met at Frau Schumann's house. His +name heads the programme of Johannes' first public concert of 1848. The +painter Anselm Feuerbach (1829-1880), a little-known and disappointed +man in 1864, whose art has attained great posthumous celebrity, came +annually with his mother to pass a few weeks there. The name of Frau +Henriette Feuerbach appears on the title-page of Brahms' work 'Nänie,' +which was composed soon after the premature death of her son. With the +mention of Feuerbach must be associated that of Julius Allgeyer, +introduced to our readers in an early chapter as a student of +copperplate engraving at Düsseldorf, and now settled in Carlsruhe as a +high-art photographer. Allgeyer had a genius for friendship. He was +extraordinarily attached to Feuerbach, of whose art he made himself the +apostle; but though his four years' residence in Rome (1856-1860) in +close intercourse with the painter caused an interruption of his +personal intimacy with Brahms, the two men remained in occasional +correspondence, and held each other in cordial esteem. Now the old +friendship was renewed, and it was not long before Brahms came to occupy +a place in the engraver's affections second only to that of Feuerbach. +The thought that he had known and loved both musician and painter +through the period of their dawning fame was, in after-years, a source +of satisfaction and pride to Allgeyer, whose name has become well known +in Germany as that of Feuerbach's biographer. + +In the middle of the sixties Carlsruhe, under the encouragement of its +reigning Grand-Duke Frederick, occupied an exceptionally brilliant +position amongst the smaller European centres of dramatic and musical +art, to which it had been raised by the talents and devotion of Edward +Devrient, the eminent stage-director of its court theatre, whose name +may be familiar to some English readers as that of one of Mendelssohn's +intimate friends. A man of wide general culture, the author of the +standard work on its subject--'The History of German Dramatic +Art'--playwright, singer, actor, possessed of an intimate knowledge of +the best traditions of the German stage in the wide sense that includes +opera, which had been derived from thirty years of professional +association with the court theatres of Berlin and Dresden, Devrient was +an ideal man for his post. His own sympathies remained faithful to the +classical school of opera upon which his taste had been formed, but he +did not allow his devotion to Gluck and Mozart and his interest in the +revival of works of an early period to narrow the sphere of his +activity. Taking a broad view of the duties of his position, he +recognised the claim to hearing of the New-German school, and several of +Wagner's musical dramas had been performed in the Carlsruhe court +theatre by his permission, if not on his initiative, before his +resignation of his post soon after the celebration of his artistic +jubilee in April, 1869. + +Not the least of his services to music was his choice of a successor to +the post of court capellmeister at Carlsruhe, which fell vacant on the +resignation of Joseph Strauss (not of the celebrated Vienna family) +early in 1864. By recommending Hermann Levi (1839-1900) for the +appointment, famous after the middle of the seventies amongst the famous +Wagner conductors, and director of the first performances of 'Parsifal' +(July-August, 1882), and by the generosity with which he permitted the +youthful musician to profit by the fruits of his own ripe experience, he +contributed in no small degree towards perfecting the technical +education of an artist whose name will be remembered in musical history +as amongst those of the great in his chosen branch of activity. + +A gifted pupil of the Leipzig Conservatoire, Levi resolved, at an early +age, to aim at achieving distinction as a conductor, and, on entering +the service of the Grand-Duke of Baden in his twenty-sixth year, he had +already laid the foundation of his future celebrity in successive posts +at Saarbrück, Mannheim, and Rotterdam. He had a large and enthusiastic +nature which caused him to reject the formal and stereotyped in art and +to sympathize with what seemed to him genuinely progressive, and, +becoming early in his career a great admirer of Schumann's music, he +passed easily to a recognition of the genius of Brahms, with whom he +had a slight acquaintance before settling at Carlsruhe. + +The singer Hauser, the violoncellist Lindner, the hornist Segisser, the +authoress Fräulein Anna Ettlinger--all resident in Carlsruhe--the +learned Oberschulrath Gustav Wendt, called there in 1867, whose rooms +were the scene of many distinguished gatherings, are to be included in +our list; and of particular interest is the name of the violoncellist +Bernhard Cossmann, of Weimar celebrity, who settled at Baden-Baden in +1870. Brahms was a willing and heartily welcome visitor at his house, +and took part there in performances of his E minor Violoncello Sonata, +and, with the hornist Steinbrügger, of the Horn Trio. + +A noteworthy and picturesque figure, familiar in the artist circle, was +that of Tourgenieff, who visited Baden-Baden annually from early in the +sixties until the opening of the seventies. In conclusion is to be added +the name of Pauline Viardot-Garcia, who settled at Baden in 1863, +building a spacious villa in the Lichtenthaler Allée for her summer +residence, which contained a gallery of fine paintings, chiefly of the +Spanish and Netherlands schools. Amongst her possessions was Mozart's +autograph score of 'Don Giovanni,' which she kept enshrined in a +valuable casket. Madame Viardot was a musician in a very comprehensive +sense of the word. Her triumphs on the operatic stage belong to the +history of musico-dramatic art; she had been a pupil of Liszt on the +pianoforte, had studied counterpoint and composition, and composed a +good deal. Several of her operettas, for which Tourgenieff furnished the +text-books, were performed privately by her pupils and children in her +miniature theatre in Baden-Baden, where she was accustomed to entertain +many of the celebrities of the time. One was given in German translation +by Richard Pohl, as 'Der letzte Zauberer,' on the Court stages of +Carlsruhe and Weimar. At the request of some of her girl pupils, Brahms +composed a short choral serenade for her birthday one summer subsequent +to our present date, and conducted its performance by the young ladies, +outside her house, at an early hour of the morning. This pleasant +incident of the seventies recalls that of the forties, when the youthful +Johannes consented to fill the offices of composer and conductor at +Winsen on the occasion of Rector Köhler's birthday. + +Brahms was presented by Frau Schumann, in the course of this his first +lengthened stay at Baden-Baden, to the Princess Anna, Landgräfin of +Hesse on an occasion when the two artists performed his sonata for two +pianofortes privately before Her Royal Highness. The work, which, as we +have seen, had failed to win public sympathy when performed in a Vienna +concert-room, made its mark on this occasion. It appealed strongly to +the royal listener, who, at the close of the last movement, warmly +expressed to the composer her sense of its beauty. Brahms, gratified and +pleased at the Princess's unreserved appreciation, called on her the +following day, and begged permission, which was readily granted, to +dedicate the work to her; and on its publication the following year in +its final form--a quintet for pianoforte and strings--Her Royal +Highness's name appeared on the title-page. The Princess acknowledged +the compliment of the dedication by presenting Brahms with one of her +treasures--the autograph score of Mozart's G minor Symphony. It passed +after his death, as part of his library, into the possession of the +Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna. + +An interesting reference to the dedication and the time is in the +possession of the present Landgraf of Hesse, whose musical talent was +recognised and encouraged by Brahms twenty years later, and is contained +in a letter of thanks written by the master in 1892 on the dedication to +him of a fantasia for pianoforte published that year by the Prince: + + 'YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS MOST GRACIOUS HERR LANDGRAF! + + 'Whilst I venture to express to Your Royal Highness my most + respectful and hearty thanks for the dedication of the fantasia, + very many and very pleasant recollections occur to me. + + 'The high and agreeable distinction, as which I regard the + dedication, reminds me of the similar pleasure I experienced when + I was permitted to inscribe my quintet to your highly-honoured + mother, the Frau Landgräfin. That was in beautiful Baden-Baden, and + it would be too tempting to go on chatting about the unforgettable + music-hours and pleasant days; but much else crowds upon the + memory: Meiningen, Frankfurt, Vienna, Baden, etc. I think that by + my mere mention of these names Y.R.H. will know what a valued + memorial your work and its dedication, by which I am so much + honoured, will be to me of many pleasant times. + + 'With my hearty thanks for the valuable present, I unite the wish + that our glorious art may bring to Y.R.H. many more hours as happy + as those were of which this fantasia gives such convincing testimony. + + 'Your Royal Highness's deeply obliged + 'JOHANNES BRAHMS. + + 'VIENNA, _Jan. 1892_.' + +On September 12 Frau Joachim's first child was born, and there was no +doubt as to what he should be called. Johannes must, of course, be +godfather, and give his name to Joachim's boy. Brahms was not present at +the christening, but he sent to the parents as his congratulatory gift +the manuscript of the little song published long afterwards as No. 2 of +Op. 91, the 'Geistliches Wiegenlied,' or, as it is called in the +published translated title, 'The Virgin's Cradle Song.' The words are +imitated by Geibel from a text of Lope de Vega, 'Die ihr schwebt um +diese Palmen' (Ye who o'er these palms are hov'ring). The music, +composed for contralto, viola, and pianoforte, is founded upon the +melody of an old song,[11] which, given in Brahms' composition to the +viola, serves as the basis for the contrapuntal treatment of the voice +and pianoforte parts. + +Brahms left Baden-Baden on October 10, and, returning to Vienna, passed +the next few weeks in quiet pursuit of his ordinary avocations, happy at +knowing himself in complete possession of his time, yet perhaps not +without an occasional passing regret at the thought of the pleasure he +had derived the previous season, as conductor of the Singakademie, from +his association with choir and orchestra. The change he had advised in +the family arrangements at Hamburg was not greatly to prolong for his +mother the peaceful old age he had desired to secure for her. Frau +Brahms had taken her last farewell of her dearly-loved son when he +quitted Hamburg in the summer. Her health, which had for some time been +growing weaker, continued to fail, and on February 2, 1865, she quietly +breathed her last. + +Johannes, who took the next train to Hamburg after receiving his +sister's summons, arrived soon after all was over, and turned +immediately towards his mother's bed-chamber. He had once before passed +through a great sorrow, but in Schumann's case death had come in the +guise of a friend. This was another kind of bereavement, and the loss of +the dear, simply-loving old mother wrung his heart. 'Do not go in yet, +Hannes,' said Elise, trying to prevent him, and, indeed, as he passed on +into the room the sudden complete realization of the mother's tenderness +gone from his life broke down his self-command on the instant. He knelt +down by the quiet bed and sobbed aloud in uncontrollable grief. When he +had somewhat collected himself he presently went out. Solitude, however, +often welcome to him, was not what he wanted to-day, nor over-much +sympathy, but affection--and affection of a kind that perhaps may have +seemed to him something akin to the assured, unreasoning mother's love. +He turned into kind Frau Cossel's and asked her to let him have a child. +His own little goddaughter Johanna was most willingly at his service as +a companion, and as soon as she was ready the pair walked away together +hand in hand back to Elise, the little girl somewhat awed by the +situation and the changed demeanour of the friend whom she was +accustomed to regard as the merriest of her companions, but glad to be +in his society on any terms. Leaving his godchild with Elise, Johannes +almost immediately went out again, and returned after a while with his +father, whom he drew with him into the adjoining room, accidentally +leaving the door of communication a little open. The scene of the +death-chamber was thus made visible to the frightened Johanna from her +position in the parlour, and imprinted itself indelibly on her brain. +She watched it spellbound, and was not too young a child to be +penetrated and touched by what she saw. + +The two men stood together by the bedside for a few seconds without +stirring. Then Johannes, putting his hand on his father's arm, gently +guided it towards the motionless figure, and, placing the husband's hand +over that of the dead wife, kept both covered with his own in a last +reconciliation. Kind friends came to the funeral, and true sympathy was +at hand, but Johannes shrank in his grief from hearing the expression of +condolence. 'I have no mother now: I must marry,' he said miserably when +the service was over. Stockhausen and his wife insisted that he and +Elise should dine quietly with them that day, and there is little doubt +that Brahms was helped by the affectionate consideration shown on all +sides, and was quietly grateful for it. He returned to his work in a few +days, but the responsibility for the maintenance of Elise, who, having +strongly felt the mother's side of the family difficulties, shrank from +the idea of rejoining her father, remained entirely his. + +The two first books of the 'Magelone Romances,' dedicated to +Stockhausen, and the Pianoforte Quintet were published by +Rieter-Biedermann early in the year. The version of the quintet as a +Sonata for two Pianofortes was issued by the same house in 1872. + +The Quintet in F minor, Op. 34, is unquestionably one of the greatest +works of chamber music for pianoforte and strings ever written. Some +distinguished writers go so far as to give it the first place amongst +the composer's works of its class; and if regard be had to the +largeness of its proportions, the stormy grandeur and the deep pathos of +its ideas, its extraordinary wealth of thematic material, and the +astonishing power with which this is handled, it must be admitted that +there is something to be said in support of such a view. To the author +it certainly appears impossible to select one of Brahms' works of this +period and this class for preference as compared with the others. All +are so great as, so to say, to defy future competition. They seem as +unapproachable and secure on their own lines as the immortal '48' +themselves in another category. The imaginative power which surges +through the first movement of the quintet recalls the daring of the +youthful Johannes, and is guided now by a master-hand. This movement +dominates the whole work. Its contrasted tones of passionate splendour +and scarcely less passionate mystery are reflected in the rich pathos of +the 'andante un poco adagio,' in the weird fitfulness of the scherzo +with its heart-gripping trio, and in the doubtful tranquillity of the +finale, bursting in the coda into a rushing impetuosity which carries +the movement to a triumphant conclusion. Few of Brahms' compositions +contain more striking illustrations than this one of his power of +fertilizing his themes and bringing new, out of previous, material, a +power which gives to his works a coherence and solidity hardly equalled +save in the compositions of Bach himself, and which has a certain +artistic analogy with the secret force that governs all natural organic +development. + +The summer of this year was again spent near Frau Schumann. Brahms took +lodgings--two small rooms well provided with windows--in Frau Becker's +house, which was situated a little apart from the village of Lichtenthal +in an idyllic spot amongst the hills. His plan of life, essentially the +same wherever he fixed his summer residence, was to rise with the dawn, +and, after making himself an early cup of coffee, to enjoy the fresh +delights of early morning by going for a long walk in the surrounding +forest. He then returned to work in his rooms until the time arrived +for his mid-day dinner, taken usually in the garden of the 'Golden +Lion'; for in these days he only dined occasionally, when accompanied by +a friend, at the somewhat more expensive 'Bear.' By four o'clock he was +generally in Frau Schumann's balcony for afternoon coffee and to pass an +hour with her in music, conversation, or walking. More often than not he +returned to supper at half-past seven, when his place was laid at table, +as a matter of course, at Frau Schumann's right hand. + +All the circumstances of his surroundings were favourable to his +creative activity, which was unceasing, and the profound emotional +experience that had recently moved and enriched his spirit had already +caused in him the stirrings of the impulse that was to grow and +gradually to dominate him until it had become embodied in a work which, +had it been the only child of his genius known to the world, would have +sufficed to immortalize his name. + +Before Brahms' departure from Lichtenthal a communication from Hamburg +added to his feelings of tenderness and regret the shadow of a grave +family apprehension. + +Having accepted engagements in Switzerland and Germany for the +ante-Christmas concert-season, he remained on till the end of October in +his quarters at Frau Becker's, and here, about a week before the +commencement of his _tournée_, he received the news that his father had +resolved to marry again, and had become engaged to a widow. The +intelligence, such as it was, came direct from Jakob, but it contained +no particulars whatever to soften the anxiety it aroused, no mention +being made in it even of the name of the intended wife, and it threw the +son into a state of the strongest agitation, in which the tender pang +for the dear old mother may very possibly not have been the +predominating element. Who could the wife-elect be? Would she make Jakob +happy? Could the marriage state be happy except under the rarest +combination of circumstances? Were there children of the widow's first +marriage to be provided for? if so, by whom? Jakob's means could bear no +additional burden. And yet, the dear, homely, uncultured father, often +enough a butt for the wit of the younger musicians standing by his side +in the Philharmonic orchestra; this musician without musical endowment, +who loved his music and his instruments, as Johannes sometimes declared, +if such affection were to be measured by proof given, better even than +he himself loved his art; who had persevered doggedly through long years +of privation and struggle in his endeavours to attain to some small +place in the world of art, and had won it, his father--and it needs no +prophet to realize the pathos of this thought to the loving heart of the +great composer--did he not deserve happiness if happiness should follow +the step? Johannes was that day capable of but two resolutions on the +subject: first, that his father should be made happy if anything he +could say or do could help to make him so, and, secondly, that as soon +as his engagements should permit, he would go to Hamburg and judge for +himself of the wisdom of Jakob's choice. + +The first of Brahms' concert undertakings for the autumn was fulfilled +on November 3 in the hall of the Museum, Carlsruhe, where he performed +his Pianoforte Concerto at the first subscription concert of the season, +accompanied by the grand-ducal orchestra under Levi. The work was +received, for the first time, with every sign of approval. 'The people +had the surprising kindness to be quite satisfied, to call for me, +praise me, and all the rest of it,' he wrote to Dietrich. + +Two of the vocal quartets, Op. 31, were included in the programme, and +Brahms played some unaccompanied Schumann solos in the second part of +the concert. + +On the 6th of the month two new 'Magelone Romances' were sung for the +first time in public by Krause, at a concert given in the same hall by +Frau Schumann and Joachim; and before Brahms left Carlsruhe the first +private performance took place of the newly-completed Trio in E flat for +pianoforte, violin, and horn, a composition which has now long occupied +a peculiar place in the affection of genuine lovers of his music on +account of the tone of pure beauty that pervades it--beauty of sound, +of mood, and idea. The noble simplicity of its themes and the +spontaneous character which distinguishes their development hold the +attention even of the unfamiliar listener from beginning to end of this +inspired work, and the great musicianship of the composer has wrought it +to a flawless example of its kind, in which no weak spot can be detected +by deliberate examination. The adagio has the character of a lament, and +can hardly be matched as an expression of profound sadness excepting by +a few others of Brahms' and some of Beethoven's slow movements. The work +was a favourite with the composer, and it is of interest to know from +his own lips that its inception was due to an inspiration that came to +him in the course of one of his walks near Lichtenthal. A year or two +later than our present date, as he was ascending one of his beloved +pine-clad hills in Dietrich's company, he showed his friend the exact +spot where the opening theme of the first movement had occurred to him, +saying: 'I was walking along one morning, and as I came to this spot the +sun shone out and the subject immediately suggested itself.'[12] + +From Carlsruhe Brahms proceeded to Switzerland, where he appeared at +Basle, Zürich, and Winterthur. At Zürich he conducted his D major +Serenade, given there two years previously under Fichtelberger, and +performed the solo of Schumann's Pianoforte Concerto, and Bach's +Chromatic Fantasia; and at Winterthur he gave a chamber music soirée in +combination with his friend Theodor Kirchner and the young violinist F. +Hegar. Of this Widmann, who saw and heard Brahms for the first time on +the occasion, has given some account in his 'Recollections.' + + 'There was,' he writes, 'a something in his countenance which + suggested the certainty of victory, the beaming cheerfulness of a + poet happy in the exercise of his art.' + +Returning to Germany, Brahms appeared next at Mannheim, and, on December +12, conducted his D major Serenade and played Beethoven's E flat +Concerto at the fifth Gürzenich subscription concert of the season at +Cologne. He had but little success on this occasion either as pianist or +composer. The serenade was criticised as being too lengthy and its +themes as too 'naïve' for his elaborate treatment of them. A different +reception was accorded him at a soirée of chamber music held at the +conservatoire, when he performed with Hiller his Duet Variations, Op. +23, and with von Königslow and his colleagues the G minor Pianoforte +Quartet. Both works were received with acclamation, and the composer +achieved a success worthy of his position in the world of art. Before +leaving Cologne Brahms played at a meeting of the Musikverein to a +private audience of the members, most of them professors and students of +the conservatoire. Amongst the pieces chosen by him for performance on +this occasion were Bach's great Organ Prelude and Fugue in A minor. + +And now the anxious son found opportunity to hurry with beating heart to +Hamburg to see his father and to make the acquaintance of his +stepmother-elect. To find, also, every probability that Jakob had chosen +wisely, and that his contemplated change of life bade fair to ensure a +happy and peaceful close to a career that had been full of hardship and +uncertainty. + +Frau Caroline Schnack, a handsome widow who had already been twice a +wife, was just turned forty-one, and therefore more than seventeen years +the junior of her proposed third husband. She had an only child, her son +Fritz, born of her second marriage, now a lad of about thirteen. Capable +and managing, she kept an excellent public dining-room for single men +not far from the musicians' 'Börse,' described in an early chapter of +our narrative, and had a regular _clientèle_ amongst the members of the +Stadt Theater orchestra. Since the time when Johannes had thought it +advisable for his parents to separate, Jakob had been one of her daily +customers, and her good cooking and substantial capacity had gradually +opened for her the way to his affection. Johannes, on his interview with +Frau Schnack, was at once favourably impressed by her personality and +gave his consent to the engagement, only insisting that full time for +consideration on both sides should be allowed before the taking of the +irrevocable step of marriage; and after a day or two in Hamburg he set +out with a greatly relieved mind for Detmold, where he had arranged with +Bargheer to spend the Christmas week and to reappear as composer and +pianist on the scenes of his former activity. + +The visit passed off most happily. The great composer, to whom, with +some disappointment, much success and fame had come since his last +sojourn in the little capital six years previously, was merry according +to his wont when in the midst of familiar associates. Such changes as +had taken place in the circle were for the better. Bargheer was married, +Carl von Meysenbug engaged. The reunions of the former bachelor friends +were enlivened by the presence of ladies--charming young married women +and pretty girls--and Brahms was ready to abandon himself to any amount +of fun, his almost extravagant buoyancy of spirits being no doubt +assisted by the reaction from his late tension of mind in regard to his +father's affairs. These social occasions were but the interludes between +more serious pleasures. Every day there was music at the palace, the +castle, or one or more of the private musical houses. Brahms conducted +his A major Serenade and played Beethoven's E flat Concerto at an +orchestral concert, and took part in a soirée at the palace, where, +amongst other things, he performed the Kreutzer Sonata with Bargheer +before the well-remembered sympathetic court circle. The visit, which +was the last paid by him to Detmold, formed a fitting close to his +association with Prince Leopold's court, to whose memory, and especially +to that of the various members of the princely family, must ever attach +the artistic distinction of their early recognition of the composer's +genius and their appreciation of his personality. + +Brahms' next destination was Oldenburg, where he arrived in time to +celebrate the New Year's festival of 1866 with the Dietrichs. He played +his own Concerto and an unpublished composition of Schubert at the +subscription concert of January 5, and at the chamber music soirée of +the 10th contributed some Bach solos to the programme and took part with +Dietrich in a performance of Schumann's Variations in B flat, and with +Engel and Westermann in the first public performance of his own Horn +Trio, which created a deep impression. It is important to add here that +Westermann used the natural horn on the occasion by the particular +desire of Brahms, who now and always insisted to the hornists of his +acquaintance on the impossibility of securing a poetical interpretation +of his work with the ventil horn. + + 'If the performer is not obliged by the stopped notes to play + softly the piano and violin are not obliged to adapt themselves to + him, and the tone is rough from the beginning.'[13] + +The appearances at Oldenburg closed the _tournée_. Gratified as our +musician declared himself to be with the results of his journey, which, +if it had not brought him a series of triumphs, had at least +demonstrated the fact that his works were gradually making their way +through the musical circles of Europe, it was not, as we know, part +either of his inclination or his aim to prolong his occasional artistic +travels. He chafed at the restriction to personal freedom resulting from +fixed engagements, and at the disturbance of mind inseparable from +hurried journeys from place to place, and this year he had more than +ordinary reason for desiring to be settled again to the quiet +concentration of thought essential to all art-creation worthy to be so +called. After a second and longer stay in Hamburg that confirmed the +satisfaction with which he had lately contemplated the idea of his +father's approaching marriage, he returned to Carlsruhe to pass the rest +of the winter in Allgeyer's house in Langenstrasse, now known as +Kaiserstrasse. + +The first quarter of the year 1866 witnessed the publication of a long +list of works. By Rieter-Biedermann, the two sets of extraordinarily +difficult and brilliant Paganini Variations for Pianoforte, which, when +in the hands of a competent executant, are found to be full of original +and striking effects, even if they be inferior in musical value to the +composer's other achievements in this form[14]; the three Sacred +Choruses, Op. 37, for unaccompanied women's voices, and mentioned in our +first volume in connection with the Ladies' Choir. By Simrock, the +second String Sextet in G major, worthy sister to its companion work, +though it has not obtained quite so wide a popularity, and the Sonata in +E minor, dedicated to Dr. Josef Gänsbacher. The Horn Trio was issued by +the same house quite at the end of the year.[15] + +The Sonata in E minor for pianoforte and violoncello, the earliest of +Brahms' seven published duet sonatas for pianoforte and another +instrument, all of which are characteristic examples of certain sides of +his genius, is a valuable number in the comparatively short list of +works of its class for the violoncello. The first movement is of +graceful, expressive, delicately melodious character, rising at one +point of the development section towards passion, but returning +immediately to the dainty, dreaming mood by which the composer so often +subdues his hearers to the spell of his imagination. The 'allegretto +quasi menuetto' which follows is an exquisite example of a species of +movement in the making of which Brahms stands unrivalled. It fascinates +with irresistible certainty by its ethereal, playful, poetic fancy, to +which the touch of seriousness in the trio offers just sufficient, not +too pronounced, contrast. The finale is written _con amore_ in the form +of a free fugue, which, full of spirit and energy throughout its course, +rattles to its close in a lively coda. Care should be taken not to +exaggerate the pace of this movement in performance. If taken too +quickly, the violoncello passages lose their due effect. + +On his return to Carlsruhe, Brahms settled down to the actual writing of +the German Requiem, with which he was occupied during the succeeding +months, and it was one of Allgeyer's favourite recollections in later +years that a portion of the inspired work had been put on paper under +his roof. + +It is well known that Brahms' nearest friends accepted the composition +as his memorial of his mother. 'We all think he wrote it in her memory, +though he has never expressly said so,' Frau Schumann told the author +some years later. 'Never has a nobler monument been raised by filial +love,' said Joachim, referring to the German Requiem in the course of +his address at the Brahms Memorial Festival held at Meiningen in +October, 1899; and we may at least say with certainty that the work, +which must be regarded as the crowning point of much of the composer's +previous activity, is, on the whole, a memorial of the emotions by which +he was stirred during the period that immediately succeeded his mother's +death, apart from the question of whether or not he had planned it at an +earlier time. It is, however, a circumstance of great interest that the +strains he had conceived in his grief for the tragedy of Schumann's +illness recurred to him as appropriate for the solemn mourning +march--one of the most vivid and extraordinary of his inspirations--of +the Requiem,[16] and we cannot be wrong in assuming that the remembrance +of his beloved friend was with him as he worked. Perhaps we may venture +to think that two of the strongest affections and griefs of Brahms' +life, associated with strangely contrasted objects--Schumann, the great +genius and master, Johanna, the simple old mother--live together in this +exalted music. There is no warrant for the statement of anything more +precise as to the composer's intention excepting with regard to the +fifth number, the soprano solo with chorus, which was added some time +after the completion of the other movements. Of this it may be said +definitely, as will presently appear, that whilst Brahms was engaged in +writing it the thought of his mother was present in a special sense to +his memory. + +Jakob's marriage with Frau Schnack took place in March, rather more than +a year after the death of his first wife. Johannes sent a substantial +sum of money as a wedding present, and his great contentment in the +anticipation of his father's happiness was a constant and favourite +theme in his talks with Allgeyer, always an interested and sympathetic +listener. + +Frau Caroline's business was given up, and the newly-married pair +settled into a comfortable flat on the fourth floor of No. 5, +Anscharplatz, at the corner of Valentin's Camp, a respectable business +quarter of Hamburg, where there was sufficient accommodation to allow +Frau Caroline to turn her housekeeping talents to account by taking two +or three men boarders. A large airy room, 'the corner room,' was +reserved for Johannes, who was ultimately responsible for the rent of +the flat, and to it were transferred his books, bookcase, and other +belongings, from the apartments that had been his mother's in the Lange +Reihe, whilst Elise arranged to live near an aunt in another quarter of +the city. A photograph of Johannes, taken by Allgeyer, was sent to Jakob +a few weeks after the wedding as a permanent souvenir of his son's +felicitations on the occasion. It is still in existence, and is now in +the possession of Herr Fritz Schnack, 'the second Fritz,' as Johannes +caressingly called his quasi stepbrother. + +Persuaded by Theodor Kirchner, who was at this time resident in Zürich, +to spend the summer near him, Brahms, arriving in the middle of April, +found a lodging in a small house on the Zürichberg which commanded a +splendid prospect of lake and mountain. Here every facility was +abundantly at hand for his enjoyment. Dividing his time, from a very +early hour of the morning until noon, between musing in the open air and +work in his room, he was usually to be met about twelve o'clock in the +museum, which became a place of rendezvous for his friends. After the +early dinner, always taken out of doors in fine weather, and a more or +less prolonged sitting over newspapers, or in chat with acquaintance, in +the open air, he would drop in at a friend's house, generally +Kirchner's, pass an hour or two in informal sociability, and often make +music with some of the resident musicians. It was at Kirchner's that he +became acquainted with the celebrated Swiss writer and poet, Gottfried +Keller, and with the distinguished Zürich professor of surgery, Dr. +Theodor Billroth, who was some four years our composer's senior, and +who, called subsequently to Vienna, became one of Brahms' most familiar +friends. Billroth's love for music was second only to his devotion to +his own great vocation. He had studied the violin under Eschmann, played +at a weekly trio meeting at his house in Plattenstrasse, Zürich, and was +sufficiently proficient to take part on the viola with professional +musicians in private performances of Beethoven's quartets and Brahms' +sextets. He could play the piano well, was a good sight-reader, and +acted occasionally as musical critic to one of the Zürich papers. + + 'Brahms arrived here a few days ago,' he writes on the 22nd of + April to his friend, Professor Lübke of Stuttgart. 'This morning he + and Kirchner played some of Liszt's symphonic poems on two + pianofortes. Horrible music!... We purged ourselves with Brahms' + new sextet that has just come out. Brahms and Kirchner played it as + a duet.'[17] + +The composer became intimate, also, at the house of Herr and Frau +Wesendonck, who had been Wagner's great friends during his residence at +Zürich, and could not hear enough about the composer of the +'Meistersinger,' of whom the Wesendoncks possessed inexhaustible +personal recollections and several valuable souvenirs. Amongst these was +the master's autograph score of the 'Rheingold,' an object that was +regarded by Brahms with a respect almost amounting to veneration. + +Traits of habit and character similar to those with which the reader is +familiar, and which recall the period of the Detmold visits, are +described in Steiner's 'Recollections,' by Capellmeister F. Hegar,[18] +who was the inseparable associate of Brahms and Kirchner: + + '... We were no less impressed by his extraordinarily sound health. + He could venture upon anything. How often has he passed the night + on the sofa of my bachelor's quarters when he was disinclined to + climb the Zürichberg in the late hours of evening. Once indeed, + when an older friend less hardy than himself claimed my + hospitality, he lay down underneath my grand piano, and declared + next morning that he had slept splendidly.' + +Hegar mentions that Brahms' musical memory and unusually rapid power of +apprehension excited the astonished admiration of the Zürich musicians. + + 'When we played him our compositions for the first time, he would + afterwards sit down and repeat long portions note for note from + memory, pointing out the weak places.' + +One or two reminiscences of the summer are to be found in the volume of +Billroth's letters from which quotation has already been made. Amongst +them is the description of a music-party at his house, at which Brahms +was present to hear a performance of his lately-published Sextet in G +major. The consciousness of the composer's presence so unnerved Billroth +that he was obliged to ask Eschmann, who was amongst the listeners, to +relieve him of his part of second viola. + + 'I have learnt never to play before a composer,' he wrote a few + days afterwards, 'unless his work has been well rehearsed. As I was + quite familiar with the composition, I could imagine the vexation + Brahms must have felt, although he put the matter aside in the + kindest way. Kirchner, Brahms and Hegar had been up late together + the night before and were tired. Everything contributed to make the + evening dull.' + +Of the sextet he says: 'I think it wonderfully fine; so clear, so +simple, so masterly.' + +Brahms remained in Switzerland until the middle of August, and, arriving +on the 17th of this month to stay for a few weeks at his old lodgings in +Lichtenthal, surprised Frau Schumann by appearing before her for the +first time with a beard. He did not at this period persevere very long +in wearing the appendage, which changed his appearance in an unusual +degree, but he adopted it a second time, and, as it proved, permanently, +about fourteen years later. + +The composer had worked steadily on at the German Requiem during the +months of his residence in Zürich, and that he now completed it in +Lichtenthal--save and excepting only the fifth number--is to be inferred +from the inscription on the manuscript score--'Baden-Baden im Sommer, +1866'--now in possession of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde at Vienna. +Great additional interest is given to this date by a short entry made by +Frau Schumann in her diary early in September, which is, without doubt, +the earliest written note upon the now famous work. + + 'Johannes has been playing me some magnificent movements out of a + Requiem of his own and a string quartet in C minor. The Requiem + delighted me even more, however. It is full of tender and again + daring thoughts. I cannot feel clear as to how it will sound, but + in myself it sounds glorious.'[19] + +The extract has a double interest, as furnishing a new illustration of +Brahms' caution with regard to publication, and especially in the case +of works which constituted for him a new artistic departure. The String +Quartet in C minor was not published until 1873, seven years from our +present date. + +About the middle of September Joachim appeared in Lichtenthal, and after +a few days' stay there carried Brahms away with him. He had become a man +at large through the political events of the year, by which the kingdom +of Hanover became part of Prussia, having felt it impossible to accept +the offer made him to retain his appointment after the deposition of +King George, and was able to follow his inclination as to his +arrangements for the autumn and winter season. These included tours in +Switzerland and France, and it was ultimately arranged between the +friends that Johannes should combine with him in some of his Swiss +concerts. + +Brahms spent most of the intervening time in Hamburg, and was so happy +in his comfortable corner room in the Anscharplatz that he began +seriously to entertain the idea of settling down again under his +father's roof. Frau Caroline managed the household with careful but +judicious thrift, and there was peace and contentment in the home. In +his own way Jakob was as regular in his habits as his son. Every morning +he went to the 'Börse' to inquire for work, and was generally successful +in obtaining small engagements, often to act as substitute in the +theatre orchestras. His position as bassist at the Stadt Theater had +come to an end in the course of the fifties, owing to changes in the +management, but he continued a member of the Philharmonic orchestra +until a year before his death. He was proud and fond of Frau Caroline, +always came home as soon as his work was done to enjoy the good plain +fare which she had ready for him, and was perfectly happy as he sat in +the kitchen with his pipe and a large cup of thin coffee, watching her +movements. Once a week he amused himself by walking in the Jews' quarter +of the city and inspecting the cheap second-hand wares with which the +vendors sought to tempt his custom. His weakness for bargains was +sometimes a source of embarrassment to his wife, in spite of her +firmness in limiting his loose pocket-money to the sum of a few pence. +Now he would send home to her a quantity of wardrobe hooks, another time +many pounds'-weight of honey. 'Goodness, Brahms! what are we to do with +it?' she would despairingly inquire. 'Yes, Lina, but I couldn't let it +stand at the price,' he would answer. Johannes used to lecture his +father on his weakness for spending money, telling him how careful he +himself was obliged to be, and could be seriously vexed if he found that +Jakob had been really extravagant or thoughtless. This, however, +occurred but seldom. + +A letter to Dietrich from the Anscharplatz mentions the Requiem, and +evidently answers an inquiry from Albert as to the long-delayed Symphony +in C minor of which we heard in the summer of 1862. + + 'DEAR DIETRICH! + + 'Before the summer is over you shall be reminded of me by a short + greeting.... + + 'Unfortunately I cannot wait upon you with a symphony, but it would + be a joy to have you here for a day, to play you my so-called + German Requiem. + + 'I have been till now living in Switzerland, in Zürich. I shall + stay here a little and think of going then to Vienna....'[20] + +The concert-journey with Joachim was very successful, and afforded +Brahms quite unexpected evidence of the progress his music was making in +Switzerland. This country was, in fact, one of the earliest in which his +art met with general appreciation, and much of the credit of its +acceptance there must be ascribed to the efforts of Theodor Kirchner, +who, as the reader may remember, was one of the most gifted musicians of +the Schumann circle, and who seized every opportunity that offered from +the beginning of Brahms' career, to spread the understanding of his +compositions. Kirchner filled an organist's post at Winterthur for +nearly ten years before his removal to Zürich in 1862, and, whilst +developing an active musical life in the little town, made his influence +felt far beyond its limits. + +The tour opened on October 24 in Schaffhausen, and included Winterthur, +Basle, and finally Mühlhausen in Alsace. An interesting incident of the +visit to Mühlhausen was the renewal of friendly relations, after ten +years of estrangement, between Joachim and von Bülow, who was resident +during the season 1866-67 at Basle, and gave Trio concerts there with +Abel and Kahnt. No communication took place between the former Weimar +intimates during the week passed by Brahms and Joachim at Basle, but +Bülow's affectionate nature was strongly stirred by seeing his old +friend again on the concert-platform and hearing his public +performances, which he describes as 'ideal perfection.' The sequel may +be told in the words of his letter to Raff, dated Basle, November 22. + + 'And now, a great piece of news. On Sunday the 10th I travelled to + Mühlhausen for the Brahms-Joachim concert, and the relation of + friendship between Joachim and me was renewed on French soil after + ten years' interruption. This will lead to no results of a positive + nature, but a stone has been taken from my heart, and from his also + as he has assured your sister-in-law. For my sake Joachim returned + to Basle for a few hours and then took the night train to + Paris.'[21] + +Some years were yet to elapse before Bülow could pretend to any +cordiality of feeling towards the art of Brahms. In another letter of +1866 we read: + + 'I respect and admire him, but--at a distance. The Pianoforte + Quintet seems to me the most interesting of his large + compositions.... Kiel is much more sympathetic to me.'[21] + +He prevailed upon himself, indeed, to play the Horn Trio at his Basle +Trio concert of March 26, 1867, when his colleagues were Abel and Hans +Richter, who commenced his artist's career as a hornist, and was at this +time living in Switzerland in the enjoyment of Wagner's intimacy; and he +included Joachim's Variations for viola and pianoforte in the same +programme; but as late as 1870 he wrote to Raff: + + 'What do the Br.'s matter to me? Brahms, Brahmüller, Bruch, etc. + Don't mention them again! Who knows whether a Riehl may not turn up + in 1950 to beplutarch them as maestrinelli? The only one who + interests me is Braff!' + +The fact that von Bülow's critical faculty was subject to the disturbing +influence of his capacity for warm friendship cannot lessen the +admiration inspired by his talents and his generous nature. His severe +animadversions on Brahms' works, together with his practical neglect of +them up to a period when his opinion as to their merits had become very +much a matter of indifference, may be pardoned by the lovers of our +master's art, who remember that they were, for the most part, the +outcome of his deep personal affection for Liszt, Wagner, and Joachim, +and of his long-continued intimate association with the leaders and +prominent disciples of the New-German school. + +Brahms returned to Vienna, after about a year and a half of absence, +immediately after his friend's departure from Mühlhausen, and spent the +winter quietly at work in his room on the fourth story of No. 6, +Poststrasse. The earliest event of any importance to his career that +marks the opening months of the year 1867 is the first public +performance of the Sextet in G major, which was given at the +Hellmesberger concert of February 3. The reader will by this time hardly +be surprised to learn that the work was received without enthusiasm. + + 'The composer was certainly called for and applauded,' says + Schelle, Hanslick's successor in the _Presse_, and a loyal though + unbiassed supporter of Brahms, 'but it was with a certain reserve. + One felt distinctly that the public was not carried away by the + work, but desired to do justice to so admirable an achievement.... + Brahms may be called a virtuoso in the modern development of the + quartet style, ... but only that can reach the heart which proceeds + from the heart, and the sextet comes from the hand and the head, + whilst the warm pulsations of the heart are to be felt only at + intervals.' + +So Bach's works were once spoken of, so Beethoven's in their day. So, it +may almost be said, must be criticised all musical creative achievement +that adequately expresses an original individuality. The composer of +genius has to go through a long apprenticeship before he acquires a +language of his own really capable of conveying his thoughts to the +world. By the time he is master of it, he has, by the nature of things, +placed himself outside the immediate comprehension of all but a few +specially qualified listeners, and must be willing to wait for his +reward until some of those to whom he speaks have had time to follow him +a certain distance along his appointed path, and opportunity to become +familiarized with his manner of utterance. Brahms was content to wait, +and he waited almost with equanimity of spirit, never losing faith in +the future, though he had something more pronounced to encounter than +indifference. Hirsch, of the _Wiener Zeitung_, wrote apropos of the +sextet: + + 'We are always seized with a kind of oppression when the new John + in the wilderness, Herr Johannes Brahms, announces himself. This + prophet, proclaimed by Robert Schumann in his darkening hours, who, + for the rest, has his energetic admirers in Vienna--we mention this + in our position, from pure love of truth--makes us quite + disconsolate with his impalpable, dizzy tone-vexations that have + neither body nor soul and can only be products of the most + desperate effort. Such manifest, glaring, artificiality is quite + peculiar to this gentleman. How many drops of perspiration may + adhere to these note-heads?' + +On the 25th of this same month of February, the earlier B flat Sextet, +by this time almost popular in more than one Continental city, and long +known in New York through Mason's concerts, was performed for the first +time in England at the Monday Popular Concerts, St. James's Hall, +London, by Joachim, Louis Ries, Henry Blagrove, Zerbini, Paque, and +Piatti. The director, S. Arthur Chappell, printed a notice in the +programme-books to the effect that he introduced the work by Joachim's +desire. It made no impression, and the composer was not again heard at +the Popular Concerts for five years. + +If the recognition of Brahms' exact claims as a composer, even by his +Austrian public, long remained dubious, his qualities as a pianist +seldom failed to evoke unmistakable signs of their warm approval. With +the arrival of March he prevailed upon himself this year to announce +concerts in Vienna, Graz, Klagenfurth, and Pesth, and the success of +his performances was unequivocal, in spite of the approach of spring and +the unusual warmth of the season. + + 'At last a pianist who entirely takes hold of one,' exclaims + Schelle, writing of the first concert; 'one only needs to hear his + first few chords to be convinced that Herr Brahms is a player of + quite extraordinary stamp. The musical critic of the _Wiener + Zeitung_ writes that Herr Brahms was cordially received by his + "party." We may remark that Brahms was received, not by a "party," + but by the entire very numerous public, with applause such as is + seldom heard in Vienna concert-rooms. If, however, the audience of + the evening is to be described as the "party" of the distinguished + artist, it must be said that his party consists of the cultivated + experts of musical Vienna.' + +The instrumental numbers of the programme were Beethoven's Fantasia, Op. +77; Bach's G major Fantasia; Brahms' Scherzo; Schumann's Etudes +Symphoniques; Brahms' Paganini Variations. The concert-giver played as +an additional piece his own arrangement for the pianoforte of the fugue +from Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 59, No. 3, + + 'which,' says Schelle, 'claims almost more admiration even than his + performance, for it is a most faithful reflection of the entire + score which we meet unchanged in the effective costume.' + +At the second concert in Vienna, which took place on April 7, after +Brahms' return from the provinces, the programme included Bach's F major +Toccata; Beethoven's Sonata, Op. 109; Brahms' Handel Variations and +Fugue; Schumann's Fantasia in C, Op. 17; and short pieces by Scarlatti +and Schubert. As an additional piece, an arrangement of a movement from +Schubert's Octet was conceded. Vocal numbers were included in both +programmes. + +Brahms himself mentions the concerts in a letter to Dietrich. + + 'The result was so good in every respect,' he writes, 'that I must + call myself doubly an ass for not having secured it earlier and + taken the opportunity to get rid of my Requiem.' + +He let the work lie for several months longer, however, without coming +to any decision about it. On July 30 he again wrote to Dietrich: + + '... In all haste: I start to-morrow with my father on a little + tour through Upper Austria. I do not know when I shall be back. + Keep the accompanying Requiem until I write to you. Don't let it go + out of your hands and write to me very seriously by-and-by what you + think of it. + + 'An _offer_ from Bremen would be very acceptable to me. + + 'It would have to be combined with a concert engagement. In short + _Reinthaler_ must probably be sufficiently pleased with the thing + to do something for it. + + 'For the rest, I am inclined to let such matters quietly alone, for + I do not intend to worry myself about them. + + 'I am ready for anything from Christmas onwards. Joachim and I + probably gave concerts here before.' + +There is a trace of nervous anxiety in this letter which leaves little +doubt that Brahms had within him the consciousness that in the German +Requiem he had transcended all his previous achievements, and that he +was even unusually anxious to ensure a favourable opportunity for the +hearing of his new work. Until now it had been submitted to none of his +companions, save, perhaps, Joachim, and it is evident that he did not +easily bring himself to the resolution of sending it away even for +Dietrich's sympathetic inspection, and that, whilst he hoped, he +somewhat dreaded to hear the result of a communication with Reinthaler. +We must postpone for awhile our account of the fortunes of the +manuscript in order to follow our musician on his holiday journey, on +which he no doubt started with a mind sufficiently relieved by the mere +fact of his decision to be able to await with composure the next issues +of fate. + +Herr königlich Musikdirektor Carl Martin Reinthaler (born 1822), +municipal music-director of Bremen and organist of the cathedral, to +whom the manuscript is meanwhile to be submitted, was a distinguished +musician and the composer of numerous works in very varied forms, vocal +and instrumental. His oratorio 'Jepthah' was performed in London in +1856 under John Hullah's direction; several of his operas--'Käthchen von +Heilbronn,' 'Edda,' etc.--composed later in his career, were given with +success in Bremen, Hanover, and other towns; and his 'Bismarck Hymn' won +the prize in a competition adjudged at Dortmund. By his talent and +earnestness in his position as conductor of the orchestral concerts at +Bremen, he did much to raise the standard of musical taste in the city. + +[11] 'Josef lieber, Josef mein, + hilf mir wieg'n mein Kindlein fein. + Gott der wird dein Lohner sein + in Himmelreich der Jungfrau Sohn, Maria.' + + (Joseph dearest, Joseph mine, + Help me rock the babe divine. + Heaven's blessing shall be thine + In th' kingdom of the Virgin's Son, Mariè.) + +[12] Personally communicated to the author by Herr Hofcapellmeister +Dietrich. + +[13] From a letter published by Richard Heuberger (_Beilage zur Allg. +Musikzeitung_, 1899, No. 260). + +[14] Brahms, by giving to the variations the second title of Studies for +the Pianoforte, has sufficiently indicated the intention with which he +placed them before the world. + +[15] The date of the publication of the Horn Trio is given in Simrock's +Thematic Catalogue as 1868. + +[16] See p. 167, vol. i. + +[17] 'Briefe von Theodor Billroth' (sixth enlarged edition). + +[18] 'Neujahrsblatt der Allgemeinen Musikgesellschaft in Zürich,' 1898. + +[19] The author is indebted for this and a few other extracts from Frau +Schumann's diary to the kindness of Fräulein Marie Schumann. + +[20] The date assigned to this letter in Dietrich's 'Recollections' is +one amongst several similar mistakes that occur in the volume. They are +to be explained by the circumstances that Brahms rarely put dates to his +letters, and that those in question were supplied from memory. + +[21] 'Briefe u. Schriften von Hans von Bülow.' Published by Marie von +Bülow. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + 1867-1869 + + Brahms' holiday journey with his father and Gänsbacher--Austrian + concert-tour with Joachim--The German Requiem--Performance of the + first three choruses in Vienna--Tour with Stockhausen in North + Germany and Denmark--Performance of the German Requiem in Bremen + Cathedral--Brahms settles finally in Vienna--Brahms and Stockhausen + give concerts in Vienna and Budapest. + + +Our composer's invitation to his father to accompany him on a tour +amongst the Austrian Alps had mightily gratified Jakob. The violinist, +young Carl Bade, happening to call at the Anscharplatz on the day of his +start for Vienna, found him carefully dressed for the journey, and in a +high state of elation and delight. Wrapping himself in an air of +mysterious mock dignity, he scarcely vouchsafed a word of greeting to +his wondering young friend, but, drawing himself up to his full height, +gravely adjusted his necktie and paced the room in silence. Then, coming +to a standstill, he pursed up his lips and looked at Bade with an +expression of sly significance. 'Min Hannes het mi inladt; ick reis mit +min Hannes' (My Hannes has invited me; I travel with my Hannes), he said +in answer to Bade's demands for an explanation. A glimpse of him on his +arrival is afforded by the recollection of Dr. Josef Gänsbacher, who was +to accompany father and son on their journey, and, calling to make last +arrangements with Johannes, found Jakob with him. The manuscript of the +beautiful song 'Mainacht,' which had that day been composed, was at +hand, and at his friend's request Gänsbacher sang it then and there, and +added the lovely 'Wie bist du meine Königin' for the benefit of the +elder Brahms, who expressed himself, as in duty bound, pleased with the +songs, and was undoubtedly gratified by the compliment paid him. + +The route chosen by the travellers lay through Styria and Carinthia, +regions abounding in grand and romantic scenery of mountain, lake and +forest; but though Johannes, an inveterate optimist in many ways, talked +afterwards of his father's enjoyment of the journey, it is to be feared +that Jakob, who had scarcely quitted Hamburg since his arrival there as +a youth of nineteen, did not develop any great appreciation of the +beauties of nature. He managed the ascent of the Hochschwab, or part of +it, on foot, but it was a great deal too much for him. He was too old +and too heavy to begin an apprenticeship as a mountaineer, and on the +next expedition of the kind made by Johannes and Gänsbacher he remained +behind at the village of Wildalpen. He got on much better when walking +on the even, but wisely made no attempt to emulate the indefatigable +pedestrian powers of his son, who would frequently stride on until he +was an hour ahead of his companions. Jakob was better able to appreciate +those parts of the journey which were accomplished by carriage or boat, +though even there he spoke but little, perhaps hardly knowing how to +express himself. One day, however, when the three travellers were on the +Grundlsee, one of the most secluded and romantic of the Austrian lakes, +he stood up and looked slowly round him, as if impressed by the beauty +of the scene. 'Just like the Alster at home in Hamburg,' he remarked at +length, as he sat down again. + +Johannes fell in with some parties of his Austrian friends during the +expedition, and was plainly gratified by the consideration shown to his +father by one and all. One enthusiastic lady went so far as to bestow a +kiss on the old man--an attention which procured him some good-natured +raillery from his son, and which he discreetly left unmentioned for some +time after his return to the Anscharplatz. He went back by way of +Heidelberg, stopping to see the castle and other attractions by the +desire of Johannes, and, a little while after reaching home, received +from Vienna a souvenir of the doubtful pleasures of his journey in the +shape of some mountain charts of the districts through which he had +travelled, with blue lines drawn to mark the summits he had been able to +attain by mountain railways or other mechanical means of transit. The +maps, carefully preserved by Jakob, remain as a memorial of the +composer's loving thought of his father, whom he indulged and spoilt +almost like a petted child at this period of his life. + +The journey over, Brahms' thoughts reverted to the manuscript which he +had confided to Dietrich's care, and as soon as he was back in Vienna he +wrote to beg for its return: + + 'DEAR ALBERT, + + 'Please send my score back to me as soon as possible and turn the + opportunity to good account by enclosing this and that--above all a + long letter. + + 'I had the great pleasure of having my father with me for some + weeks. We made a pleasant tour through Styria and Salzburg. Imagine + what enjoyment my father's pleasure gave me, he had never seen a + mountain.... + + 'Now I think of remaining here quietly; it is unfortunately useless + for me to make plans, for only that happens which comes of itself. + + 'Nevertheless I wish to have the Requiem in my own cupboard again, + so send....'[22] + +To this note Dietrich returned no answer, and Brahms, becoming +impatient, applied for information as to the whereabouts of his work to +Joachim, who wrote back that it was in Reinthaler's keeping. Possibly +Brahms may have been a little startled at finding that Dietrich, in his +eager friendship, had put such an elastic interpretation upon the +mention of the Bremen director quoted in our last chapter as to pass +over the injunction not to part with the manuscript; but however this +may be, he cannot but have been gratified at finding, as the result, +that the musician of his own selection had been so impressed by the work +as to wish to produce it at the earliest appropriate opportunity in the +cathedral of Bremen. It is known to some of Reinthaler's old friends +that he suggested the enlargement of the work to the dimensions of an +oratorio. That Brahms did not entertain the proposal is matter of +history. + +The first performance of the Requiem, as originally completed, to be +given under Brahms' direction in Bremen Cathedral, was fixed for Good +Friday, April 10, 1868. Meanwhile the composer's engagements kept him in +Austria. The first three numbers of the new work were to be produced +under Herbeck at the Gesellschaft concert of December 1, and a tour +arranged with Joachim for the ante-Christmas concert-season included +concerts in Vienna, Budapest, and various provincial towns. The journey, +which opened at Vienna on November 9, was triumphantly successful. +Joachim performed the great solos of his répertoire by Bach, Tartini, +and Spohr, and shorter pieces by Schumann and Paganini, with all of +which concert-goers are now familiar, appearing also on his own account +in several great orchestral concerts. Brahms played works by Bach, +Schumann, Schubert, and some of his own compositions. Together the +concert-givers were heard in several of Beethoven's duet Sonatas, +Schubert's Fantasia, Op. 159, and Rondo Brilliant, Op. 70, etc. + +'When Brahms and Joachim play Beethoven, Bach, Schubert together, the +conceptions are like living tone pictures,' says Billroth, who, called +to Vienna about a year after his first acquaintance with Brahms at +Zürich and settled there for good, had the delight of receiving and +hearing his two great artist friends at his house several times during +the two months of Joachim's stay. + +The Gesellschaft concert of December 1 was devoted to the memory of +Schubert, and the three first numbers of the German Requiem formed an +appropriate first portion of a programme of which the second half +consisted of a selection from Schubert's music to 'Rosamund,' given for +the first time in a concert-room. The choruses were, of course, sung by +the Singverein, and Dr. Pänzer, of the imperial chapel, was responsible +for the baritone solo of the Requiem. + +The performance of Brahms' movements did not result in a success, though +the two first were received with some tokens of approval. At the +conclusion of the third an extraordinary scene took place. The now +celebrated pedal point,[23] on which the last section of this number is +constructed, produced--partly owing to a mistake of the drummer, who +drowned the chorus by playing the famous 'D' _forte_ throughout--a +condition of nervous tension in a portion of the audience, a longing to +be relieved from the monotony of the one dominating sound; and when the +composer appeared on the platform in answer to the calls of some of his +hearers, unmistakable demonstrations of hostility mingled with the +plaudits. It may, indeed, be confidently surmised, and cannot appear +surprising, that but few even of those who supported him on this +occasion had any clear conception either of the meaning or importance of +his work. To Hanslick it appeared + + 'one of the ripest fruits in the domain of sacred music, developed + out of the style of Beethoven's late works.... The harmonic and + contrapuntal art learnt by Brahms in the school of Bach, and + inspired by him with the living breath of the present, is almost + forgotten in the expression of touching lament, increasing to the + annihilating death-shudder.' + +Of its reception he says: + + 'It is intelligible that a composition so difficult to understand, + and which deals only with ideas of death, is not adapted for + popular success and that it does not entirely answer to the demands + of a great public. We should have supposed, however, that a + presentiment of the greatness and seriousness of the work would + have suggested itself even to those who do not like it and would + have won their respect. This seems not to have been the case with + half a dozen gray-haired fanatics of the old school, who had the + rudeness to greet the applauding majority and the composer, as he + appeared, with prolonged hissing--a requiem on the decorum and good + manners of a Vienna concert-room which astonishes and grieves us.' + +Schelle, after reviewing the first number sympathetically and the second +almost enthusiastically, continues: + + 'Unfortunately the third is extremely inferior to it [No. 2]; the + text demanded a strong increase of effect which the composer has + been incapable of giving. The bass solo is not written gratefully + for the voice and there is much that is obtrusively bizarre and + unedifying in the chorus.... The movement was a failure....' + +Hirsch did not fail to make use of his opportunity in the _Wiener +Zeitung_. He speaks of the 'heathenish noise of the kettledrums,' and +declares 'in the interest of truth' that the opposition party in the +audience had an immense majority.' + +The concert is mentioned by Billroth in a letter dated December 24: + + 'I like Brahms better every time I meet him. Hanslick says, quite + rightly, that he has the same fault as Bach and Beethoven; he has + too little of the sensuous in his art both as composer and pianist. + I think it is rather an intentional avoidance of everything + sensuous as of a fault. His Requiem is so nobly spiritual and so + Protestant-Bachish that it was difficult to make it go down here. + The hissing and clapping became really violent; it was a party + conflict. In the end the applause conquered.' + +It is characteristic of Brahms that his belief in the future of his work +was not diminished by the untoward incidents of this occasion. He looked +forward to the result of the coming performance in Bremen with a +confidence that was even enhanced by the fact that he had gained +experience with respect to the instrumentation of the third chorus. + +He sent part of his manuscript to Marxsen with a letter from which the +following quotation was first published by Sittard in his 'Studien und +Charakteristiken': + + 'I send you some novelties and beg you, if time allows, to write me + _one_ or _many_ words about them. I enclose also something from my + Requiem and _on this I earnestly beg you to write to me_. It looks + rather curious in places and perhaps, in order to spare my + manuscript, you would take some music paper and put down useful + remarks. _I should like that very much._ The eternal "D" in No. 3. + If I do not use the organ it does not sound. There is much I should + like to ask. I hope you have time and some inclination; then you + will perceive at once what there is to ask and what to say.' + +It is, as Hanslick observed, by no means unintelligible that the first +part of the German Requiem was not immediately accepted by the general +body of listeners assembled at the Gesellschaft concert of December 1, +unprepared as they were for the new and important element underlying its +conception. The title chosen by the composer was at the time, and has +been occasionally since, demurred to as misleading, on account of the +long association of the term Requiem with the ritual of the Roman +Church. It should, however, be obvious that by the word 'German' +departure is indicated from the practice of previous composers, which +places the composition in a category of its own and gives to its message +an applicableness beyond the limitations of creed. Brahms arranged his +own words, and by the fact of doing so, by his inspired musical +treatment of his texts, and his direct avoidance of giving to his work +an association with a particular church service or a familiar musical +form, requiem or mass, cantata or oratorio, has preserved in it, whether +or not consciously, an element of personal fervour that constitutes part +of the secret of its spell. + +The texts, culled from various books of the Old and New Testaments and +the Apocrypha,[24] have been chosen, with entire absence of so-called +doctrinal purpose, as parts of the people's book, of Luther's Bible, the +accepted representative to Protestant nations of the highest aspirations +of man, and have been so arranged as to present in succession the +ascending ideas of sorrow consoled, doubt overcome, death vanquished. +That they open and close with the thought of love is not of necessity +to be ascribed solely to the artistic requirements of the work, or the +exigencies of its sacred theme. Whoever has studied Brahms' life and +works with sympathetic insight will be aware that the suggestion of love +triumphant runs through both like a continuous silver thread, and it is +open to those who choose, to accept this as indicative of a faith +dwelling within him, which was none the less fruitful for good because +it knew nothing of the dogma of the Churches. + +The opening chorus of the Requiem furnishes the key-note of its spirit: + +'_Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. He that +goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come +again with joy, bearing his sheaves with him. They that sow in tears +shall reap in joy._' + +What more reassuring prelude could prepare the human soul for encounter +with its most dreaded foe than these inspired words, heard in the +exquisite setting of consolation by which the composer has illumined +their meaning? The tenderness of the benediction, the passion of the +anticipation, the recurring mournful calm that dies away in the softest +whisper of comfort, place the mind in an attitude of awed suspense which +finds its solution in the opening bars of the solemn, mysterious march +of the second movement. Here we are surely in the majestic presence of +death incarnate, wrapped, however, in a haze of beauty, sorrow, +tenderness, compassion, that betoken, not the ruthless enemy of mankind, +but a deeply mournful messenger subdued to a Divine purpose. '_Behold, +all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of +grass_,' chant the altos and tenors in unison an octave above the +basses, something of unearthliness in their tones, with the alternate +repetitions of the march; and the delicate, evanescent harmonies of the +answering phrase, '_The grass withereth, the flower fadeth_,' strangely +deepen the impression of transitoriness conveyed by the text. Relief is +given by a middle episode of somewhat more animated character: '_Be +patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the +husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath, long +patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also +patient._' The final ending of the march, which is repeated after the +episode, is succeeded by the outburst of a transitional passage--'_God's +word endureth for ever_'--leading to the vigorous gladness of the second +section of the movement (fugato)--'_And the ransomed of the Lord shall +return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: +they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee +away_'--whose ringing, jubilant tones are checked only by the passing +shade of sorrow, until it subsides into the more tranquilly happy mood +in which the chorus terminates. + +In the third number the vision alters. To exaltation succeeds abasement. +We are shown the despondency, that is almost despair, of the soul +prostrate before its Lord: '_Lord, make me to know mine end, and the +number of my days what it is, that I may know how frail I am_.' The +movement opens with a baritone solo, supported by basses, drums, and +horn, which seems to crave nothing, hope for nothing. Words and melody +are, however, immediately repeated in chorus with plain harmonies that +somewhat relieve the first impressive gloom. Then there is a change. The +final cadence of the solo[25] becomes, in the chorus, a surprise cadence +upon which the baritone re-enters: '_Behold, thou hast made my days as +an handbreadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee_.' The tension +relaxes, and a note of pleading makes itself felt that is strengthened +in the choral repetition of the phrase by the movement of the +accompanying instruments. Through despondency, through resignation, +through questioning, the soul gradually rises to hope: '_Verily man at +his best state is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in a vain +show, surely they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up riches, and +knoweth not who shall gather them. Now, Lord, what do I wait for?_' The +pleading becomes importunity, and the crisis is reached with the +reiteration of the last words, first in an increasing agitation, and +finally in deliberate, hushed tones that seem to challenge the Lord. The +effect that follows is, perhaps, unsurpassed in its pure loveliness +throughout the domain of sacred music. With the passage '_My hope is in +thee_' all doubt is resolved in a glow of warmth, reconciliation, and +trust, and the perfect assurance of faith, '_The souls of the righteous +are in God's hand_' becomes the subject of an accompanied choral fugue, +constructed from beginning to end upon a tonic pedal point, which +establishes the brief inspiration of the transition passage in a +protracted expression of unshakable confidence, and forms, not only the +climax of the movement, but the first climax of the entire work. In it +the soul attains to an elevation of faith from which it does not again +falter. Though sorrow may not yet be finally subdued, doubt is +conquered, and the fourth number--'_How amiable are thy dwellings, O +Lord of Hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the +Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Blessed are +they that dwell in thy house; they will be still praising thee_'--is a +clear, melodious choral song with a flowing accompaniment, harmonized +simply, and with an occasional point of imitation, that expresses simple +affection and trust, emphasized towards the close of the movement by the +employment of increased contrapuntal resource. + +The fifth number, added, as we have said, after the work was first +finished, and not essential to its conception as a whole, may have been +conceded to some need of contrast felt by the composer on hearing the +completed six movements consecutively. It consists of a very beautiful +soprano solo with chorus, of rather mystic character, to the words '_And +ye now are sorrowful. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I +comfort you._' + +The sixth chorus opens with a dirge--'_For we have no abiding city, but +we seek one to come_'--soon to be interrupted by the baritone solo: +'_Behold, I shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall be +changed._' The words are repeated by the chorus with a heightening +agitation of mysterious expectancy, that leaps suddenly at the clarion +call to tumultuous exultation: '_In a moment, in the twinkling of an +eye, at the trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be +raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed._' The wild agitation is +stayed by the quiet message of the solo, '_Then shall be brought to pass +the saying that is written_,' and a prolonged half-cadence leads to the +re-entry of the chorus in a magnificently-sustained inspiration of +triumphant joy: '_Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is +thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?_' The glorious movement, after +mounting from height to height of power and splendour, suddenly, with an +unexpected change of time and key, reaches its climax in a brilliant +fugue, that seems, with its passion of never-ending praise, to reopen +the door of heaven and to transport the soul of the hearer to the +dazzling scene of the throne that is filled with the ineffable presence +of God: '_Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive honour and power, for thou +hast created all things, and for thy good pleasure they are and were +created._' + +The great work has now reached its final climax. The imagination of the +modern seer, soaring beyond sorrow, doubt, death, has pierced for a +moment through the mystery of things and shown us the unspeakable. But +the vision is not yet at an end. As in the writing of the Revelation of +St. John, so in the inspired music of the German Requiem. After the +lightnings and thunders and all the manifold glory of the throne, the +voice of the spirit: '_Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord +henceforth; Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their +labours, and their works do follow them._' Confident, tender, majestic, +the message floats through the seventh movement, a veritable requiem, a +true song of peace, and, heard at length in the tones of the benediction +with which the work opens, sinks into silence with reiteration of +blessing. + +It would be an attractive task to analyze the technical means that +Brahms has employed to give musical expression to the varied ideas, all +rooted in the central one of overruling love, which together form the +subject of this exalted work. Whilst he has used the resources of +classical art with a power and ease that recall the mastery of Bach and +Handel, he has given warmth and life to his creation by availing himself +of the harmonic development of musical means to which the genius of +Schumann gave such strong stimulus. Wisely conservative, he was also +modern in the best sense, nor could the German Requiem have attained the +position it has won in the hearts of thousands of men and women to whom +it has brought comfort in bereavement or solace in times of mental +distress, if he had not understood and shared in the spirit, and +answered to it in an idiom, proper to his time. This should not be +forgotten in the performance of the great work, which is sometimes given +with a cold, formal correctness supposed to be appropriate in the case +of classical compositions. Brahms was not a pedant, but a poet and +idealist, and the full beauty and fascination of his music is disclosed +only when it is interpreted with the insight that is born of enthusiasm +and imagination. + +The Horn Trio was played in Vienna at the Hellmesberger Quartet concert +of December 29 by Brahms, Hellmesberger, and Kleinecke. Kleinecke +performed on the natural horn, and the beauty of his tone was remarked +on by one or two of the critics. The trio was received not unfavourably, +but with the reserve that usually attended the early performances of the +composer's works in the imperial capital at this period of his career. + +The publications of the year were but two in number--the set of sixteen +Waltzes for four hands on the Piano, dedicated to Hanslick; and a book +of five Songs for men's four-part Chorus, both issued in the spring by +Rieter-Biedermann. Several, at least, of the waltzes date from the +Detmold period, and were played by Brahms, and heard by Carl von +Meysenbug, at the Hôtel Stadt Frankfurt. They are inimitable in their +delicate, caressing grace, and possess a charm which perhaps exceeds +that of any known examples of their kind. They were performed from the +manuscript, as finally arranged for publication, by Frau Schumann and +Dietrich at a music party given by the Grand-Duchess of Oldenburg in the +autumn of 1866. + +Joachim's prolonged visit to Austria came to an end in the second week +of the New Year with a farewell dinner given in his honour by Brahms, +Billroth, Hanslick, and other friends, and a fortnight later he removed +with his family from Hanover to Berlin. His residence was permanently +fixed in the Prussian capital in the course of the following year by his +acceptance of the post of director of the Royal High School for Music +(executive art), which was about to be founded by King William of +Prussia (afterwards the German Emperor William I.), as an addition to +the State department for Art and Science, and in the planning and +practical arrangement of which Joachim actively participated. Under his +devoted management, it quickly rose to the high state of prosperity for +which it has long been famous, and now, after more than thirty-five +years of existence, it still enjoys the high advantage and distinction +of his personal labour and influence as director, conductor, and +teacher. The occasion of the opening in 1902, by the Emperor William +II., of the spacious new buildings of the Royal Schools for Art and +Science at Charlottenburg, of which the fine new music school is one, +must have seemed to the great veteran musician, as he recalled the +modest beginnings of his own special department in 1869, as one that +included the crowning of much of the activity of his life. + +Brahms quitted Vienna a few weeks after his friend to fulfil a series of +concert engagements, most of them arranged with Stockhausen, for the +months of February and March, by which he hoped to make his journey to +North Germany on the business of the Requiem answer a practical as well +as an artistic purpose. He took up his headquarters at his father's +house, and it was the last time that he returned from Vienna to Hamburg +as to his nominal home. The post of conductor of the Philharmonic had +again fallen vacant in 1867 by Stockhausen's resignation, and again, +though Brahms did not apply for the appointment, there was a strong +conviction amongst his friends that he would accept it if it were +offered him. But it was not to be. Admired and loved as he was in +Hamburg by an ever-increasing circle of friends, it was by a circle +only. He was not popular with the average musician or the general +public, and the Philharmonic committee passed him over a second time, +electing Julius von Bernuth as Stockhausen's successor. Brahms said +little on the subject, but it is fairly certain that the mortification +caused him by this repeated slight from the musical officialdom of his +native city sufficed to lead him to the determination at which he soon +afterwards arrived, to settle permanently in Vienna. + +Brahms made several public appearances in Hamburg during the second half +of February. He performed, at the Philharmonic concert of the 14th, +Beethoven's G major Concerto and Schumann's Etudes Symphoniques, adding +to the published version of the latter several variations contained in +Schumann's original manuscript. On the same occasion Stockhausen sang +Schubert's songs 'Memnon' and 'Geheimniss' to orchestral accompaniments +arranged by Brahms, at his request, a year or two previously. The +composer was able to spare a few days for Bremen, in order to make +Reinthaler's personal acquaintance, though his numerous engagements for +March obliged him to leave the work of preparation and rehearsal in the +experienced hands of his new friend. He played at the Oldenburg +subscription concert of the 4th,[26] and gave concerts with Stockhausen +during the same week in Dresden and Berlin, appearing for the first time +before the public of either capital. At the second concert in Berlin +(March 7) Nos. 3 and 5 of the 'Magelone Romances' were included in the +programme. On the 11th the two artists gave a soirée in Hamburg, when +Stockhausen introduced Brahms' 'Mailied' and 'Von ewiger Liebe' from the +manuscripts, and gave several folk-songs as an encore. At Kiel, where +they appeared on the 13th, they made the acquaintance of Löwe, the +famous ballad composer, now a man of seventy-two, with whose music +Brahms proved to be thoroughly familiar. Their next destination was +Copenhagen, where they had arranged to give four concerts. Stockhausen's +selection on the first of these occasions included songs by Stradella, +Schubert, and Boieldieu, all accompanied by Brahms, who performed as his +solos a Toccata and Fugue by Sebastian Bach Andante by Friedemann Bach, +two Scarlatti movements, Beethoven's Sonata in E flat, Op. 27, and, of +his own compositions, Variations on an original theme and the early +Scherzo in E flat minor. Both artists awakened a furore. Stockhausen +'electrified the house'; Brahms was 'enormously applauded,' especially +after the performance of his own compositions. The second concert, given +within the next few days, was equally successful. The concert-room was +crowded, the audience extraordinarily enthusiastic, and the financial +result brilliant beyond expectation. Then Brahms committed a _faux pas_, +which put an end, so far as he was concerned, to further result of the +triumph. + +Being asked, at a party given by the Danish composer Niels Gade in his +and Stockhausen's honour, if he had visited and admired the great +Thorwaldsen Museum, of which the citizens of Copenhagen are so justly +proud, he replied in the affirmative, and added that the building and +its collection were so fine it was to be regretted they were not in +Berlin. This unfortunate remark, made in a circle representative of +educated Danish society, where the remembrance of the recent Prussian +occupation of Schleswig-Holstein was still sore, produced an effect +which the speaker had been far from intending. It was regarded as a +deliberate insult to the country in which Brahms had been a fêted guest, +and was resented so strongly as to make the composer's reappearance on a +Copenhagen platform impossible. Pursuing the wisest course open, he +embarked on the next boat for Kiel, leaving Stockhausen to make such +arrangements as he could for the third advertised concert, and to pursue +his success further by associating himself with Joachim, who was about +to pay a short visit to the Danish capital. + +Arriving at Kiel at a very early hour in the morning, Brahms proceeded +to the house of Claus Groth, whose guest he had been on his outward +journey, and, walking in the garden until the inmates were astir, was +presently greeted by his friend from an upper window. 'Be quick and come +out; I have made a heap of money,' he cried in answer, slapping his +pocket. Coffee was soon served and a lively talk ensued, but, as no +explanation was offered by Brahms of his sudden reappearance, Groth at +length began to question him. 'What have you been about that you have, +so to say, run away? Stockhausen has not returned, and you have had +great success?' And thus brought to the point, the delinquent was +obliged to relate his indiscretion. 'Brahms! how could you have said +such a thing in a company of Danes!' cried Groth. 'I only meant,' +replied Brahms, 'that it would be better if so fine a work, so many +beautiful objects, were in a great centre where many people could see +them.' 'But you might have supposed Danes would not put up with such a +remark.' 'It did not occur to me,' answered Brahms. 'However,' he added +after a moment, 'I have earned so much money I shall not want more for a +long time; so the matter is indifferent to me.' + +Brahms arrived in Bremen on the first day of April, to remain until +after the 10th as the guest of Reinthaler, with whom he soon became +intimate. Appreciation of his works had steadily grown in the artistic +circles of Bremen since the musical life of the city had been under the +leadership of the distinguished artist whose name will remain associated +with the first performance of the then complete German Requiem; and the +Good Friday concert of this year was anticipated with the interest +attaching to an event of unusual importance, the more so as many +distinguished visitors from far and near were expected to be present as +performers or in the audience. To the gratification of the former +members of the Ladies' Choir, Brahms expressed a wish that the old +favourite society should be represented in the chorus, and four of the +most enthusiastic and trusty of his quondam disciples--Fräulein Garbe, +Fräulein Reuter, Fräulein Seebohm, and Fräulein Marie Völckers--answered +to his summons, arriving at Bremen in time to take part in the last +general rehearsal. The programme of the sacred concert, the proceeds of +which were to be devoted to the Bremen musicians' provident fund, +included the German Requiem (baritone solo, Stockhausen), between the +first and second parts of which, some of the miscellaneous items were +placed; movements by Bach and Tartini, and Schumann's Abendlied for +violin (Joachim); 'I know that my Redeemer liveth' (Frau Joachim); air +for contralto with violin obligato from Bach's 'Matthew Passion' (Frau +Joachim and Joachim); and the 'Hallelujah' chorus. Brahms was to conduct +his new work, Reinthaler the remaining selections. All the soloists gave +their services. + +The doors of St. Peter's Cathedral Church opened punctually at six +o'clock on Good Friday evening, and during the next hour the visitors, +many of them old acquaintances of the reader, streamed to their places. +Frau Reinthaler and Frau Stockhausen were of course present. The +Dietrichs, with their friend Fräulein Berninger, came from Oldenburg, +the Grimms from Münster. The Hamburg contingent included Minna Völckers, +the composer's former pupil and very stanch friend, now grown up into a +young lady, and her father, who had invited Jakob Brahms to accompany +them as his guest. Max Bruch, Schübring, and young Richard Barth were +there. Switzerland was represented by the future publisher of the +Requiem, Rieter-Biedermann; England by the enthusiastic John Farmer; and +shortly before the time of commencement Frau Schumann walked up the nave +on Brahms' arm. She had arranged that her intention of making the +journey from Baden-Baden with her daughter Marie should be kept a secret +from the composer, and the two ladies surprised him with their greeting +at the cathedral door. + +No pains had been spared in the preparation of chorus and orchestra, and +their difficult tasks were perfectly achieved. + + 'The impression made by the wonderful, splendidly performed work + was quite overpowering,' says Dietrich, 'and it immediately became + clear to the listeners that the German Requiem would live as one of + the most exalted creations of musical art.' + +The composer, the executants, and their friends, to the number of about +a hundred, met for supper in the ancient Rathskeller close to the +cathedral, and listened afterwards to a short address by Consul +Hirschfeld and to about a dozen other speeches. + + 'It is with great pleasure and justifiable pride,' said Reinthaler, + 'that I greet this distinguished assemblage of visitors, some of + them gathered to perform, and others to hear, the new work of the + composer who is staying in our midst. The circumstance that it has + been performed for the first time here in Bremen gives me quite + peculiar happiness. It is a great and beautiful--one may say, an + epoch-making work, which has filled us who have heard it to-day + with pride, since it has inspired in us the conviction that German + art has not died out, but that it begins to stir again and will + thrive as gloriously as of old. + + 'A gloomy, anxious period has intervened since our last dear master + was carried to the grave;[27] it has almost seemed as though the + evening of musical art had fallen upon us; but to-day we are + reassured. In the German Requiem we believe that we have a sequel + worthy of the achievements of the great masters of the past. + + 'That I have had the good fortune to contribute towards ensuring a + not quite unworthy performance of the work gives me lively + satisfaction. Everyone concerned, however, has supported me to this + end. Each has brought cheerful good-will to his task, and devoted + himself to it with active zeal and unmixed enthusiasm, for each + felt it to be an elevating one. + + 'You will all certainly rejoice with me that the creator of the + glorious work is present amongst us and will joyfully raise your + glasses to the health of the composer, our Brahms.' + +Brahms' answer was characteristically short and to the purpose: + + 'If I venture to say a few words to-night, I must premise that the + gift of oratory is in no wise at my command. There are, however, + amongst those present, many to whom I wish to say a word of thanks, + many dear friends who have been kind and good to me, and this is + especially the case with my friend Reinthaler, who has given + himself with such self-sacrifice to the preparation of my Requiem. + I place my collective thanks upon his head therefore, and call for + three cheers for his name.' + +It may surprise and interest English readers to know that their country +was toasted on an occasion so peculiarly representative of German music +and musicians. After the various artists who had assisted in the +performance and one or two of the other distinguished guests had been +duly honoured, John Farmer rose to his feet, and delivered himself of +his sentiments in such German as he could command. + + 'I have come from a city,' he said, 'that is much larger than + Bremen, in which there are many fine houses and many rich men. You, + however, may be prouder than all the rich men in the big houses, + who are, indeed, very unfortunate. They have no such beautiful + music as you in Germany. If you were to come to England, and Brahms + himself were to come with you, to perform the Requiem, they would + not attend the concert, or if they were to attend it they would + say, "Is the fellow crazy?" You can have no idea how fortunate you + are in being able to understand all this beautiful music. Oh, I + have observed and have perceived that each one has followed it with + love and the whole energy of his soul! When I return to England, I + shall relate what I have seen, and will hope that we may, before + long, become as fortunate as yourselves and may be able to + understand and perform German music as you do.' + +England found its defender in Herr Lehmann, who immediately rose to +reply: + + 'I would venture, nevertheless, to say a word in England's honour. + So many artists have met with an encouraging reception or have + found a happy home there; there are so many Englishmen who + understand and sympathize with German art and German life, that I + would beg leave to propose a glass to the honour of art-loving + England.' + +The feeling of satisfaction expressed in Reinthaler's speech that the +distinction of the first performance of the German Requiem should have +fallen to Bremen was generally shared by the musicians and amateurs of +the city. + +'Reinthaler has, with laudable judgment, concentrated his best powers +upon the arrangement of a concert which has given to Bremen a +distinctive artistic reputation,' says the critic of the _Bremen +Courier_, and the sentiment was expressed practically, as well as +verbally, in a communication sent to the composer a few days after his +return to Hamburg. The work was repeated on Tuesday, April 28, in the +hall of the Union, under Reinthaler's direction, when the baritone solo +was sung by Franz Krolop. + +It is pleasant to be able to associate with the musical events of +1868--the year which, by virtue of the occurrences now recorded, marked +the beginning of a new period in Brahms' outward career and established +him in the eyes of the musicians of Europe as the greatest living artist +in his own domain--the name of an early friend whose skilled +appreciation of his genius had cheered and encouraged him in the dark +days of his youth. Frau Dr. Louise Langhans-Japha played the Quintet in +F minor for pianoforte and strings at her concert in the Salle Erard, +Paris, on March 24, and secured for it a very decided success. It is +impossible actually to affirm that the work was heard for the first time +in public in its final form on this occasion, but it is the first public +performance of which the author has been able to find record. + +Brahms stayed on in the north for several weeks after the Good Friday +concert at Bremen, and found time to pay another, this time a holiday, +visit to the Reinthalers, and to make the acquaintance of many of their +friends. He derived particular pleasure from the society of some small +playfellows who welcomed him to Frau Reinthaler's nursery, and struck up +a special friendship with the eldest daughter of the house, little +Henriette. Hearing the child, hardly out of baby years, practising the +treble of a little pianoforte duet, he proposed to take the bass, and, +amusing himself by striking a wrong note, was promptly rebuked by his +colleague. 'You have played a wrong note,' said Misi, stopping short. +'Nun, we must do it again,' returned Brahms penitently, and recommenced. +'You have played another!' cried Misi; nor could the master be +pronounced perfect in his part until after two more attempts. He +stayed, too, for a few days in Oldenburg, and whilst there made several +excursions in the neighbourhood with Dietrich and Reinthaler. Driving +one day to Wilhelmshaven, the great northern war-harbour of Germany, he +was unusually absent-minded and serious, and mentioned that he had been +much struck with Hölderlin's poem, 'Hyperion's Song of Destiny,' which +he had read in the morning for the first time. After inspecting the +harbour and its sights, he withdrew to a distant part of the beach, +where he was observed by his friends to be busy with pencil and paper. +He was putting down the first sketches of his now celebrated setting of +the work. + +Brahms spent the remainder of the year in Germany and Switzerland. After +attending the Rhine Festival held the last week of May in Cologne, he +settled down for some months at 6, Kessenicherweg, Bonn, in order to be +near Dr. Deiters, whom he met daily and admitted to his confidence on +the subject of his work. He was occupied with the final preparation of +the manuscript of the Requiem for the engraver, and played it through to +his friend, who had already studied it from the manuscript, saying, in +the course of the just-completed fifth number, '... _I will comfort you +as a mother comforts_,' that here he had thought of his mother.[28] He +was engaged again, also, with the C minor Pianoforte Quartet, which, as +we have seen,[29] has associations with a very much earlier period, and +played the sketches to Dr. Deiters, though the work was not finally +completed until after the further lapse of several years. The music to +Goethe's cantata 'Rinaldo' was in progress, and was finished shortly +before he quitted Bonn. Deiters was fortunate enough to have the +opportunity of listening, at his own house or in Brahms' rooms, to the +composer's interpretation of some of his published works, and to hear +his own opinion of many of his songs, which he estimated very variously. +Amongst those of which he thought most highly at this time was the 'Von +ewiger Liebe,' published later in the year as No. 1 of Op. 43. + +Brahms was in happy summer mood throughout the time of his sojourn on +the Rhine. The fondness for dumb pets that always characterized him, +though he kept none of his own, was gratified by the confidence of some +pigeons that used to fly into his room and come to him to be fed. He +invited his father to join him during the last ten days of his stay, and +pleased himself by showing him the Rhine country and introducing him to +his friend. It was the only year of his life during which there was +intimate personal intercourse between himself and Deiters, but the two +men remained in correspondence, and the composer frequently sent copies +of his new works as they appeared, with an autograph inscription, to the +critic whose early appreciation through a period when their personal +acquaintance had been of the slightest had awakened in him a strong +feeling of regard and esteem. 'I feel under a great debt of obligation +to friend Deiters,' he says in the course of a letter to Dietrich +written in 1867. + +Jakob Brahms was not allowed to return to Hamburg until he had a second +time tested his capacity for enjoying the delights of mountain scenery +by accompanying his son on a few weeks' journey in Switzerland; but +though Johannes made all possible arrangements to spare his father +fatigue, it became evident that he was very homesick. 'See, Johannes, +here is a little blue flower like that which grows near Hamburg,' he +said one day, lagging a little behind after he had walked some distance +in silence. An incident of the tour which pleased him, perhaps, better +than his pedestrian and driving experiences was the trial, at which he +was present, of the new movement of the Requiem, which the composer +wished to hear before delivering it for publication. This was arranged +for at Zürich by Hegar. Frau Suter-Weber undertook the soprano solo, and +orchestra and chorus were supplied by resident musicians. Jakob, on +this, as indeed on all occasions, fully appreciated the distinction he +derived from being his son's companion; but it is certain that he was +much relieved when the day came for him to return to his quiet home and +the unembarrassing society of his wife. 'Nu, Line, krigt mi Johannes nit +wieder hin' (Now, Lina, Johannes will not get me again), he said, as he +settled himself once more in his own chair; and he kept to his +determination, though he compromised matters on one or two subsequent +occasions by accepting his son's proposal that he should visit the Harz +and other districts in Frau Caroline's company. + +Of the many pleasant social events of the year, a gathering in the +autumn at Dietrich's house in Oldenburg remains for mention. Frau +Schumann, her daughter Marie, and Brahms enjoyed their old friends' +hospitality during the last week of October, and the visit was +signalized by the first performance from the manuscript, before a +private audience, of the Hungarian Dances in their arrangement for four +hands on the piano. + + 'Frau Schumann and Brahms played them with an inspiration and fire + that transported everyone present,' says Dietrich. + +Frau Schumann gave an evening concert in the hall of the Casino on the +30th, when her programme included her performance with the +composer--probably the first before a public audience--of Brahms' +Waltzes.[30] + +Brahms and Stockhausen again united their forces in November, and gave +several concerts together. At the first of two soirées in Hamburg, +Brahms created a furore with some of the Hungarian Dances in their +arrangement as solos. The programme included a performance by +Stockhausen and his pupil Fräulein Girzik of two of the Duets, Op. 28, +the second of which was rapturously encored. Brahms, as usual, +accompanied his friend throughout the evening. He was received with +acclamation at Bremen on the 30th of the month, when he played the +pianoforte part of his A major Quartet at a concert of the excellent +resident string quartet party led by Jacobsen, a fine player, and second +concertmeister of the Bremen orchestra. On this, as on subsequent +visits to Bremen, Brahms stayed, as a matter of course, with the +Reinthalers. + +Carl Bade, paying one of his frequent morning calls at the Anscharplatz +about this time, was startled as he entered the house by the appearance +of Jakob, who, coming towards him with finger on lip and laboriously +treading on tiptoe, solemnly whispered, 'Hush!...' 'What is it, Brahms? +Who is ill?' returned Bade under his breath, seriously alarmed. 'Hush!' +repeated Jakob as mysteriously as before; '_he is dor_' (he is there); +and, opening the door of the corner room, he pushed in the astonished +Carl and shut the door behind him without another word, leaving him +alone with his son, who was busy weeding out his library in readiness +for the despatch of his Hamburg possessions to Vienna. 'See here,' said +Johannes, after a kind word of greeting, giving Bade time to recover the +composure of which Jakob's strange _coup_ had for a moment robbed him, +by pointing to a volume in his hand, 'Kuhnau was a capable musician!' + +The relation existing at this time between the elder and younger Brahms, +of which mention was made in an early chapter, was well illustrated +during the homely 'second breakfast' for which the party soon assembled. +Sociability was rendered impossible, in spite of the persistent efforts +of Johannes, by the father's overwhelming consciousness of his son's +presence. The awed feeling which possessed Jakob whenever he found +himself face to face with the living embodiment of his own miraculous +success in life was not unnatural, and can only inspire respect for the +memory of the older man, in whose simple humility, rooted in the +strongest and most legitimate pride, may, perhaps, be recognised some of +the essential qualities which endeared the great composer to all who +were privileged to call him friend. + +Brahms returned to Vienna in December, and was, of course, present at +several concerts given there before and after Christmas by Frau +Schumann, who visited Austria after an interval of some years. + +The list of publications belonging to this year is an important one, +not only because it includes the German Requiem (Rieter-Biedermann), but +because it is representative of the master in what may be roughly called +the second period of his activity as a composer of songs. From beginning +to end of his career he poured forth songs in many different forms--the +simple strophic, the 'durchcomponirtes' Lied, the latter necessarily +varying in structure with each fresh example.[31] This second period, +however, is marked not only by the sure mastery which had long +characterized Brahms' works in whatever domain he chose for the exercise +of his powers; its spirit is generally distinctive, and is that of the +poet's ripe manhood. Youth with its uncertainties is behind, age with +its gathering shadows not yet in sight; the composer holds the present +in firm grasp, and presents us with exquisite dream-pictures of life and +nature, the children of an imagination penetrated with a sense of the +beauty, the tenderness, the pathos of existence, and content in the +exercise of its ideality. Each of the five books published in 1868 (Op. +43 by Rieter-Biedermann, and Op. 46, 47, 48, 49 by Simrock) contains +such wealth of beauty that it is difficult to select either for +particular mention. Perhaps the palm should be given to Op. 43, of which +'Von ewiger Liebe' and 'Mainacht' are Nos. 1 and 2; but then, Op. 47 +contains 'Botschaft,' and Op. 46 'Die Schale der Vergessenheit.' +Stockhausen, who stayed at Neuenahr in the summer of 1868, came over to +Bonn one day, and sang the greater number of these songs from the +manuscript, accompanied by the composer, to Deiters. Brahms seemed +determined not to publish 'Die Schale der Vergessenheit,' declaring it +to be too 'desolate,' but Stockhausen's enthusiasm prevailed to alter +his decision. Some of the shorter numbers belong, by date of +composition, to an earlier period, as Goethe's 'Die Liebende schreibt,' +the manuscript of which, in the possession of Frau Professor Böie, bears +the inscription 'Frl. Marie Völckers in kind remembrance' and the date +1863. The widely popular 'Wiegenlied,' Op. 49, No. 4, was composed for +one of Frau Faber's children, and the accompaniment is reminiscent of a +folk-song which Brahms heard from Fräulein Bertha Porubszky in the old +days of the Hamburg Ladies' Choir. The manuscript bears the inscription +'For Arthur and Bertha Faber for ever happy use. July 1868'; and at the +close 'Mit Grazie in infinitum,' and is in the possession of these old +friends of the composer. + +Now, as ever, Brahms returned with delight to the fresh naïveté of the +folk-song, and numerous examples of his settings of texts obtained from +German, Bohemian, Italian sources are to be found in these books, of +which 'Sonntag,' Op. 47, No. 3, and 'Am Sonntag Morgen,' Op. 49, No. 1, +are perhaps the best known. 'Gold überwiegt die Liebe' is a touching +little lament (No. 4 of Op. 48). The text of 'Von ewiger Liebe' is +itself a Wendic folk-song, but the composer's treatment has placed it +amongst the finest works of German art in song-form. As a rule, however, +Brahms set folk-songs as such, and his treatment of them was direct, +and, so to say, unstudied. He has set for a single voice popular texts +of more than twenty nationalities besides his own, and, as he found +them, as they appealed to him, so he composed them, without attempt +either to interfere with the frank naturalness of the words, or to give +national colour to his music. Such musical references as he occasionally +makes in his songs to the origin of his texts are so unobtrusive as to +be hardly noticeable, excepting by a special student of the subject.[32] +'Vergangen ist mir,' Op. 48, No. 6, points back to the tonal system of +the Middle Ages. Like 'Sehnsucht,' Op. 14, No. 8, it is composed in the +Dorian mode. + +The enumeration of the great song publications of 1868 is not yet at an +end. The issue by Rieter-Biedermann of Books 3, 4, 5, containing in all +nine numbers, of the 'Magelone Romances,' of which the first two books +had appeared in 1865, completed a song-cycle which ranks among the few +supreme achievements of its class, increasing to the number of four a +special group of names which had hitherto included those only of +Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann. + +The fifteen 'Magelone Romances' are extremely various in structure, and +can hardly be classified categorically under any of the ordinary +song-forms. Spitta expresses his sense of their importance by the word +'symphonic.' Brahms' own name 'Romance' sufficiently indicates their +nature, however. Some are of great, others of smaller, dimensions. Some +consist of several movements, others of one short movement in three +sections, of which the last repeats the first; one is bound into a whole +by the melody of a refrain. They give vivid expression to a wide range +of feelings: chivalric delight, progressive phases of passionate love, +the despair of separation, reawakened hope, the confident bliss of +reunion, certainty of the sacred power of love. Remembrance of the ideal +performances of Stockhausen, to whom the cycle is dedicated, was +indubitably present to Brahms' mind as he composed the songs, which, +with the exception of Nos. 11 and 13, should be sung by a man. One may +read and reread them, hear them and hear them again, but try in vain to +decide on a favourite number. Each one places the listener in an +enchanted world of noble beauty and romance, and in wealth and +individuality of idea the cycle assuredly does not rank last amongst the +few works of its kind. + +The Songs and Romances Op. 44 mentioned in our first volume in +connection with the Ladies' Choir were now also published by +Rieter-Biedermann;[33] and Cranz of Hamburg issued the three Songs for +six-part Chorus _a capella_, Op. 42, all of great charm. Its five-bar +rhythm is an interesting feature of the second number, the lovely +'Vineta.' The text of No. 3, 'Darthula's Grabesgesang,' is a +translation from Ossian, and is contained in Herder's 'Stimmen der +Völker.' + + 'Brahms is here,' writes Billroth from Vienna on January 11, 'and + is to give concerts with Stockhausen. He is going to bring out a + cantata, Rinaldo, in February.... He is enthusiastic about the text + because it leaves so much to the composer.' + +Goethe wrote his cantata expressly that music might be set to it by +Capellmeister Winter, a respectable musician of his day, for the Prince +Friedrich of Gotha, the possessor of an agreeable tenor voice, and a +good amateur vocalist. It is founded on an episode in Tasso's 'Jerusalem +Delivered,' and exhibits the conflict between weakness and strength in +the brave knight Rinaldo--a fictitious personage introduced into his +poem by Tasso--who is roused from his surrender to the witcheries of +Armida by the arrival, at the islet on which he is living with her, of a +party of knights, his friends--two only in Tasso's epic, but increased +to a chorus by Goethe. The cantata opens at a point where the knights +have succeeded in awakening Rinaldo from his dream of happiness, but are +unable to nerve him to the resolution of departure. As a final resource, +they hold up before him a diamond shield, which reflects his own image +in its degeneracy. The shock of what he sees restores him to full +consciousness, and he leaves the island in spite of Armida's +lamentations, fury, and enchantments, and his own regrets, encouraged +and supported by his friends. The final chorus with solo depicts the +happy return voyage, and the safe arrival of the ship at the shore of +the Holy Land. + +Armida does not appear as a _dramatis persona_ in Goethe's work, and +Brahms' music is accordingly composed for tenor solo, men's chorus, and +orchestra. The poem is short and concise, containing but one dramatic +situation, but its very terseness has been advantageous to the composer, +for the text has not fettered his imagination by detail, whilst it has +supplied him with sufficient material for powerful and contrasted +musical presentation in the enchantments of Armida, the storm raised by +her to prevent the ship's departure, the calm, persuasive firmness of +the knights, the vacillation of Rinaldo (expressed in the first instance +in an impassioned scena), his pleadings with his friends, his final +awakening and recovery from the intensity of passion. Of all these +points Brahms has availed himself with force and warmth of imagination. +Many interesting details of the composition tempt our notice, but we may +only stay to direct the reader's attention to the conviction inspired by +the choruses of the noble, lovable character of the knights; to the +masterly means employed--so simple that only a master would have +ventured to restrict himself to them--at the moment when the shield is +displayed, which, in their place, convey, without any attempt at +tone-painting, but with absolute distinctness, the impression of the +friends' gentle determination with the shrinking Rinaldo; to the bright +martial movement in which the knights encourage him by reminding him of +the flashing lances, the waving pennons, the whole brilliant battle +array, of the crusaders' army from which the allurements of Armida have +too long detained him. In the final chorus a favourable wind swells the +sails of the ship, which rides joyously over the green waves, breaking +them into light foam as she passes, whilst Rinaldo and his companions +amuse themselves by watching the dolphins at play in the water, and are +filled with a light-hearted happiness that, as land is sighted, bursts +into exultant shouting of the names of Godfrey and Solyma (Jerusalem). + +The work was performed for the first time from the manuscript, under the +composer's direction, on February 28, 1869, at a concert of the +Akademischer Gesangverein, Vienna. The title-part was sung with great +success by Gustav Walter, three hundred students well prepared by Dr. +Eyrich, the society's conductor, were responsible for the choruses, and +the orchestral accompaniments were performed by the entire body of +instrumentalists of the court opera. + +A series of three concerts, given in Vienna in February and March by +Brahms and Stockhausen were phenomenally successful. The great baritone +had not been heard in the Austrian capital for many years, and all +tickets for the first concert were sold immediately after its +announcement. Brahms' selection for the series included works by Handel, +Bach, Couperin, Gluck, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, some of his own +Variations--notably those of the B flat Sextet--and Hungarian Dances; +and he accompanied his friend in many of the most celebrated songs of +his répertoire. The wonderful performance by the two artists of Brahms' +songs 'Von ewiger Liebe' and 'Mainacht' was one of the choice delights +of the first concert. A feature of the second was the performance by +Stockhausen and Fräulein Girzik of two of the composer's vocal duets. +The enthusiasm excited by the concert-givers in Vienna was equalled in +Budapest, whither they proceeded on March 10, in order to give a similar +series; and it was, if possible, exceeded on their final reappearance in +Vienna. + +These concerts are of peculiar interest in Brahms' career, because the +last of them closes the period of his activity as a virtuoso. For +fourteen years, from the autumn of 1855 to the spring of 1869, +circumstances had obliged, and happily permitted, him to earn his +livelihood chiefly by the exercise of his powers as an executive artist; +but his reputation as a composer had grown uninterruptedly throughout +this time, and with the production of the German Requiem it attained a +height that gave him future independence of action. Though years were +still to pass before his circumstances became easy, they were not again +straitened, and from henceforth he undertook concert-journeys only in +the rôle of a composer, to assist at performances of his own works. The +occasions on which he appeared additionally as pianist with one of +Beethoven's or Schumann's great compositions became less and less +frequent, moreover, as, with passing time, he felt increasingly out of +regular practice. Brahms was, in later life, fond of illustrating the +fact of his long struggle with poverty by referring to the manuscript of +the Requiem. 'The paper is of all sizes and shapes, because at the time +I wrote it I never had money enough to buy a stock.' The immediate +impression created by the great work was, however, sufficiently +widespread and profound to place the composer alone, among the +musicians of his day, as the accepted representative of the classical +art of Germany, and the prices commanded by his copyrights gradually +increased accordingly. No long time elapsed before the German Requiem +had made the round of the musical cities of Europe. It was given, for +the first time after final completion and publication, at the Leipzig +Gewandhaus concert of February 18, 1869, under Reinecke, and was +performed in the course of the next few weeks in Basle (twice), +Carlsruhe (twice), Münster, Cologne, Hamburg, Zürich, and Weimar, and, +later in the year, in Dessau (twice), Chemnitz (twice), Barmen (four +choruses only), Magdeburg, Jena, and again twice in Cologne. The +complete work was not heard in Vienna until March 5, 1871, when it was +given by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde under the composer's +direction, with Frau Wilt and Dr. Krauss as soloists, but achieved no +striking success. It was performed on July 7 of the same year (1871) for +the first time in England, before an invited audience, at the residence +of Sir Henry Thompson. Stockhausen conducted the rehearsals and +performance, and sang the baritone solo, Fräulein Anna Regan the soprano +solo. The chorus was composed of about thirty good musicians, and the +accompaniments were played in their arrangement as a pianoforte duet by +Lady Thompson and the veteran musician Cipriani Potter, then in his +eightieth year. The first public performance in England which the author +has been able to authenticate with precision is that of the Philharmonic +Society in St. James's Hall on April 2, 1873, under the direction of W. +G. Cusins, when the soloists were Mlle. Sophie Ferrari and Santley. The +work was performed for the first time in Berlin, Munich and St. +Petersburg in the spring, and in Utrecht in June, of the year 1872, and +in Paris in 1874.[34] + +Probably it was due to the impression created by the German Requiem that +the Serenade in D, Op. 11, was performed for the first time in Berlin in +November, 1869, at one of the concerts of the Symphony Orchestra under +Capellmeister Stern. + + 'The reception showed that the public is beginning to understand + and value the composer Brahms, one of the few living creative + artists who are genuine and sincere,' wrote a Berlin critic. + +In the earlier part of the same year Louis Brassin played the Handel +Variations and Fugue in Munich with very great success. Brassin was one +of the first artists to perform the work in public, and that he +introduced it to a Munich audience is the more interesting since the +musicians of the Bavarian capital had in 1869 shown scant, if any, +recognition of our composer's art, which was too progressive for Franz +Lachner, and too conservative for von Bülow, the successive leaders, up +to that date, of the musical life of the city. The work was played by +Bülow in November, 1872, in Carlsruhe, and from that time was heard at +his concerts with increasing frequency. + +[22] Dietrich. + +[23] A pedal point is a sound sustained, according to conditions +prescribed by the rules of art, during a succession of varying harmonies +of which it need not form an essential part. + +[24] Matt. v. 4; Ps. cxxvi. 5, 6; 1 Pet. i. 24; James v. 7; 1 Pet. i. +25; Isa. xxxv. 10; Ps. xxxix. 4-7; Wisd. iii. 1; Ps. lxxxiv. 1, 2, 4; +John xvi. 22; Ecclus. li. 27; Isa. lxvi. 13; Heb. xiii. 14; 1 Cor. xv +51-55; Rev. iv. 11; Rev. xiv. 13. + +[25] The cadences of music are somewhat analogous to the punctuation of +literature. A 'final cadence' has the effect of closing a musical +period. + +[26] Dated April 4 in Dietrich's 'Recollections.' + +[27] Schumann. + +[28] Communicated in a letter to the author by Dr. Deiters. + +[29] See Vol. I., p. 207. + +[30] _Cf._ Dietrich, p. 54 _et seq_. The dates in the text are given on +the authority of Frau Schumann's diary. + +[31] The strict strophic form is that in which voice-melody and +accompaniment are the same in each verse. It admits, however, of several +kinds of modification, as by varied accompaniment, slight variation of +voice-melody, and so forth. The 'durchcomponirtes' Lied, for which there +is no technical English term, is that of which the text is set +throughout to fresh musical thoughts and developments. + +[32] Those who wish to study Brahms' treatment of folk-music in detail +are referred to Hohenemser's articles, 'Brahms und die Volksmusik,' in +_Die Musik_, Nos. 15 and 18, 1903. + +[33] Dated 1866 in the Thematic Catalogue. + +[34] Sir C. Villiers Stanford remembers being present at a public +performance of the German Requiem in London earlier than that of the +Philharmonic Society. This was at a students' concert of the Royal +Academy of Music under John Hullah, the then conductor of the orchestra, +the date of which, however, the author has not succeeded in +ascertaining. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + 1869-1872 + + Brahms and Opera--Professor Heinrich Bulthaupt--The + Liebeslieder--First performance--The Rhapsody (Goethe's + 'Harzreise') performed privately at Carlsruhe--First public + performance at Jena--Geheimrath Gille--The 'Song of + Triumph'--Performance of first chorus at Bremen--Bernhard + Scholz--The 'Song of Destiny'--First performance--Death of Johann + Jakob Brahms--First performance of completed 'Triumphlied' at + Carlsruhe--Summary of Brahms' work as a composer since 1862. + + +The theory that found wide acceptance during the lifetime of Brahms, and +was discussed at length in a feuilleton of the _Strassburger Post_ +immediately after his death, that he never had and never could have +seriously entertained the idea of composing for the stage, was long ago +conclusively refuted by Widmann in his 'Recollections.' He shows that +the master's wishes pointed at more than one period of his career in the +direction of dramatic composition, and that he was prevented from +following them by the same difficulty which proved insoluble to +Mendelssohn--that of finding a libretto to suit his fancy. + + 'He was always particularly animated when speaking of matters + connected with the theatre, as for instance when he once very + decidedly demonstrated to me the vaudeville character of the first + act of "Fidelio," which generally passes for a very good text-book. + He possessed a genuine dramatic perception, and it gave him real + pleasure to analyze the merits and defects of a dramatic + subject.'[35] + +The interest of this passage is enhanced by a few words that occur in an +article on Brahms by Richard Heuberger:[36] + + 'We sat together the whole evening and I remember that Brahms spoke + in detail of Mozart's "Figaro" and laid stress on the unparalleled + manner in which Mozart has overcome the enormous difficulties of + his text; "Mozart has composed it, not as a mere ordinary + text-book, but as a complete, well-organized comedy."' + +It would certainly have been matter for surprise if Brahms, who was +peculiarly sensitive to the influence of really poetic dramatic effect, +and whose interest in the drama furnished him with a source of frequent +pleasure that did not diminish as he grew older--he rarely missed a +première at the Vienna Burg Theater--had passed through life without +feeling the inclination to test his powers as a composer for the stage, +and this is very far indeed from being the case. Widmann's account of +what took place between himself and Brahms on the subject of opera +belongs to the late seventies, and we shall revert to it in its place; +it points back, however, to an earlier time, which proves, as we might +expect, to be that of the composer's intimacy with Devrient and Levi, +with whose varied professional activity he manifested the warmest +sympathy, and especially to the year 1869, when the publication of the +German Requiem had left his mind at leisure for new important effort. +Perhaps we may perceive the direction in which his wishes were moving in +the fact that 'Rinaldo,' which contains the nearest approach to dramatic +composition to be found in the catalogue of Brahms' works, was completed +almost simultaneously with the Requiem; and it is possible that an +indication of the obstacle that was to prove insuperable to their +fulfilment may be read in Billroth's words quoted in the last chapter: +'Brahms is enthusiastic about [the text of] Rinaldo because it leaves so +much to the composer.' However this may be, it is certain that he was +strongly possessed at this period and on into the early seventies with +the desire to compose an opera, and that he not only opened his mind +unreservedly on the subject to his friends at Carlsruhe, but made +repeated efforts in other directions to procure a libretto adapted to +his views. Allgeyer furnished him with a completed text-book on +Calderon's 'The Open Secret.' Through Claus Groth he obtained an unused +text written for Mendelssohn by the poet Geibel, founded on the episode +of Nausikaa in the 'Odyssey,'[37] and amongst others with whom he +discussed the subject were Tourgenieff at Baden-Baden, who provided him +with sketches, and, Heinrich Bulthaupt, then a rising young dramatic +author and an intimate friend of Reinthaler's. + +To Bulthaupt he proposed as a subject Schiller's fragment of a play +'Demetrius,' which he esteemed very highly, and, in a long conversation +with this gentleman at his house in Bremen, he explained with precision +his ideas as to the desirable treatment even of the minutiæ of dramatic +action, taking as the theme of his exposition the libretto, written by +Bulthaupt, of Reinthaler's opera 'Kätchen von Heilbronn.' Some of the +peculiarities of his views which created for him unnecessary +difficulties must be attributed to his inveterately logical habit of +mind, which made it repugnant to him to take certain things for granted +for the sake of stage exigencies. He went too far in a desire that the +minor details of the drama should be visibly developed. Pointing to a +scene in 'Kätchen von Heilbronn,' in the course of which three soldiers +go into a drinking cellar, not to reappear, he inquired: 'What becomes +of them?' 'It is assumed that they go away,' replied Bulthaupt; 'do you +mean to say that you wish actually to see them come out again on to the +stage?' 'I should like to do so,' Brahms answered. A moment's reflection +would, of course, have shown him that the scene in question was, in +fact, realistic, since the soldiers might in actual life have left the +cellar by a back-door, unseen by those who observed them enter through +the front one. The anecdote is, however, illustrative of a mental habit +which must have confronted Brahms with countless difficulties so long as +he merely contemplated the composition of an opera. The work of +composing one, had he ever settled down to it, might probably have +solved many of them. + +The idea of 'Demetrius' fell through. Bulthaupt suggested to Brahms a +consideration which, in no way applicable to Schiller's piece, seemed to +him of importance in view of its adaptation as an opera. He thought that +the necessity of introducing some amount of Russian colouring into the +music of a drama having for its subject an episode of Russian history, +not only might prove irksome to a composer so strongly imbued as Brahms +with the sentiment of German nationality, but would be prejudicial to +the tragic breadth of Schiller's play as it stands. Brahms, on thinking +over the matter, probably felt the weight of his friend's remarks, for +he did not return to his proposal. + +Points of interest in the composer's suggestion of Schiller's +'Demetrius' for the subject of a tragic opera are that ambition and not +love is the mainspring of its action, and that the feminine interest of +the piece is centred neither in maiden nor wife, but in Marfa, the +mother of Demetrius, in whom are exhibited powerful emotions arising +from unerring maternal instinct and baffled affection. It recalls the +period, moreover, when Brahms and Joachim shared each other's daily +thoughts on all subjects. Joachim composed an overture to Hermann +Grimm's play of 'Demetrius' in 1854, and, about the middle of the +seventies, the well-known 'Marfa' scena for contralto and orchestra from +Schiller's fragment. A similar association is presented in Brahms' +favourite suggestion for the text-book of a serio-comic opera or +operetta, of Gozzi's 'König Hirsch,' the work with which Joachim's +'Overture to a Play of Gozzi's' is to be connected. Arrangements by +Brahms of both these compositions of his friend, as pianoforte duets, +were found in his rooms after his death, and were published with the +very few manuscripts that he allowed to survive him. + +Brahms travelled to Carlsruhe in March in order to conduct the +repetition performance of the German Requiem, but except for this +journey spent the early part of the year 1869 quietly in Vienna. The +advance of spring induced him to pay some visits in the north, after +which he proceeded to Lichtenthal. The event of the season in Frau +Schumann's private circle was the marriage of her third daughter Julie +to the Conte Radicati di Marmorito. The legend of an attachment between +Brahms and this lady has obtained sufficiently wide credence to demand +mention in our pages. It is, perhaps, not unnatural that the composer's +dedication to Fräulein Julie Schumann of his Variations for two +pianofortes on her father's theme, published in 1863, should have led a +few enthusiasts to draw their own romantic conclusions, and that such +conclusions should have spread; the less so since Fräulein Julie was +possessed of a graceful charm that made her interesting to all who were +brought into near contact with her. Brahms was not an exception from +others in his power of appreciating her attraction, but his admiration +of his old friend's daughter at no time advanced into special intimacy. +'I have spent the summer at Baden, and am going to remain for Julie +Schumann's wedding,' he writes to Dietrich. Brahms, Levi, and Allgeyer +together presented the bride with an _objet d'art_, a bronze plate, and +are represented contemplating it in a group in a photograph of the time. +The Contessa Radicati di Marmorito was taken by death from her husband +and children after a few years of happiness. + +The completed musical fruits of Brahms' year were the Liebeslieder +Walzer and the Rhapsody for contralto solo, men's chorus and orchestra. +The 'Liebeslieder,' waltzes for pianoforte duet and _ad libitum_ vocal +quartet, composed to a number of verses from Daumer's 'Polydora,' +translations or imitations of Russian and Polish folk-songs, are amongst +the most popular of the composer's works, and are too familiar to need +detailed comment. They show Brahms in his perfection of dainty grace and +fresh, playful imagination, a mood in which he stands unrivalled. They +were performed for the first time in public at the subscription concert +of the Carlsruhe court orchestra of October 6. Frau Schumann, who played +Beethoven's G major Concerto on the same occasion, and Levi, were the +pianists, and Fräulein Hausmann, Frau Hauser, Herr Kürner, and Herr +Brouillet, the singers. Published shortly afterwards by Simrock, they +were heard in Vienna before the close of the year at the first +Singakademie concert of the season; and were performed at Frau +Schumann's concert in Vienna of January 5, 1870, by the concert-giver +and composer and the singers Frau Dustmann, Fräulein Girzik, Herr Gustav +Walter, and Dr. Krauss. + +The Rhapsody was first heard privately at the rehearsal of the Carlsruhe +concert of October 6, Levi having arranged a performance for the benefit +of Frau Schumann and of Brahms himself. The solo was sung by Frau Boni. +The composer, writing to Deiters in September, says: + + '... I should like to make a request to-day. I remember to have + seen at your house a volume of songs by Reichhardt (possibly + Zelter) which contained a stanza from Goethe's Harzreise. Could you + lend me the volume for a little while? + + 'I need hardly add that I have just composed it and should like to + see the work of my forerunner. I call my piece "Rhapsody," but + believe I am indebted also for the title to my respected + predecessor. + + 'I shall hear it in a few days, and should I then decide not to + print or perform the somewhat intimate music, I shall nevertheless + show it to you.'[38] + +It seems probable, from the circumstances of the first public +performance of the Rhapsody, that Madame Viardot-Garcia was amongst the +small audience on this private occasion. The work was given on March 3, +1870, soon after its publication, at the Academic Concerts, Jena, under +the direction of the society's conductor, Dr. Ernst Naumann, when Madame +Viardot sang the solo; 'Rinaldo,' with Dr. Wiedemann as tenor, being +included in the programme. + +Madame Viardot-Garcia, staying early in 1870 with Liszt, who had +returned to Weimar in 1869 after an absence of many years, met at his +house his devoted friend Geheimrath Gille, a distinguished musical +amateur, who occupied an official post at Jena and employed the greater +part of his leisure in the interest of the musical culture of the little +university town. Gille had in his youth known Goethe and Hummel, and +been on terms of close friendship with Henselt. His intimacy with Liszt +dated from the commencement of the great man's residence in Weimar, and +he soon became a warm supporter of the New-German party, received Wagner +into his house at Jena on his flight from Dresden to Liszt at Weimar, +and saw him safely over the German border. His sympathy with the new +tendencies did not render him insensible to the value of less +revolutionary developments of art. He had great interest and respect to +spare for Brahms' music, and encouraged its cultivation by Brendel's +society (Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein), on the committee of which +he was very active.[39] There can be little doubt that the performance +of the Rhapsody at Jena in March was the outcome of a friendly chat +between Madame Viardot and himself and of their mutual sympathetic +admiration of Brahms' art, which was shared by Dr. Ernst Naumann, an old +personal acquaintance of the composer. Since the performance of the +German Requiem in 1869 already chronicled, up to the present day, +Brahms' music has been well represented in the programmes of the Jena +societies under Naumann's direction. + +The Rhapsody was given on March 19 under Grimm at Münster, and a little +later at Capellmeister Hegar's benefit concert at Zürich. It became a +favourite work with Frau Joachim, who sang the solo times innumerable +with extraordinary power and sympathy and invariable success. + +Brahms' Rhapsody, Op. 53, is composed to a fragment--set also by J. F. +Reichhardt (1752-1814)--from Goethe's 'Harzreise im Winter,' which has +for its subject the poet's reflections on a visit paid by him to a young +hypochondriac whose melancholy had, as he feared, been confirmed by the +influence of his own 'Werther's Sorrows.' Goethe's efforts to raise the +youth from his state of mental depression had no immediate visible +result, though he ultimately recovered from his malady, and the three +verses selected from the poem for musical composition conclude with a +prayer to the Father of love on his behalf. Such a text was eminently +suited for musical expression by a composer who, intensely realizing the +problems of life, shaped his course by faith in the power of love; and +the Rhapsody furnishes another striking illustration of the strength of +imagination which enabled Brahms so to absorb himself in his text as to +be able to present it in musical sound--to capable listeners--with a +strength and reality usually associated only with impressions of sight. +Let anyone who is familiar with the composition read through Goethe's +poem from beginning to end, and note the accession of force with which +the verses set to music by Brahms come home to him. He will be reminded +of an object illuminated by sunlight that stands near others placed in +shadow. + +The first of the three sections of the single movement that constitutes +the Rhapsody, an impressive orchestral picture upon which the +independent recitative of the solo voice enters, may be accepted as the +reflection of the poet's intense realization of the unhappy youth's +condition. Its tones convey a penetrating impression of rich warmth and +pity lying behind the deepest gloom. The feeling of the second section +is no less concentrated, though it is expressed with more calm: + + 'Ah! how comfort his sorrows + Who in balsam found poison? + Who from the fulness of love + Hath drunk but the hate of men? + Once despised, now a despiser, + Secretly he consumeth + All his own best worth + In fruitless self-seeking.' + +The noble declamatory passages of the voice are supported by an +accompaniment that becomes agitated or intensely still in accord with +the course of the poet's self-questionings, which reach their only +possible and beautiful resolution in the third section: + + 'If thy Psalt'ry containeth, + Father of love, one tone + That can reach his ear, + Oh, refresh his heart! + Open his obscurèd sight + To the thousand sources + Near to the thirsty one + In the desert.' + +Here, by a fine inspiration, the chorus of men's voices enters for the +first time _pianissimo_, supporting the solo voice in fervent +supplication. + +Words and music are fitly associated throughout the movement, which is a +treasure amongst works of art, and it is impossible to say that either +of its parts is superior to the others, though the divine outpouring of +love and pity in the last section often seems to appeal, especially, to +the hearer listening for the first time to the composition. This, +however, is really due to its position, which contains and brings to an +issue the effect of what precedes it. The work has long since been +generally recognised as one of the finest of Brahms' shorter +compositions, and continues to be more in demand every year, though it +had no great immediate success. + + 'I send you my Rhapsody,' Brahms wrote to Dietrich in February, + 1870, a week or two after its publication; 'the music-directors are + not exactly enthusiastic about the opus, but it may, perhaps, be a + satisfaction to you that I do not always go in frivolous 3/4 time!' + +It sprang from the composer's very soul. + + 'He once told me he loved it so,' says Dietrich, 'that he placed it + under his pillow at night in order to have it near him.' + +The Studies without opus number, Nos. 1 and 2, after Chopin and Weber, +were published in 1869 by Senff; and the first two books of Hungarian +Dances by Simrock, in the duet form for Pianoforte in which they +obtained enormous popularity. It was not until 1872 that they were +issued in the arrangement as solos, in which, as we know, they had +formed part of Brahms' répertoire during some years of his virtuoso +career.[40] Dunkl, a publisher of Budapest, used to relate in +after-years that Brahms, on the occasion of one of his early appearances +in that city, called on him and offered a selection of six of the Dances +for an absurdly small sum. Dunkl said he would give his answer after +hearing them in the evening. They had no success and the publisher +refused them, a proceeding which he afterwards found considerable reason +to regret. + +The stirring events of the year 1870, the series of triumphs won by +German arms, and the federation of the various independent States under +the headship of Prussia which was to lead to the extraordinary +development of German political power and industrial progress that has +been witnessed by the present generation, were followed by our composer +with a mixture of ardent emotions, in which that of swelling patriotic +pride gained the predominance as each day brought news of fresh +victories won by the soldiers of the Fatherland. His vehement exultation +at the results of the war found embodiment in a great 'Song of Triumph' +for chorus and orchestra, with which he was occupied in 1871, and the +first chorus, completed early in the year, and sent at once to +Reinthaler, was performed from the manuscript in Bremen Cathedral on +Good Friday, April 7, under the composer's direction, at a concert given +by the Singakademie in memory of those who had fallen in the war.[41] +There is no need to dilate on the feelings which dominated Brahms during +the writing of this extraordinary work. They blaze out of it with an +intensity and an endurance of passion that well fit it to occupy its own +peculiar place amongst the great events that startled Europe at the +opening of the seventies. It commemorates heroic deeds in truly heroic +strains. By his choice of a text the composer at once raised the scope +of his work to a level above that of an ordinary _Te Deum_ for victory +in war; and the words selected by him from Revelation xix., which admit, +throughout each portion of the composition, of an application to the +overpowering occurrences of the time, were precisely those for whose +setting he alone of modern composers--we may even say of all composers +who have succeeded the two giants of the eighteenth century--was, by his +temperament, genius, and attainments, pre-eminently fitted. + +The Triumphlied consists of three great movements for double chorus and +orchestra, the third of which contains a few passages for baritone solo. + +'_Alleluia; salvation and glory and honour and power unto the Lord our +God: For true and righteous are his judgments._' + +The solemnly jubilant orchestral prelude, the entry of the full double +chorus with loud and sustained Alleluias, lead to the principal theme of +the first movement, already suggested in the prelude, and +derived--though this is hardly appreciable by the unpractised ear of a +general audience--from the Prussian national air, which is identical +with England's 'God save the King.' This theme or some portion of it +almost invariably accompanies the phrase, '_Salvation, honour_, etc., +_unto the Lord_,' which, with its surrounding Alleluias, forms the text +of the first portion of the movement, constructed entirely from diatonic +harmonies. The words '_For righteous and true are his judgments_' are +set to the broad themes of the middle portion, to which some heightened +effect is imparted by very sparing use of the more familiar chromatic +chords. The third section is a varied repetition of the first with a +coda. The movement is sustained at the white heat of jubilation until +the beginning of the close, when a few tranquil bars, in the course of +which the voices die away to rest, and the instruments are subdued to a +_pianissimo_ that becomes ever softer, prepare for the glorious outburst +with which the chorus terminates. The second movement has three varying +sections: + +'_Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, great and +small._ + +'_Alleluia, for the Almighty God hath entered into his kingdom._ + +'_Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him._' + +The first section opens with pure melodious beauty and lofty serenity, +and displays in its course numerous points of imitation, direct and by +inversion, which are easily discoverable by the student. It is succeeded +by a blast of trumpets, an outburst of Alleluias, and the announcement +of the Lord's reign by the voices of the two choirs which enter +successively on a sounding tonic pedal; the basses imitating the basses, +then the tenors the tenors, and so on, at half a bar's distance. This +proclamation section is appropriately concise and of superb grandeur. We +hear in it 'as it were the voice of a multitude, and as the voice of +many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings'; whilst the third +section, partly woven, by various kinds of imitation, from the phrases +of 'Nun danket Alle Gott,' which is sounded prominently by the flutes +and trumpets, is animated by a singularly naïve spirit of light-hearted +happiness and rejoicing. + +'_And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse: and he that sat +upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth +judge and make war._ + +'_And he treadeth, the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty +God._ + +'_And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name called a King of +Kings and a Lord of Lords. Alleluia. Amen._' + +Subdued awe; firm, proud confidence in a mighty, beneficent ruler; a +flash of fierce remembrance of injury--all are rendered with a power, a +vividness, a picturesque strength, that are not transcended, even if +they are equalled, by anything ever composed in the domain of choral +music for the church or the concert-room; and the greatness and glory of +'a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords' are celebrated in the long final +portion of this gorgeous third movement with dazzling brilliancy of +effect, sustained and augmented up to the very end. + +The first chorus, performed before the audience of two thousand people +assembled in Bremen Cathedral on the evening of Good Friday, 1871, +reached its effect to a very considerable extent. + + 'It has a broad and, as it were, popular character, is conceived + simply and wrought with sincerity,' writes the correspondent of the + _Allgemeine Deutsche Musikzeitung_.' + +The _Bremen Courier_ says: + + 'One again recognises the titanic capacity of the composer. The + work is a vocal joy-symphony, of imposing power and exalted + feeling. Praise is due to all concerned in the performance for they + have facilitated the understanding of the composer to a large + portion of the audience.' + +The Dietrichs came from Oldenburg to hear the new work. Circumstances +prevented the attendance of Frau Schumann and Joachim. Neither artist +had returned from what had at this period become an annual visit of each +to England, which, in Frau Schumann's case, generally extended over at +least two months, and in Joachim's occupied the six weeks of Lent. + +Pending Frau Schumann's return, Brahms remained among his friends in the +north, and played his D minor Concerto at the Bremen orchestral +subscription concert of April 25 with great success, giving pieces by +Bach, Scarlatti, and Schumann in the second part. Frau Schumann was back +in Lichtenthal early in May, and Brahms settled into his usual lodgings +there a few days before her arrival. The present writer had the +happiness of immediately following her, and the reader interested to +learn particulars of the summer life of quiet work and simple pleasures +that followed is referred to the Recollections placed at the beginning +of our first volume. The details there given are too slight and too +personal to be appropriate in the body of the present narrative, though +they may be found to have a value of their own for those interested in +whatever throws additional light on the true, lovable nature of Brahms. + +It was about this time that our composer's art began to make perceptible +progress in London. No immediate result was perceptible from the +performance of the B flat Sextet led by Joachim at a Monday Popular +concert of 1867, but from the beginning of the seventies we find Brahms' +name appearing with some regularity in London programmes. No opportunity +was lost by Frau Schumann, Joachim, or Stockhausen for making propaganda +for their friend's music in private artistic circles. The performance of +the Requiem at Sir Henry Thompson's house in the summer of 1871, under +Stockhausen, has already been noted. Of minor incidents of the time in +this connection, the singing of two duets from Op. 28 by Madame +Viardot-Garcia and Stockhausen at a party given by the lady in London on +June 10 may be selected for mention.[42] + +In the same year the call of Bernhard Scholz to Breslau added another to +the list of towns, now to increase rapidly, year by year, in which +Brahms' art came to be cultivated with particular vigour. Scholz, who +had held successive appointments in Hanover and Berlin, had been on +terms of familiar acquaintance with the composer from an early period of +both their careers. He now found himself in a position, as conductor of +the Breslau orchestral subscription concerts, freely to gratify his +admiration of the master's art. From this time not only were Brahms' new +orchestral works given, with few exceptions as they appeared, at the +Breslau subscription concerts, but any existing deficiencies in the +Brahms education of the musical public were supplied by performances of +the two Serenades and the Pianoforte Concerto. The composer himself +played the last-named work at Breslau in 1874 and 1876, when the +orchestra was of course conducted by Scholz. No less attention was +devoted to the chamber music. At the concerts of the resident string +quartet-party arranged by Concertmeister Richard Himmelstoss, at which +Scholz or Julius Buths often assisted as pianist, the two Sextets, the +Quartets and Quintet, and later works in their turn, were frequently +heard, and to the successful results of these efforts, to the warm +response they elicited from the musical circles of Breslau, we owe the +composition of a genial and now favourite work of our master, the +Academic Festival Overture, the appearance of which will be noted in its +place. + +Amongst the friends who visited Lichtenthal during the summer of 1871 +were Allgeyer, Levi, and Stockhausen, and on September 8 the 'Song of +Destiny,' completed in May, was rehearsed at Carlsruhe. + +'Hyperion's Schicksalslied,' by Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1834), sets +forth the serene, passionless, unchanging existence of the celestials, +surrounded by the clear light of eternity; and its contrast, the +ever-shifting, suffering life of humanity, wrapped in the darkness of +inscrutable mystery. The poem is entirely fatalistic, containing no +comment on what it depicts. + + 'Ye wander above in light + On tender soil, blessed immortals! + Glistening divine breezes + Touch you gently, + As the fingers of the artist + Sacred strings. + + 'Calm as the sleeping child + Breathe the celestials; + Chastely guarded + In modest bud, + Their spirits bloom eternally, + And their blissful eyes + Gaze in quiet, eternal stillness. + + 'But to us it is given + On no spot to rest; + Suffering men + Vanish, blindly fall + From hour to hour, + As water thrown + From rock to rock, + Year-long down into uncertainty.' + +In Brahms' setting we have yet another fine choral work, characteristic +from every point of view, musical, æsthetic, and psychological--one, +moreover, which is of quite peculiar interest and value, since it +contains an express confession of that creed of love to which the +present writer has several times referred as being traceable throughout +the composer's life and works. The contrasted pictures of celestial and +human existence are set with the vivid force which we have noticed in +our brief studies of preceding works, the pathos and tragedy surrounding +the lot of mankind being treated with the deep, passionate feeling which +is invariably displayed by the composer when he is occupied with this or +kindred subjects. Brahms' 'Song of Destiny' does not, however, terminate +with Hölderlin's, nor could it have done so. Another passion lived +stronger within him than that with which he contemplated the phenomena +of human suffering, uncertainty, and death; and he has known how to +supplement his text with a short, but most exquisitely conceived, +orchestral postlude, which, whilst it rounds the work musically into a +whole, brings to the despairing soul a message of consolation, hope, +faith, courage, such as it is within the peculiar province of music to +convey, and which has the more power over the heart since it cannot be +translated into articulate words. + +That Brahms actually had some such intention in adding the postlude is +in the personal knowledge of the present writer. He regarded it as not +merely accessory, but as being, in a sense, the most important part of +his composition. In rehearsing the work, it was over this portion that +he lingered with peculiar care; and when conducting its performance he +obtained from the postlude some of his rarest and most exquisite effects +of ethereal tenderness. + +The work was performed for the first time from the manuscript on October +18, 1871, under the composer's direction, at a concert of the Carlsruhe +Philharmonic Society. The overture and garden-scene from Schumann's +'Faust' headed, and the conclusion of the second part--both under Levi's +direction--closed the programme, which further included two of +Schubert's songs. Fräulein Johanna Schwarz and Stockhausen were the +soloists of the occasion. + +The impression made by the new work upon the audience of Carlsruhe was +profound, and the composer returned to Vienna gratified and pleased by +an immediate success which the experiences of his career had by no means +led him to regard as a foregone conclusion. + +The Schicksalslied was published by Simrock in December, and was +performed early in 1872 in Bremen, Breslau, Frankfurt, and Vienna. + +The only other original publications of 1871, the two books of Songs, +Op. 57 and 58, were issued by Rieter-Biedermann.[43] All the texts of +Op. 57 are original poems or imitations (Nos. 2, 3, 7) by G. F. Daumer, +whose texts are amongst the most passionate of those set by Brahms. The +composer seems to have imagined a portrait of the poet more or less in +correspondence with his verses, and Claus Groth tells an amusing story +of the shock sustained by Brahms on taking the opportunity of a visit to +Munich to call on Daumer. + + 'I loaded myself with all the books of my songs that contain + something of his. I found him at last, in an out-of-the-way house, + in an out-of-the-way street, and was shown to equally retired + apartments. There in a quiet room I found my poet. Ah, he was a + little dried-up old man! After my sincerely respectful address, on + presenting my music, the old gentleman replied with an embarrassed + word of thanks and I soon perceived that he knew nothing either of + me or my compositions, or anything at all of music. And when I + pointed to his ardent, passionate verses, he signed me, with a + tender wave of the hand, to a little old mother almost more + withered than himself, saying, "Ah, I have only loved the one, my + wife!"' + +The opening of the year 1872 marks the beginning of a new period, not in +the artistic, but in the private life of Brahms. It found him installed +in the historic rooms in the third story of No. 4, Carlsgasse, Vienna, +which were to remain to the end of his life the nearest approach to an +establishment of his own to which he committed himself. He had lodged in +Novaragasse, Singerstrasse, Poststrasse 6, Wohlzeile 23, Ungargasse 2, +had stayed with his friends the Fabers--had, in fact, since his first +visit to Vienna, changed his residence at least with each new season. +When he took possession of his rooms in Carlsgasse 4 on December 27, +1871, he had moved for the last time. Here he lived for a little more +than a quarter of a century, here he died. He continued as he began, a +lodger in furnished apartments, renting his Carlsgasse rooms in the +first instance from a Frau Vogel, who, with her husband and family, +occupied the rest of the dwelling. Brahms' accommodation consisted of +three small rooms communicating one with the other. The middle and +largest contained his grand piano and writing-table, a small +square-shaped instrument to which a tradition was attached, and a table +and chairs arranged, German fashion, in front of a sofa. Here he +received his visitors. In a smaller room were his bookshelves and a high +desk for standing to write. There were cupboards for his music, which in +time overflowed into the rooms as he required more space for his +collections of original manuscripts, engravings, photographs, etc. A few +engravings adorned the walls, and his little bust of Beethoven reminded +him pleasantly of the old home in the Fuhlentwiethe. Frau Vogel was +responsible only for his mending, for the cleaning and dusting of his +rooms, and for opening the house-door to visitors. He took his early +dinner at a restaurant--the 'Kronprinz,' the 'Goldspinnerin,' the 'Zur +schönen Laterne,' and, for about the last fourteen years of his life, +at the 'Zum rothen Igel,' in the Wildpret Markt--and read the newspapers +afterwards over a cup of black coffee at one of the coffee-houses, in +his latter years generally the Café Stadtpark. He supped either at home, +with a book for company--when his fare usually consisted of +bread-and-butter and sausage, with a glass of beer or light wine--or +again at a restaurant, when, as at dinner, he liked to be joined by his +intimates. Needless to say, the private hospitality of friends was +abundantly at his command whenever he chose to avail himself of it. + +The second performance of the Song of Destiny--the first since +publication--took place at the Gesellschaft concert of January 21, under +the direction of Anton Rubinstein, who held the post of 'artistic +director' of the society during the season 1870-71, succeeding Herbeck +on his appointment as capellmeister of the imperial opera. + +The gratification which must have been felt by the composer at the +exceptional impression created by his work on his Austrian public was to +be clouded a few days later by news of his father's grave illness. Jakob +had been ailing for a year past, and had been obliged to resign his post +at the Philharmonic, together with smaller engagements, and accustom +himself to the sight of his beloved double-bass standing mute in a +corner of his parlour. Johannes, perceiving that advancing years were +beginning to tell on his father, had prescribed a change of residence +from the fourth story of 1, Anscharplatz to a first-floor flat in the +same street, but the failure of strength had not been recognised as +serious. Jakob did not complain of any particular symptoms, and it was +only on the occasion of his fetching the doctor to his stepson Fritz +Schnack, who had been brought home ill from St. Petersburg, that he +bethought himself to ask advice on his own account, when his alarming +condition became immediately apparent to the physician. Johannes, who +was immediately sent for, was on the spot without delay, and spent the +next fortnight at the bedside of the stricken man, whom he watched with +tenderest care and tried to cheer with loving encouragement. But the end +was near. Jakob was in the grip of a fatal malady which had ravaged his +constitution continuously during the past twelve months, though his +sufferings were neither acute nor prolonged. He died on February 11, in +his sixty-sixth year, from cancer of the liver, in the presence of his +wife and two sons, and an estrangement of some duration between Johannes +and the less energetic Fritz--returned from two years' absence in +Venezuela--was healed at his death-bed. The son's grief, as may be +expected from all that we have related of his clinging family affection, +was profound. His consolation was found in endeavours for the protection +and comfort of the woman who had brought contentment to the closing +years of Jakob's life, and he stayed on with Frau Caroline after the +funeral, helping her to make necessary arrangements and to look through +his father's little possessions. The old indentures of apprenticeship, +the document of citizenship, memorials of Jakob's early struggles and +modest personal successes, passed into the composer's keeping. A small +portrait in oils, of little value as a picture, but bearing evidence of +having been a good likeness of Jakob in his early manhood, was left with +the widow. 'Mother,' said Johannes excitedly the day before his +departure from Hamburg, turning suddenly to Frau Caroline after standing +for some minutes in silence before the painting, 'as long as you live, +this of course is yours, but promise that at your death it shall come to +me in Vienna!' The promise, readily given, was destined to remain +unfulfilled. Frau Caroline, her stepson's senior by more than six years, +was to outlive him. + +Brahms' care for his father's widow did not cease with his return to his +occupations in Vienna. When Fritz Schnack was convalescent, and the year +sufficiently advanced for change of air to be desirable, he was sent +with his mother to Pinneberg, a pleasant country town of Holstein in +great repute with the citizens of Hamburg on account of its +health-giving climate. The visit proved so beneficial that Johannes +decided to settle his stepbrother there permanently to carry on the +business of a watch and clock maker, which he had hitherto followed in +St. Petersburg. He established him in a pleasant shop, providing him +with all the requisites for a new start, and wished to guarantee a +comfortable home for Frau Caroline as mistress of her son's modest +household; but the bright, energetic widow did not like the idea of +relinquishing her own activity. It was settled, therefore, that she +should return to Hamburg and to her business of taking boarders in the +first-floor flat in the Anscharplatz, on the condition, rigorously +extorted by Johannes, that she was to draw upon him in all cases of need +for herself or her son. Brahms was wont to complain to his stepmother in +after-years that she did not sufficiently fulfil her part of the +bargain, to scold her because she did not ask for money, and to propose +and insist on holiday journeys for herself and Fritz; and from the day +of his father's death to that of his own the kind, capable housewife +continued to be the representative to the great tone-poet of the simple, +restful tie of family affection to which he clung from beginning to end +of his career. + +Elise Brahms was supported by her brother until her marriage, some time +later than our present date, with a watchmaker named Grund, a widower +with a family, and was the recipient of his generosity until her death +in 1892. Fritz, 'the wrong Brahms,' as he was sometimes called, by way +of distinguishing him from Johannes, gained a good position in Hamburg +as a private teacher of the pianoforte, and was for some years on the +staff of visiting teachers at Fräulein Homann's ladies' school at +Hamm--an establishment which enjoyed distinguished English as well as +German patronage. He had only so far followed in his brother's footsteps +as to have been the pupil successively of Cossel and Marxsen, and to +have made a few public appearances in Hamburg as pianist in his own Trio +concerts. His talents might have carried him farther if he had been more +active and ambitious. 'Is this your pianoforte-teacher's pace?' demanded +Johannes sharply on one of his visits to Hamburg, as he was striding +along the street in front of his brother, who could not or would not +keep up with him. Fritz was a favourite with his friends; he possessed +his share of the family humour, and was never known to brag. 'How is +your great brother?' an acquaintance asked him one day. 'What do you +mean?' retorted Fritz, who was tall and thin; 'I am bigger than he is!' +He died unmarried in Hamburg in 1886, at the age of fifty-one. + +Preliminary arrangements were made in good time for the performance of +the completed Triumphlied at the Rhine Festival of 1872, held in +Düsseldorf; but as the date drew near the committee strangely refused to +invite the composer to conduct his work, and Brahms therefore withheld +the manuscript. It was performed for the first time on June 5 at a +farewell concert arranged by the Grand-Ducal Orchestra and the +Philharmonic Society of Carlsruhe jointly, for their departing conductor +Hermann Levi, who had been called to the post of court capellmeister at +Munich, which he held with brilliant success until failing health +compelled his retirement in 1896. Both Frau Schumann and Stockhausen +contributed to the programme of the concert, Stockhausen, as a matter of +course, singing the short solo of the Triumphlied. The performance seems +to have been a fine one, though the chorus at command only numbered 150 +members. An enthusiastic account of the work sent from Carlsruhe to the +_Allgemeine Musikzeitung_ by Franz Gehring concludes: + + 'We Germans may feel proud that such an artist has been inspired by + the impression of the most momentous events to which our history + can point, to the composition of such a triumph-song. To the year + 1870 attaches, not only the renown of our arms, but a new epoch of + our musical art.... It is based upon the modern development of long + familiar forms and modes of expression. That this development has + shown itself to be true and healthy (who had not foreseen it in + Brahms' German Requiem!) is the merit of the German master Brahms, + the greatest of the present day!' + +Comparatively few musicians will be found in these days to deny that +Gehring's words were justified by the development of Brahms' own career, +though it cannot be concealed that a new epoch such as that to which the +reviewer looked forward seems to have closed for the present with the +master's death. + +Contrary to Brahms' established custom, he accepted a concert-engagement +in the course of the summer, and appeared with immense success at the +Baden-Baden Kursaal subscription concert of August 29 as composer, +conductor, and pianist, with his own A major Serenade and Schumann's +Pianoforte Concerto. Amongst the visitors to Lichtenthal in the course +of the season was Reinthaler, who had been present at the performance of +the Triumphlied at Carlsruhe, and returned later to spend a short +holiday near his friends. + +With the beginning of autumn, 1872, a period of ten years had elapsed +since Brahms' first visit to Vienna, and it will help the reader to +obtain a clear view of the development of his career as a composer if we +pause for a moment at this point, to consider what had been its special +features during the decade in the course of which he had gradually come +to regard Vienna as his home. We shall find that it had been entirely +logical and continuous, and singularly independent of those influences +of his changed environment to which imaginary effects on his art and +temperament have not seldom been attributed. + +We observe, in the first place, that only one solo has been added to the +long list of important works for the pianoforte, accompanied and +unaccompanied, which Brahms carried with him to Vienna in 1862, and of +this one it must be said that the Paganini studies in two books, +immensely brilliant and ingenious though they be, cannot be seriously +regarded from the musical standpoint of the Handel or other preceding +sets of variations, but must be accepted more or less as diversions of +the composer's leisure hours. Several of the variations are little more +than transcriptions for the piano of some of those written by Paganini +on the same theme for the violin. + +In the domain of chamber music, where, so far as it is yet possible to +anticipate the verdict of posterity, Brahms' place will be found amongst +the greatest composers of all periods, we find that his first series of +masterpieces for pianoforte and strings has been brought to a close +with the addition of two works--the Horn Trio performed in the autumn of +1865, and the Sonata in E minor for pianoforte and violoncello, whilst +by the side of the String Sextet in B flat has been placed another in G +major, not indeed transcending, but different from, and in every way +worthy of, its companion. With the enumeration of these published works +must be associated the mention of two others of peculiar interest in our +survey because they mark a fresh stage of Brahms' matured development. +The two String Quartets in C minor and A minor were kept in the +composer's desk for some years before they were finally completed. The +significance of their appearance, which we shall have to note in 1873, +as landmarks in Brahms' career, is best illustrated by the remembrance +that twenty years had elapsed since the fastidious self-criticism of the +young musician of twenty had caused the withdrawal of a string quartet +from the list of works proposed by Schumann for the consideration of the +publishers. + +Brahms' fertility as a song-writer for a single voice was constant, +though it matured and varied in its manifestations with the onward +progress of his life. We have already referred to some of the phases of +its long middle period. The decade we are considering witnessed the +publication of eight books of miscellaneous songs and three books of the +Magelone Romances. + +In the Liebeslieder, waltzes for pianoforte duet and vocal quartet, we +have the riper artistic fruition of the mood which produced the vocal +quartets, Op. 31, 'Alternative Dance Song,' 'Raillery,' and 'The Walk to +the Beloved,' composed at Detmold; and to the same early period the +Waltzes for pianoforte duet dedicated to Hanslick primarily belong. + +The splendid achievement, however, which pre-eminently distinguishes +this portion of Brahms' career is to be found in another domain: that in +which we may now, in 1872, contemplate the literal fulfilment of +Schumann's much discussed prophecy; that in which 'the masses of chorus +and orchestra _have_ lent him their powers.' The composer has most +truly 'sunk his magic staff and revealed to us wondrous glimpses of the +spirit world.' The period which produced the German Requiem, the Song of +Destiny, and the Song of Triumph (1866-1871) could hardly be surpassed +in the brilliancy of its own special branch of achievement, and with the +completion of the last of these works the growth of Brahms' powers upon +this particular line of development had reached its summit. The choral +works in which the master hand of the great composer was to be again +revealed, whilst they afford additional opportunities of enjoyment to +the lovers of his art, could not, from the nature of those that had +preceded them, increase the lustre of his fame. + +Of works for orchestra alone the two Serenades published in 1860 are +still the only examples. As we have seen,[44] Brahms, in the summer of +1862, showed Dietrich the first movement of the C minor Symphony, 'which +appeared, greatly altered, much later on,'[45] but since then the +composer's invariable answer to his friend's inquiries had been that the +time for a symphony had not yet arrived. The ten years we are +considering are, in fact, characteristic of the composer as well by +their silence as by their song. We cannot doubt that just as his choral +works were the ultimate outcome of a long period of retirement and +study, of which we have traced the early as well as the late results, so +the period of his symphonic achievement was being gradually prepared for +by special work as fundamental and unwearied. Of this we shall very soon +have to note the perfected first-fruits on the appearance of a short +orchestral composition, now amongst the most familiar and valued of the +treasures with which Brahms has enriched the musical world. + +[35] 'Johannes Brahms in Erinnerung,' p. 37. + +[36] 'Meine Bekanntschaft mit Brahms,' _Die Musik_, No. 5 of 1902. + +[37] A few words that occur in a letter of Mendelssohn to his sister +Fanny Hensel are of interest here. 'Yesterday I read "Nausikaa" to +Cécile in Voss' translation.... This poem is really irresistible when it +becomes sentimental. I always felt an inclination to set it to music, of +course not for the theatre, only as an epic, and this whole day I feel +renewed pleasure in the idea' (p. 148 of Lady Wallace's translation of +Mendelssohn's letters, 1833-1847). + +[38] The entire letter is published by Richard Heuberger in the +supplement to the _Allgemeine Musikzeitung_, 1899, No. 260. + +[39] 'Franz Liszt's Briefe an Carl Gille,' with a biographical +introduction by Adolph Stern. + +[40] Numbers 1, 3, 10, were published in 1874 as arranged by the +composer for orchestra, and were frequently conducted by him about that +date. + +[41] The full programme was as follows: + +A German Requiem (under Reinthaler's direction). + +Arie from Handel's 'Messiah' and Graun's 'Der Tod Jesu.' + +'Hallelujah, Heil and Preis sei Gott.' A song of Triumph for eight-part +Chorus and Orchestra lately composed by Johannes Brahms (under the +composer's direction). + +Soprano, Frau Wilt from Vienna, Imperial chamber singer. + +Baritone, Herr Schelper, of the Berlin Court Opera. + +(The chorus of the Singakademie was augmented for the occasion to about +300 voices.) + +The general (public) rehearsal took place on Thursday evening, April 6. + +[42] The following were, as the author believes, first performances in +this country: + +_Quartet in A major for Pianoforte and Strings_: May 23, 1871. St. +James's Hall, Musical Union (John Ella), by Jaell, Heermann, Wäfelghem, +Lasserre. + +_Pianoforte Concerto, D minor_: March 9, 1872. Crystal Palace (A. +Manns), by Miss Baglehole (pupil of the pianist W. H. Holmes, one of the +first English musicians to appreciate the significance of Brahms' art). +The concerto was played for the second time in London by Jaell at the +Philharmonic concert of June 23, 1873. + +_Sextet for Strings, G major_: November 27, 1872. St. George's Hall, +Musical Evenings, by Henry Holmes, Folkes, Burnett, Hann, C. Ould, +Pezze. + +_Ballades for Pianoforte, Op. 10, Nos. 2 and 3_: March 17, 1873. St. +James's Hall, Monday Popular Concerts (S. Arthur Chappell), by Frau +Schumann. + +_Handel Variations and Fugue for Pianoforte_: November 12, 1873. Crystal +Palace, by Florence May. + +_Hungarian Variations for Pianoforte_: March 25, 1874. Crystal Palace, +by Florence May. + +_Schumann Variations (Pianoforte Duet)_: March 30, 1874. St. James's +Hall, Monday Popular Concerts, by Miss Agnes Zimmermann and Mr. Franklin +Taylor. + +_Serenade in A major (small Orchestra)_: June 29, 1874. St. James's +Hall, Philharmonic Society. Conductor: W. G. Cusins. + +_Liebeslieder, Op. 52_: January 15 and 27, 1877. St. James's Hall, M. +and S. Popular Concerts. Pianists: Fräulein Marie Krebs and Miss A. +Zimmermann. Singers: Fräulein Sophie Löwe, Fräulein Redeker, William +Shakespeare, G. Pyatt. + +_Neue Liebeslieder, Walzer, Op. 65_: May 18, 1877. Cambridge University +Musical Society's Concerts. Pianists: C. Villiers Stanford and Raoul C. +de Versan. Singers: Fräulein Thekla Friedländer, Fräulein Redeker, Rev. +L. Borrisow, Gerard F. Cobb. + +N.B.--The _Quartet in G minor_ and the _Quintet in F minor_, both for +_Pianoforte and Strings_, were played for the first time at the Popular +Concerts respectively on January 26, 1874, by Hallé, Madame +Norman-Néruda (now Lady Hallé), Ludwig Straus, and Piatti; and on +February 27, 1875, by Hallé, Joachim, L. Ries, and Piatti, but may have +been previously given in England elsewhere. + +The _Pianoforte Concerto in D minor_ was played for the first time in +Vienna at one of the Philharmonic Concerts of the season 1870-71, by the +composer, and for the second time in March, 1873, by Anton Door. + +[43] The author has followed the date given in the published catalogue +of the issue of these two books of songs. By their opus numbers they +would rather belong to the year 1873 or 1874. Brahms' well-known +arrangement for Pianoforte of Gluck's Gavotte in A was published in 1871 +by Senff. + +[44] P. 278 of Vol. I. + +[45] Dietrich, p. 42. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + 1872-1876 + + Publication of the 'Triumphlied,' with a dedication to the German + Emperor William I.--Brahms conducts the 'Gesellschaft + concerts'--Schumann Festival at Bonn--Professor and Frau + Engelmann--String Quartets--First performances--Anselm Feuerbach in + Vienna--Variations for Orchestra--First performances--'Triumphlied' + at Cologne, Basle, and Zürich--Resignation of appointment as + 'artistic director' to the Gesellschaft--Third Pianoforte Quartet. + + +Brahms returned to Vienna for the concert-season of 1872-73 with a new +and absorbing interest before him. He had accepted the appointment of +'artistic director' to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, thereby +undertaking the duties of conductor, not only of the society's concerts, +but of the bi-weekly practices of its choral society. The usual scheme +of the Gesellschaft concert-season, extending from about the middle of +November to April, comprised four regular, and two extra, concerts with +orchestra and chorus, one at least of which was devoted to an oratorio +or other great choral work. + + 'Brahms will now conduct the Gesellschaft concerts,' writes + Billroth on October 25; 'he is preparing Handel's _Te Deum_ and + "Saul," two Bach cantatas, his "Triumphlied," etc. At present he is + all enthusiasm over the direction of the choral society, and + enraptured with the voices and the musical talent of the choir. + Should the results be favourable, he will, I think, persevere; a + failure might suffice to discourage him so much as to deprive him + of all inclination for the work....' + +The season opened on November 10 with the following programme: + + 1. G. F. Handel: _Te Deum_ for the Dettingen celebration + of victory, 1743. + 2. W. A. Mozart: Aria for Soprano, with obl. accompaniment + for pianoforte and orchestra + (Frau Wilt). + 3.(_a_) J. Eccard: 'Ueber's Gebirg Maria geht.' + (_b_) H. Isaak: 'Inspruk ich muss dich lassen.' + Choruses _a capella_. + 4. F. Schubert: Symphony in C major (arranged for + Orchestra from the Pianoforte Duet, + Op. 140, by J. Joachim). + +This selection hardly invited an enthusiastic demonstration from a mixed +audience, but the performances were well received, and the occasion +resulted in a substantial artistic success for Brahms, and in the +removal of the doubt which had been entertained, even in some friendly +quarters, as to his fitness for his new duties. The inclusion of the +so-called symphony by Schubert was mentioned with disapproval by some of +the papers, though the masterly instrumentation of Joachim's +arrangement--made, we may add, at Schumann's suggestion--was duly +acknowledged. + +The second concert, the first 'extra' of the season, was in every +respect brilliant. It included the second performance of the complete +Triumphlied, published shortly before by Simrock with Brahms' dedication +to His Majesty the Emperor William I. The original title inscribed on +the manuscript of the work--'Song of Triumph on the Victory of German +Arms'--was shortened on publication to the simple 'Song of Triumph.' The +programme of December 6 was as follows: + + 1. Handel: Concerto for Organ and Orchestra. + 2. Mozart: Offertorium for double Chorus, Orchestra, + and Organ. + 3. Gluck: Aria from the opera 'Alcestis' (Frau + Joachim). + 4. J. S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in E flat for Organ. + 5. J. Brahms: Song of Triumph for Solo, eight-part Chorus, + Orchestra, and Organ (solo, Dr. Krauss). + +The performances of the great organ-player S. de Lange, invited from +Rotterdam for the occasion, on the society's new instrument, which had +been inaugurated at the previous concert by Bibl; the singing of Gluck's +aria by Frau Joachim; the rendering of two choral works, both new to the +audience, the productions of two masters each representative of his day, +with the art history of a century lying between them, combined to make a +programme of peculiar and varied interest. The Offertorium, an +unpublished work composed by Mozart in his twenty-first year, was +written for double chorus and organ, to which the composer afterwards +added two violins. Brahms now availed himself for the support of his +voices of the entire string band, and the performance of the beautiful +and unfamiliar work made a great impression. It was published almost +immediately by J. P. Gotthard of Vienna. The most important event of the +concert was, of course, the first performance in Vienna of the +performer's Song of Triumph. + + 'A truly magnificent work, which produced a profound and enduring + impression,' says Schelle; 'the German victories have been the + occasion of its composition.... Both as regards its form and its + treatment of masses, this work bears the stamp of a masterpiece. + The performances were excellent. The society's concerts could + certainly be in no better hands.' + +The Triumphlied was given a week later, December 14, in Munich, under +Franz Wüllner, and was again reviewed at length in the _Allgemeine +Zeitung_ of the 25th in a highly interesting article by Franz Pyllemann. + + 'The orchestra develops truly royal splendour.... What wealth of + tone-combination, what intoxicating charm of colouring, strike the + ear of the listener! The knowledge shown in the use and application + of the most appropriate and noble means of expression, as offered + by the various instruments, must be noted with deep admiration. + Brahms' mastery in the handling of chorus has long been common + knowledge. He makes great demands on his singers, and does not + readily restrict the development of an artistic idea on account + either of their convenience or their uncertainty. But, how his + choral movements sound! In this respect, the master stands nearer + to the heroes of choral composition, and especially Handel, than + any other modern musician. He has studied their works; he has most + intimately fused their, for our time, almost enigmatical technique + with the many resources of modern art; so that we might often + suppose ourselves to be listening, as regards his thematic work, + the polyphonic construction of his parts, to a masterpiece of the + eighteenth century, whilst the character of the themes, the quality + of the harmonies, the condition of the form, on the whole and in + detail, are entirely modern, are quite specifically "Brahms."' + +The work was given at the Gewandhaus Concerts, Leipzig, on February 27, +1873. + +The effect of the second 'regular' Gesellschaft concert of the season, +on January 5, 1873, was marred by a series of misfortunes. Three works +were announced for performance: + + 1. Hiller: Concert Overture in D major. + 2. Schumann: 'Des Sängers Fluch.' + 3. Mendelssohn: 'Die Walpurgis Nacht.' + +Hiller, who happened to be staying in Vienna, had promised to conduct +his overture to 'Demetrius,' the most successful of his four works in +this form, but, owing to an accident to the music, it was necessary to +substitute another, which proved ineffective. The drummer was attacked +by sudden illness on the day of the concert, and the substitute provided +proved unequal to the emergency; Hiller was obliged to rap for silence +immediately after beginning the performance of his work, and to +recommence. A similar mishap attended the course of the 'Sängers Fluch,' +under Brahms' direction, in consequence of a misunderstanding between +the solo vocalists and the harpists. Mendelssohn's work alone went +without a blemish. + +A very great success was obtained at the next concert, on February 28, +the second 'extra' of the season, with Handel's oratorio 'Saul,' given +for the first time in Vienna. The great work was received with +enthusiasm, and the performance pronounced perfect both by public and +press. + +This was followed, at the next 'regular' concert on March 23, by a +varied programme: + + 1. Bach: Easter Cantata, 'Christ lag in Todesbanden.' + + 2. Haydn: Symphony in C major. + + 3. German Folk-songs for unaccompanied mixed Chorus: + (_a_) 'In stiller Nacht.' + (_b_) 'Dort in den Weiden steht ein Haus.' + + 4. Schubert: 'Ellen's zweites Gesang' (arranged for + Soprano solo, women's Chorus, and Instruments + by Brahms). + + 5. Beethoven: Chorus from 'Die Weihe des Hauses,' for + Soprano solo, Chorus, and Orchestra. + +The attitude of the audience during the early part of this concert was +somewhat doubtful, the opening cantata being followed with earnestness, +but with scanty demonstrations of approval. At the entry of the chorale +at the close of the work, however, an electric feeling passed through +the packed hall as at the release from strained attention, and the +applause which followed was loud and resounding. + + 'It is hardly possible to bestow enough praise upon the performance + of the cantata,' says Schelle (the _Presse_); 'the choral society + and their conductor Brahms acquitted themselves most splendidly of + their task, and warm acknowledgment is also due to Herr Organist + Bibl.' + +Similar praise is given to the performance of the other numbers of the +programme, special mention being made of the folk-songs, one of which +had to be repeated. + + 'In a word,' concludes the critic, 'the satisfaction caused us by + the beautifully arranged concert must, we think, have been equalled + by that felt by Brahms at its success.' + +Billroth gives an interesting account, in a letter dated March 29, of +the energy and success of Brahms' work in this new field of labour. + + 'Brahms is extremely active as a conductor; he has achieved + incomparably fine performances, and receives the fullest + recognition from all who take art earnestly. His "Triumphlied," + given with organ and an immense chorus, produced a marvellous + effect here; great masses are required for its performance, it is + monumental music.... + + 'At the last concert Brahms ventured upon one of the most difficult + of Bach's cantatas, composed to Luther's text, "Christ lay in bonds + of death," which had never before been performed. The Viennese + accepted this with amiability from such a favourite as Brahms. Two + unaccompanied folk-songs which came next ("In stiller Nacht" and + "Der schönste Bursch am ganzen Rhein") awakened such a storm of + applause, however, that one almost felt afraid the house would fall + in. The old King of Hanover was almost beside himself with musical + intoxication. One becomes quite drunk with the beautiful quality of + sound produced by this choir, whose increase and decrease (_f._ and + _p._) are carried on like those of one voice....' + +Sufficient detail has now been given of the Gesellschaft concert-season +of 1872-73 to show the wisdom of the committee in their choice of a new +'artistic director,' and it only remains to mention the advertised +'last' concert of April 6. Two works were brought to a hearing: + + 1. Bach: Cantata, 'Liebster Gott, wann werd' ich sterben.' + 2. Cherubini: Requiem in C minor. + +The success of the performances may be inferred from the fact that the +programme was repeated two days later at an additional concert hastily +arranged to fulfil the general demand for an encore. + +Brahms was singularly unfortunate this year in his efforts to secure a +quiet retreat for the pursuit of his usual summer avocations. Flying, +after two days' residence in lodgings in Gratwein, Styria, from the +attentions of some 'æsthetic ladies' who began to threaten his peace, he +took refuge in the attic of the 'Seerose,' an inn in the Bavarian +village of Tutzing, on Lake Starnberg, to receive, the very night of his +arrival, a formal written invitation to make one, during his stay, of a +light-hearted fellowship of youthful authors, painters, and musicians +who held their meetings in the house. An early hour of the morning +witnessed his second abrupt departure, the only answer vouchsafed to the +missive being its torn fragments scattered on the floor of his room. He +took refuge this time with Levi at Munich, and made his headquarters at +his friend's house during the early part of the summer, seeing much also +of Allgeyer, who had been invited to settle professionally in the +Bavarian capital shortly after Levi's departure from Carlsruhe. Later +on Brahms attended the Schumann Festival at Bonn (August 17-19), +arranged, by Joachim's suggestion, for the purpose of assisting a fund +for the erection of a memorial to Schumann in the city where the master +had passed the two last sad years of his life, and where a Beethoven +monument had been unveiled in 1871. There were orchestral concerts on +the 17th and 18th, both conducted by Joachim, excepting in the case of +one work (Wasielewsky), and a matinée of chamber music on the 19th, the +programmes, in which Frau Schumann, Frau Joachim, Stockhausen, and +others took part, being entirely selected from Schumann's works. The +festival closed with a social function, an excursion by steamer to +Rolandseck. The presence at Bonn of each member of the remarkable +quartet of great musicians, whom we have seen closely bound together by +ties of artistic and personal friendship through nearly twenty years, +was made the more interesting by the addition of Ferdinand Hiller, the +intimate ally of all four. Many other old friends were there, of whom +Freiherr von Meysenbug, as reviving Detmold memories, should be +particularly mentioned. Brahms made some new acquaintances also, notably +Professor Engelmann and his gifted wife, known in the musical world for +a few seasons as the pianist Fräulein Emma Brandes, who retired from a +public career on her early marriage. + +Brahms, though taking no active part in the concerts, was not at all +averse to contributing to the private artistic pleasures of the week. +The most memorable of these was the first introduction to a few of his +friends of the Variations on a theme by Haydn, which he played with Frau +Schumann in the version of the work for two pianofortes. Another day he +turned into a pianoforte warehouse in the course of a walk with +Wasielewsky, and sitting down before one of the instruments extemporized +one waltz after another. + +After leaving Bonn he paid his annual visit to Lichtenthal, where Frau +Schumann and her daughters also stayed for a few weeks, though it was no +longer their place of residence. They moved this year to Berlin, and in +future only visited Baden-Baden for occasional change. Brahms sometimes +met his old friends there in the summer until the year 1878, when Frau +Schumann accepted an appointment at the Conservatoire of Music founded +by Dr. Hoch at Frankfurt. She then sold her house at Lichtenthal, and +Brahms' subsequent association with the neighbourhood was limited to +rare visits of a few days. Frau Schumann continued to live at Frankfurt +from this time, though she resigned her duties at the conservatoire some +years before her death. + +Meanwhile Brahms spent several weeks of this and succeeding summers at +his old lodgings, and one day in August of this year he played the +finally completed String Quartets in C minor and A minor, and the +'Rain-songs' to Frau Schumann. She had heard the C minor Quartet, as the +reader may remember, in the summer of 1866. The composer played both +works to Dr. Hermann Deiters when he was staying at Bonn in 1868. + +Claus Groth's poem 'Rain-song' and the shorter one 'Echo,' which form +the texts of Nos. 3 and 4 of Brahms' Op. 59, were particular favourites +of our master. He composed the 'Nachklang,' of which he chose the title, +twice. The published version is the second of the two. Musical readers +will remember that melody and accompaniment are used again in the duet +Sonata in G major. + +Both String Quartets were performed privately in Berlin by Joachim and +his colleagues. They were played for the first time in public; that in A +minor in Berlin at the Joachim Quartet concert of October 18 from the +manuscript; that in C minor at the Hellmesberger concert of December 11 +in Vienna from the printed copies. + +[Illustration: BRAHMS AT THE AGE OF 40.] + +The appearance of these two works as Op. 51, Nos. 1 and 2, forms, as we +have said, another and important landmark in the development of Brahms' +career. The String Quartet holds a position of peculiar significance in +the art of music, and a composer, by selecting this form for the +exercise of his powers, exposes them to the most unfailing test to which +his calibre as a musician can possibly be submitted. He must possess +not only fertility in the production of purely musical concentrated +ideas, and ideas capable of development; the power to develop them, +which means many things, and the capacity for shaping them into clear +structure; but he must be able to express them with the most bare and +simple musical means, with four strings. From the rapid effects of +strong and strongly contrasted sensation producible by the pianoforte, +or the varied tone-colour of the orchestra, he is precluded. With his +four strings he can interest, delight, touch, but hardly astonish his +hearers. The String Quartet is absolute music in its purest form, and +but few works in this domain can survive their birth unless they be +destined to attain a long life. The means are perfect for the end, but +this is difficult of achievement; only the quartet of a master has much +chance of being heard after its first few performances. It will be +evident to the reader that Brahms was fitted by many essential +characteristics of his genius for success in this branch of art, though +it cannot cause surprise that one of his great qualities, the power of +waiting for results, should have strengthened his fastidiousness in +accepting as final the fruits of his studies in a form which had been +brought to ideal perfection by Haydn and Beethoven, each in their day. +On the great musicianship manifest in Brahms' quartets, on his mastery +over his means, his power of completely balancing his four parts, of +making each a separate individuality whilst all blend harmoniously as +equal constituents of an organic whole, it is only necessary to insist +here in so far as these qualities are elements in another feature which +pre-eminently marks our master's chamber music for strings: the +extraordinary beauty of its structure. Throughout the three quartets and +two quintets for strings composed by Brahms there is not only no mere +passage writing, but it would be difficult to point to a single note +that could be called superfluous. Each seems to have been placed with +loving care by the master hand of the great musical architect, the +artist builder, as an essential part of the whole large design. When we +examine the thoughts themselves and their development we find that we +are, as in all Brahms' works, in the presence of a powerful and +fascinating individuality. Ideas and treatment are the master's own, not +easy at once to understand, but offering almost inexhaustible +opportunity for discovery and enjoyment to listeners willing to earn +such rewards. The two quartets, Op. 51, are more or less severally +representative of contrasted sides of Brahms' individuality. The first, +in C minor, is generally characterized by fire and impetuosity, +exquisitely relieved by the tender romance of the second movement; No. +2, in A minor, is conceived in a softer vein. The last movement of this +work contains a beautiful example of the characteristic Brahms coda; the +augmented vigour of the climax is preceded by a period of tranquillity +that seems to place the listener in an atmosphere of mystic exaltation, +to afford him 'glimpses of a spirit world' from which the previous +thoughts of the movement flow towards him in transfigured tones. Lovers +of the master's music will recall a similar feature in other works. In +the opening theme of the first movement, which is suggestive of +Joachim's early device F.A.E.-- + +[Music: Excerpt from the first movement of Brahms's String Quartet in A +Minor, Op. 51, No. 2, etc.] + +we may, perhaps, perceive a passing reference to the remembrance of his +friend which must certainly have been present to Brahms' mind as he +planned these works. Instances of the composer's mastery of the art of +modulation, of his boldness and facility in going to, and returning from +unexpected and distant keys, may be found in the two quartets as in the +majority of his instrumental compositions. They were dedicated by Brahms +to 'his friend Dr. Theodor Billroth of Vienna,' and were published in +the autumn by Simrock. + +Amongst those who had looked forward with particular expectancy to the +opening of the great World Exhibition that was held in Vienna in the +autumn of 1873 was the painter Anselm Feuerbach. He had, the previous +year, accepted the offer of an appointment as director of the historical +class about to be formed in the Imperial Academy of Plastic Arts of that +city, but had begged for a year's leave of absence in Rome before +entering on his new duties, in order that he might finish two great +pictures, 'The Battle of the Amazons' and 'The Second Symposium,' the +exhibition of which he conceived likely to establish his fame and to +secure him an authoritative position on taking up his residence in +Austria. The nearly finished pictures were sent to Vienna in March or +April, and Feuerbach followed them in May, 1873, but it turned out that +they could not be hung in the Exhibition gallery on account of their +great size. The painter determined, therefore, to exhibit them one after +the other in the 'Künstler-Haus,' and, in order to secure the advantage +of association in the mind of the public with so favourite a celebrity +of Vienna as Brahms had at this time become, he requested the master to +sit to him on his return in October in order that his portrait might be +exhibited with the other pictures. + +Feuerbach was a small man of ultra-refined appearance and manners, and a +countenance of rather melancholy expression that had evidently been of +striking beauty in his youth. He was accustomed to be made much of by +ladies, was extremely sensitive and self-centred, and inordinately vain, +and had confidently persuaded himself that his pictures were to achieve +an instant and overwhelming success. + + 'My pictures are splendid and all but finished,' he wrote to his + mother on October 2; 'why should I feel a moment's anxiety since I + have eminent power in my hands; genius and position.... The + Symposium also is quite exquisite, I may say so now as I have seen + the Vatican.'[46] + +Brahms, who had, as we have seen, a long-standing acquaintance with +Feuerbach and sincerely admired his powers, mounted the many flights of +stairs leading to the artist's temporary studio more than once. His +attention was particularly called to the 'Battle of the Amazons,' on +which, as it was to be exhibited first, Feuerbach was busy with the +finishing touches. He mentioned it several times in a reserved manner to +Groth, who was in Vienna for the Exhibition, saying he was anxious to +have his opinion of it, and persuaded him to pay a visit to the studio +one day to be presented to Feuerbach. Groth, however, on coming away, +found that he was unable, as Brahms had been, to express himself warmly +about the great painting, and merely agreed with our master in 'not +understanding' it. Brahms, intimately acquainted with the artist circles +of Vienna, evidently could not shake off his apprehension as to the +result of the exhibition, and took an opportunity of speaking a word of +warning to Feuerbach, advising him to be cautious, and to introduce +himself to his new public with a smaller work. The integrity of the +composer's ideas of friendship and the misunderstanding of his motives +which was its frequent result, as well as the general soundness of his +judgment in matters on which he ventured to give advice, are well +illustrated by the affair. His words produced an immediate effect very +different from that intended by him. The wound they inflicted on the +irritable susceptibility of the painter was so painful as to deprive him +of the power of concentrating his mind upon the 'Amazons' for several +subsequent days, and he found it impossible to go on with Brahms' +portrait. + +'Another evening spoilt by Brahms,' he wrote on November 3; and again: +'I was not for a second angry with Brahms, but I have put his canvas +aside for the present.' It was never taken up again. + +The pictures were duly exhibited in turn, and it may be said that the +final breakdown of Feuerbach's never robust constitution was the +ultimate result. Not criticism only or even chiefly, but torrents of +contempt, derision, insult were poured upon his work. + + 'A storm broke over my head by which I could at least reassure + myself as to the importance of my pictures. I could not sit down + to table without finding jests, raillery, caricature--unfortunately + always bad--beside my plate, and the story of my discomfiture was + related in the house from roof to cellar. I was told that everyone, + from the professor to the porter's boy, was laughing at my bad + picture.' + + 'Almost the entire press, independent and mercenary alike, was + arrayed against Feuerbach,' says Allgeyer. + +His pupils, however, offered him the mute sympathy and support of +punctual attendance and respectful attention at class, and the Minister +remained loyal to him. He retained his appointment till the close of +1876, though ill-health prevented him from performing his duties during +the last half-year. He died at Nürnburg in 1880. His friendship with our +master did not terminate with the incident of the pictures. + +'Brahms has lent me his fur-coat for my journey,' he wrote in February, +1875, on the eve of his departure for Rome. + +The 'Battle of the Amazons' was presented by the artist's mother to the +city of Nürnburg in the year 1889, and hangs there in the picture +gallery of the Town Hall. Many of the studies for the 'Amazons' and the +'Symposium' were purchased by King Ludwig II. of Bavaria, and presented +by him to the Royal Pinakothek at Munich. + +Of the many letters of congratulation received by Allgeyer after the +appearance of his 'Life of Feuerbach' in 1894, one of those most highly +prized by him came from Brahms. + +Brahms paid one visit to the great Exhibition in the company of Groth +and other friends, though the noise and bustle of such a scene were by +no means to his taste. He was more anxious that his friend should see +and hear what was really characteristic of Vienna. 'You must go to the +Volksgarten on Friday evening when Johann Strauss will conduct his +waltzes. _There_ is a master; such a master of the orchestra that one +never loses a single tone of whatever instrument!' + +Having promised to arrange a meeting between Frau Dustmann of the +imperial opera and Groth, Brahms came to the poet's hotel one morning, +and entering the room where he was lying in bed with a bad feverish +cold, exclaimed delightedly: 'Come to me this evening, the Dustmann will +sing to you.' 'But you see I am ill,' returned Groth testily. 'You will +be astonished,' continued Brahms, whose boast it was that he had never +in his life been really ill, '_there_ is a singer, _there_ is an artist; +_she_ will please you!' 'Ah, my dear fellow, I really cannot come,' +pleaded the other, 'Johann has just put a cold compress on, I am so +miserable!' 'She is very seldom free just now; she cannot come another +day.' 'Surely you see how miserable I am. How I should like to come, but +I cannot,' persisted Groth. Then Brahms turned to go. 'You are a +Philistine!' he declared angrily as he left the room.[47] + +The ante-Christmas season of 1873, signalized on its immediate opening +by the performance of the String Quartet in A minor at Berlin, already +referred to, was further rendered distinctive in Brahms' career by the +first performance from the manuscript of the Variations for Orchestra on +a theme by Haydn, which took place at the Vienna Philharmonic of +November 2 under Dessoff's direction. The masterly and attractive work +consists, as most amateurs are aware, of eight variations and a finale +on the 'Chorale St. Antoni.' The composer adheres almost entirely to +Haydn's harmonies in the giving out of the theme. The variations are +constructed on the principle often observable in his works in this form; +they constitute, as it were, a series of little movements each woven +more or less appreciably from the matter of the chorale, but each with a +character of its own and complete in itself, while the entire +composition is gathered together and rounded into a whole by the finale. +Brahms' vivid and original imagination of tone-effect is very clearly +discernible throughout the work, and is especially illustrated in it by +his original and effective employment of the double bassoon. + +The variations were received by the crowded audience, and reviewed by +the press, with warm welcome and with grateful appreciation of their +beauty and perfection, if with some trace of disappointment that he who +'held the sceptre' in the domain of music for the chamber and the +concert-room, and must of all living musicians be pre-eminently +qualified for the composition of a symphony, should be the very man to +refrain from writing one. Brahms, however, was well aware of the +gigantic difficulty of the task that lay before him in the writing of a +symphony that should successfully encounter that ordeal of comparison +with the greatest works of its class which had become inevitable by the +fact of his acknowledged supremacy in other forms. The ultimate cause of +his delay and the pledge of his future victory are alike to be found in +the nature of his artistic convictions, which, holding him loyal to the +traditions of the past masters of instrumental music, made it impossible +to him to seek novelty by compromising with modern methods. Brahms +elected to wait until, with the gradual ripening of his powers to full +maturity, he should feel, not only that he had something of his own to +say in the highest domain of pure music, but that he had mastered the +power of expressing it in a manner true to himself. Had he never felt +assured on these two points it is certain that no symphony of his would +ever have been made public, no matter to what sum of months the hours +might amount which he had devoted to the study and practice of writing +for the orchestra. Having now given a sign of his whereabouts he again +drew a veil over the course of his artistic development, and, appearing +before the public during the next three years only on ground which he +had already made his own, revealed no more upward stages of his +achievement until he at length stood victoriously before the world on +its summit. + +The variations were performed for the second time on December 10 under +Levi in Munich. + +The Gesellschaft season opened under Brahms' direction on November 9, +with Beethoven's Overture, Op. 115, and Handel's 'Alexander's Feast.' A +varied programme was given at the second concert of December 7: + + 1. Schubert: Overture to Fierrebras. + + 2. Schubert: Aria for Tenor (written in 1821 for introduction + into Herold's Opera 'Zauberglöcken' at the + Kärnthnerthor Theater, Vienna; + unpublished). Herr Gustav Walter. + + 3. Volkmann: Concertstück for Pianoforte and Orchestra. + Pianoforte, Herr Smetansky. + + 4. (_a_) Joh. Rud. Ahle (1662)} Unaccompanied Choruses. + (_b_) J. S. Bach } + + 5. Bach: Cantata, 'Nun ist das Heil,' for double + Chorus, Orchestra and Organ. + + 6. Jac. Gallus: Unaccompanied Chorus, 'Ecce Quomodo.' + + 7. Beethoven: Choral Fantasia for Pianoforte (Smetansky), + Orchestra, and Chorus. + +The publications of the year, all issued in the autumn, were, in +addition to the String Quartets, the version for two Pianofortes of the +Haydn Variations (Op. 56_b_), by Simrock, and a set of eight Songs (Op. +59), by Rieter-Biedermann. Of these, four are set to texts by Claus +Groth, which include 'Rain-songs' and the lovely 'Dein blaues Auge hält +so still.' The Variations for Orchestra were published by Simrock in +1874. + +Brahms was at this time quite immersed in his various kinds of work. + + 'I am so enormously occupied that I see my best friends only very + rarely and by accident,' he wrote in December to the present + author. + +It had now become his custom to decline invitations for the Christmas +festival, and to spend it, partly at the open-air Christmas market, +where he made himself happy by purchasing gifts for the poor children +whom he found crowding round the tempting wares, and partly at home, +where he would look in for half an hour at the family party gathered in +front of his landlady's Christmas-tree; no doubt contributing his share +to the surprises of Christmas Eve, the 'sacred evening' when, throughout +the length and breadth of Germany and Austria, innumerable trees are +lighted up at about the same hour, and the great exchange takes place of +presents to which, in many cases, the preparation and savings of a year +have been consecrated. A New Year's present of a special kind received +by Brahms this winter was the Maximilian Order for Art and Science +conferred on him by King Ludwig II. of Bavaria. + +The year 1874 was unusually full of movement and varied excitement for +our composer. From January onwards he was besieged with invitations, +many of which he accepted, to conduct his works at concerts and +festivals in North Germany, the Rhine, Switzerland, and was obliged to +reply in the negative to Dietrich's request, received in the beginning +of spring, that he would include Oldenburg in his arrangements. + + 'DEAR FRIEND, + + 'I am more than sorry, but you are too late! I have already + promised so much, and shall not be coming to your neighbourhood! + + 'If you had written earlier I could have arranged with Hanover, + Bremen, etc., for, _seriously_, I should be too glad to go to you + again....' + +The third Gesellschaft concert of the season (1873-74) took place on +January 25. That the performances under Brahms would be above criticism +had become by this time almost a foregone conclusion, and, beyond +recording the great success achieved by Goldmark's 'Hymn of Spring,' it +is only necessary to give the programme of the occasion: + + 1. Rheinberger: Prelude to the Opera 'The Seven Ravens.' + + 2. Goldmark: 'Frühlings Hymne' (May musings, from the Swedish of + Geijer), for Contralto solo, Chorus, and + Orchestra. (First performance, under the + composer's direction.) + + 3. Mozart: 'Davidde Penitente,' Cantata for Soli, Chorus, and + Orchestra. + +A few days later Brahms left Vienna to fulfil a group of engagements in +Leipzig, a circumstance which in itself affords some indication of the +rapid strides by which his career had lately been advancing towards the +full sunshine of success that was to flood the latter portion of his +path through life. + +The relations between Brahms and the city which owed its brilliant +reputation as a musical centre to Mendelssohn's influence had been at no +time really sympathetic. The attitude of expectant toleration that had +been more or less adopted towards him by both its extreme parties after +his first visit in 1853 had resulted on the one hand from Schumann's +essay, and on the other, from the confidence felt by the Weimarites and +expressed by Liszt that his 'new paths' must eventually bring him into +close touch with themselves. Gradually, however, it, became clear how +mistaken was the belief that the young musician would drift towards +acceptance of the extreme new tendencies, whilst the originality of his +musical thoughts and of his manner of expressing them was abhorrent to +the inflexible conservatism that had come to represent the traditions of +the Gewandhaus. If, moreover, there is every reason to surmise that +Mendelssohn himself had no hearty appreciation of Schumann's genius, it +is equally probable that neither Rietz, who conducted the Gewandhaus +concerts from 1848 to 1860, nor Reinecke, who succeeded him, was in very +warm sympathy with that of Brahms, and the predilections of the public +followed those of their accredited guides. + +Brahms' works were, it is true, generally given at the orchestral or +chamber concerts of the Gewandhaus soon after publication, but, +excepting the Triumphlied, with its special appeal to the patriotic +sentiment of the great German people, they met with but scanty response +from an audience little accustomed to the exertion of trying to follow +the expression of a new and original artistic individuality. That +Reinecke was by no means an ideal conductor of them naturally resulted +from the fact that by training, by conviction, and by practice, he was +attached to a rigidly formal school of modern musical thought, and it +can surprise no one that he should have been unable entirely to realize +the deeper and richer utterances of Schumann's young prophet. Brahms' +chamber music fared differently in the hands of David, who was almost +alone amongst the authorities of the Gewandhaus in his sympathy for the +composer's genius. To these considerations it must be added that not +only the pianist, but the composer Rubinstein, had, as we indicated in +an early chapter, an enthusiastic following amongst the typical Leipzig +public who were disposed to resent any claim to recognition that might +threaten to rival that of their favourite. + +In spite, however, of the fact that Brahms was no party man, in Leipzig, +as in almost every other city where his music was heard, it struck a +root, imperceptible at first, but growing deeper and stronger and more +extended with every year that went by. The attention bestowed on it by +Brendel's society has been frequently referred to in these pages; it was +cultivated, also, by Riedel's celebrated choir. A more representative +illustration, however, of a certain mysterious power inherent in Brahms' +works of finding their way sooner or later, and not seldom it is sooner, +to the heart, in spite of their intellectuality, their difficulty, their +reserve, is furnished by the case of two sisters, daughters of the head +of one of the great bookselling houses of Leipzig. The Fräulein Weigand +did not live in a musical 'set,' nor were they personally acquainted +with Brahms or his friends, but not long after their first casual +introduction to his music in the middle of the sixties, when they were +young girls, the appearance of each of his new works had come to be an +event in their lives. 'You from Leipzig!' exclaimed Hermann Levi, with +whom the sisters had a passing acquaintance in the summer of 1871. It +was not until three months before the composer's death that these ladies +had any personal communication with him. Then, hearing of his hopeless +illness, they resolved to address him for the first and last time, and +in January, 1897, they wrote to him telling how they had always loved +his music and followed his career. No one who really knew him will doubt +the pleasure that the letter gave to the dying master. In answer he +sent his photograph with his autograph, 'Johannes Brahms,' and the +inscription, 'To the two sisters as a little token of heart-felt thanks +for their so kind account.' + +Of the professional critics of Leipzig, Bernsdorf of the Signale +remained to the last irreconcilable to Brahms' art; but, on the other +hand, Dörffel of the _Leipziger Nachrichten_ watched the appearance of +his works with profound interest and reviewed them with extreme sympathy +and acumen. There was during the sixties no influential 'Brahms' +community in musical Leipzig, no active 'Brahms' propaganda in the +houses of wealthy amateurs. Such occasional admirers as the composer may +have had in this circle were to be met in the drawing-room of the lady +introduced to the reader in an early chapter as Hedwig Salamon, since +married to the composer Franz von Holstein. At the beginning of the +seventies, however, a few well-known residents were to be found who had +a strong bond of union in their common sympathy with Brahms' genius. Of +these, in addition to the von Holsteins, may be particularly mentioned +Philipp Spitta, now remembered in all parts of the musical world as the +author of the standard Bach Biography, Alfred Volkland, Herr Astor, of +the firm of Rieter-Biedermann, and later on its head, and the +distinguished composer Heinrich von Herzogenberg, who settled in Leipzig +in 1872 on his marriage with Elisabeth von Stockhausen. This lady, +endowed in an extraordinary degree with beauty, goodness, intellectual +and artistic gifts, domestic qualities, and any other imaginable graces +and perfections, soon came to be numbered with her husband amongst the +ardent devotees of Brahms' art. It will be convenient to mention here +also that Theodor Kirchner settled in Leipzig in 1875, the year in which +Spitta accepted a call to Berlin. + +All these circumstances put together seem to explain the master's visit +to Leipzig, where he had made no public appearance since the Gewandhaus +concert of November 26, 1860, when he and Joachim had conducted each +other's Hungarian Concerto and Serenade in A major without success. +Brahms was now to conduct a performance of 'Rinaldo' at a concert of the +University Choral Society at the Gewandhaus on February 3, and the Haydn +Variations, three Hungarian Dances, and the 'Rhapsody' (solo, Frau +Joachim) at the Gewandhaus subscription concert of February 5. His +presence in Leipzig was further welcomed by the performance of the G +minor Pianoforte Quartet at the Gewandhaus chamber concert of February +1, and by the performance of a Brahms programme by the _Allgemeiner +Musikverein_ on January 30. On January 17 one of the string quartets had +been performed at the Gewandhaus concert by David and his party. + +The moment when Brahms stepped on to the Gewandhaus platform, the +acknowledged representative, in at least two domains of musical art, of +the greatest masters who had preceded him, must have been one of quiet +satisfaction to himself if he cast a thought backward to the evening, +more than thirteen years ago, when he had last appeared in the same +hall, and, not for the first time, unsuccessfully sought the suffrages +of the same public. Even now, however, though he was received with the +respect due to a musician of his great standing, he was not to taste the +enjoyment of feeling that he had aroused the enthusiasm, hardly that he +had awakened the sympathy, of his audience. The Gewandhaus public, +rarely demonstrative, preserved its special attitude of coldness and +reserve towards him, and though he may have enjoyed the society of his +personal friends, he was probably glad to find himself back again in the +genial atmosphere of his surroundings in Vienna, where, in spite of the +survival of a hostile attitude in certain organs of the press, his +ground had become practically his own. + +The Haydn Variations were performed in February or March at Breslau +(twice), Aachen and Münster, under the respective conductors of the +subscription concerts, and on March 13 the composer assisted, but with +little success, in the performance of a Brahms programme at an Academy +concert, Munich, under Levi, conducting the new work, and playing the +solo of the D minor Concerto. In spite of Levi's continued efforts the +musical circles of Munich remained indifferent to the master's music. +The Haydn Variations were heard for the first time in London at the +Philharmonic concert of May 24, 1875, under W. G. Cusins. + +The programmes performed at the two 'extra' concerts of the Vienna +Gesellschaft were: On March 2-- + + 1. Schubert: _Kyrie_ and _Credo_ from the Mass in B flat. + (Unpublished; first performance.) + + 2. Schumann: Music to 'Manfred.' + +On March 31--Handel's 'Solomon.' + + 'We can only thank the conductor for bringing this work forward; + the performance was ideal,' says one of the critics in his notice + of the oratorio. + +The last concert of the season, on April 19, presented a varied +programme: + + 1. Haydn: Symphony in E flat major. + + 2. A. Dietrich: Concerto for Violin (Violin, Herr Lauterbach). + + 3. J. Brahms: Schicksalslied. + + 4. J. Rietz: Arioso for Violin with organ accompaniment. + + 5. J. S. Bach: Pastorale for Orchestra from the Christmas + Oratorio. + + 6. Handel: Last Chorus from the first part of 'Solomon.' + +Brahms' leisure was considerably curtailed this summer. Of the numerous +engagements fulfilled by him after the close of the Vienna +concert-season three may be particularly mentioned. He conducted the +Triumphlied at the first concert of the Rhine Festival (Cologne, May +24-27), at the Jubilee anniversary concert of the Basle Choral Society, +and at a concert of the Zürich Music Festival (July), and on each +occasion the great song was received with acclamation. With this work we +may, perhaps, especially associate the honour of the Prussian Ordre pour +le Mérite which was conferred later on the composer by the Emperor +William I. He was elected an honorary member of the Royal Academy of +Arts, Berlin, in the course of the summer. + + 'Brahms is becoming so popular,' writes Billroth on June 2, 'and is + everywhere made so much of, that he could easily become a rich man + with his composition if he could take it lightly. Fortunately this + is not the case.' + +The Triumphlied was performed in the German imperial capital on December +17, 1874, under Stockhausen. It was given under Levi at the great +Bismarck Festival in Munich, and was heard in London at a concert given +in St. James's Hall by George Henschel, December 2, 1880, for the +benefit of the Victoria Hospital for Children, Chelsea. + +The magnificent work is now but seldom performed: partly, no doubt, +because it was composed to celebrate a particular series of events in +history, partly because of the difficulty of securing the large chorus +necessary for its due effect, partly, perhaps, on account of the demands +it makes on the attention of the listener. Whatever be the cause, the +fact itself is to be deeply regretted. The work has sometimes been +criticised as wanting in contrast of mood. Undoubtedly it is, from +beginning to end, a song of passionate exultation which scarcely makes +pause from the first note to the last, and the listener requires time +and repeated hearings to become familiarized with its brilliancy before +he can follow it with pleasure; but it is full of varied features of +interest to lay hearers, and especially to those who will devote a +little time to its study before listening to its performance. To the +musician it appeals as a marvel of polyphonic art, though it contains no +elaborated features of harmonic or contrapuntal learning that might have +been prejudicial to its character as a national strain. It is literally +'a sound of many voices saying Alleluia.' + +The master lodged this summer near Nidelbad, above Rüschlikon on Lake +Zürich. Amongst the friends and acquaintances old and new with whom he +had intercourse were Bargheer, Hegar, G. Eberhard, Gottfried Keller, +Bernhard Hopfer, Professor and Frau Engelmann from Utrecht, and J. V. +Widmann. Brahms made Widmann's acquaintance at this time at the house of +Hermann Götz, and seems to have been immediately attracted by him; +partly, perhaps, because the younger man had the courage of his +opinions, and ventured to oppose him in argument. The acquaintance, +cemented during the three days of the Zürich Festival, grew into an +intimate and lasting friendship, to which the musical world is indebted +for Widmann's well-known and delightful 'Recollections,' already several +times referred to in these pages. + +Hegar mentions[48] that the works which occupied Brahms during his stay +at Rüschlikon were the second set of Liebeslieder, the book of songs, +Lieder and Gesänge, Op. 63, and the Vocal Quartets, Op. 64. It was at +this time, also, that he finally completed the Pianoforte Quartet in C +minor. The songs and quartets were published in the autumn by Peters; +the four Duets for Soprano and Contralto, Op. 61, and the seven Songs +for mixed Chorus, _a capella_, Op. 62, were issued about the same time +by Simrock. The Neue Liebeslieder and the C minor Quartet for Pianoforte +and Strings did not appear till 1875. + +From this time onward Brahms' copyrights were acquired, as each new work +was completed, by Simrock of Berlin, with only four exceptions--Nänie, +Op. 82; six Vocal Quartets, Op. 112; thirteen Canons, Op. 113, which +were bought by Peters of Leipzig; and a Prelude and Fugue for Organ, +published in 1881 as a supplement to the _Musikalisches Wochenblatt_ +without opus number. In future, therefore, we shall mention the +publication, but not the publisher, of the works. Those compositions +which were originally acquired from the composer by Breitkopf and Härtel +were resold by this firm to Simrock later on, and appear, therefore, in +the complete published catalogue of Brahms' works as Simrock's +publications. + +The third and, as it turned out, the last season of Brahms' work as +artistic director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde opened in due +course, and at the two ante-Christmas concerts of the season 1874-75 the +following programmes were performed: On November 8-- + + 1. Rubinstein: Overture to the Opera 'Dimitri Donskoi.' + + 2. Beethoven: Pianoforte Concerto in E flat. (Pianoforte, + Herr Brahms.) + + 3. Brahms: Songs for mixed Chorus, _a capella_, Op. 62-- + (a) Waldesnacht. + (b) 'Dein Herzlein mild.' + (c) Von alten Liebesliedern.' + + 4. Berlioz: 'Harold in Italy.' Symphony in four parts. + +On December 6--Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in D major. + +Neither concert seems to have reached the usual high-water mark of +success. Of the first programme the items most heartily appreciated were +the three choral part-songs, which, attractive in themselves and sung to +perfection, were applauded to the echo. Of doubtful wisdom was the +selection of the pianist of the occasion. Brahms, who probably yielded +to the persuasion of his committee, and was, perhaps, guided in his +choice of a concerto by the circumstance of having played Beethoven in E +flat in the spring at Bremen, had, as we have seen, given up regular +pianoforte practice for some years, and it was inevitable that his +performance should be affected by this fact. Berlioz's symphony, which +may have owed its place in the programme to our master's broad view of +his duties as the artistic director of an important society, was not +performed with any great aplomb or heard with particular favour, though +extra time and particular pains had been spent on its rehearsal. + +Beethoven's great Mass, given on December 6, was followed with strained +attention that was rewarded by a good, though, if Brahms' supporters in +the press are to be trusted, not a perfect, performance. + + 'How different are these days from those of the forties,' remarks + one of the critics, 'when many a music lover would rise and leave + the room before the commencement of a work by Beethoven.' + +The String Quartet in A minor was performed for the first time in Vienna +at Hellmesberger's concert of December 3, when the andante and scherzo +met with considerable appreciation. + + 'I have heard the string quartets several times this winter,' + writes Billroth in January, 1875. When we played them in Carlsruhe + as pianoforte duets, we took all the tempi much too fast. Brahms + desires very moderate _tempi_ throughout, as otherwise, owing to + the frequent harmonic changes, the music cannot become clear.... + Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, in their riper works of the + last period, all have a preference for the andante _tempo_. + + 'If you should infer from all I have said that I am much with + Brahms, you would be mightily mistaken. I have only seen him twice + during the whole winter.... We correspond, however; he is pleased + when I write to him about his things.' + +The composer was plunged in his own special work, and would allow +neither private nor public calls to occupy his attention, though he made +an exception in favour of Bernhard Scholz's invitation to pay an +artistic visit to Breslau at the close of the year. His doings during +the next few months afford but little material to chronicle, and we have +to record only the last four Gesellschaft programmes given under his +direction, and to lay special stress upon the extraordinary scene of +enthusiasm that followed the performance of the German Requiem on +February 28, 1875. The rendering of the work on this occasion was one of +those, rarely occurring, which seem to hold the audience spellbound by a +magnetic sympathy with the music. It brought with it in some mysterious +way the sudden flash of revelation. The whole audience, as it were, knew +Brahms that day, and most of what was left to be conquered, that was +worth conquering, in the musical opinion of Vienna was finally captured. +The phenomenal demonstration, joined in by musicians of all schools, +Wagnerians not excepted, that occurred on the termination of the great +work, noteworthy from its contrast with that earlier one of 1867 which +followed the performance of the first three choruses, was the more +striking since Wagner had conducted some excerpts from the 'Ring' in the +same hall a few days previously, and had been the recipient of a similar +ovation. + + _January 10, 1875_: + + 1. Mendelssohn: Overture to the Opera 'Camacho's Marriage.' + + 2. Joachim: Hungarian Concerto. (Violin, Herr Joachim.) + + 3. Brahms: Rhapsody. (Solo, Frau Joachim.) + + 4. Schumann: Fantasia for Violin and Orchestra. (Herr Joachim.) + + 5. J. S. Bach: Whitsuntide Cantata, 'O ewiges Feuer,' for Soli, + Chorus, Orchestra, and Organ. + + _February 28_: + + 1. J. S. Bach: Prelude for Organ in E flat, arranged for Orchestra + by Bernhard Scholz. + + 2. Mozart: Aria from 'Davidde penitente.' + + 3. Brahms: A German Requiem. + + _Good Friday, March 23_: + + J. S. Bach: Passion Music (St. Matthew). + + _April 18_: + + Max Bruch: Odysseus. + +At the close of the season Brahms laid down his conductor's bâton to +make room for the return of Herbeck, whose former services, especially +in the formation of an independent orchestra, had laid the society under +a debt of gratitude, and who, unable to endure the annoyances incidental +to his position as capellmeister of the opera, resigned the post. Brahms +continued his association with the Gesellschaft as a member of the +committee, taking great interest in its councils, and exercising +influence on the concert-programmes and the appointment of professors to +the conservatoire. Each year that went by added to the warmth of the +esteem with which he was personally regarded and to the deference shown +to his judgment by the members of the society, who were all proud of +this link of association with him. + +Writing in May to his stepmother from idyllic summer quarters, he says: + + 'DEAR MOTHER, + + 'I will let you know in haste, that I am living quite delightfully + at Zigelhausen near Heidelberg. Thank you also for the socks you + have again knitted for me.... I am not leaving Vienna, I have only + given up my appointment. You do not know the circumstances, and it + would be too prolix to tell you why. I am, however, remaining + there--and gladly. Write to me if you want money now, or later when + the holidays come off!... + + 'Affectionately Your JOHANNES.' + + 'I must tell you that people are very often surprised at my knitted + socks, and that I am taken such good care of!'[49] + + 'Brahms has had very interesting programmes. Unfortunately we have + lost him and Dessoff (Philharmonic) as conductors. Both have been + pushed out, and both pushed out by Herbeck,' writes Billroth in the + month of June. + +Brahms invited Dietrich to visit him at Zigelhausen. + + 'I saw his new works, but cannot now be quite sure which they + were,' says Dietrich in his 'Recollections.' + +We may confidently conjecture that chief amongst them must have been the +first symphony, upon the completion of which Brahms was at this time +concentrating his attention, and it is probable that he also showed the +sketches of the second symphony to his old friend. + +It was this year that Brahms consented to become a member for the music +section of a commission for the awarding of certain gratuities granted +annually by the Austrian Government to poor artists of talent who have +produced promising works. Three members appointed by the Minister of +Education for each of three sections--poetry, music, and the plastic +arts--examine the applications and work sent, and judge between them. +The fund was established in 1863, and the original adjudicators in the +music section were Hanslick, Herbeck, and Essen. Brahms now replaced +Essen, and a little later Goldmark succeeded Herbeck. The compositions +were sent in the first place to Hanslick, who generally made a selection +from them for Brahms' inspection, keeping back such as did not fulfil +the required conditions or were hopelessly bad. In the _Neue Freie +Presse_ of June 29, 1897, Hanslick made public a few of the +communications he had received from Brahms on these occasions, the first +of which, dated September, 1875, was as follows: + + 'DEAR FRIEND, + + 'Parcels such as your last are generally so thorny that some kind + preliminary guidance like yours is most welcome and necessary as a + help in finding one's way through. This time, however, things are + not so bad, and seem to me fairly simple. Dvorák and Reinhold + thoroughly deserve your proposal by their performances. In + Lachner's case (blind) well-justified sympathy counts for + something. M. certainly merits some help meanwhile. I mean he ought + to win the money more decidedly next year. N. N. alone appears to + me so undeserving of the gratuity that it might be given uselessly + in his case. Just look again at his small and great sins. They are + the most unmusical in the packet. Alas, if he should progress + further! At all events he should desire and use the money for + instruction and not for a libretto!' + +The Quartet in C minor for pianoforte and strings, published in the +autumn, was produced at Hellmesberger's concert of November 18 by +Brahms, Hellmesberger, Bachrich, and Popper, and was played in Hamburg +on January 3, 1876, by Levin, Böie, Schmall, and Lee. + +This composition must, as the reader is aware,[50] be referred to more +than one period of Brahms' activity, and it can hardly be accepted as a +representative work of either. Standing about midway, as to date of +publication, between his two great series of masterpieces for pianoforte +and strings, if it is to be classed amongst either, it must indubitably +be reckoned with that of the sixties. Internal no less than external +evidence, however, leaves little doubt that it points back to a still +earlier date. The master of the seventies has so far succeeded in +remodelling the work of early youth as to have given to the world in the +quartet an interesting, and, on the whole, a clear, presentment of many +noble musical thoughts, but it can hardly be said that he has effected +its transformation into a homogeneous or apparently spontaneous work of +art. Kalbeck mentions that a memorandum of Brahms assigns the date +1873-74 to the third and fourth movements. This, however, may probably +refer only to their final completion. The second movement (the scherzo), +which undoubtedly belongs to the period of the pianoforte sonata +numbered as Op. 1, is consistently characteristic of the composer at +that date. The first and third movements suggest a transition period. +The character of the ideas of the opening allegro with its impressive, +deeply serious, first subject, and of the andante with its sustained +melodious phrases, seems to give promise of the power which, manifested +in a different mood, was reached in the earlier-published companion +works. Of the finale it must be said that its themes are lacking in +interest and developed mechanically. It may be surmised that the +composer's pruning-knife was freely used in the course of his successive +revisions of the work, and perhaps not only for the purpose of +shortening it, but also for that of thinning out the score. From the +circumstance that this is neither so luxuriant in detail nor so thickly +instrumented as those of the other two pianoforte quartets, the C minor +has, perhaps, the one advantage amongst the three of being the most +readily appreciable at first hearing. It must, however, as the author +conceives, be rated, as a completed work of art, decidedly below its +glorious companions. + +The relative popularity attained by the three pianoforte quartets in +England may be fairly estimated by comparing the numbers of their +respective performances at the Popular Concerts, London. The A major, +introduced in January, 1872, was given ten times up to October, 1900, +inclusive. The G minor, first performed in January, 1874, was given +twenty-six times up to March, 1900. The C minor, first played in +November, 1876, was not heard again until December, 1893. + +[46] Allgeyers, 'Life of Feuerbach.' + +[47] From the article in the _Gegenwart_ already referred to. + +[48] Steiner's 'Johannes Brahms.' + +[49] Reimann's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 117. + +[50] See Vol. II., pp. 77 and 138. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + 1876-1878 + + Tour in Holland--Third String Quartet--C minor Symphony--First + performances--Varying impressions created by the work in Vienna and + Leipzig--Brahms and Widmann at Mannheim--Second Symphony--Vienna + and Leipzig differ as to its merits. + + +A journey to Holland early in 1876 brought unmixed gratification to the +master. He conducted the Haydn Variations, and played the D minor +Concerto at Utrecht on January 22 before an audience which received him +with warm greeting, and gave every possible evidence of appreciation of +his works. Immense applause followed each movement of the concerto, and +at its close, when enthusiasm was at its height, two youthful ladies +advanced to the platform, each bearing a cushion on which a wreath was +placed, one decorated with ribbons of the Austrian colours (black and +yellow), the other with those of Holland (red, white, and blue), which +they smilingly presented to the composer. Brahms, not always inclined to +receive tributes of the kind with urbanity, entered thoroughly into the +happy spirit of this occasion, and showed plainly by his manner of +accepting the compliment his pleasure at the charming way in which it +had been offered. He was the guest during his several days' stay at +Utrecht of Professor and Frau Engelmann, in whose house he at once +became at home, dividing his time between walking, talking, playing with +the children, making music with his hostess, seeing friends, and was in +genial mood throughout the visit. It may be remarked _en passant_ that +Brahms in a companionable frame of mind was not accustomed to let his +friends off easily. His constitution was so robust, his spirit so +active, his interests so numerous, that he liked, and expected others to +like, to sit up talking with vivacity until the small hours of the +morning, and would rise after about five hours' rest as unwearied and +energetic as though he had had what would be for most people a normal +amount of repose. It was a matter of course wherever he stayed that the +means for making a cup of coffee should be left every night at his +disposal for the next morning, and he generally returned from an early +walk at about the hour when the household was beginning to stir. + +After leaving Holland the master took part as conductor and pianist in +concerts at Münster, where he directed the Triumphlied, Mannheim and +Wiesbaden, playing the D minor Concerto on each occasion. He was, of +course, the guest at Münster of Grimm and his wife. At Mannheim he +stayed with his friend the well-known capellmeister Ernst Frank, who in +the course of his career was associated as conductor with the musical +life of Würzburg, Vienna, Mannheim, and Hanover. The Wiesbaden concert +is still vividly remembered by the present Landgraf of Hesse, who, then +a young lad, heard Brahms for the first time on the occasion, and +received an impression which laid the foundation of his enduring +enthusiasm for the master's art. + +Staying in the summer at Sassnitz in the Isle of Rügen, Brahms there +completed his third String Quartet in B flat major, and announced the +work in September to Professor Engelmann, to whom it is dedicated. It +was played in Berlin before a private audience towards the end of +October by the Joachim Quartet party, and by the same artists for the +first time in public at their concert of October 30 in the hall of the +Singakademie, on both occasions from the manuscript. The first concert +performance after publication was that of the Hellmesberger party on +November 30 in Vienna. + +The general remarks offered in the preceding chapter on Brahms' chamber +music for strings are to be applied to the Quartet in B flat major. Of +its particular characteristics we may note the joyousness of the first +movement, and the weird fantastic pathos of the third, in which a +special relation is maintained between the viola and first violin. In +the theme--of distinguished simplicity--and variations, with which the +work closes, we have a concise but beautiful example of the composer's +facility in this form. + +The String Quartet in B flat was the first of the three composed by +Brahms to be heard at the Popular Concerts, London. It was played on +Monday, February 19, and Saturday, March 3, 1877, by Joachim, Ries, +Straus, and Piatti. The A minor was performed on Monday, October 31, +1881, by Straus, Ries, Zerbini, and Piatti, and the C minor on Monday, +December 7, 1855, by Madame Norman-Néruda, Ries, Straus, and Franz +Néruda. These (Op. 51, Nos. 1 and 2) were not immediately repeated. + +The great event of the year 1876 in the career of Brahms was the +appearance of the long looked for symphony. As in the case of the +Schicksalslied and the completed Triumphlied, the composer chose to +produce his work for the first time at Carlsruhe, preferring, maybe, to +test it for his own satisfaction in the comparative privacy of a small +audience before submitting it to the searching ordeal of performance in +either of the great musical centres of the Continent. The musical life +of Carlsruhe had suffered sadly by the departure of Levi in 1872, and it +was not until the appointment of Dessoff to the post of court +capellmeister, on his resignation of his duties in Vienna in 1875, that +the city began to regain some of its former artistic prestige. The +performance on November 4, 1876, from the manuscript, of Brahms' first +Symphony by the grand ducal orchestra under Dessoff, in the composer's +presence, was a musical event that revived the recollections of a +brilliant past, and added a new and abiding distinction to the artistic +traditions of the small capital. + +The work was heard a few days later in Mannheim, and on the 15th of the +month in Munich; on both occasions under the composer's direction. Four +other performances from the manuscript quickly followed--in Vienna +(Gesellschaft), December 17, in Leipzig, January 18, and Breslau, +January 23, 1877, in each case under the composer, and in Cambridge, +March 8, 1877, under Joachim's direction. + +The Symphony in C minor, whose appearance marks the period of Brahms' +achievement in the highest domain of absolute music, and the last that +remained to him for conquest, is in the first place remarkable from the +fact that it cannot properly be ranged beside the works in the same form +produced by either of the two masters who were, chronologically +speaking, his immediate predecessors. By its accomplishment, no less +than by its aim, it must be regarded as the immediate successor to the +symphonies of Beethoven in the same sense as these were the direct +descendants of the symphonies of Mozart and Haydn, and it establishes +Brahms' right to be accepted in its own domain as the heir, _par +excellence_, of one and all of these masters. This alone were much. +Still more important, however, is the fact that our composer has known +how to graft upon the symphony form inherited from Beethoven, Mozart, +and Haydn, the giant stock of Bach's learning and resource, studied and +absorbed by him until they had become a part of his own artistic +individuality, in such a manner as to revivify it root and branch, and +make it a supple instrument in his hand, not for the mechanical +imitation of what had been done before him, but for the 'highest ideal +musical expression of his own time.'[51] Few who listen with quickened +ears to an adequate performance of the C minor Symphony can be in doubt +that whilst in outward form and manner of construction it may be +regarded as at once the epitome and the latest result of the past +history of classical instrumental art, it is in spirit representative of +its own time and even anticipatory of the future; that it not only +reflects the soul of the musician, poet, and philosopher, but is +suggestive of the higher vision of the prophet. It is this fact, for +those who accept it as a fact, that constitutes the highest significance +of Brahms' first symphony, and lends a real meaning to Bülow's +well-known apophthegm of 'the three B's': Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. + +The shrill, clashing dissonances of the first introduction at once place +the listener in the atmosphere of stern grandeur, passion, mystery, that +surround, not this or that human life, but existence itself, in its +apprehension by human intelligence; and the allegro to which it leads +seems to the present writer to present as near an analogy as art can +show to the processes of nature, built up as it is--first and second +subjects and their treatment--from a few notes; from what one of the +Vienna critics called 'mere twigs of thematic material'; from germs +which are produced and reproduced, are transformed and reformed, and +developed into a great organic whole instinct with noble, living melody. +The solemnly fervent andante sostenuto, the graceful, innocent +allegretto with its sufficiently contrasted trio, afford the mind the +refreshment of change of tone after the stormy splendour of the first +movement; but the note of tragedy is resumed with the first sounds of +the wonderful adagio that precedes, and essentially contains, the +allegro of the fourth movement. Here, for some twenty-eight bars, the +tension of feeling increases till destiny itself seems to be held in +suspense; then, with the resolution of a chromatic chord, the horn +sounds the unexpected major third of the key in a six-four of the tonic +triad, and, continuing its strange, passionate cry, gradually disperses +the mists of doubt and apprehension that have held the hearer as in a +thrall, and carries him forward to the sublimity of joy that dwells in +the final allegro. + + 'The last movement of your C minor Symphony,' wrote Billroth to + Brahms in 1890, fourteen years after its first performance, 'has + again lately excited me fearfully. Of what avail is the perfect, + clear beauty of the principal subject in its thematically complete + form? The horn returns at length with its romantic, impassioned cry + as in the introduction, and all palpitates with longing, rapture + and supersensuous exaltation and bliss.' + +These words were not written by a fantastic dreamer, but by one of the +most renowned scientific and practical surgeons and busiest men of his +time, and in using them he did not employ a mere rhetorical phrase. The +quality of imagination which speaks through Brahms' first symphony is +akin to that of the early Sonata in F minor, though it is expressed in +the later work with the help of more than twenty years additional study +and experience. It is that of a seer of visions, and seems to culminate, +in the passage to which Billroth alluded, in an ecstasy of wonder and +joy. Brahms undoubtedly rose to the full height of his great powers in +this first symphony, which remains unsurpassed in workmanship and +sustained loftiness of idea, as well as in regard to the range of +emotion to which it appeals. + +It goes without saying that the supposed merits and demerits of the work +became the subject of heated argument between the partisans and +antagonists of the composer's art, the particulars of which would +scarcely prove interesting to readers of the present day. In giving some +account of the first impressions made by the symphony, we shall quote +from those notices only which, whilst they are in themselves not without +value, appear to have been written in a candid spirit, and do not +offensively betray the influence of party bias. The reputation attaching +to Hanslick's name, and the moderation of his style, seem to make it +necessary to include something from his report, though he was avowedly a +stanch admirer of Brahms' music, and had little liking for that of the +New-German school. To balance this, we shall give a few sentences from +the _Wiener Zeitung_, a journal to which, as the reader may remember, no +suspicion can attach of handling our master's works with an excess of +cordiality. It is necessary to explain, for the benefit of such readers +as are not familiar with Brahms' large works, that the references to +Beethoven's ninth symphony occurring in some of the press notices are +occasioned by what has sometimes been described as Brahms' intentional +allusion, in the principal theme of his finale, to Beethoven's setting +of Schiller's 'Ode to Joy' in the last movement of the great 'ninth.' +The so-called allusion consists, not so much in a similarity of melody +in Brahms' theme to that of Beethoven, as in its being written in the +same hymn-form and harmonized as plainly as possible. There is no doubt +whatever that everyone who listens to Brahms' first symphony thinks +immediately, on the entrance of the final allegro, of Beethoven's ninth. +The association passes with the conclusion of the subject; Brahms' +movement develops on its own lines, which do not resemble those of +Beethoven. + + 'In this work,' says Hanslick (_Neue Freie Presse_), 'Brahms' close + affinity with Beethoven must become clear to every musician who has + not already perceived it. The new symphony displays an energy of + will, a logic of musical thought, a greatness of structural power + and a mastery of technique such as are possessed by no other living + composer. It would be a sorry mistake to attempt to criticize a + work so serious and difficult of comprehension immediately after + hearing it for the first time. Various listeners may have found the + music more or less clear, more or less sympathetic; the one thing + that we may speak of as a simple fact, accepted alike by friend and + foe, is that no composer has yet approached so nearly to the great + works of Beethoven as Brahms in the finale of the C minor + Symphony.' + + '... Brahms was an important personality, one to be treated most + seriously before he wrote the symphony,' we read in the _Wiener + Zeitung_; 'to our thinking his position remains just as it was. The + strong moral earnestness, the depth and purity of his conception of + the world and of life, and the intellectuality, which have always + obtained for the esteem of the noble-minded and withheld from him + the favour of the masses, are to be found again in this work. None + the less, however, are the shadows there which but too easily + accompany such lights; the want of inspiriting fancy, the absence + of sensuous charm, and a sullen asceticism almost amounting to + insipidity. His musical language has lost nothing of its mysterious + reticence, of its close conciseness, of the elevation that on the + whole distinguishes it, nor has it gained in facility, clearness, + or comprehensibility.... So there is nothing that can be admired + without reserve, until with sure step, with strong, proud gait that + reminds one of the majesty of Beethoven, the finale strides out. + After a bar or two of deeply sorrowful complaint, it braces itself + to a turbulent pizzicato of the strings, as a man who would get rid + of pain by nerving himself to action.... With the entry of the + chorale, the hearer experiences a sensation of brightness as at + the rising of the sun after a night of sorrow. The last mists + disappear as before the breaking light, and the movement closes in + strong, healthy gladness.... Here the arts of music and poetry + mingle indissolubly, and the musical, cannot be separated from the + poetic, impression. Here is a truly great artistic achievement, the + value of which is but slightly prejudiced by the consideration that + the "joy" theme has an unmistakable resemblance as of son to father + to that of the "ninth" symphony. This movement is worthy of the man + who composed the German Requiem.' + +Dörffel, of the _Leipziger Nachrichten_, wrote: + + 'The interest of all present was centred on the new symphony, + which, on the whole, justified the great expectations with which it + had been awaited. Its effect on the audience was the most intense + that has been produced by any new symphony within our remembrance. + Schumann in his time did not attain such.... The composition is to + be viewed and measured from the standpoint of Beethoven's ninth, + and of Schumann's second, symphony. The aim of the three works is + the same. To reach it, Brahms, well-equipped and daring spirit as + he is, goes his own way. He is great in attack as his two + predecessors, and has the same wide vision over the domain of + spiritual-human existence.... As regards uninterrupted energy of + creative power, we would give the palm to the first movement. The + second, with its fervour and longing, accords with it. To the third + we should gladly have listened longer. It supplied a counterpoise + of sentiment to what had gone before which had not been maintained + long enough when the movement closed. Of the finale we would almost + venture to surmise that it gave the composer the most trouble. Here + he relinquishes his independence, and flies to Beethoven in order + to get new force for his climax. We do not regard the resort to + Beethoven as accidental, but believe the composer to have been well + aware of it. He came, however, to one over whom he could not + prevail. + + 'A long pause followed the symphony; one, however, that was not + long enough in some measure to quiet the exaltation of mind + produced by the work. The songs and variations which followed, and + which we should have welcomed at another time, were almost tiresome + to us. Let the symphony be repeated soon, and, if possible, without + other music.'[52] + +Louis Ehlert says of the symphony: + + 'Brahms has a wide-reaching and speculative brain, and is a mixture + of the musician of the good old times who heard many voices + sounding together within him, whose very cradle cover was + embroidered with a contrapuntal pentagram, and of the man of the + present day with his variously cultured intellect.... What + distinguishes his music from that of all his contemporaries is the + mysterious apparition within it of another world--its gentle, + pathetic tapping at the heart. + + 'The first movement of the symphony is, perhaps, the most + artistically important of the work.... An inexorable causality + proceeds from bar to bar, stayed by no illusion, and softened only + by the distant light of a few solitary stars. In the introduction + and finale the enigmatical sphinx seems to call to us, "That which + ascends from me, mounting upwards to battle and to life, sinks back + again within me. Of all life I, the eternal riddle, am the + beginning and the end."' + +It will be evident from what has been said that whatever the impression +to be derived from familiar acquaintance with the symphony, immediate +enthusiasm could hardly have been anticipated from any large general +public--least of all by Brahms himself; but the presence at most of +these first performances of devotees specially qualified for +apprehending something of the significance of the work generally secured +for it more than a mere _succès d'estime_. The listeners of Munich were +the least appreciative. Those of Carlsruhe, Mannheim and Breslau were +friendly. At Vienna certain favoured friends were privileged to listen +to a private performance of the symphony by Brahms and Ignaz Brüll, in +the composer's arrangement as a pianoforte duet, at the pianoforte house +of his friend Herr Hoffabrikant Friedrich Ehrbar, and went to the +concert, therefore, with minds partially prepared for what they were to +hear. At Leipzig a note of enthusiasm was perceptible at the crowded +public rehearsal which preceded the Gewandhaus concert, owing partly to +the fact that Brahms' Leipzig adherents had been strongly reinforced by +the advent of friends from outside, some of whom added warmth and +prestige to the occasion by their mere presence. The feeling for our +master's art which, as we have seen, had been slowly growing amongst a +number of Leipzig residents who belonged to no musical 'set,' will have +been expressed with added zest and enjoyment when it was found that Frau +Schumann and Joachim and Stockhausen had come to hear the symphony, +whilst to the support of the von Herzogenbergs, von Holsteins, Theodor +Kirchner, and other resident or lately resident friends, was added that +of the Grimms from Münster, Dr. Hermann Deiters from Bonn, Professor and +Frau Engelmann from Utrecht, Simrock from Berlin, and many other +distinguished guests. Enthusiasm is contagious, and already at the +rehearsal a success was ensured for the work, though perhaps it was not +very warmly helped by the official patrons of the Gewandhaus. + + 'A regular Brahms party meeting had been organized,' says Bernsdorf + in the _Signale_, now as ever inveterate in his own party bias, in + which a fairly strong contingent from outside was associated with + the resident admirers and champions of the composer. It is + therefore a matter of course that the consumption of enthusiasm was + enormous, and that the success of the symphony was one exceptional + in the annals of the Gewandhaus.' + +A large party of friends assembled at supper at the Hôtel Hauffe after +the concert. Brahms' health was proposed in genial fashion by +Stockhausen. 'Hab' ich tausendmal geschworen,'[53] he suddenly sang out, +starting to his feet and raising his glass. Needless to say that the +toast, which was the more effective from the sense of victory filling +the minds of those who had assisted at the evening's triumph, was +honoured with the utmost enthusiasm. + +The performance of the symphony by the Cambridge University Musical +Society was given under special circumstances. Early in the year the +university offered the master an honorary degree, acceptance of which +would have involved him in a visit to England, since, by one of the +university statutes, its degrees may not be conferred _in absentia_. +Brahms was not asked to write a new work for the occasion, a request he +would properly have resented, but was merely invited to visit Cambridge +for the purpose of receiving the degree, and was so far gratified by the +compliment as to hesitate about his answer. Perhaps his mere reluctance +to decline the invitation in spite of his dread of English customs and +his ignorance of the language, may be accepted as stronger testimony of +appreciation than might have been implied in the effusive acceptance of +many another man. It may be doubted whether he would in any case have +prevailed upon himself to undertake the journey; an indiscreet +advertisement, however, inserted in _The Times_ by the Crystal Palace +directors, who had heard a rumour of his possible visit, that if he +should come he would be asked to conduct one of their Saturday concerts, +immediately decided him to decline the University's proffered honour. He +acknowledged the invitation by entrusting the MS. score and parts of the +symphony to the care of Joachim, who was about starting on his yearly +visit to England, for performance at Cambridge. + +The programme of March 8 was as follows: + + PART I. + + W. G. Bennett: Overture, 'The Wood Nymph.' + Beethoven: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. + Violin, Dr. Joachim. + Brahms: A Song of Destiny. + Bach: Violin Solos, Dr. Joachim. + Joachim: Elegiac Overture (in memory of H. Kleist). + + PART II. + + Brahms: Symphony in C minor. + +The Symphony and the Elegiac Overture, the latter composed by Joachim in +acknowledgment of the honorary degree offered him by the University and +conferred in the afternoon of March 8, were given under his direction; +the remainder of the programme was under that of the society's +conductor, C. Villiers Stanford. + +The concert attracted a great audience, which included prominent +musicians from various parts of the United Kingdom. The impression +created by the symphony was profound, and, following that of the German +Requiem and of the great chamber music compositions and songs which had +now for some years been finding their way to the hearts of music lovers +in this country, formed, as Stanford says, 'an imperishable keystone to +Brahms' fame amongst Britons.'[54] The new work was performed in London +a few weeks later at the Philharmonic concert of April 16, under W. G. +Cusins. + +Probably Brahms' Vienna friends and admirers little dreamed how near +they had been at this time to losing their favourite. The position of +municipal music-director at Düsseldorf was pressed on his acceptance in +the autumn of 1876, and he was sufficiently tempted by it to be +characteristically unable to decide on a negative answer. He was, +indeed, so long in coming to a final resolution, that the Düsseldorf +authorities had every reason to feel persuaded they had secured him for +the opening of the year 1877. At the last moment he wrote: 'I cannot +make up my mind to it.' This seems to have been the last occasion on +which he entertained the idea of binding himself to the performance of +fixed duties, though it has been surmised that he might have consented +at a somewhat later period to associate himself with a high class for +composition at the conservatoire of the Vienna 'Gesellschaft,' if he had +been approached by the principal, Josef Hellmesberger, on the subject of +forming one. + +Certain incidents belonging to the autumn of 1877, related by Widmann in +his Brahms' 'Recollections,' show that at this time, when the master had +successfully proved his powers in every form of composition for the +concert-room, the old desire to try his hand at writing for the stage +revived within him. Brahms and Widmann met at Mannheim, and were present +at the production, on September 30, of Götz's unfinished opera, +'Francesca di Rimini,' under Frank. In the course of a long +_tête-à-tête_, held on their return to their hotel after the +performance, Brahms clearly explained his views on the subject of opera +texts, 'letting it be seen,' says Widmann, 'that any resolution he might +have formed against composing an opera might give way were he to find +himself in possession of a libretto really to his liking.' + +The convictions professed on this occasion by the composer may be traced +to an attitude of mind similar to that to which we referred on recording +his conversation with Bulthaupt. Strange as it may appear, they have a +fundamental kinship with those which led Wagner to embark on his career +as a musico-dramatic reformer, though the methods proposed by Brahms +were not only much more drastic than those pursued by Wagner, but ran, +as Widmann has observed, directly in the opposite direction from that +taken by the development of modern art as represented by this master. + + 'The composition of music to the entire drama seemed to Brahms + unnecessary and even mischievous. Only the culminating points and + those parts of the action should be set for which music would be an + inherently suitable medium of expression. The librettist would thus + gain space and freedom for the dramatic development of his subject, + whilst the composer would be at liberty to devote himself solely to + the purposes of his art which would be best served if he were able + to concentrate his energies on a definite situation such as a + jubilant _ensemble_.' + +From this it would appear that the incongruity essential to the very +existence of what is generally understood as Opera, as distinct from the +early German Singspiel, was so strongly felt by Brahms as to seem to him +incompatible with dramatic truth, and to be absolutely prohibitive in +his own case of the dramatic exercise of his art. The matter is, +however, susceptible of another explanation. + +It is clear that Brahms, when contemplating the composition of an opera, +was bound by the necessities of his position to seek the attainment of +dramatic truth in a direction other than that in which Wagner had led +the way with such triumphant result. Every circumstance in the careers +of the two men, and not least the representative position achieved by +each in his own sphere, precluded the possibility that Brahms should run +the risk of appearing to seek to emulate Wagner on his own ground, +though it would be difficult to believe that he at no time cast longing +thoughts towards the logical, consistent, rich means of artistic effect +offered by the Melos.[55] No one can doubt that if he had been in a +position, and had chosen, to use it, he would have employed it in his +own way and for his own original purposes and effects. The skill with +which he might have handled it in opera is to some small extent +indicated in the Rhapsody (Goethe's 'Harzreise'), where the method of +the two first sections is very much that of the Melos, whilst the +prayer, affording an opportunity 'inherently suitable for musical +expression,' reverts to the rhythmical melody of musical tradition. That +Brahms had a respect almost amounting to veneration for Wagner's powers +is matter of common knowledge. Though he was never present at a Bayreuth +performance, he had studied Wagner's scores exhaustively, and, in the +sense of his intimate acquaintance with them, was accustomed to call +himself the 'best of all Wagnerians.' An anecdote related by Richard +Heuberger,[56] to whom the master gave informal instruction in +composition for a time from early in 1878, is highly illustrative in +this connection. Heuberger says: + + '... Continuing his corrections, Brahms did not confine himself to + remarks on the composition itself, but considered the handwriting + also worthy of his notice. He pointed out that I had not placed + crotchet under crotchet, and that this impaired the legibility of + the manuscript; he advised me to be particular to slur the groups + of notes with exactness.... "Look here," he said, fetching from the + next room Wagner's autograph score of "Tannhäuser," which he opened + at the long B major movement of the second act; "Wagner has taken + pains to place each of the five sharps exactly in its place on + _every_ line of _every_ page, and in spite of all this precision + the writing is easy and flowing. If _such_ a man can write so + neatly, you must do so too." He turned over the entire movement and + pointed reproachfully to almost every sharp. I felt continually + smaller, especially as Brahms talked himself into a kind of + didactic wrathfulness. I was struck completely dumb, however, when, + on my remarking that Wagner must be held chiefly responsible for + the confusion prevailing in the heads of us young people, Brahms + cried as though he had been stung, "_Nonsense_; the _misunderstood_ + Wagner has done it. Those understand _nothing_ of the real Wagner + who are led astray by him. Wagner's is one of the clearest heads + that ever existed in the world!"' + +That Brahms was aware that the resolution to compose an opera would +place him in a net of difficulties that might practically be summed up +in the one word 'Wagner' is no mere conjecture. Fräulein Anna Ettlinger, +an intimate friend of Levi and Allgeyer, who knew Brahms well both at +Carlsruhe and Munich, relates in an article on Levi, that Brahms +answered a question put to him in Munich in the course of the seventies, +as to why he had written no opera by saying, 'Beside Wagner it is +impossible.' It may fairly be concluded that Brahms, in the late +seventies, merely 'coquetted,' as Widmann expresses it, with the idea of +composing for the stage, though no doubt with considerable regret.[57] + +It cannot be said that the subjects he proposed to Widmann appear happy, +but his suggestions must not be taken too seriously. + + 'He recommended to me Gozzi's magical farces and fabled comedies, + especially "King Stag" and "The Ravens." He was also interested in + "The Open Secret," and preferred Gozzi's lighter arrangement of the + piece to Calderon's more formal original.... After reading "King + Stag" carefully through several times, I was not only seized with a + certain hopelessness as to whether I could ever succeed in making a + rational, poetical opera text out of this mad farce, but disturbed + by the anxiety as to whether, even if it were successfully adapted, + it could really interest a modern theatre-going public.... I found + myself continually thinking that such an opera, even though Brahms + had composed for it the most beautiful, glorious music, as would + undoubtedly have been the case, could not be regarded as + essentially anything else than a sort of second "Zauberflöte," and + thus as a retrogression in the development of operatic art.'[58] + +Nothing, in short, resulted from the talk between Brahms and Widmann, +and the suitable libretto was, as we know, never found. This is, +perhaps, little to be regretted. Not, indeed, because the composer +lacked the dramatic instinct necessary for the successful composition of +opera. No one who has heard him quote a few lines from a classical play +can doubt that he possessed this qualification in an eminent degree, and +his sensitiveness to dramatic effect was matter for frequent comment by +those who accompanied him to the theatre. It is, however, difficult to +imagine that Brahms could have been content to compose music to a purely +comic text, or, indeed, to one that did not contain elements of deep +pathos; whilst a quasi-comic opera, in which allegory lay hidden, must +almost certainly have been found, as Widmann perceived, unsuitable to +modern taste. On the other hand, Brahms' constitutional shyness and +reticence, fostered through long years of varied experience until they +became invincible, must, we believe, have proved obstacles to the +successful completion of a serious opera in any practicable meaning of +the word, even if they had allowed him to attempt one. They are more or +less traceable in the libretto difficulty; in his suggestion of 'King +Stag,' which he recommended especially on account of its fun, +'accompanied throughout by the most pathetic earnestness'; in other +words, because the earnestness is covered by the fun. It is difficult to +imagine the man who habitually veiled the tenderness of his nature +behind a playful saying or an abrupt manner, who did not allow himself +to inquire about the possibilities of passionate feeling that might lie +dormant within him, coming out of his reserve to use the strong play of +emotion as the immediate and capital medium for his effects. The energy +of feeling, the deeply pathetic beauty which vitalize the master's +purely instrumental music, are surrounded and protected by an +intellectual atmosphere which, on a first hearing of his larger works, +sometimes seems to amount to austerity, and to repel rather than +attract. His love-songs--those of them which are not folk-songs--are for +the most part dreamings of an ideal, and not the ideal of a man who +could lay his heart bare on the theatre boards. Not wholly fanciful is +the association in which Brahms, in a letter to Widmann, jokingly placed +his two life renunciations, of the composition of an opera and of +marriage. The extracts from favourite authors entered by Johannes during +the early fifties in the little manuscript books described by Kalbeck, +the passages found in 'The young Kreisler's treasure-chest, March, +1854,' remain significant not only of the young musician of twenty, but +also of the master of forty, fifty, sixty years, and the quotation from +Friedrich v. Sallet might probably stand as the true history of Brahms' +inner life. + + 'One generally finds the highest degree of what is called + _openness_ in the most frivolous and thoughtless persons; of that + which is called _reserve_, in the deepest, richest and truest + minds. And, indeed, I am glad to be communicative, and like a full, + free flow of conversation during the clinking of cups; whatever + noble thought may have occurred to me should not have been gained + for myself, but, if possible, for the world. Nevertheless, there is + in the mind a holy of holies. I would not bring that forth which + shines brightly there, hidden away in the inmost recess, to glimmer + vainly and childishly in the universal light of day. Let it remain + there in sacred night. I dare not even tell it in barren words to + my friend, however noble, not even to my beloved (if I had one). To + what purpose? I might use one single misleading expression, the + other might misunderstand one single expression, and my divine + image, reflected from a concave mirror, become a distortion, common + or trivial, or even deformed and ridiculous.... To analyze and + describe the sacred within us is a shameless desecration. If the + other has a spiritual eye that is worthy to perceive, he may + quietly await one of those blissful moments when the curtain of + mists breaks and a swift, comprehensive glance into the sanctuary + of the temple is allowed to the worthy one, and in such moments is + celebrated the high festival of friendship as of love. For myself, + I dare reveal nothing of it in words save in poetry. There I may do + so, for it happens in some divine way that is incomprehensible to + me....'[59] + +We have henceforth, therefore, only to observe the unwearied energy with +which Brahms, during the succeeding years, added one work after another +to the list of his compositions in each and every branch of serious +music for the chamber and the concert-room: songs, vocal duets, choral +works and instrumental solos accompanied and unaccompanied, concerted +music for solo instruments, symphonies. The publications of the year +1877 were the Symphony and the four sets of Songs, Op. 69, 70, 71, 72, +twenty-four songs in all, some of the texts of which are by Carl +Candidus, Carl Lemke, Gottfried Keller, etc., and others imitations of +folk-songs of various nationalities. Dr. Deiters says of them in his +'Johannes Brahms': + + 'As it seems to us, the composer identifies himself here more and + more closely with classical form and achieves ever purer refinement + of his material. Turn where one will (we mention for instance "Des + Liebsten Schwur" from Op. 69) there can be no hesitation in + counting these songs with the best to be found of their kind. Again + we are constantly reminded of Franz Schubert, whose wealth of + melody is revived, whilst in conciseness of construction, in + conscious mastery of form, he is here greatly surpassed.' + +Heuberger gives a pleasant glimpse of Brahms co-operating in a festival +performance arranged for December, 1877, by the Academic Choral Society +of Vienna in honour of its distinguished honorary member, Billroth. +Invited by Heuberger, Dr. Eyrich's successor as conductor of the +society, to take part in the proceedings, the master at once promised +to conduct two of his choruses, 'Ich schnell mein Horn' and 'Lied vom +Herrn von Falkenstein,' as arranged for the occasion for men's voices by +Heuberger, and, on his appearance at the last rehearsal to go through +the well-prepared compositions, was greeted with a hurricane of welcome +by the over two hundred students who formed the choir. At the festival +performance next day + + 'Brahms joined in the students' songs as lustily as his rough, + broken voice would permit. He had, as he told me, a very good + soprano voice as a boy, but had spoilt it by singing too much + during its mutation period.' + +Of another occasion, a party at Billroth's house, when choruses by +Brahms and Goldmark were to be performed, Heuberger relates: + + 'By Brahms' suggestion I directed the preliminary practices which + took place at the houses of some of his friends, the Osers and + others. The day before the party Brahms and Goldmark came to the + last rehearsal. The so-reputed cross-grained Brahms now conducted + his "Marienlieder" and other works without much alteration of the + nuances that I had practised. Goldmark, on the contrary, who was as + much liked in private life as he was dreaded at rehearsal, studied + indefatigably on and on.'[60] + +The publication of Brahms' first Symphony in C minor was almost +immediately followed by the appearance of a second one in D major, +completed during the summer months of 1877 at the beloved Lichtenthal. +It was, like the earlier work, played by Brahms and Brüll before an +invited circle at Ehrbar's as a pianoforte duet (composer's arrangement) +a few days before the date, December 11, first announced for its +performance at a Vienna Philharmonic concert. Cause arose at the last +moment for the postponement of this event, and the work was given for +the first time in public at the succeeding Philharmonic concert of +December 30, under Hans Richter's direction. The second performance, +conducted by Brahms, took place at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on January 10, +1878. + +The early fortunes of this second symphony were singularly various, and +contrasted strangely with those of its predecessor. In Vienna, where the +first had been received with reserve, the second achieved an instant, +almost popular, success. It was warmly received by the audience, and was +discussed by nearly all sections of the press in terms of cordial +approval. It was of a 'more attractive character,' more 'understandable' +than its predecessor. It was to be preferred, too, inasmuch as the +composer had not this time 'entered the lists with Beethoven.' The third +movement was especially praised for its 'original melody and rhythms.' +The work might be appropriately termed the 'Vienna Symphony,' reflecting +as it did 'the fresh, healthy life only to be found in beautiful +Vienna.' In Leipzig, on the other hand, the work was little better than +a failure. The impression of the preceding year was felt in the general +applause, emphasized by a thrice-repeated flourish of trumpets and +drums, which greeted the composer's entrance, and the audience +maintained an attitude of polite cordiality throughout the performance +of the symphony, courteously applauding between the movements and +recalling the master at the end; but the enthusiasm of personal friends +was not this time able to kindle any corresponding warmth in the bulk of +the audience, or even to cover the general consciousness of the fact. +The most favourable of the press notices damned the work with faint +praise, and Dörffel, whom we quote here and elsewhere because he alone +of the professional Leipzig critics of the seventies seems to have been +imbued with a sense of Brahms' artistic greatness, showed himself quite +angry from disappointment. + + 'The Viennese,' he wrote, 'are much more easily satisfied than we. + We make quite different demands on Brahms, and require from him + music which is something more than "pretty" and "very pretty" when + he comes before us as a symphonist. Not that we do not wish to hear + him in his complaisant moods, not that we disdain to accept from + him pictures of real life, but we desire always to contemplate his + genius, whether he displays it in a manner of his own, or depends + on that of Beethoven. We have not discovered genius in the new + symphony and should hardly have guessed it to be the work of Brahms + had it been performed anonymously. We should have recognised the + great mastery of form, the extremely skilful handling of the + material, the conspicuous power of construction in short, which it + displays, but should not have described it as pre-eminently + distinguished by inventive power. We should have pronounced the + work to be one worthy of respect, but not counting for much in the + domain of symphony. Perhaps we may be mistaken; if so, the error + should be pardonable, arising as it does from the great + expectations which our reverence for the composer induced us to + form.' + +Possibly Dörffel's expectations had been founded too definitely upon his +admiration of the first symphony, which may have caused him to take for +granted that he would find in the second a reiteration of the exalted +moods of its predecessor. The two works should not, however, be weighed +in the balance one against the other, but should be considered side by +side for the reason that they are not only different, but, as it were, +supplementary. The first partakes of the nature of an epic in so far as +it is conceived on a grand scale and is dominated throughout three of +its four movements by a passionate intensity of feeling which is +occupied only with the sublimities, whether of pain or of joy, and +which, even after the pain has been conquered, seems to touch the joy +theme itself with the pathos of a past tragedy. The second symphony is +an idyll that is chiefly animated by the spirit of pure happiness and +gently tender grace. A second symphony quickly following the first, +which had shown any attempt to emulate that great work on its own +ground, must of necessity have been doomed to result in artistic +failure. The second symphony which the master actually wrote was one +which, whilst it probably satisfied a need of his mind for the +refreshment of change, was the appropriate sequel to its predecessor +both in regard to its calm serenity of mood and to the clear melody of +the thematic material in which the mood is so perfectly expressed. Those +who are inexorable in their demands for 'originality' may, however, be +referred to the 'adagio non troppo,' which, with its melodious phrases +and its beautiful tone effects, its varied rhythms and its mysterious +intention, offers opportunity for the energetic attention even of the +accustomed listener, and is the one movement of the work which can +hardly be at once followed with entire pleasure by the less initiated. + +Meanwhile the first symphony was quickly making its way through Europe. +It was given with enormous success on November 11, 1877, at a concert of +the Royal Academy of Arts, Berlin, by the orchestra of the music school +under Joachim, and was very inadequately performed on the 16th of the +same month at a Hamburg Philharmonic concert under von Bernuth. By the +strongly-expressed desire of many musicians of the city, the composer +was invited to conduct a repetition performance at the Philharmonic +concert of January 18, 1878, when the work achieved considerable +success. It was heard the same month in Bremen and Utrecht under Brahms, +in Münster (J. O. Grimm), Dresden (F. Wüllner), and in February for the +second time in Breslau (Scholz), and made its way in the course of a few +seasons to Basle, Zürich, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, the Hague, Edinburgh, +Glasgow, and New York. + +Brahms now, at the age of forty-four, was, indeed, in the enjoyment of +almost unclouded recognition and success, which could be but little +affected by the lack of enthusiasm of this or that audience. His +position had become the more firmly established from the circumstance +that very few of his works had taken the public by storm. The majority +of them had grown almost imperceptibly into general acceptance by sheer +force of their intrinsic value, of which but a modicum is to be found on +the surface. It is certainly the case that at the outset of his modest +entry on a public career he had gained with a single stroke, once and +for always, the enthusiastic suffrage of some of the princes of his art; +but the voice of Schumann, potent as it was, could be and had been only +of avail to procure him a hearing--appreciation was, by the nature of +things, beyond its control; and though Frau Schumann and Joachim and +Stockhausen untiringly used the influence of their position as best +beloved among the foremost favourites of the public to make a way for +his music, even they could not immediately secure for it enthusiasm. +This it had gradually to gain by the independent means of its indwelling +virtue, the insistency of its appeal, not to the outward seeming, but to +the very heart of things. + +A noteworthy addition was made in the course of the year 1877 to the +ranks of Brahms' most stanch and influential supporters in the person of +Hans von Bülow. Remark has already been made on the change observable in +the early seventies in the attitude of this gifted, witty, whimsical, +uncompromising, true-hearted musician towards Brahms' art. The +publication of the first symphony completed his conversion, and he soon +afterwards began an active propaganda on the master's behalf, to which, +carried on as it was with characteristic vehemence and eccentricity, and +started at the very moment when the great composer was achieving the +highest summit of fame, an entirely fictitious importance has sometimes +been ascribed in regard to its effect upon the outward development of +Brahms' career. That von Bülow during the last ten or twelve years of +his public activity partially devoted his energies to the task of +forcing the master's works upon certain more or less indifferent +audiences, whom he harangued and lectured concerning their lack of +interest, had no bearing on the facts that Brahms' place amongst the +immortals had been assured, by practically general consent, with the +first few performances of the German Requiem, and that by the beginning +of the eighties acceptance of his art had become world-wide. Bülow's new +partisanship, destined to bring in its train distinguished friendships +that were truly prized and reciprocated by the master, was touching from +its sincerity, but is not of essential importance to Brahms' biographer. +It is, however, pleasant to be able to add to the extracts already +quoted from Bülow's writings three which, dated October and November, +1877, mark the beginning of a new epoch in his own career, and in that +of Brahms the commencement of an agreeable and valued personal intimacy. +The paragraphs are to be taken merely as illustrations of Bülow's +changed sentiments, and not as necessarily expressing the personal views +of the present writer. + + 'Only since my acquaintance with the "_tenth_" symphony, alias the + _first_ symphony of Johannes Brahms, that is since six weeks, have + I become so inaccessible and hard towards Bruch pieces and the + like. I do not call it the "_tenth_" in the sense of its relation + to the "_ninth_"....' + + 'I believe it is not without the intelligence of chance that Bach, + Beethoven, and Brahms are in alliteration.' + + 'The imagination of Bach seems, in his clavier works, to be + dominated by the organ, that of Beethoven by the orchestra, that of + Brahms by both.' + +[51] Schumann's essay, 'New Paths.' + +[52] The variations for orchestra on Haydn's theme and six of Brahms' +songs, sung by Henschel, were included in the programme of the concert. + +[53] Goethe's song, 'Unüberwindlich,' set by Brahms and published in +1877 as No. 6 of Op. 72: 'Though a thousand vows I've taken.' + +[54] Article in the _New York Outlook_, July 25, 1903. + +[55] See Vol. I., Appendix No. 1. + +[56] _Die Musik_, in the article referred to in a previous chapter. + +[57] Fräulein Ettlinger informs the author that it was she herself who +put the question to the master and received his answer. For the article +on Levi see 'Biographisches Jahrbuch und Deutscher Nekrolog,' 1902. + +[58] Widmann's 'Brahms Recollections,' p. 38 and following. + +[59] Kalbeck's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 187 and following. + +[60] _Die Musik_, No. 5 of 1902. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + 1878-1881 + + Hamburg Philharmonic Jubilee Festival--Violin Concerto: first + performance by Joachim--Pianoforte Pieces, Op. 76--Sonata for + Pianoforte and Violin--First performances--Brahms at + Crefeld--Rhapsodies for Pianoforte--Heuberger's studies with + Brahms--Second Schumann Festival at Bonn--The two + Overtures--Breslau honorary degree. + + +With the rapidly-increasing appreciation of Brahms' art observable +during the second half of the seventies throughout the entire musical +world, the condition of his private circumstances changed rapidly also. +At the time he completed the second symphony it was very far removed +from that of twelve years back, when he had been obliged, by lack of +ready cash, to purchase the music-paper required for the manuscript of +the Requiem in small instalments. He never deviated from the simple +manner of daily life agreeable to him by nature and habit, but we find +that in the early spring of 1878 he added to the short list of his +personal pleasures one that became to him a source of unfailing delight, +that of a journey to Italy. On this his first visit, made in April, in +Billroth's company, he stayed in Rome, Naples, and Sicily, and returned +subjugated once and for all by the witcheries of the South. Neither of +his Italian tours was associated with a musical purpose; they were +undertaken solely for the refreshment of body and mind by a holiday +ramble amidst beauties of nature and art, to which his temperament made +him peculiarly sensitive, and amongst a people whose _naturel_ was +congenial to him. + + 'I often think of our journey,' writes Billroth on May 7; 'that you + were so charmed with everything doubles my pleasure.' + +The new symphony was included in the Rhine Festival, held this year at +Düsseldorf under Joachim and Tausch. Amongst Joachim's duties was that +of conducting the performance of his friend's work, concerning which we +read in a contemporary journal: + + 'The performance of Brahms' second symphony under Joachim was a + feast such as we have seldom heard. The audience was jubilant after + each movement, and would not be satisfied till the third was + repeated.' + +And again in a final summary: + + 'The most brilliant event of the festival was the performance of + Brahms' symphony.' + +The composer spent the summer at Pörtschach on Lake Wörther in +Carinthia, a spot where, as he writes to Hanslick, 'so many melodies fly +about one must be careful not to tread on them.' In the same letter[61] +he talks playfully to his old friend, who, remaining a bachelor till +past fifty, had lately surprised his acquaintances by marrying a lady +many years his junior, of his intention to compose a new symphony for +the winter, 'that shall sound so gay and charming you will think I have +written it expressly for you, or rather for your young wife.' + +This idea, probably not seriously entertained, was put aside, but the +reflection of the composer's happy mood is to be found in several of the +pianoforte pieces written by him at this time--notably in No. 2 of Op. +76--and in the last movement of the great violin concerto he was +composing for Joachim. + +An event was to take place in the last week of September which no doubt +possessed a peculiar interest for Brahms, though it was not of an +unmixed character: the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the +Philharmonic Society of his native city of Hamburg, which had been +founded in 1828 by a few music-lovers, with W. Grund, a composer and +teacher of the city, as its conductor. The festival was to last five +days, and to include three great orchestral concerts in the Saagebiel +Hall and an excursion up the Elbe to Blankenese. Four symphonies were to +be performed: Haydn in G minor, Beethoven's 'Eroica,' Schumann in C +major, Brahms in D major. Frau Schumann was to play Mozart's Pianoforte +Concerto in D minor; Joachim to perform with Concertmeister Bargheer, +Spohr's Duo Concertante for two violins in B minor. A great assemblage +of musicians was expected, and Brahms had been invited, but at the +beginning of September no one in Hamburg knew whether or not he intended +to be present, and the directors of the festival, finding themselves +very near a predicament, resolved to appeal to Hanslick, who had +received and accepted an invitation, to procure his answer for them. The +letter which Hanslick immediately wrote to Pörtschach elicited from +Brahms the following reply: + + 'PÖRTSCHACH, _Sept., 1878_. + + 'You have once already publicly preached to me the doctrine of + decorum; I do not wish this to occur, from no fault of mine, a + second time, and tell you, therefore, that it will be the + Hamburgers' concern if I do not appear at their festival. I have no + opportunity for showing politeness and gratitude; on the contrary, + some rudeness would be in place if I had time and inclination to + lose my temper over the matter. I do not wish to disturb yours by + detailed communication and will therefore only say that in spite of + inquiry, not a word has been said about honorarium or any sort of + remuneration. I, poor composer, am appraised at doubtful value and + lose all right to sit at the festival table, next to your wife, let + us say. I therefore beg this time for indulgence for my anyway + impaired reputation as a polite man. As regards the symphony, + indeed, I do not beg for indulgence, but I fear that unless its + direction be offered to Joachim as I wish, there will be a + miserable performance. Now, the dinners are good in Hamburg, the + symphony is of a favourable length--you can dream whilst it is + going on that you are in Vienna! I am thinking of going to Vienna + very soon....'[62] + +This dubious epistle need not be taken too seriously, true though it is +that the composer rightly made it a point throughout his career that his +work should be paid for, and, so to speak, at full market value. The +tone adopted by him on this occasion must be partly referred to the +remembrance of the old sore, which, perhaps, never quite healed--to the +mortification which had on two occasions cut deep into the heart of the +loyal Hamburger when his fellow-citizens offered to a stranger the +opportunity he would have welcomed to settle in their midst. It is not +wonderful that the invitation to attend, and presumably to take part in, +the Jubilee Festival of the society of which, had he so chosen, he ought +since many years to have been the artistic chief should have revived +past memories in the mind of the renowned master whose mere presence +could now invest the occasion with a peculiar significance. All's well +that ends well, however. How Brahms settled the matter with the +committee must be left to conjecture, but it is certain that he +astonished friends and acquaintance by coming to Hamburg with a long +flowing beard grown during the summer, which changed the character of +his face almost beyond recognition. It was, as we know, his second +experiment of the kind, and the beard, which he from this time +permanently retained, certainly added to the grandeur of his head, +though some of his old friends may occasionally have looked back with +regret to the days when the firm, purposeful mouth contributed its share +to the expression of his countenance. + +Nothing was ultimately wanting that could contribute to the success of +the Hamburg celebration. The first concert, on September 25, was devoted +to three of the musical giants--Bach, Handel, Beethoven; that of the +26th to Haydn, Mozart, Cherubini, Schumann, and, in memory of the +society's first conductor, W. Grund. The morning of the 27th was given +up to rehearsal--especially of Brahms' new symphony, under the +composer's direction; the afternoon, to the excursion and banquet. +Almost everyone had come from everywhere. Besides those who were taking +part in the concerts there were Hiller, Gernsheim, Gade, Reinecke, +Reinthaler, Grimm, Flotow, Theodor Kirchner, Verhülst (from the Hague), +Hanslick, Claus Groth, not to mention Grädener, of early days, and a +host of old Hamburg friends. Our master was in genial mood, and chatted +gaily with acquaintances old and new during the run down the river, but +a sign showed that his thoughts were with the past. Claus Groth, who was +placed at the banquet next to Brahms, relates that the proposer of the +composer's health referred in his speech to the old proverb of the +prophet's unworthiness in his own country, and pointed out its +inapplicability in the case of the day's ceremony, 'when the society +unites with me in praise and love of our Johannes Brahms.' + + 'Brahms turned to me,' continues Groth, 'and whispered in a deep + and serious tone, "This of my case! Twice was the vacant + conductor's post of the Philharmonic Society given to a stranger + whilst I was passed over. If it had been offered me at the right + time I should have become a methodical citizen, and could have + married and become like other men. Now I am a vagabond!"' + +That Brahms would under any circumstances have summoned up sufficient +courage to commit himself to the irretrievable step of matrimony we may +be permitted to doubt. That one obstacle which prevented him was his own +fear of the interruption that such a change might cause to his own +almost too orderly and methodical habits is fairly certain. + +The boat started from Blankenese on its return journey to St. Pauli's +landing-bridge, Hamburg, at 9.30 p.m., and at the moment of its +departure three rockets were sent up from deck and three shots fired +from shore, by arrangement with the inhabitants of the numerous villas +that line the bank of the Elbe, as a signal for the illumination of +houses and gardens, which accordingly gave graceful testimony to the +returning musicians of the widespread interest felt in the +occasion.[63] + +The third and concluding concert of the festival took place on the +evening of Sunday, September 29, with performances of Weber's 'Oberon' +overture, Songs by Schubert, Spohr's Concertante for two violins, +Brahms' second Symphony, under his own direction, and Mendelssohn's +'Walpurgis Nacht.' + + 'The delight of the public at Brahms' symphony was most + enthusiastically expressed,' says Hanslick. 'Brahms, who was + received with orchestra flourish and laurel wreath, himself + conducted, and Joachim played first violin in the orchestra. At the + close of the symphony the ladies of the chorus and in the first + rows of the audience threw their flowers to Brahms, who stood + there, in the words of his own cradle-song, "covered with roses."' + +Ludwig Meinardus, of the _Hamburger Correspondenten_, after giving a +detailed and most appreciative account of the several movements of the +work, continues: + + 'Brahms himself conducted his symphony, which is sealed with the + stamp of immortality, in his native city before an audience of + thousands raised to festival pitch, in which mingled a large number + of musical authorities from outside. The enthusiasm was increased + by this circumstance, and by the simplicity and quiet energy with + which Brahms handled the bâton. It prepared for him an ovation as + he ascended the conductor's desk in the shape of a big laurel + wreath, a flourish, and a stormy welcome from those upon and in + front of the platform; it broke out after each of the four + movements, and increased at the close of the third to a _da capo_ + demand to which the conductor and composer only at length and with + the reluctance of modesty resolved to yield; it was expressed + finally, at the close of the work, by persistent recalls and by a + rain of flowers which poured from all sides upon the admired and + revered composer.' + +The last few words seem to remind us of the early sixties, and to bring +us once more face to face with the Halliers, Völckers, Wagners, Fräulein +Laura Garbe, and other former members of the ladies' choir, many of whom +were still resident in Hamburg, and, having retained their old +affectionate admiration of their young musician without a jot of +abatement as they watched his course during the passing years, now +brought affection, admiration, and sympathetic triumph dressed in +graceful guise to throw at the feet of the famous master. Marxsen, +prevented by considerations of health from joining the excursion down +the river, was present at the concert, beaming with joy; Böie, too, +associated with early performances of the B flat Sextet and the G minor +Pianoforte Quartet, was there, whilst the presence of Christian Otterer, +who had played viola as an old friend at the subscription concert given +by the youthful Hannes at the 'Old Raven,' carried the associations of +the evening back almost to the year of the composer's birth. Two names +which we should gladly have included are missing from the list of our +old acquaintances. None would have more heartily rejoiced in the events +of the evening than Friedrich Willibald Cossel, now some thirteen +summers passed away; and what may not be imagined of Jakob Brahms' +exultant pride had six more years of life been spared him! We may +picture the pursed-up lips, the gratified expression of the eyes, the +playful assumption of dignity towards his own particular chums, the +tears of joy with which he would have answered Joachim's cordial +hand-grasp, the shy, gratified whisper to Carl Bade, 'Ik segge nix' (I +shall not speak), when some distinguished musician or charming lady had +desired to be introduced to him as the father of his son. Frau Cossel +was present with her talented daughter Marie (Frau Dr. Janssen), and the +old family ties so treasured by our master were represented by Elise and +Fritz, and by kind Frau Caroline with her son Fritz Schnack, who +entertained an almost adoring affection for his stepbrother. Frau +Caroline was invariably present at any concert in Hamburg in which +Johannes took part, by the composer's express desire. Elise begged her +brother after the concert for the wreaths that had been presented to +him. + + 'So you want to brag with them?' said he; 'come to me early + to-morrow morning; we will go together and lay them on father's + grave.' + +It may be added here, for the sake of completeness, that some time +later, on von Bernuth's contemplated resignation, a representative of +the Philharmonic Society called on Groth to ask his opinion as to the +probability of Brahms' acceptance of an offer of the conductorship. He +pointed out that the then committee could not justly be blamed for the +mistakes of their predecessors, which they were anxious to repair as far +as might now be possible, and Groth, after discussing the matter in +detail, consented to lay it informally before Brahms. We cannot wonder +that no answer was received to his communication; it must seem obvious +to most minds that the master could neither accept nor decline an offer +which had not been made. Had the committee decided to risk the slight +mortification of a refusal from Brahms by writing a definite proposal to +him, it is certain that he would have replied to it, though it seems +unlikely that he would have uprooted himself from the city where he had +formed intimate friendships now that one of the principal attractions +which Hamburg had possessed for him--the presence of his parents--had +ceased to exist. + +The publications of the year include, besides the Symphony in D major, a +set of 'Ballads and Romances' for two voices, dedicated to Julius +Allgeyer, the first of which has the Scotch ballad 'Edward' for its +text. + +Of other early performances of the second symphony we may mention those +of October 22 in Breslau, under the composer, and of November 23 in +Münster, under Grimm. Such a furore was created in Münster that the work +was repeated by general desire at the concert of December 21. + +At the Vienna Gesellschaft concert of December 8, No. 1 of the two +Motets, Op. 74, for unaccompanied chorus was sung, under the direction +of Edward Kremser, from the manuscript parts. All four movements, the +first and last in four, the second and third in six, parts, made a deep +impression, and in spite of the serious character of the work it was +followed by long-continued applause. The texts have the characteristics +usually preferred by Brahms for his sacred compositions, and, taken +together, are expressive of courageous, trustful resignation in the face +of mystery. The music, exquisitely suited to the words, furnishes +another example of deeply serious feeling clothed in the beautiful forms +of early contrapuntal art. + +Great interest was aroused in the musical circles of many lands by the +announcement that Joachim would play a violin concerto by Brahms at the +Leipzig Gewandhaus concert of January 1, 1879. Such an event was bound +to raise a particular question, connected not only with Brahms' musical +career, but with the history of musical art. Many concertos for violin +solo with orchestral accompaniment had been produced since the days of +Viotti, through those of Mozart and Spohr, down to the publication in +1877 of Max Bruch's second in D minor, and, of the most favoured, few +had retained more than an occasional place in concert-programmes. Two +only had survived the test of time as the pre-eminent masterpieces of +their class; those of Beethoven and Mendelssohn. If no work of the kind +could be placed exactly with Beethoven's Violin Concerto, yet, even as +compared with this supreme achievement, no thought of inferiority could +be applied to that of Mendelssohn, which immediately on its production +took the place it had ever since held as one of two _chefs-d'oeuvre_. +The question which now naturally suggested itself was whether Brahms' +new work would take its place as a third by the side of its two greatest +predecessors. It was the more interesting because, though the composer +was not now breaking essentially new ground, yet his one previous +concerto had been composed for the pianoforte, and whilst two decades +had elapsed since its completion in final form (Detmold, autumn of +1858), and first public performances (Hanover and Leipzig, January, +1859), it bore distinct traces of a still earlier period, with which we +now know it to have been associated. The experience of a life, +therefore, may almost be said to have intervened between the two works. + +Turning to our old friend Dörffel, already doubly proved impartial, for +his immediate impressions of the Gewandhaus concert of January 1, we +find his report very interesting reading. + + 'No less a task,' he says, 'confronted Brahms, if his salutation to + his friend were to be one suitable to Joachim's eminence, than the + production of a work that should reach the two greatest, Beethoven + and Mendelssohn. We confess to having awaited the solution with + some heart palpitation, though we firmly maintained our standard. + But what joy we experienced! Brahms has brought such a third work + to the partnership. The originality of the spirit which inspires + the whole, the firm organic structure in which it is displayed, the + warmth which streams from it, animating the work with joy and + light--it cannot be otherwise--the concerto must be the fruit of + the composer's latest and, as we believe, happiest experiences. + + 'The first movement is broad, with sharply defined contrasts + through which, however, the serious-soft mood is preserved; the + second is short, very thoughtful and fervent; the last, very + spirited and attractive. There is, however, a quite unusual + handling of the instrument, and again, a breath in the orchestra, + which make us look forward with delight to the study of the score; + we have seldom been so enthralled by the composer's genius. But + Joachim played, also, with a love and devotion which brought home + to us in every bar the direct or indirect share he has had in the + work. As to the reception, the first movement was too new to be + distinctly appreciated by the audience, the second made + considerable way, the last aroused great enthusiasm.' + +Bernsdorf was less unsympathetic than usual. He considered the concerto +'one of the clearest and most spontaneous of the composer's works.' Both +Joachim and Brahms, who conducted the orchestra, had to respond to +numerous recalls. + +Joachim, to whom the concerto is dedicated, brought the manuscript with +him to England, and performed it at the Crystal Palace Saturday concert +of February 22 (August Manns), at the Philharmonic concerts of March 6 +and 20 (W. G. Cusins), at some of his appearances in the north of +Britain, and, a little later, at a concert of the Royal Academy of Arts, +Berlin, when the accompaniment was played by his school orchestra. +Published in the course of the year, it has ever since held a +conspicuous place in his répertoire. The violinists Brodsky and, a +little later, Frau Roeger-Soldat were amongst those who associated their +names in a special manner with the early life of the work, which has +recently been frequently performed with immense success by Fritz +Kreisler. + +If the mood of this great concerto has, as Dr. Deiters remarks, +something in common with that of the second symphony, the sentiment is +maintained at a loftier height than that of the earlier composition, the +limpid grace of which has an immediate fascination for a general +audience. The concerto requires time for full appreciation, and though, +by general consent of the initiated, it undoubtedly occupies a position +on the plane assigned to it by Dörffel, it would be too much to assert +that it has as yet entirely conquered the heart of the great public. It +is gradually making its way, however, to what will probably become +unreserved popularity. + +The year 1879 is of particular interest in our narrative, not only in +relation to the Violin Concerto, but also because it included the +publication of two books of Pianoforte Pieces, Op. 76, the several +numbers of which are entitled 'Intermezzo' or 'Capriccio'; and the first +performance from the manuscript of a Sonata for pianoforte and violin. +We have traced the remarkable continuity of Brahms' development as a +composer during the first ten years of his connection with Vienna, in +its relation to the period which directly preceded his earliest visit to +the city. The period dating back from 1862 to 1852 is not so unbroken. +Quite another sequel than the actual one might have been anticipated +from the fact that of the first ten of the composer's published works +six had been pianoforte solos, five of them in other than variation +form. We have watched his progress from one stepping-stone of excellence +to another in this form, from the early beauties of the examples +contained in the Sonatas, Op. 1 and Op. 2, through the astonishing +technical advance displayed in Op. 9, up to a masterpiece, the Handel +Variations and Fugue, Op. 24, and have still had to add one more work to +the list, the Paganini Variations, with imposing characteristics of its +own; but we have not had to record the appearance of a single +unaccompanied pianoforte solo in any other form in the course of the +twenty-five years which succeeded the completion of the Ballades, Op. +10, in 1854 (published in 1856). Only now when the narrative has been +brought to the point appropriate for the contemplation of these facts is +it possible to point out the true significance to our master's career of +the four years of study passed in complete retirement by the composer, +as distinct from the pianist, Brahms, that followed the close of 1854. +On his reappearance in 1859 and 1860 with a number of new works, not +only had his technique been reformed, and transfigured, but the tendency +of his career changed. The fascination exercised over his mind by the +pure style of part-writing practised by the best masters of the early +Italian schools, and the extent of resource he had acquired by constant +assimilation of the treasure of Bach's learning, had given him an +irresistible bent towards the composition of works that led up to the +Requiem and Triumphlied on the one hand, and the String Quartets and +Symphonies on the other; and the same influences would naturally dispose +him towards the writing of chamber music for pianoforte and strings +rather than for pianoforte alone. It is well known that his innate +fastidiousness in regard to his own work was augmented in the case of +his first symphony by his never-ceasing consciousness of Beethoven's +overwhelming achievements in this domain; and his abstention, after his +earliest period, from the publication of a pianoforte sonata may have +been partially due to a similar, and perhaps even stronger, feeling +that Beethoven's sonatas cannot be succeeded. It is, however, +difficult to believe that Brahms' would not have persevered and +conquered--conquered in the sense of producing something appropriate to +his time--in the one case as in the other if he had felt a real impulse +to do so, and it may possibly be true that his genius was better suited +for the forms in which he worked than for those which he avoided. + +The two books of Pianoforte Pieces, which, with the two Motets, Op. 74, +dedicated to Philipp Spitta, the Violin Concerto, and the three +Pianoforte Studies after Bach without opus number, formed the +publications of the year 1879, contain, in all, eight numbers. Some of +them, written with simplicity of style and pervaded by a spirit of +dreamy content or graceful happiness, have become familiar to +music-lovers; others present difficulties both to listener and performer +which have hindered their popularity. Several contain interesting +examples of the composer's facility in the art of rhythmic and +contrapuntal device. + +The Sonata for pianoforte and violin in G major, performed from the +manuscript by Brahms and Hellmesberger at the Quartet concert of +November 20, is a pearl of pure and delicate imagination. The vivacity +of the first movement is painted in pale moonbeam tints, and must, as +one fancies, vanish before the first warm ray of sunshine. There is more +substantiality about the gentle melancholy of the adagio, though this +movement, again, is haunted by a strain of mystery. The last movement, +written in rondo form, has for its first subject that of the beautiful +'Rain-Song' already alluded to, and is a very dream of wistful charm. +Brahms' very original treatment of the pianoforte arpeggio, which is one +of the distinctive features of his style of writing for the instrument, +is well illustrated in the first movement of this work, in which the +arpeggio is raised from the mere position of a brilliant passage to that +of an essential part of the entire conception. A particularly clear +light is thrown also upon the composer's relation to Bach by the study +of the sonata, the methods of which are inherited from those of the +early giant-musician, as exemplified in his sonatas for clavier and +violin; and whilst Bach's methods flow as easily within the forms of the +Austrian masters as though they had always been an inseparable part of +them, the association is animated by the distinctive individuality of +our Brahms. Not, however, as it impressed itself upon us in his first +great series of works for pianoforte and strings. The spirit of the +Sonata in G is essentially that of the master's later period of +maturity. In it we feel that he has not only his powers, but his +emotions, well in hand, and has reached a period of life when he can +afford to look back calmly to the conflicts of the past. This no mere +fancy; we find as we proceed in the study of Brahms' art, not that the +nature of the man changed as he grew older, but that, whilst the +sunshine of complete recognition which brightened his later path through +life is felt in the clear spirit of some of his works, the reserve which +characterizes others is now dictated by the complete self-mastery which +it had been one of the efforts of his life to attain, and which lends +them a singular and pathetic charm as of consciously half-revealed power +and beauty. + +The Sonata in G major is the fourth composed by Brahms for pianoforte +and violin. The first, belonging to his first period, had, as we know, +been mysteriously lost on the eve of publication. The second and third +were rejected after completion by the composer's relentless +self-criticism, and the manuscripts destroyed by his own hand. The +publication of this one, known as the first, took place quite at the +beginning of the year 1880, and the work was played with immense success +by Brahms and Joachim during a short concert-tour they made together in +the Austrian provinces during the last week of January and the first of +February. In the course of his visit Joachim performed the Violin +Concerto at one of three orchestral concerts given by him in the large +hall of the Vienna 'Gesellschaft,' with the result to be expected from +the association of two names so dear to the Austrian public. + +The sonata was performed for the first time in England at the Monday +Popular concert of February 2 by von Bülow and Madame Norman-Néruda, and +at the Wednesday Popular concert, Cambridge, on the 25th of the same +month by C. Villiers Stanford and Richard Gompertz. One of the earliest +performances in Germany was that by Scholz and Himmelstoss at Breslau on +February 24. + +Brahms' first appearance at Crefeld on January 20 must be particularly +recorded for two reasons: in the first place because it introduces us to +a group of friends, his pleasant associations with whom are commemorated +in the dedication of one of his later works. A considerable amount of +music was performed during this first visit, and more on subsequent +ones, in the informal, sociable way Brahms liked, at the houses of Herr +and Frau Rudolph von der Leyen, with whom he always stayed, and of their +relatives, Herr and Frau Alwyn von Beckerath. Herr von Beckerath, a good +amateur performer, played viola in the resident string quartet led by +Professor Richard Barth, a former pupil of Joachim, an old acquaintance +of Brahms, and well known later on as von Bernuth's successor at +Hamburg, who was always present with his colleagues at these private +gatherings; and the enjoyment of the circle was enhanced during Brahms' +later visits to Crefeld by the singing, to the master's accompaniment, +of Fräulein Antonia Kufferath. This lady (now Mrs. Edward Speyer) has +interesting recollections connected with the Crefeld visits. Amongst +them is that of Brahms, who when once a composition was published +allowed it to pass from his mind, sometimes almost completely, coming +unawares upon a difficult passage in the accompaniment of one of his +songs, and having an instant's struggle with it. At the end he turned to +Fräulein Kufferath, saying, 'That is really difficult to read at sight!' + +The musical event which gives particular distinction to the Crefeld +concert of 1880, the programme of which included Brahms' second +Symphony, 'Harzreise' Rhapsody and Triumphlied, was the performance by +the composer of two new solos for the pianoforte, the Rhapsodies in B +minor and G minor, generally accepted as the finest of Brahms' shorter +works for the instrument. The second one especially, marked 'molto +passionato ma non troppo allegro,' is an inspiration from beginning to +end, and though not long, its length is sufficient to balance its +grandeur of idea and to give the effect of completeness to its +performance. Billroth, to whom Brahms, always needing sympathy, confided +the manuscripts on their completion in the early summer of 1879, +returned them with the words: + + 'The second piece has quite fascinated me. In both pieces there is + more of the young, heaven-storming Johannes than in the other late + works of the mature man.' + +The Sonata in G, Op. 78, the Rhapsodies, Op. 79, and the third and +fourth books of Hungarian Dances for Pianoforte Duet, without opus +number, were the publications of 1880. + +It may have been noticed by the reader that, in our record of the early +performances of Brahms' works during the closing seventies, no mention +has been made of Munich. The reason is not far to seek, and is such as +might almost have been anticipated. The time arrived when the paths of +Brahms and Levi separated, and its occurrence may be definitely dated in +November, 1876, when our master visited Munich to conduct his first +symphony, and stood there for the last time on a concert platform. + +The attraction felt by Levi towards Wagner's art and personality had +grown continually stronger since his preparation of the 'Meistersinger' +for performance at Carlsruhe in 1869 and the establishment of personal +relations between himself and Wagner to which it led; and his enthusiasm +for the man and his works received extraordinary stimulus from the first +performances of the 'Nibelungen Ring,' at which he was present, in the +temporary theatre at Bayreuth in August, 1876. The impulsive expression +to Brahms of his boundless admiration, carried beyond the point which +should have been prescribed by tact, seems to have convinced our master +that future relations between himself and Levi would be embarrassing to +both; and though he received his friend's outpourings without visible +sign, he took the wise and friendly course of abstaining from further +visits to Munich. Enough, it is hoped, has been related in these pages +of Brahms' appreciation of Wagner's powers to exclude the suspicion that +he was actuated by petty feeling in taking this line. Levi's want of +self-restraint was in one sense an acknowledgment of the master's +artistic generosity; but compliments of this kind should not be carried +to extremes, and Brahms' courage in adhering to a course certain to +expose him to misunderstanding saved Levi as well as himself from the +danger of the false position which must inevitably have threatened their +future intercourse. The wreath which Brahms sent to Bayreuth on Wagner's +death in February, 1883, was not the sign of a mere decorous compliance +with custom, but was a heart-felt tribute of recognition from the one +great master to the other. + +Brahms' separation from Levi necessarily involved a coolness between +himself and Allgeyer, who was one of the closest intimates of the Levi +circle, but this was only temporary, and was probably merely accepted by +Brahms as one of the incidents of the situation. It was got over during +a visit paid by Allgeyer to Vienna, and Brahms' pleasure at the renewal +of personal relations between himself and his old friend may be read in +the dedication of the 'Ballads and Romances' published in 1878, to which +reference has already been made. + +To Brahms' activity on the advisory committee for the granting of +Government stipendiums to young artists, combined with the growing +feeling of mental leisure which must have come to him at this period of +his mature mastership, must be ascribed the willingness shown by him, +from the middle of the seventies onward, to concern himself with the +musical progress of certain young composers who were courageous enough +to ask his opinion and advice, and in whose works he discerned talent. +Mention has been made of his prompt and emphatic appreciation of Dvorák. +Amongst other musicians of distinction who in their youth enjoyed the +advantage of his interest and friendship are Drs. Richard Heuberger, +Eusebius Mandycweski (now holding the important position of librarian to +the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde), von Rottenberg, and Jenner. We spoke +in the last chapter of some of the incidents of the master's friendship +for Heuberger, who says that Brahms' great talent for teaching became +continually clearer to him. 'With gifted young people who had already +passed through the school curriculum, he might have achieved great +things.' His criticism was so ruthless and searching as to be at first +profoundly discouraging, but he could praise warmly, too, and there was +no mistaking the pleasure he felt in being able to do so. His remarks to +Heuberger, chiefly called forth by points in the manuscripts--often +songs--laid before him, and by suggested improvements, usually served to +elucidate general principles. The close rhythmical association of music +with words, the conditions indispensable to the admission of +irregularity of bar rhythm, the construction of melody, are but a few of +the important points that were handled in the brief, incisive, pregnant +manner which illumined every subject that he touched upon. + +'Do you think,' said he one day, taking exception to an expression +inadvertently used by Heuberger apropos to the construction of his +melody, 'that any one of my half-dozen passable songs "occurred" to me? +I had to worry myself with them rarely! One must be able--don't take +this literally--to _whistle_ a song ... then it is good.' + +'Those _must_ have been eyes, but perhaps not so interesting to other +people,' he said, pointing to the too drawn-out setting of the words 'I +saw two eyes last Sunday morn,' in one of Heuberger's manuscripts, and +he improvised the passage in the closer form which the composer has +retained in his published song 'Bitt' ihn o Mutter.' + +The committee formed in 1871 to consider a scheme for the erection of a +monument to Schumann at Bonn had been so successful during the few years +following the festival of 1873, in collecting funds for their object, +that by the beginning of May, 1880, the memorial, designed and executed +by the sculptor Donnhorf, had been placed over Schumann's grave in the +Bonn cemetery, and nothing remained to be done save to unveil and +deliver it over to the municipal authorities. These ceremonies were to +be performed on the 2nd of the month, and to be followed by some +festival concerts with programmes of the master's music. + +Proceedings opened on the evening of May 1, when Frau Schumann, arrived +with some of her family on a visit to her old friends the Kyllmanns, to +whose house the reader was introduced in an earlier chapter, was greeted +by a serenade, sung in the garden by the members of the Concordia and +the Academic Vocal Union, which was followed by performances within +doors of the 'Lotos Blume' and the 'Traumender See.' President Wrede +then delivered an address, and on its conclusion introduced each member +of the societies individually to Frau Schumann. With her permission, +Herr Branscheidt sang two of Schumann's songs to the accompaniment of +Concertmeister Lorscheidt, and after the great artist had acknowledged +these compliments in a few suitable words, the vocalists returned to the +garden to sing 'Thou in the wood hast wandered,' from Schumann's +'Pilgrimage of the Rose.' With this performance the programme of the +evening terminated, and after Frau Schumann had again expressed her warm +thanks the visitors withdrew. + +The cemetery was crowded early the next day by friends desirous of +witnessing the unveiling of the monument. Nearly twenty-four years had +gone by since the simple funeral procession had followed Schumann's +remains through the streets of Bonn; since a group of young musicians +stood together at the open grave, supported by the sympathy of a +concourse of friends and music-lovers, to take their last farewell of +the illustrious dead. Now they were reassembled on the same spot to do +honour to the beloved master's memory. Not one was missing. Brahms, +Joachim, Dietrich, the three young chief mourners of the first occasion, +stood together again as middle-aged men; Hiller the older friend, Grimm, +and Bargiel, all were there, and Stockhausen, since many years one of +the circle. The central figure in to-day's proceedings had been absent, +prostrated with sorrow, from the funeral ceremony. Frau Schumann now +stood with her daughters at the foot of the monument, her usual pathetic +expression deepened by the rush of varied memories, but with controlled +demeanour. Amongst those present in an official capacity were the mayor +of Bonn, Herr Oberbürgermeister Doetsch; the sculptor, Professor +Donnhorf, from Dresden; the president of the memorial committee, +Professor Schaafhausen, and the members of the two choral societies with +President Wrede. + +The singing of the fine old chorale, 'Was Gott thut das ist wohlgethan' +was the prelude to the address in which Geheimrath Schaafhausen gave the +monument over to the city of Bonn. Whilst he was speaking the covering +fell, and as he concluded many beautiful wreaths were laid on the grave +to the accompaniment of a second chorale. An address of thanks was +delivered on behalf of the city by Oberbürgermeister Doetsch, and the +singing of a third chorale, with the placing of more wreaths, brought +the formalities to a close. The following telegram was handed to the +mayor in the course of the proceedings: + + 'The Society of Music-lovers and the Conservatoire of Vienna + congratulate Bonn on the honour of having to-day erected the first + memorial to Schumann as previously that to Beethoven.' + +The programme of the orchestral concert which took place in the evening +of May 2, beginning at six o'clock, included Schumann's E flat Symphony +and Requiem for Mignon, conducted by Brahms; a poetic 'Prologue,' +composed and recited by Herr Emil Ritterhaus of Barmen; the Manfred +music conducted by Joachim, with Ernst von Possart, director of the +court theatre of Munich, in the chief declamatory part; and as single +exception in the list of Schumann's works, Brahms' Violin Concerto, +conducted by the composer, and played by Joachim in so perfect and ideal +a manner as to be, 'not merely interpretative, but absolutely creative.' +A rain of bouquets followed its conclusion. Three works were given at +the chamber music concert of the following morning: Schumann's String +Quartet in A minor, led by Joachim; Spanisches Liederspiel; and Quartet +for pianoforte and strings, of which Brahms and Joachim played the +pianoforte and violin parts respectively. + +To this year is to be referred the composition of the only two overtures +published by Brahms. The 'Tragic,' the grave character of which may be +inferred from its title, was performed for the first time in December at +the fourth concert of the Vienna Philharmonic season. Dr. Deiters says +of it: + + 'In this work we see a strong hero battling with an iron and + relentless fate; passing hopes of victory cannot alter an impending + destiny. We do not care to inquire whether the composer had a + special tragedy in his mind, or if so, which one; those who remain + musically unconvinced by the unsurpassably powerful theme, would + not be assisted by a particular suggestion.' + +The 'Academic Festival Overture' which we know, was the one out of three +selected by the composer for preservation. It was composed in +acknowledgment of the honorary doctor's degree offered to Brahms in 1880 +by the university of Breslau, and was performed for the first time in +that city on January 4, 1881, under his direction. The companion work, +the Tragic Overture, and the second Symphony were included in the same +programme. The newly-made Doctor of Philosophy was received with all the +honour and enthusiasm befitting the occasion and his work, and was again +stormily applauded on the 6th, when he performed Schumann's Fantasia, +Op. 17, his two Rhapsodies, and the pianoforte part of his Horn Trio, at +a concert of chamber music. + +In the Academic Overture the sociable spirit reappears which had +prompted the boy of fourteen to compose an ABC part-song for his +seniors, the village schoolmasters in and around Winsen. Now the +renowned master of forty-seven seeks to identify himself with the +youthful spirits of the university with which he has become associated, +by taking, for principal themes of his overture, student melodies loved +by him from their association with the early Göttingen years of happy +companionship with Joachim, with Grimm, with von Meysenbug and others. +Four of these, 'Wir hatten gebauet,' 'Hört ich sing' 'Was kommt dort,' +and the 'Gaudeamus,' are introduced in the course of the movement, which +is written in regular classical form, and the composer lingers with +particular affection over the third one, the song that in student +circles accompanies the merry 'Fox-ride,' which in the summer of 1853 +carried Brahms so many leagues distant from the earlier stages of his +life's journey. The favourite 'Gaudeamus igitur,' given with the full +strength of the orchestra, brings the masterly and effective work to a +brilliant conclusion. The two overtures, bearing to each other a +relation analogous to that which exists between the first and second +symphonies, furnish another instance of the composer's occasional habit +of writing at once, or in quick succession, two works of the same form +animated by contrasted subjective qualities. The 'Academic' has become +very familiar to concert-goers, and has, so far, attained to more +universal popularity than the impressive 'Tragic.' + +Both works were performed from the manuscript, under the composer's +direction, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus concert of January 13, but alike +failed to make much impression. If, however, Brahms felt any +disappointment at the persevering coldness evinced towards his art in +the musical metropolis of North Germany, he must have derived some +consolation from the success which attended the performances of the +Academic Overture and other works conducted by him in Münster on January +22 and in Crefeld on the 25th, and by the warm welcome which awaited him +in each of the Dutch cities--Amsterdam, the Hague, Haarlem--which he +visited in the course of the same month. Holland, distinguished +musically by its early appreciation of Schumann's art, was now repeating +history by its enthusiastic acceptance of that of Brahms. In each town +where he appeared he had opportunity to perceive how deeply his music +had taken root in the country. Of his many distinguished Dutch friends +may be mentioned the composer Verhulst, a man of eminent parts and +attractive personality, who had enjoyed the friendship of Mendelssohn +and of Schumann. Brahms did not this winter fulfil any public engagement +at Utrecht, but he stayed there for a day or two as the Engelmanns' +guest, and did his share of music-making in private. To one old habit he +steadfastly adhered during the visit, though it had little to do with +art. Every morning on returning from his early walk he made his way to +the nursery, and after a game of romps carried one child or another on +his shoulder down to breakfast. To say the truth, this was not an +unmixed pleasure to the little ones, who were sometimes frightened at +their elevation, for the master's gait was not of the smoothest. His +persevering sociability, however, was generally rewarded in the end by +the confidence of the little ones in which he felt such satisfaction. + +It is interesting to find Liszt and Brahms crossing each other's paths +again in the month of February, after a long interval of years that had +been big with consequence, and not only to the younger musician; since +the triumph of Wagner's art must for ever be associated with the name of +its first generous protagonist. The two men were brought together by the +occasion of a concert given in Budapest by Hans von Bülow, who, on +arriving at the Hôtel Ungaria, found Brahms staying there, probably by +preconcerted arrangement. + + 'Très cher unique,' writes Liszt to Bülow on February 13; 'I have + taken a slight cold, and in order not to spoil the day and evening + of to-morrow, must retire early to-night. + + 'Pray express my affectionate thanks to Brahms, and convey to him + the invitation of Madame La Baronne Eötoos to luncheon to-morrow at + 1 o'clock without ennui or vexation. Quite the contrary. I shall + arrive at the Hôtel Ungaria at a quarter before one in order to + conduct you to Her Excellency's house.' + +It no doubt afforded genuine satisfaction to the warm-hearted von Bülow +to place his two friends on a passing footing of sociability. He had +already begun, in his new position as capellmeister to Duke George of +Saxe-Meiningen, to which he had been appointed the previous year, to use +the increased influence at his command in the interests of our master's +art, and before the close of this his first season of activity in the +Thuringian capital, Brahms' first and second symphonies and other works +had been performed under Bülow's direction before a highly sympathetic +audience at the concerts of the court orchestra. + +The two Overtures, and 'Nänie,' to which we have yet to refer in detail, +were published in the course of 1881.[64] + +[61] First published with others by Hanslick in the _Neue Freie Presse_ +of July 1, 1897. + +[62] Hanslick, _Neue Freie Presse_, as before. + +[63] Claus Groth, in the Brahms Recollections to which we have several +times referred, speaks of the festival banquet as having taken place at +the Hamburger Hof, Hamburg, and 'as I think' after the performance of +Brahms' symphony. Groth's articles were written in the year 1897, when +he was at an advanced age--he was much Brahms' senior--and his memory +has misled him in one or two of his details. As regards those here +referred to, the author has, in the above description, followed the +accounts given in the _Hamburger Correspondenten_ of the time, with +which that of Hanslick, in his very interesting 'Essays on Music and +Musicians,' is in strict accord. + +[64] See p. 29 of this volume. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + 1881-1885 + + Second Pianoforte Concerto--First visit to the ducal castle of + Meiningen--'Nänie'--Frau Henriette Feuerbach--Hans von Bülow in + Leipzig--Brahms' friends in Vienna--Dr. and Frau + Fellinger--Pianoforte Trio in C major--First String Quintet--The + 'Parzenlied'--Third Symphony. + + +A holiday taken with Billroth in Sicily in the early spring was +succeeded by Brahms' removal to summer quarters, chosen this year at +Pressbaum, near Vienna. Here he was occupied with the composition of +Schiller's 'Nänie,' to which Feuerbach's death had moved him, and of a +second concerto for pianoforte and orchestra in B flat. The manuscripts +of 'Nänie' and of portions of the concerto were soon lent to Billroth, +the concerto movements being handed to him with the words, 'A few little +pianoforte pieces.' + + 'It is always a delight to me,' writes Billroth, 'when Brahms, + after paying me a short visit, during which we have talked of + indifferent things, takes a roll out of his paletôt pocket and says + casually "Look at that and write me what you think of it."' + +The composer was pleasantly disturbed in August from his quietly busy +life by a visit from Widmann, who was staying in Vienna, and who thus +describes his meeting with the friend he had not met for three years: + + 'Walking through the garden, I came upon the master sitting reading + at an open window on the ground floor of his idyllic dwelling, and + at once instinctively felt that he had entered upon a period of his + career when there could be no longer any thought of his commencing + upon an entirely new domain of his art [opera]. It may sound absurd + when I confess that the splendid, already slightly grizzled beard + in which I saw him for the first time, and scarcely recognised him, + seemed to me a symbol of the great composer's present personality, + now entirely self-adequate and perfectly defined and assured within + its own limits. I was so completely dumbfoundered, however, by the + surprise of seeing this Jupiter head that a question burst from me + as to the reason of the alteration. "One is taken for an actor or a + priest if one is clean shaven," answered Brahms, complacently + stroking the flowing beard. He now had a naïve satisfaction in his + own appearance, and smilingly mentioned that his photograph with + beard had been used in the Velhagen and Clasing school book edition + to illustrate the Caucasian type.... The opera project was not + mentioned....'[65] + +Brahms accepted numerous invitations from Germany, Switzerland, and +Holland to take part in performances of his new works. He had for some +time relaxed his early caution, and was now generally ready to introduce +his compositions to the public on their completion, though adhering to +his old custom of retaining possession of the manuscript of an important +work for his own benefit until after its first performances, when he +allowed the business of engraving to proceed without delay. + +The new Pianoforte Concerto was played by the composer in Stuttgart on +November 22 (Court Capellmeister Seyfrix) first time; in Meiningen on +the 27th; Zürich, Breslau, Vienna (Philharmonic), respectively December +6, 20, 26; Leipzig, Hamburg (Philharmonic), Berlin (Meiningen +orchestra), Kiel, Bremen, Hamburg (Meiningen orchestra), Münster, +Utrecht, in January, and Frankfurt in February, 1882. The work was +received with immense enthusiasm throughout the tour, excepting at +Leipzig, where it achieved only a _succès d'estime_. + +During his visit to Meiningen, Brahms was the guest of the reigning Duke +George and his consort, the Baroness von Heldburg. Three fine rooms _en +suite_ on the ground-floor of the castle were placed at his disposal, +and in the most spacious of them, arranged as a music-room, one of the +Duke's fine Bechstein pianofortes had been placed. The apartment, +having direct access to the castle grounds, afforded the composer easy +opportunity to indulge in his favourite recreation of walking. + +Bülow had left nothing undone that could contribute éclat to his +friend's first public appearance in Meiningen, which he heralded a few +days beforehand by giving a performance of the German Requiem at an +extra concert of the court orchestra. The concert-hall was completely +filled on the evening of the 27th, and on the arrival of the Duke of +Saxe-Meiningen and the Baroness von Heldburg, accompanied by Cardinal +Prince Hohenlohe, the opening number of the Brahms programme, the Tragic +Overture, was listened to by a breathlessly expectant audience. The +first glimpse of the composer as he advanced to the platform to play the +solo of the new Pianoforte Concerto in B flat caused an outburst of +welcome which made it impossible for him to take his seat immediately, +and the enthusiasm, growing with each movement, reached its climax at +the end. 'Brahms and Bülow transported the audience to a state of +exaltation,' wrote the critic next day. The Haydn Variations closed the +first part of the concert; the second part, consisting of the C minor +Symphony and the Academic Overture, was conducted by the composer. On +its termination the Duke expressed his appreciation by decorating Brahms +with the cross of his family order. + +The visit to Meiningen marked the beginning of a cordial friendship +between the art-loving prince and his consort on one hand and Brahms on +the other, which brought many pleasant hours to the great musician. He +always stayed at the castle when at Meiningen, where he was the centre +of many private musical gatherings. Several times he was a guest at the +castle of Altenstein, the Duke's country residence. Here, as at +Meiningen, he was allowed perfect freedom of action, could work without +fear of disturbance, take solitary walks in the neighbourhood, or +saunter in the grounds in company, and was even permitted to retain his +very unconventional style of dress during the day. In the evening he +recognised the claims of ceremonial custom, and actually seemed to take +a kind of pleasure in dressing for dinner and wearing his decorations. +He did not abate one jot, however, of his usual independent expression +of opinion, and would defend his own point of view with characteristic +bluntness and tenacity no matter who might happen to differ from him. An +instance of this trait, as well as of his singular political acumen, of +interest at the present time, occurred at the beginning of the war +between China and Japan. Brahms declared his belief, which was not +shared by others present, in the ultimate success of Japan, and angrily +anticipated the injustice by which the selfish interference of the +Western Powers would deprive her of the fruits of victory. The Duke's +answer, which reminded him that European interests were involved in the +question, left him gruffly unconvinced, but the incident was allowed to +pass. + +It was not only by his illustrious host that the composer came to be +loved. He made himself a favourite with everyone in the Duke's service +with whom he came in contact; his visits to Meiningen and Altenstein +Castles were regarded by the entire household as a distinction and +pleasure, and the harmless jokes and playful sayings in which he +continued to find a childlike satisfaction to the end of his life are +remembered by these friends with affection and regret. + +The concert at Zürich on December 6, the programme of which included the +first performance of 'Nänie,' made an extraordinary impression, and was +so brilliantly successful financially that, in the words of Steiner, + + 'the committee could not rest satisfied without giving visible and + lasting expression to their feelings of gratitude and veneration + towards the author of such glorious achievements.' + +It took the form of a silver cup, designed for the occasion by Bosshard +of Lucerne, and was forwarded to the master on its completion. Brahms +wrote his thanks to Hegar in the following words: + + 'MOST ESTEEMED FRIEND, + + 'Your goblet has arrived, and the étui containing the musical + silver angel glitters like an open altar shrine upon the piano. You + cannot think how beautiful and kind it stands there, and with what + pleasure I look at it! + + 'But now, please, use your best words to assure your esteemed + fellow members of the great pleasure they have given me and how + grateful I am for their kindness. You can easily supply details + which I am shy of adding and which, if written, might sound trivial + and vain. You, however, are aware that such a friendly token of + appreciation and sympathy is a very serious matter.... + + 'Now, with hearty greeting to you and yours, + + 'Yours most sincerely, + 'J. BRAHMS.'[66] + +In his setting of 'Nänie,' dedicated to Frau Henriette Feuerbach and +performed from the manuscript at this concert, Brahms has conceived the +calm fatalistic spirit of classical antiquity represented in Schiller's +funeral dirge as perfectly as he has embodied in the music of the German +Requiem the passionate intensity of the writers of the Old and New +Testaments. A current of tender pathos glides evenly through the lament, +which is somewhat strengthened during the passing image of Aphrodite +bewailing the loss of her son, but not sufficiently to disturb the +smooth onward flow of the passages proceeding continuously from +beginning to end of the work. It seems to suggest the ancient Greek idea +of death as the final decree of destiny, hardly to be dreaded, not to be +questioned or resisted, immutable even in the presence of beauty, just +as clearly as the powerful contrasts of the Requiem present the Biblical +conception of death as an enemy to be opposed and finally destroyed in +the victory of an all-conquering love. + +Dr. Carl Neumann describes a visit paid by him to Frau Feuerbach when +she was seventy-five years of age, at her house in Ansbach. He went +through two rooms. + + 'In the first was a grand piano on which lay Brahms' "Nänie"; in + the second, one might say, dwelt the departed. Tall green plants + stood in the window recesses obscuring the light. What the mother + had of her son's works hung on the walls. The coloured sketch of a + "Descent of the Cross," a flower study belonging to the time when + the frame of "Plato's Feast" was painted, a drawing of the standing + Iphigenia looking towards the land of Greece--here was her + altar.... + + 'We left this room. She sat down to the piano, at first as if to + rest; then asked if I knew Brahms' "Nänie," which, as an admirer of + her son's art, he had dedicated to her. She gave me the music to + follow and began to play it by heart.... + + 'Suddenly I looked up.... The woman at the piano in the black + dress, a black veil on her white hair, seemed changed. The tall + figure, bent forward and lost in tones and memories; was it not the + tragic muse herself and was she not sounding a song of fate? + + 'In the spring of 1886 she once again met Brahms and heard "Nänie" + under Joachim.'[67] + +The want of appreciation of the new concerto shown by the audience of +the Leipzig Gewandhaus did not escape the notice of Hans von Bülow in +his capacity as Brahms' champion, and he carried his band to Leipzig in +the middle of March to give a series of three concerts, two of them +respectively devoted to Beethoven and Brahms, and the other divided +between Mendelssohn and Schumann. The Brahms programme included the C +minor Symphony, Haydn Variations, and the D minor Concerto played by +Bülow, the orchestra accompanying without a conductor. The applause +which followed the movements of the symphony as the work proceeded was +not hearty enough to satisfy the excitable capellmeister, who at the end +of the third movement desired his orchestra to repeat it, and on the +conclusion of the work turned round and addressed his audience. He had, +he said, arranged the Brahms programme by express command of his Duke, +who had desired that the Leipzig public should know how the symphony +ought to be performed; and also to obtain satisfaction for the coldness +manifested towards the composer on his appearance with the new concerto +at the Gewandhaus on January 1. It need hardly be said that eccentric +efforts such as this on the part of a musician for many years +conspicuously identified with the New-German school could have no result +one way or the other in directing the artistic leanings of the city. + +Brahms' Pianoforte Concerto in B flat is of quite unusual dimensions, +and differs not only from his first in D minor, but from almost every +other preceding work of its kind, in containing four movements, the +additional one of which, a long 'allegro appassionato,' succeeds +immediately to the first allegro. Probably few hearers of the work would +subscribe to the reason for this innovation given by the composer to his +friend Billroth. + + 'When I asked him about it, he said that the opening movement + appeared to him too simple; he required something strongly + passionate before the equally simple andante.' + +If anything of the usual meaning of the word 'simple' is to be attached +to its use here--_i.e._, something without complication and easy of +comprehension--it must be said that the second movement of the concerto, +in spite of its passionate character, is very much simpler than the +first. Its plan, whilst containing points of originality, is perfectly +symmetrical, and stands out in well-balanced proportions clearly evident +to the imagination. + +The first movement, on the other hand, is extraordinarily difficult to +grasp as a whole, partly on account of its great length, but still more +from the ambiguity of the rôle assigned to the solo instrument on its +entry after the first orchestral 'tutti.' The principle to be traced in +the first movements of the concertos of Mozart and Beethoven, by giving +to the solo, on each entry, something of the character of a brilliant +improvisation, supported by the band, on the material of a preceding +'tutti,' insures for it a clearly defined position, and, whilst +preserving a due balance between the orchestra and the solo instrument, +lends contrast to the movement as a whole. Brahms would almost seem, in +the instance under consideration, to have deliberately degraded the +pianoforte from its legitimate position as dominant factor in its own +domain. True, it enters with eight bars' quasi-improvisatory restatement +of the principal theme, but it sinks immediately afterwards to occupy +the subordinate rôle of the answering voice in a kind of antiphonal duet +with the orchestra, which it imitates almost servilely, fragment by +fragment, during a lengthy succession of bars. This method of treatment +robs the solo, not only of its effect, but almost of its very _raison +d'être_, and, by blurring the outline of the movement, is probably +chiefly answerable for the sense of fatigue, to which even Billroth +confessed, that most people feel after listening to a performance of the +entire work. This is not the place for a detailed discussion of the +movement, which, with all its grandeur, scarcely realizes the great +expectations warranted by its magnificent opening. A comparison of it +with the first movement of Beethoven's Pianoforte Concerto in E flat +will make the foregoing remarks clear, the more so as the ground-plan is +much the same in the two compositions. The third and fourth movements of +Brahms' concerto are as easy to follow as the second. The andante is +fervent and melodious, and the finale offers to the ear a dainty feast +of sound sparkling from beginning to end with graceful vivacity. + +This concerto has, like its predecessor, sometimes been described as a +symphony with pianoforte obligato. The comparison is in each case +misleading. Both works are essentially based on the modern concerto form +as established by Mozart. + +The Concerto in B flat, published in 1882, was dedicated by Brahms to +'his dear friend and teacher Edward Marxsen.' It was performed--probably +for the first time in England--by Charles Hallé at one of the famous +Manchester concerts, and by Heinrich Barth at a Crystal Palace Saturday +concert of November, 1884. The present author played it in London +December 13, 1888, at her matinée at Messrs. Broadwood's, and on +February 14, 1891, at her private concert at the Royal Academy of Music, +kindly accompanied in the composer's arrangement of the orchestral part +for two pianofortes, on the first occasion by Mr. Otto Goldschmidt and +Mr. Stephen Kemp, and on the second by Messrs. Stephen Kemp and Septimus +Webbe. Frederic Lamond introduced it to the audience of the Philharmonic +Society, St. James's Hall, on May 14, 1891. Since these dates the +concerto has been frequently played in Great Britain by Leonard Borwick. +Fräulein Marie Baumeyer of Vienna was the first lady to perform the +immensely difficult work. She played it in Graz in 1883, and later, in +the composer's presence, at one of her concerts in Vienna. + +The other publications of 1882 were a book of Romances and Songs for one +or for two voices, and two books of Songs for one voice. The two +Overtures and 'Nänie' were issued in 1881. + +Brahms passed a considerable part of the first quarter of 1882 in +Hamburg, to the joy of his friends there. He had written in good time to +Frau Caroline to bespeak his favourite 'corner room,' and made his +headquarters from the beginning of January with his stepmother. He had +accepted an invitation to conduct his Requiem at the annual Good Friday +concert of sacred music at the Stadt Theater, and was occupied several +weeks beforehand with preliminary study and rehearsals. The choir of 200 +consisted of the members of the Bach Society and opera chorus combined. +The performance, which took place on April 7, partook of the character +of a solemn memorial service, and the audience properly abstained from +applause, though the sixth number created an impression that would make +itself audible. At the close of the concert the composer received a vote +of cordial thanks tendered in the name of all present. + +[Illustration: BRAHMS' LODGINGS AT ISCHL. + +_By permission of Frau Maria Fellinger._] + +The master stayed, for the second time, at Ischl during the summer +months. Billroth, who was in the neighbourhood, writes of him in August: + + 'I should like to enjoy myself in Italy from September 15 till + October 1. Brahms wishes to accompany me.... He has been very busy + lately. Three books of songs have been published. A string quintet + and a trio are ready, both of them simpler, shorter, brighter than + his earlier things; he strives consciously for shortness and + simplicity. He lately sent me the manuscript of a true work of art, + the "Parzenlied" [Song of the Fates] from Goethe's "Iphigenia." + Very deep but simple.' + +The journey to Italy duly took place, the proposed party of two being +enlarged to one of four by the addition of Ignaz Brüll and Simrock. +Original plans had to be modified on account of the exceptionally wet +season, and the chief places visited were Vicenza, Padua, and Venice. + +The personnel of Brahms' intimate friends in Vienna had remained on the +whole much what it had become a very few years after his arrival in the +Austrian capital. Of its closest circle the Fabers, Billroths, and +Hanslicks, with whom must be associated Joachim's cousins, the various +members of the Wittgenstein family--amongst them Frau Franz and Frau Dr. +Oser--still formed the nucleus. An acquaintance with Herr Victor von +Miller zu Aichholz and his wife had meanwhile ripened into warm +friendship, and their house became one of those whose hospitality was +most frequently and gladly accepted by the master. Amongst the +musicians, Carl Ferdinand Pohl, author of the standard Life of Mozart, +and, since 1866, archivar to the Gesellschaft, was one of his dearest +friends. With the leading professors of the conservatoire his relations +continued very cordial, and amongst the younger musicians to whom, in +addition to his early allies, Goldmark, Gänsbacher and Epstein, he +extended his friendly regard, may be mentioned Anton Door and Robert +Fuchs. The feeling of warm friendship existing between Brahms and Johann +Strauss has been commemorated in several well-known anecdotes. The +autumn of 1881, however, brought to permanent residence in Vienna a +family that before long made notable addition to the master's intimate +circle. Special circumstances conduced to the speedy formation of a bond +of friendship between Brahms and the new-comers, Dr. and Frau Fellinger. +In the first place, they were friends of Frau Schumann and her +daughters, and as such had an instant claim on his courtesy, which he +acknowledged by calling on them as soon as possible after their +arrival. In the second, his interest was awakened by the fact that Frau +Dr. Fellinger was the daughter of Frau Professor Lang-Köstlin, the +gifted Josephine Lang, whose attractive personality and talent for +composition made a strong impression upon Mendelssohn when he was a +youth of twenty-one and some six years the lady's senior. The story of +Josephine, who at the age of twenty-six married Professor Köstlin of +Tübingen, is given in Hiller's 'Tonleben,' and Mendelssohn's +congratulations to her bridegroom-elect may be read in the second volume +of the 'Letters.' The talent for art which had come to her as a family +inheritance was transmitted to her daughter, though with a difference. +Frau Dr. Fellinger's gifts have associated themselves especially with +the plastic arts; in the first place with that of painting, but they +have become well known in the musical world also by her busts and +statuettes of Brahms, Billroth, and others belonging to their circle. +Her photographs of our master are now familiar to most music-lovers. +When it is added that Brahms found he could command in Dr. Fellinger's +hospitable house, not only congenial intellectual sympathy, but the +unceremonious intercourse with a simple, affectionate family circle in +which he had through life found a pre-eminent source of happiness, it +will easily be understood that he became a more and more frequent guest +there, until, during the closing years of his life, it became for him +almost a second home. + +The master introduced two of his new works in the course of a few weeks' +journey undertaken in the winter of 1882-83. According to Simrock's +Thematic Catalogue, the Pianoforte Trio in C major, the String Quintet +in F major, and the 'Parzenlied' constitute the publications of 1883. +Early copies of the trio and quintet were sent out, however, and the +works were publicly performed from them in December, 1882. An +interesting entry in Frau Schumann's diary says: + + 'I had invited Koning and Müller to come and try Brahms' new trio + with me on Thursday 21st [December]. Who should surprise us as we + were playing it--he himself! He came from Strassburg and means to + stay with us for Christmas. I played the trio first and he repeated + it.' + +Both works were performed on December 29 at a Museum chamber music +concert--the Quintet by the Heermann-Müller party, the Trio by Brahms, +Heermann, and Müller. + +Amongst the early performances of the Trio were those on January 17 and +22 respectively in Berlin (Trio Concerts: Barth, de Ahna, Hausmann) and +London (Monday Popular Concerts: Hallé, Madame Néruda, Piatti), and at +Hellmesberger's in Vienna on March 15. + +The work has not become one of the most generally familiar of the +master's compositions, though it is not easy to say why. It contains no +trace of the 'heaven-storming Johannes,' but, like many of the later +compositions, it breathes, and especially the first movement, with a +rich, mellow warmth suggestive of one to whom the experiences of life +have brought a solution of their own to its problems, which has quieted, +if it has not altogether satisfied, the aspirations and impulses of +youth. + +The Quintet in F for strings is, for the most part, bright, concise, and +easy to follow. As one of its special features may be mentioned the +combination of the usual two middle movements in the second. It was +given in Hamburg on the 22nd and in Berlin on the 23rd of January, +respectively by Bargheer and Joachim and their colleagues (it should be +noted that Hausmann had at this time succeeded Müller as the +violoncellist of the Joachim Quartet), at Hellmesberger's on February +15, and at the Monday Popular, London, of March 5. + +Brahms conducted the first performance of the Parzenlied in Basle on +December 8, 1882. Excellently sung by the members of the Basle Choral +Society, the work met with extraordinary success, and was repeated after +the New Year by general desire. Similar results followed its performance +in other towns, of which Strassburg and Crefeld should be specially +mentioned. The programme of the Crefeld concert included the fifth +movement of the Requiem. 'What is your _tempo_?' Brahms inquired, on +the morning of the rehearsal, of Fräulein Antonia Kufferath, who was to +sing the solo. The lady, not taking the question seriously from the +composer of the music, waived a reply. 'No, I mean it; you have to hold +out the long notes. Well, we shall understand each other,' he added; +'sing only as you feel, and I will follow with the chorus.' + +These are characteristic words, and valuable in more than one sense. To +most of the few works to which the master has placed metronome +indications--and the Requiem is amongst these--he added them by special +request, and attached to them only a limited importance. An absolutely +and uniformly 'correct' pace for a piece of genuine music does not +exist. The pace must vary to some extent according to subtle conditions +existent in the performer, and the instinct of a really musical +executant or conductor will, as a rule, be a safer guide, within limits, +than what can be at best but the mechanical markings even of the +composer himself. + +The Parzenlied, received with enthusiasm throughout Brahms' tour in +Germany and Switzerland, was not equally successful in Vienna, where it +was heard for the first time at the Gesellschaft concert of February 18 +under Gericke. The austere simplicity of the music, which paces +majestically onward with the concentrated, resigned calm of despair, +adds extraordinary force to Goethe's poem, but does not appeal to every +audience, and the work has never become a prime favourite in the +Austrian Kaiserstadt. The song is set for six-part chorus with +orchestra, in plainer harmonic masses and with less employment of +imitative counterpoint than we usually find in the works of Brahms, who +has accommodated his music here, as in 'Nänie,' to the classical spirit +of the text. A singular deviation, however, which occurs in the course +of the setting, from the uncompromising severity of the words, furnishes +a remarkable illustration of the composer's unconquerable idealism. +Comment was made in its place on the beautiful device by which he has +sought to relieve the dark mood of Hölderlin's 'Song of Destiny'--the +addition of an instrumental postlude which breathes forth a message of +tender consolation that the poet could hardly have rendered in words. In +Schiller's 'Nänie' the lament, with all its calm, gives expression to a +sentiment of compassionate sorrow that is perfectly reproduced in the +master's music. Goethe's Fates, however, in their measured recitation of +the gods' relentless cruelty, would have seemed to offer no possible +opportunity for even the inarticulate expression of ruth. Least of all, +it might be imagined, could any concession to the demands of the human +heart have been found in the penultimate stanza of their song: + + 'The rulers exclude from + Their favouring glances + Entire generations, + And heed not in children + The once so belovèd + And still speaking features + Of distant forefathers.' + +Our Brahms, however, who, in spite of his increasing weight, his shaggy +beard, his frequently rough manners, his unsatisfied affections, his +impenetrable reserve, remained at fifty, in his heart of hearts, the +very same being whom we have watched as the loving child of seven, the +simple-minded boy of fourteen, the broken-hearted man of thirty, sobbing +by the death-bed of his mother, cannot leave the dread gloom of his +subject unrelieved by a single ray. He seems, in his setting of the last +strophe but one, to concentrate attention on past kindness of the gods, +and thus, perhaps, subtly to suggest a plea for present hope. How far +the musician was justified in thus wandering from the obvious intention +of his poet must be left to each hearer of the work to determine for +himself. If it be the case, as has sometimes been suggested, that the +variation was made by the composer in the musical interests of the piece +as a work of art, it cannot be held to have fulfilled its purpose; for +the striking inconsistency between words and music in the verse in +question has a disturbing effect on the mind of the listener. We +believe, however, that the true explanation of the master's procedure +is more radical, and is to be found in the nature of the man in which +that of the musician was grounded. + +The Parzenlied was dedicated to 'His Highness George, Duke of +Saxe-Meiningen,' and was included in a Brahms programme performed in +Meiningen on April 2 to celebrate the Duke's birthday. The complete +breakdown of Bülow's health necessitated his temporary retirement from +his conductor's duties, which were divided on this occasion between +Brahms and Court Capellmeister Franz Mannstädt, appointed to assist +Bülow. Returning by a circuitous route to Vienna after a few days at the +ducal castle, Brahms paid a short visit to Hamburg to take part in +another Brahms programme arranged by the talented young conductor of the +Cecilia Society, Julius Spengel. This was the first of several occasions +on which the master gave testimony of his appreciation of Dr. Spengel's +talents and musicianship by co-operating in the concerts of the society. + +Brahms celebrated his fiftieth birthday by entertaining his friends +Faber, Billroth, and Hanslick at a bachelor supper. He was occupied +during the summer with the completion of a third symphony, on which he +had worked the preceding year, and lived at Wiesbaden in a house that +had belonged to the celebrated painter Ludwig Knaus, in whose former +studio--Brahms' music-room for the nonce--the work was finished. + +It was known to the composer that a delicate elderly lady inhabited the +first-floor of the house of which Frau von Dewitz's flat, where he +lodged, formed an upper story. Every night, therefore, on returning to +his rooms, he took off his boots before going upstairs, and made the +ascent in his socks, so that her rest should not be disturbed. This +anecdote is but one amongst several of the same kind that have been +related to the author by Brahms' intimate associates. Samples of another +variety should not, however, be omitted. + +A private performance of the new symphony, this time arranged for two +pianofortes, was given as usual at Ehrbar's by Brahms and Brüll, and +aroused immense expectations for the future of the work. Amongst the +listeners was a musician who, not having hitherto allowed himself to be +suspected of a partiality for the master's art, expressed his +enthusiastic admiration of the composition. 'Have you had any +conversation with X?' young Mr. Ehrbar asked Brahms; 'he has been +telling me how delighted he is with the symphony.' 'And have you told +him that he very often lies when he opens his mouth?' angrily retorted +the composer, who could never bring himself to submit to the humiliation +of accepting a compliment which he suspected--perhaps unjustly in this +case--of being insincere. + +A terrible rebuff was administered by him on the evening of a first +Gewandhaus performance. It must be owned that Brahms was seldom in his +happiest mood when on a visit to Leipzig; he was well aware that his +music was not appreciated within the official 'ring' there, and +suspiciously resented any well-meant efforts made to ignore this fact. +'And where are you going to lead us to-night, Herr Doctor?' inquired one +of the committee a few minutes before the beginning of the concert, +assuming a conciliatory manner as he smoothed on his white kid gloves; +'to heaven?' 'It is the same to me where you go,' rejoined Brahms. + +The first performance of the Symphony in F major (No. 3) took place in +Vienna at the Philharmonic concert of December 2, under Hans Richter, +who was, according to Hanslick, originally responsible for the name 'the +Brahms Eroica,' by which it has occasionally been called. Whether or not +the suggestion is happy, a saying of the kind, probably uttered on the +impulse of the moment, should not be taken very seriously. + +Nothing of the quiescent autumn mood which we have observed in the +master's chamber music of this period is to be traced in either of his +symphonies, and the third, like its companions, represents him in the +zenith of his energies, working happily in the consciousness of his +absolute command over the resources of his art. Whether it be judged by +its effect as an entire work or studied movement by movement, whether +each movement be listened to as a whole or analyzed into its component +parts, all is found to be without halt of inspiration or flaw in +workmanship. Each theme is striking and pregnant, and, though +contrasting with what precedes it, seems to belong inevitably to the +movement and place in which it occurs, whilst the development of the +thematic material is so masterly that to speak of admiring it seems +almost ridiculous. The last movement closes with a very beautiful and +distinctive Brahms coda. The third symphony is more immediately easy to +follow than the first, and of broader atmosphere than the second. It is +of an essentially objective character, and belongs absolutely to the +domain of pure music. + +The supreme and glorious pre-eminence which the great master had by this +time attained in contemporary estimation naturally made it an object of +competition with concert-givers and directors to announce the earliest +performances of his works, and this was especially the case in the rare +event of a new symphony which succeeded its immediate predecessor after +an interval of six years. Brahms, however, had his own ideas on this +matter, as on every other that he thought important, and after the first +performance of the work in Vienna he sent the manuscript to Joachim in +Berlin, and begged him to conduct the second performance when and where +he liked. This proceeding would hardly have been noteworthy under the +circumstances of intimate friendship which had so long united the two +musicians, had it not been that the old relation between Brahms and +Joachim had been clouded during the past year or two, during which there +had been a cessation of their former affectionate intercourse. When, +therefore, it became known that Joachim, acting on the composer's wish, +proposed to conduct the symphony at one of the subscription concerts of +the Royal Academy of Arts, Berlin, so much disappointment and +heart-burning were felt and expressed that Joachim, although he had +already replied in the affirmative to Brahms' request, consented to +write again and ask what his wishes really were. The answer came without +delay, and was clear enough to set the matter quite at rest. Brahms +desired that the performance should be committed unreservedly to the +care of his old friend. + +The symphony was heard for the second time, therefore, on January 4 +under Joachim at Berlin, and was enthusiastically received by all +sections of the public and press. It was given again three times during +the same month in the German imperial capital under the composer's +bâton. + +Detailed description of the triumphant progress of the new work from +town to town is no longer necessary. The composer was overwhelmed with +invitations to conduct it from the manuscript, and Bülow, convalescent +from his illness, and determined not to be outdone in enthusiasm, placed +it twice, as second and fourth numbers, in a Meiningen programme of five +works. On publication, it was performed in all the chief music-loving +towns of Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Russia, Switzerland, and the +United States. + +In an account of a performance of the symphony at a Hamburg Philharmonic +concert under Brahms in December, which followed one under von Bernuth +after three weeks' interval, the critic of the _Correspondenten_ says: + + 'Brahms' interpretation of his works frequently differs so + inconceivably in delicate rhythmic and harmonic accents from + anything to which one is accustomed, that the apprehension of his + intentions could only be entirely possible to another man possessed + of exactly similar sound-susceptibility or inspired by the power of + divination.' + +The author feels a peculiar interest in quoting these lines, which +strikingly corroborate the impression formed by her on hearing this and +other of Brahms' works played under his own direction. + +The publications of 1884 were, besides the third Symphony, Two Songs for +Contralto with Viola and Pianoforte, the second being the 'Virgin's +Cradle Song,' already mentioned as one of the compositions of 1865; two +sets of four-part Songs, the one for accompanied Solo voices, the other +for mixed Chorus _a capella_, and the two books of Songs, Op. 94 and 95. + +At this date Brahms had entered into what we may call the third period +of his activity as a song-writer--one in which he frequently chose texts +that speak of loneliness or death. The wonderful beauty of his settings +of these subjects penetrates the very soul, and by the mere force of its +pathos carries to the hearer the conviction that the composer speaks out +of the feeling of his own heart. Stockhausen, trying the song 'Mit +vierzig Jahren' (Op. 94, No. 1) from the manuscript to the composer's +accompaniment, was so affected during its performance that he could not +at once proceed to the end. Our remarks are, however, by no means +intended to convey the impression that Brahms only or generally chose +poems of a melancholy tendency at this time. + + WITH FORTY YEARS. + + BY FRIEDRICH RÜCKERT (1788-1866). + + With forty years we've gained the mountain's summit, + We stand awhile and look behind; + There we behold the quiet years of childhood + And there the joy of youth we find. + Look once again, and then, with freshened vigour, + Take up thy staff and onward wend! + A mountain-ridge extendeth, broad, before thee, + Not here, but there must thou descend. + No longer, climbing, need'st thou struggle breathless, + The level path will lead thee on; + And then with thee a little downward tending, + Before thou know'st, thy journey's done. + +With the knowledge we have gained of the master's habit of producing his +large works in couples, we are prepared to find him employed this summer +on the composition of a fourth symphony. Avoiding a long journey, he +settled down to his work at Mürz Zuschlag in Styria, not far from the +highest ridge of the Semmering. Hearing soon after his arrival there +that his old friend Misi Reinthaler, now grown up into a young lady, was +leaving home under her mother's care to go through a course of treatment +under a famous Vienna specialist, he wrote to place his rooms in +Carlsgasse at Frau Reinthaler's disposal. The offer was not accepted, +but when the invalid was sufficiently convalescent, he insisted that the +two ladies should come for a few days as his guests to Mürz Zuschlag, +where he took rooms for them near his own lodgings. He went over to see +them also at Vienna, and spent the greater part of a morning showing +them his valuable collection of autographs and other treasures. 'Yes, +these would have been something to give a wife!' was his answer to the +ladies' expressions of delight. Amongst his collection of musical +autographs were two written on different sides of the same sheet of +paper--one of Beethoven, the song 'Ich liebe dich'; the other of +Schubert, part of a pianoforte composition. These, with Brahms' +autograph signature 'Joh. Brahms in April 1872,' written at the bottom +of one of the pages, constitute a unique triplet. The sheet now belongs +to the Gesellschaft library, and is framed within glass. + +The society of Hanslick, who came with his wife to stay near Mürz +Zuschlag for part of the summer, was very acceptable to Brahms. The +departure of his friends at the close of the season, in the company of +some mutual Vienna acquaintances, incited the composer to an act of +courtesy of a kind quite unusual with him, the sequel to which seems to +have caused him almost comical annoyance that found expression in a +couple of notes sent immediately afterwards to Hanslick. + + 'DEAREST FRIEND, + + 'Here I stand with roses and pansies; which means with a basket of + fruit, liqueurs and cakes! You must have travelled through by the + earlier Sunday extra train? I made a good and unusual impression + for politeness at the station! The children are now rejoicing over + the cakes....' + +and, on finding that, mistaking the time of the train, he had arrived a +quarter of an hour late: + + 'How such a stupid thing can spoil one's day and the thought of it + recur to torment one. I hope you do not know this as well as I, who + am for ever preparing for myself such vexatious worry....' + +Later on, writing about other matters, he adds: + + '... I hope Professor Schmidt's ladies do not describe my promenade + with the basket too graphically in Vienna! Otherwise my unspoiled + lady friends may cease to be so unassuming.'[68] + +The journeys of the winter included visits to Bremen and Oldenburg, +during which Hermine Spiess, one of the very favourite younger +interpreters of Brahms' songs, sang dainty selections of them to the +composer's accompaniment, with overwhelming success. The early death of +this gifted artist, soon after her marriage, caused the master, with +whom she was a great favourite, deep and sincere grief. Brahms went also +to Crefeld, where the 'Tafellied,' dedicated on publication 'To the +friends in Crefeld in remembrance of Jan. 28th 1885,' was sung on the +date in question, with some of the new part-songs _a capella_, and other +of the composer's works, at the jubilee of the Crefeld Concert Society. +The manuscript score of the 'Tafellied' is in the possession of Herr +Alwin von Beckerath, to whom it was presented by Brahms with an +affectionate inscription. + +[65] Widmann, p. 43. + +[66] Steiner's 'Johannes Brahms,' i., p. 25. + +[67] Allgeyer's 'Feuerbach': Introduction to the second edition. + +[68] Published by Hanslick in the _Neue Freie Presse_, July 1, 1897. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + 1885-1888 + + Vienna Tonkünstlerverein--Fourth Symphony--Hugo Wolf--Brahms at + Thun--Three new works of chamber music--First performances of the + second Violoncello Sonata by Brahms and Hausmann--Frau Celestine + Truxa--Double Concerto--Marxsen's death--Eugen d'Albert--The Gipsy + Songs--Conrat's translations from the Hungarian--Brahms and + Jenner--The 'Zum rothen Igel'--Ehrbar's asparagus luncheons--Third + Sonata for Pianoforte and Violin. + + +The early part of the year 1885 offers for record no event of unusual +interest to the reader. The greater portion of it was spent by Brahms in +his customary routine in Vienna. He was generally to be seen at the +weekly meetings of the Tonkünstlerverein, a musicians' club founded by +Epstein, Gänsbacher, and others, of which the master had consented to be +named honorary life-president. The Monday evening proceedings included a +short musical programme, sometimes followed by an informal supper. +Brahms did not usually sit in the music-room, but would remain in a +smaller apartment smoking and chatting sociably with friends of either +sex. His arrival always became known at once to the assembled company, +'Brahms is here; Brahms is come!' being passed eagerly from mouth to +mouth. His old love of open-air exercise had not diminished with +increasing years, and the Sunday custom of a long walk in the country +was still kept up. A few friends used to meet in the morning outside the +Café Bauer, opposite the Opera House, and, taking train or tram to the +outskirts of the city, would thence proceed on foot, returning in the +late afternoon. Brahms, nearly always in a good humour on these +occasions, was generally soon ahead of his companions, or leading the +way with the foremost, and, as had usually been the case with him +through life, was looked upon by his friends as the chief occasion of +their meetings, allowed his own way, and admired as a kind of pet +oracle. The excursions always commenced for the season on his return to +Vienna in the autumn, and were continued with considerable regularity +until his departure in the spring. They not infrequently gave +opportunity for the employment of the composer's unfailing readiness of +repartee, as on the occasion of a meeting in the train, on the return +journey, with a learned but unmusical acquaintance of one of the party, +between whom and Brahms an animated conversation arose. 'Will you not +join us one day, Herr Doctor? Next Sunday, perhaps?' asked Brahms. 'I!' +exclaimed the other. 'Saul among the prophets?' 'Na, so you give +yourself royal airs!' instantly rejoined the master. + +The fourth symphony was completed during the summer at Mürz Zuschlag, +where Brahms this year had the advantage of Dr. and Frau Fellinger's +society, and--indispensable for his complete enjoyment of a home +circle--that of their children. Returning one afternoon from a walk, he +found that the house in which he lodged had caught fire, and that his +friends were busily engaged in bringing his papers, and amongst them the +nearly-finished manuscript of the new symphony, into the garden. He +immediately set to work to help in getting the fire under, whilst Frau +Fellinger sat out of doors with either arm outspread on the precious +papers piled on each side of her. Luckily, all serious harm was averted, +and it was soon possible to restore the manuscripts intact to the +composer's apartments. + +Brahms paid a neighbourly call, in the course of the summer, on the +author Rosegger, who was living in his small country house at Krieglach +near Mürz Zuschlag, and tasted the unusual experience of a repulse. +Absorbed in work at the moment when his servant announced 'a strange +gentleman,' Rosegger, without glancing at the card placed beside him, +desired his visitor to 'sit down for a moment.' Conscious only of the +presence of a bearded stranger with a gray overcoat over his shoulder +and a light-coloured umbrella in his hand, he vouchsafed but scant +answer to the trifling remarks with which his caller tried to pave the +way to cordiality, and before long Brahms composedly remarked that he +would be on his legs again, and took leave. It was not till some minutes +after his departure that it occurred to Rosegger to glance at the card, +and he has himself described the feelings of despair with which he read +the words 'Johannes Brahms' staring at him in all the reality of black +on white. Not he alone, but the ladies of his family, were enthusiastic +admirers of the composer's genius. He was so overwhelmed by his mistake +as to be incapable of taking any steps to remedy it, and firmly declined +to yield to the entreaties of his wife and daughter that he would return +the visit and explain matters to Brahms. He published an amusing account +of the misadventure in the year 1894 in an issue of the _Heimgarten_. +Perhaps it may have fallen into the master's hands. + +The honour not only of the first, but of several subsequent early +performances of the Symphony in E minor, fell to the Meiningen +orchestra. The work was announced for the third subscription concert of +the season 1885-86, and shortly beforehand the score and parts of the +third and fourth movements were sent by the composer to Meiningen for +correction at a preliminary rehearsal under Bülow. Three listeners were, +by Bülow's invitation, present on the occasion--the Landgraf of Hesse; +Richard Strauss, the now famous composer, who had succeeded Mannstädt as +second conductor of the Meiningen orchestra; and Frederic Lamond. The +lapse of another day or so brought Brahms himself with the first and +second movements, and the first public performance of the work took +place on October 25. + +That the new symphony was enthusiastically received on the occasion goes +almost without saying. Persevering but unsuccessful efforts were made by +the audience to obtain a repetition of the third movement, and the close +of the work was followed by the emphatic demonstration incident to a +great success. + +The work was repeated under Bülow's direction at the following Meiningen +concert of November 1, and was conducted by the composer throughout a +three weeks' tour on which he started with Bülow and his orchestra +immediately afterwards, and which included the towns Siegen, Dortmund, +Essen, Elberfeld, Düsseldorf, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Amsterdam, the Hague, +Arnheim, Crefeld, Bonn, and Cologne. A performance at Wiesbaden +followed, and the work was heard for the first time in Vienna at the +Philharmonic concert of January 17, 1886, under Richter. This occasion +was celebrated by a dinner given by Billroth at the Hôtel Sacher, the +guests invited to meet the composer being Richter, Hanslick, Goldmark, +Faber, Door, Epstein, Ehrbar, Fuchs, Kalbeck, and Dömpke. + +A new and important work by Brahms could hardly fail to obtain a warm +reception in Vienna at a period when the composer could look back to +thirty years' residence in the imperial city with which his name had +become as closely associated as those of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and +Schubert; but though the symphony was applauded by the public and +praised by all but the inveterately hostile section of the press, it did +not reach the hearts of the Vienna audience in the same unmistakable +manner as its two immediate predecessors, both of which had, as we have +seen, made a more striking impression on a first hearing in Austria than +the first Symphony in C minor. Strangely enough, the fourth symphony at +once obtained some measure of real appreciation in Leipzig, where the +first had been far more successful than the second and third. It was +performed under the composer at the Gewandhaus concert of February 18. +The account given of the occasion by the _Leipziger Nachrichten_ is, +perhaps, the more satisfactory since our old friend Dörffel, who might +possibly have been suspected of partiality, had long since retired from +the staff of the journal. Bernhard Vögl, his second successor, says: + + '... The reception must, we think, have made amends to Brahms for + former ones, which, in Bülow's opinion, were too cool. After each + movement the hall resounded with tumultuous and long-continued + applause, and, at the conclusion of the work, the composer was + repeatedly called forward.... The finale is certainly the most + original of the movements, and furnishes more complete argument + than has before been brought forward for the opinion of those who + see in Brahms the modern Sebastian Bach. The movement is not only + constructed on the form displayed in Bach's Chaconne for violin, + but is filled with Bach's spirit. It is built up with astounding + mastery upon the eight notes, + + [Music: Excerpt from the fourth movement of Brahms's Symphony No. 4 + in E minor, Op. 98.] + + and in such a manner that its contrapuntal learning remains + subordinate to its poetic contents.... It can be compared with no + former work of Brahms and stands alone in the symphonic literature + of the present and the past.' + +A still more triumphant issue attended the production of the symphony +under Brahms at a concert of the Hamburg Cecilia Society on April 9. +Josef Sittard, who had recently been appointed musical critic to the +_Hamburger Correspondenten_, a post he has held to the present day, +wrote: + + 'To-day we abide by what we have affirmed for years past in musical + journals; that Brahms is the greatest instrumental composer since + Beethoven. Power, passion, depth of thought, exalted nobility of + melody and form, are the qualities which form the artistic sign + manual of his creations. The E minor (fourth) Symphony is + distinguished from the second and third principally by the rigorous + and even grim earnestness which, though in a totally different way, + mark the first. More than ever does the composer follow out his + ideas to their conclusion, and this unbending logic makes the + immediate understanding of the work difficult. But the oftener we + have heard it, the more clearly have its great beauties, the depth, + energy and power of its thoughts, the clearness of its classic + form, revealed themselves to us. In the contrapuntal treatment of + its themes, in richness of harmony and in the art of + instrumentation, it seems to as superior to the second and third, + these, perhaps, have the advantage of greater melodic beauty; a + guarantee of popularity. In depth, power and originality of + conception, however, the fourth symphony takes its place by the + side of the first....' + +After an interesting discussion of the several movements, the writer +adds: 'In a word, the symphony is of monumental significance.' + +Brahms' fourth symphony, produced when he was over fifty, is, in the +opinion of most musicians, unsurpassed by any other achievement of his +genius. It has during the past twenty years been growing slowly into +general knowledge and favour, and will, it may be safely predicted, +become still more deeply rooted in its place amongst the composer's most +widely-valued works. The second movement, in the opinion of the late +Philipp Spitta, 'does not find its equal in the symphonic world'; and +the fourth, written in 'Passacaglia' form, is the most astonishing +illustration achieved even by Brahms himself of the limitless capability +of variation form, in which he is pre-eminent.[69] + +It is with something of a mournful feeling that we find ourselves at the +close of our enumeration of the master's four greatest instrumental +works. Enough, we may hope, has been said to indicate that any +comparison of the symphonies as inferior or superior is impossible, for +the reason that each, while perfectly fulfilling its own particular +destiny, is quite different from all the others, and such natural +preference as may be felt by this or that listener for either must be +considered as purely personal. The present writer may, perhaps, be +allowed to confess that, with all joy in the dainty second and the +magnificent third and fourth--emphatically the fourth--neither appeals +to her quite so strongly as the first. There is here a quality of youth +in the intensity of the soaring imagination that seems to search the +universe, which, presented as it is with the wealth of resource that was +at the command of the mature composer, could not by its nature be other +than unique. The presence of this very quality may be the reason why the +first symphony suffers even more lamentably than its companions from the +dull, cold, cautious, 'classical' rendering which Brahms' orchestral +works receive at the hands of some conductors, who seem unable to +realize that a composer who founds his works on certain definite and +traditional principles of structure does not thereby change his nature, +or in any degree renounce the free exercise of his poetic gifts. + +Perhaps the present is as good an opportunity as may occur for passing +mention of a newspaper episode of the eighties, which was much talked of +for a few years, but which, though it may have caused Brahms annoyance, +could not possibly at this period of his career have had any more +serious consequence so far as he was concerned. + +Hugo Wolf, in 1884 a young aspirant to fame, seeking recognition but +finding none, poor, gifted, disappointed, weak in health, highly +nervous, without influential friends, accepted an opportunity of +increasing his miserably small means of subsistence by becoming the +musical critic of the _Salon Blatt_, a weekly society paper of Vienna, +and soon made for himself an unenviable notoriety by his persistent +attacks upon Brahms' compositions. The affair would not now demand +mention in a biography of our master if it were not that the posthumous +recognition afforded to Wolf's art gives some interest, though not of an +agreeable nature, to this association of his name with that of Brahms. +For the benefit of those readers who may wish to study the matter +further, it may be added that Wolf's criticisms have been republished +since his death. For ourselves, having done what was, perhaps, incumbent +on us by referring to the matter, we shall adopt what we believe would +have been Brahms' desire, by allowing it, so far as these pages are +concerned, to follow others of the kind to oblivion. + +The summer of 1886 was the first of the three seasons passed by Brahms +at Thun, of which Widmann has written so charming an account. He rented +the entire first-floor of a house opposite the spot where the river Aare +flows out of the lake, the ground-floor being occupied by the owner, who +kept a little haberdashery shop. According to his general custom, he +dined in fine weather in the garden of some inn, occasionally alone, but +oftener in the company of a friend or friends. Every Saturday he went to +Bern to remain till Monday or longer with the Widmanns, who, like other +friends, found him a most considerate and easily satisfied guest, though +his exceptional energy of body and mind often made it exhausting work to +keep up with him. + + 'His week-end visits were,' says Widmann, 'high festivals and times + of rejoicing for me and mine; days of rest they certainly were not, + for the constantly active mind of our guest demanded similar + wakefulness from all his associates and one had to pull one's self + well together to maintain sufficient freshness to satisfy the + requirements of his indefatigable vitality.... I have never seen + anyone who took such fresh, genuine and lasting interest in the + surroundings of life as Brahms, whether in objects of nature, art, + or even industry. The smallest invention, the improvement of some + article for household use, every trace, in short, of practical + ingenuity gave him real pleasure. And nothing escaped his + observation.... He hated bicycles because the flow of his ideas was + so often disturbed by the noiseless rushing past, or the sudden + signal, of these machines, and also because he thought the + trampling movement of the rider ugly. He was, however, glad to live + in the age of great inventions and could not sufficiently admire + the electric light, Edison's phonographs, etc. He was equally + interested in the animal world. I always had to tell him anew about + the family customs of the bears in the Bern bear-pits before which + we often stood together. Indeed, subjects of conversation seemed + inexhaustible during his visits.'[70] + +Brahms' ordinary costume, the same here as elsewhere, was chosen quite +without regard to appearances. Mere lapse of time must occasionally +have compelled him to wear a new coat, but it is safe to conclude that +his feelings suffered discomposure on the rare occurrence of such a +crisis. Neckties and white collars were reserved as special marks of +deference to conventionality. During his visits to Thun he used on wet +Saturdays to appear at Bern wearing 'an old brown-gray plaid fastened +over his chest with an immense pin, which completed his strange +appearance.' Many were the books borrowed from Widmann at the beginning, +and brought back at the end, of the week, carried by him in a leather +bag slung over his shoulder. Most of them were standard works; he was +not devoted to modern literature on the whole, though he read with +pleasure new and really good books of history and travel, and was fond +of Gottfried Keller's novels and poems. Over engravings and photographs +of Italian works of art he would pore for hours, never weary of +discussing memories and predilections with his friend. + +Visits to the Bern summer theatre, a short mountain tour with Widmann, +an introduction to Ernst von Wildenbruch, whose dramas the master liked, +and with whom he now found himself in personal sympathy--events such as +these served to diversify the summer season of 1886, which was made +musically noteworthy by the composition of a group of chamber works, the +Sonatas in A and F major for pianoforte with violin and violoncello +respectively, and the Trio in C minor for pianoforte and strings. The +Sonatas were performed for the first time in public in Vienna; severally +by Brahms and Hellmesberger, at the Quartet concert of December 2, and +by Brahms and Hausmann at Hausmann's concert of November 24; the Trio +was introduced at Budapest about the same time by Brahms, Hubay, and +Popper, in each case from the manuscript. + +Detailed discussion of these works is superfluous; two of them, at all +events, are amongst the best known of Brahms' compositions. The Sonata +for pianoforte and violoncello in F is the least familiar of the group, +but assuredly not because it is inferior to its companions. It is, +indeed, one of the masterpieces of Brahms' later concise style. Each +movement has a remarkable individuality of its own, whilst all are +unmistakably characteristic of the composer. The first is broad and +energetic, the second profoundly touching, the third vehemently +passionate--in the Brahms' signification of the word, be it noted, which +means that the emotions are reached through the intellectual +imagination--the fourth written from beginning to end in a spirit of +vivacity and fun. The work was tried in the first instance at Frau +Fellinger's house. 'Are you expecting Hausmann?' Brahms inquired +carelessly of this lady soon after his return in the autumn. Frau +Fellinger, suspecting that something lay behind the question, +telegraphed to the great violoncellist, who usually stayed at her house +when in Vienna, to come as soon as possible, if only for a day. He duly +appeared, and the new sonata was played by Brahms and himself on the +evening of his arrival. They performed it again the day before the +concert above recorded, at a large party at Billroth's. + +The last movement of the beautiful Sonata in A for pianoforte and violin +is sometimes criticised as being almost too concise. The present writer +confesses that she always feels it to be so, and one day confided this +sentiment to Joachim, who did not agree with her, but said that the coda +was originally considerably longer. 'Brahms told me he had cut a good +deal away; he aimed always at condensation.' + +Dr. Widmann allows us to publish an English version of a poem written by +him on this work, the original of which is published in the appendix to +his 'Brahms Recollections.' We have desired to place it before our +English-speaking readers, not only because it coincides remarkably with +what we related in our early chapters of the delicate, fanciful tastes +of the youthful Hannes, but because it gave pleasure to the Brahms of +fifty-three, and even of sixty-three, and thus seems to illustrate the +fact on which we have insisted, that if in any case then in our +master's, the child was father to the man. Only a year before his death +the great composer wrote to Widmann to beg for one or two more copies of +the poem, which had been printed for private circulation. + + THE THUN SONATA. + + POEM ON THE SONATA IN A FOR PIANOFORTE AND VIOLIN, OP. 100, + BY JOHANNES BRAHMS, + + WRITTEN BY J. V. WIDMANN. + + There where the Aare's waters gently glide + From out the lake and flow towards the town, + Where pleasant shelter spreading trees provide, + Amidst the waving grass I laid me down; + And sleeping softly on that summer day, + I saw a wondrous vision as I lay. + + Three knights rode up on proudly stepping steeds, + Tiny as elves, but with the mien of kings, + And spake to me: 'We come to search the meads, + To seek a treasure here, of precious things + Amongst the fairest; wilt thou help us trace + A new-born child, a child of heav'nly race?' + + 'And who are ye?' I, dreaming, made reply; + 'Knights of the golden meadows' then they said, + 'That at the foot of yonder Niesen[71] lie; + And in our ancient castles many a maid + Hath listened to the greeting of our strings, + Long mute and passed amid forgotten things. + + 'But lately tones were heard upon the lake, + A sound of strings whose like we never knew, + So David played, perhaps, for Saul's dread sake, + Soothing the monarch curtained from his view; + It reached us as it softly swelled and sank, + And drew us, filled with longing, to this bank. + + 'Then help us search, for surely from this place, + This meadow by the river, came the sound; + Help us then here the miracle to trace, + That we may offer homage when 'tis found. + Sleeps under flow'rs the new-born creature rare? + Or is it floating in the evening air?' + + But ere they ceased, a sudden rapid twirl + Ruffled the waters, and, before our eyes, + A fairy boat from out the wavelet's whirl + Floated up stream, guided by dragon-flies; + Within it sat a sweet-limbed, fair-haired may, + Singing as to herself in ecstasy. + + 'To ride on waters clear and cool is sweet, + For clear as deep my being's living source; + To open worlds where joy and sorrow meet, + Each flowing pure and full in mingling course; + Go on, my boat, upstream with happy cheer, + Heaven is reposing on the tranquil mere.' + + So sang the fairy child and they that heard + Owned, by their swelling hearts, the music's might, + The knights had only tears, nor spake a word, + Welling from pain that thrilled them with delight; + But when the skiff had vanished from their eyes, + The eldest, pointing, said in tender wise: + + 'Thou beauteous wonder of the boat, farewell, + Sweet melody, revealed to us to-day; + We that with slumb'ring minnesingers dwell, + Bid thee Godspeed, thou guileless stranger fay; + Our land is newly consecrate in thee + That rang of old with fame of minstrelsy. + + 'Now we may sleep again amongst our dead, + The harper's holy spirit is awake, + And as the evening glory, purple-red, + Shineth upon our Alps and o'er our lake, + And yet on distant mountain sheds its light, + Throughout the earth this song will wing its flight. + + 'Yet, though subduing many a list'ning throng, + In stately town, in princely hall it sound, + To this our land it ever will belong, + For here on flowing river it was found.' + Fervent and glad the minnesinger spake; + 'Yes!' cried my heart--and then I was awake. + +Whilst our master had been living through the spring and summer months +in the enchanted world of his imagination, coming out of it only for +brief intervals of sojourn in earth's pleasant places amidst the +companionship of chosen friends, certain hard, commonplace realities of +the workaday world, which had arisen earlier at home in Vienna, were +still awaiting a satisfactory solution. The death of the occupier of the +third-floor flat of No. 4, Carlsgasse, the last remaining member of the +family with whom Brahms had lodged for fourteen or fifteen years, had +confronted him with the necessity of choosing between several +alternatives almost equally disagreeable to him, concerning which it is +only necessary to say that he had avoided the annoyance of a removal by +taking on the entire dwelling direct from the landlord, and had escaped +the disturbance of having to replace the furniture of his rooms by +accepting the offer of friends to lend him sufficient for his absolute +needs. Arrangements and all necessary changes were made during his +absence. To Frau Fellinger Brahms had entrusted the keys of the flat and +of his rooms, which under her directions were brought into apple-pie +order by the time of his return, the drawers being tidied, and a list of +the contents of each neatly drawn up on a piece of cardboard, so that +everything should be ready to his hand. The greatest difficulty, +however, still remained. Who was to keep the rooms in order and see to +the very few of Brahms' daily requirements which he was not in the habit +of looking after himself? His coffee, as we know, he always prepared at +a very early hour in the morning, and he was kept provided with a +regular supply of the finest Mocha by a lady friend at Marseilles. +Dinner, afternoon coffee, and often supper, were taken away from home. +The master now declared he would have no one in the flat. To as many +visitors as he felt disposed to admit he could himself open the door, +whilst the cleaning and tidying of the rooms could be done by the +'Hausmeisterin,' an old woman occupying a room in the courtyard, and +responsible for the cleaning of the general staircase, etc. In vain Frau +Fellinger contested the point. Brahms was inflexible, and this kind lady +apparently withdrew her opposition to his plan, though remaining quietly +on the look-out for an opportunity of securing more suitable +arrangements. By-and-by it presented itself. In Frau Celestine Truxa, +the widow of a journalist, whose family party consisted of two young +sons and an old aunt, Frau Fellinger felt that she saw a most desirable +tenant for the Carlsgasse flat, and after a renewed attack on the +master, whose arguments, founded on the immaculate purity of his rooms +under the old woman's care, she irretrievably damaged by lifting a sofa +cushion and laying bare a collection of dust, which she declared would +soon develop into something worse, he was so far shaken as to say that +if she would make inquiries for him he would consider her views. Frau +Fellinger wisely abstained from further discussion, but after a few days +Frau Truxa herself, having been duly advised to open the matter to +Brahms with diplomatic sang-froid, went in person to apply for the +dwelling. After her third ring at the door-bell, the door was opened by +the master himself, who started in dismay at seeing a strange lady +standing in front of him. + +'I have come to see the flat,' said Frau Truxa. + +'What!' cried Brahms. + +'I have heard there is an empty flat here, and have come to look at it,' +responded Frau Truxa indifferently; 'but perhaps it is not to let?' + +A moment's pause, and the composer's suspicious expression relaxed. + +'Frau Dr. Fellinger mentioned the circumstances to me,' she continued, +'and I thought they might suit me.' + +By this time Brahms had become sufficiently reassured to show the rooms +and to listen, though without remark, to a brief description of Frau +Truxa's family and of the circumstances in which she found herself. + +'Perhaps, Dr. Brahms, you will consider the matter,' she concluded, 'and +communicate with me if you think further of it. If I hear nothing more +from you, I shall consider the matter at an end.' + +After about a week, during which Frau Truxa kept her own confidence, her +maid came one day to tell her a gentleman had called to see her. Being +engaged at the moment, she asked her aunt to ascertain his business, but +the old lady returned immediately with a frightened look. + +'I don't know what to think!' she exclaimed; 'there is a strange-looking +man walking about in the next room measuring the furniture with a tape!' + +'The things will all go in!' exclaimed the master as Frau Truxa hurried +to receive him. + +The upshot was that the master gave up the tenancy of the flat, +returning to his old irresponsible position as lodger, whilst Frau +Truxa, bringing her household with her, stepped into the position of his +former landlady, thereby giving Brahms cause to be grateful for the +remainder of his life for Frau Fellinger's wise firmness. He was, says +Frau Truxa, perfectly easy to get on with; all he desired was to be let +alone. He was extremely orderly and neat in his ways, and expected the +things scattered about his room to be dusted and kept tidy, but was +vexed if he found the least trifle at all displaced--even if his glasses +were turned the wrong way--and, without making direct allusion to the +subject, would manage to show that he had noticed it. Observing, after +she had been a little time in the flat, that he always rearranged the +things returned from the laundress after they had been placed in their +drawer, she asked him why he did so. 'Only,' he said, 'because perhaps +it is better that those last sent back should be put at the bottom, then +they all get worn alike.' A glove or other article requiring a little +mending would be placed carelessly at the top of a drawer left open as +if by accident. The next day he would observe to Frau Truxa, 'I found my +glove mended last night; I wonder who can have done it!' and on her +replying, 'I did it, Herr Doctor,' would answer, 'You? How very kind!' + +Frau Truxa came to respect and honour the composer more and more the +longer he lived in her house. She made his peculiarities her study, and +after a short time understood his little signs, and was able to supply +his requirements as they arose without being expressly asked to do so. +It is almost needless to say that he took great interest in her two +boys, and once, when she was summoned away from Vienna to the sick-bed +of her father, begged that the maid-servant might be instructed to give +all her attention to the children during their mother's absence, even if +his rooms were neglected. 'I can take care of myself, but suppose +something were to happen to the children whilst the girl was engaged for +me!' Every night whilst Frau Truxa was away, the master himself looked +in on the boys to assure himself of their being safe in bed. For the +old aunt he always had a pleasant passing word. + +The fourth Symphony and two books of Songs were published in 1886, and +the three new works of chamber music, Op. 99, 100, 101, in 1887. Of the +songs we would select for particular mention the wonderfully beautiful +setting of Heine's verses: + + 'Death is the cool night, + Life is the sultry day,' + +Op. 96, No. 1, and Nos. 1 and 2 of Op. 97. + +Brahms' Italian journey in the spring of 1887 was made in the company of +Simrock and Kirchner. The following year he travelled in Widmann's +society, visiting Verona, Bologna, Rimini, Ancona, Loretto, Rome, and +Turin. Widmann sees in Brahms' spiritual kinship with the masters of the +Italian Renaissance the chief secret of his love for Italy. + + 'Their buildings, their statues, their pictures were his delight + and when one witnessed the absorbed devotion with which he + contemplated their works, or heard him admire in the old masters a + trait conspicuous in himself, their conscientious perfection of + detail ... even where it could hardly be noticeable to the ordinary + observer, one could not help instituting the comparison between + himself and them.' + +Brahms had an interview when on this journey with the now famous Italian +composer Martucci, who displayed a thorough familiarity with the works +of the German master. + +Amongst the friends and acquaintances whom the composer met at Thun +during his second and third summers there were the Landgraf of Hesse, +Hanslick, Gottfried Keller, Professor Bächthold, Hermine Spiess and her +sister, Gustav Wendt, the Hegars, Max Kalbeck, Steiner, Claus Groth, +etc. One day, as he had started for a walk, he was stopped by a +stranger, who asked if he knew where Dr. Brahms lived. 'He lives there,' +replied the master, pointing to the haberdasher's shop. 'Do you know if +he is at home?' 'That I cannot tell you,' was the reply. 'But go and +ask in the shop; you will certainly be able to find out there.' The +gentleman followed this advice, sent his card up, and received the +answer that the Doctor was at home, and would be pleased to see him. To +his surprise, on ascending the stairs, he found his newly-formed +acquaintance waiting for him at the top. + +[Illustration: BRAHMS' LODGINGS NEAR THUN. + +_Photograph by Moegle, Thun._] + +The rumour revived in the summer of 1887 that Brahms was engaged on an +opera. This came about, perhaps, from his intimacy with Widmann. 'I am +composing the entr'actes,' he jestingly replied to the Landgraf's +question as to whether the report had any foundation. As a matter of +fact, the subject of opera was not mentioned between the composer and +his friend at this time. + +The works which really occupied Brahms during the summer of 1887 were +the double Concerto for violin and violoncello, with orchestral +accompaniment, and the 'Gipsy Songs.' + +The Concerto was performed privately, immediately on its completion, in +the 'Louis Quinze' room of the Baden-Baden Kurhaus. Brahms conducted, +and the solo parts were performed by Joachim and Hausmann. Amongst the +listeners were Frau Schumann and her eldest daughter, Rosenhain, +Lachner, the violoncellist Hugo Becker, and Gustav Wendt. The work was +heard in public for the first time in Cologne on October 15, Brahms +conducting, and Joachim and Hausmann playing the solos as before; and +the next performances, carried out under the same unique opportunities +for success, were in Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, and Basle, on November 17, +18, and 20. + +In the autumn of this year one of the few remaining figures linked with +the most cherished associations of Brahms' early youth passed away. +Marxsen died on November 17, 1887, at the age of eighty-one, having +retained to the end almost unimpaired vigour of his mental faculties. +The last great pleasure of his life was associated with his beloved art. +In spite of great bodily weakness, he managed to be present a week +before his death at a concert of the Hamburg Philharmonic Society to +hear a performance of the 'ninth' Symphony. 'I am here for the last +time,' he said, pressing Sittard's hand; and he passed peacefully away +fourteen days later. + +A few years previously his artistic jubilee had been celebrated in +Hamburg, and his dear Johannes had surprised him with the proof-sheets +of a set of one hundred Variations composed long ago by Marxsen, not +with a view to publication, but as a practical illustration of the +inexhaustible possibilities contained in the art of thematic +development. Brahms, who happened to see the manuscript in Marxsen's +room during one of his subsequent visits to Hamburg, was so strongly +interested in it that in the end Marxsen gave it him, with leave to do +as he should like with it after his death. The parcel of proof-sheets +was accompanied by an affectionate letter, in which Brahms begged +forgiveness for having anticipated this permission and yielded to his +desire of placing the work within general reach during his master's +lifetime; and perhaps no jubilee honour of which the old musician was +the recipient filled him with such lively joy as was caused by this +tribute. Marxsen's name as a composer is, indeed, now forgotten without +chance of revival, but his memory will live gloriously in the way he +would have chosen, carried through the years by the hand that wrote the +great composer's acknowledgment to his teacher on the title-page of the +Concerto in B flat. + +Four more performances from the manuscript of the double concerto of +interest in our narrative remain to be chronicled--those of the Leipzig +Gewandhaus, under Brahms, on January 1, 1888; of the Berlin Philharmonic +Society, under Bülow, of February 6; and of the London Symphony +Concerts, under Henschel, on February 15 and 21. The work, published in +time for the autumn season, was given in Vienna at the Philharmonic +concert of December 23 under Richter. On all these occasions the solos +were played, as before, by Joachim and Hausmann. + +Bülow, having at this time resigned his post at Meiningen, had entered +on a period of activity as conductor in some of the northern cities of +Germany, and particularly in Hamburg and Berlin. His future programmes, +in which our master's works were well represented, though not with the +conspicuous prominence that had been possible at Meiningen, do not fall +within the scope of these pages, since, with the mention of the double +concerto, the enumeration of Brahms' orchestral works is complete. +Bülow's successor at Meiningen, Court Capellmeister Fritz Steinbach, +carried on the traditions and preferences of the little Thuringian +capital as he found them, until his removal to Cologne a year or two +ago, and has become especially appreciated as a conductor of the works +of Brahms, whose personal friendship and artistic confidence he enjoyed +in a high degree. + +The name of Eugen d'Albert, whose great gifts and attainments were +warmly recognised by Brahms, should not be omitted from our pages, +though detailed account of his relations with the master is outside +their limits. D'Albert's fine performances of the pianoforte concertos +helped to make these works familiar to many Continental audiences, and +certainly contributed, during the second half of the eighties, to the +better understanding of the great composer which has gradually come to +prevail at Leipzig. + +But little needs to be said about the double concerto. This fine work, +which may be regarded as in some sort a successor to the double and +triple concertos of Mozart and Beethoven, exhibits all the power of +construction, the command of resource, the logical unity of idea, +characteristic of Brahms' style, whilst its popularity has been hindered +by the same cause that has retarded that of the pianoforte concertos; +the solo parts do not stand out sufficiently from the orchestral +accompaniment to give effective opportunity for the display of +virtuosity, in the absence of which no performer, appearing before a +great public as the exponent of an unfamiliar work for an accompanied +solo instrument, has much chance of sustaining the lively interest of +his audience in the composition. Of the three movements of the double +concerto, the first is especially interesting to musicians, whilst the +second, a beautiful example of Brahms' expressive lyrical muse, appeals +equally to less technically prepared listeners. On the copy of the work +presented by Brahms to Joachim the words are inscribed in the composer's +handwriting: 'To him for whom it was written.' + +Widely contrasted in every respect was the other new work of 1887, +introduced to the private circle of Vienna musicians at the last meeting +for the season of the Tonkünstlerverein in April, 1888. The eleven +four-part 'Gipsy Songs,' published in the course of the year as +Op. 103, were sung from the manuscript by Frãulein Walter, Frau +Gomperz-Bettelheim, Gustav Walter, and Weiglein of the imperial opera, +to the composer's accompaniment. Brahms obtained the texts of this +characteristic and attractive work from a collection of twenty-five +'Hungarian Folk-songs' translated into German by Hugo Conrat, and +published in Budapest, with their original melodies set by Zoltan Nagy +for mezzo-soprano or baritone, with the addition of pianoforte +accompaniment. Conrat's translations have been done in masterly fashion. +Literal as far as possible, slight modifications of the original have +been admitted here and there in order to obtain a natural flow of the +lines; and to some single-strophe songs, including Nos. 3 and 4 of +Brahms' work, a second verse, developing the idea of the first, has been +added. The German texts, in which the national Hungarian character is +admirably preserved, appealed irresistibly to our master, and are well +adapted to the four-part setting with pianoforte accompaniment which had +proved so successful in the two books of Liebeslieder Walzer. + +One of the earliest public performances of the Gipsy Songs was that of +the Monday Popular concert of November 26 by Mr. and Mrs. Henschel, Miss +Lena Little, and Mr. Shakespeare, with Miss Fanny Davies as pianist. +They were repeated at the Saturday Popular of December 1, and again on +Monday and Saturday, December 22 and 28. The first public performance in +Vienna--by the executants who had already given the work privately--took +place at Walter's concert in the Börsendorfer Hall on January 18, 1889. + +The Gipsy Songs had an immediate widespread, and enormous success, and +were soon heard in all parts of the musical world. They were sung in +Paris in a French translation, and many times in Budapest, where the +composer's art had become popular, in Hungarian retranslated from +Conrat's version. Great though their popularity has remained, however, +it has not equalled that of the Liebeslieder, and of these the demand +for the first book has continued to exceed that for the second. + +A graphic picture of Brahms as he was in the year 1888 and onwards is to +be found in an article by Dr. Jenner.[72] This gentleman made the +master's acquaintance under particularly interesting circumstances. When +still a very young man, resident at Kiel, and a favourite of Claus +Groth, the manuscripts of some of his songs came under Brahms' notice, +and so much engaged his sympathy as to induce him to say he would be +happy to receive the composer during his visit to Leipzig on the +occasion of the above-recorded performance of the new double concerto. + + 'My friend Julius Spengel joined me in Hamburg and we went together + to Berlin,' says Dr. Jenner. 'There I was present for the first + time at a Joachim Quartet evening. Immediately after the concert we + travelled with the Quartet to Leipzig, arriving in the middle of + the night at the Hôtel Hauffe. Never shall I forget the feeling + that came over me as I read in the visitors' list, "Johannes Brahms + from Vienna." He had already retired. By a strange chance I was + shown into the room next his and as I entered it a sound of healthy + snoring proclaimed the proximity of the mighty one. Moving about + quietly, I went to rest with a strange mixed feeling of awe, pride + and anxiety. When I came down the next morning Brahms had already + breakfasted. Comfortably smoking, he was reading the papers.... He + received me with pleasant, simple kindness, intimated that he knew + why I had come, and took pains to help me over my first + embarrassment and shyness by every now and then putting to me some + short, direct question, so that I was soon convinced of his + good-nature and felt unlimited confidence in him.... + + 'It was past 3 o'clock when we returned that night to the Hôtel + Hauffe. How delighted but also astonished I was when Brahms, as he + said good-night, announced that he would expect me in his room at + 7 o'clock in the morning to speak to me about my compositions. I + presented myself punctually at the appointed time and found him at + breakfast, fresh, rosy and the picture of equanimity.... + + 'I had brought a trio for pianoforte and strings, a chorus with + orchestral accompaniment, unaccompanied choruses for women's + voices, and songs; and found that he had made himself acquainted + with them down to the smallest detail, and, indeed, later he never + looked through work with me which he had not thoroughly examined + beforehand. After a few introductory remarks, in which he said that + he had formed a generally favourable impression of my compositions, + he gave me back the accompanied chorus with the words "Pity for the + beautiful little poem." It was Claus Groth's "Wenn ein müder Leib." + The _a capella_ choruses met with the same fate; I received them + back with the remark "Such things are very difficult to make...."' + +For the sequel the reader must be referred to the article itself, which +amusingly describes the tranquil and ruthless methods by which the +master reduced his young friend to the verge of despair. All ended well, +however, and the middle of February saw the arrival in Vienna of Herr +Jenner and his introduction to Mandyczewski, under whom he was to go +through a course of study in strict counterpoint, whilst his work in +free composition was to be carried on under the master's personal +supervision. After making Mandyczewski's acquaintance, + + 'I dined with Brahms at the "Zum Rothen Igel" and afterwards he + went with me to find a lodging, giving preference to the old + houses. Whilst we were on this expedition, he took every + opportunity of making me acquainted with the sacred places of the + city. Before one house it was "This is the Auge Gottes," before + another "Look, Figaro was written there." At length a suitable room + was found near his own dwelling. "The young man likes music" said + Brahms to the landlady, "will he be able to hear a little + pianoforte playing or singing here sometimes?" This she could not + offer. "Never mind, it does not matter." Then he gave me one of his + coffee-machines, plates, cups, forks, knives and spoons, so that I + was comfortably settled the first day. The use of his library was + at my disposal; his purse also. I could have as much money as I + needed from him, but I was never obliged to take any and never did + so.... + + 'I think with deep melancholy of the glorious evenings when + Rottenberg and I sat alone with him in the low back room of the + Igel and the silent Brahms thawed and showed us glimpses of a great + and strong soul. But he never spoke on such occasions of his works, + very rarely of himself and his life. I have, indeed, often had the + good fortune of hearing him speak of himself whilst he was giving + me a lesson; it was nearly always with some excitement. I was + unfortunately obliged to give up the pleasure of dining with him + every day during my second winter, as the Igel was too dear for me. + Brahms always declared it was the cheapest house in Vienna and in + fact he understood so well how to choose that he always had to pay + less than I and yet got a better dinner. He was quite + extraordinarily moderate in his daily life; 70-80 kreuzers was the + most that he spent for his dinner and this included a glass of + Pilsener beer or a quarter of a litre of wine. In the evening he + drank but little more. It is only because the contrary has been so + often affirmed that I think it my duty to tell the truth in such + detail.' + +The old-fashioned restaurant Zum Rothen Igel, where Brahms was for many +years a 'Stammgast'--_i.e._, a daily customer--is situated in a corner +of the Wildpret Markt close to the Augustinestrasse. Brahms did not +frequent the regular dining-room of the house, but took his dinner in a +low, dark, vaulted chamber at the back, on the ground-floor, ordinarily +used by waiters, coachmen, and similar guests. Here, at a table near a +door leading to a small, gloomy courtyard, many a distinguished guest, +the Landgraf of Hesse, Joachim, and many another, has partaken in our +master's company of the homely but well-cooked dishes that he preferred. +In fact, but few prominent musical visitors to Vienna quitted the +imperial city without making the acquaintance, under Brahms' auspices, +of the dingy apartment in the Wildpret Markt now called 'the Brahms +room' and decorated with a photograph of the master. He was very often +joined at his mid-day meal by resident friends and acquaintances, and +often supped at the Igel after a concert with a party of musicians. +Amongst those most frequently seen with him were his old friends Epstein +and Door and a circle of the young men in whom he took an interest; at +the date now reached by our narrative, Mandyczewski and Rottenberg were +his almost daily companions. If he supped alone at the Igel, he +preferred to take his place in a corner behind the house-door, which was +screened from the taproom by a red curtain and was just large enough to +hold a table and bench, occupied in slack hours by the manager. During +the short time that the weather permitted, he dined, after his return to +Vienna at the beginning of October, in the 'garden'--_i.e._, at one of +the two or three tables placed outside the house, and flanked by large +pots of ever-greens which were carried away when the days became cold. + +During the last ten years of his life Brahms allowed himself to accept +more invitations than formerly to dine or sup with one and another of +the small group of families forming his immediate circle, and when +invited out he liked, and even expected, to be asked to a good table and +to have good wine put before him. He retained the notion, universal in a +former generation, but now out of date, that it was incumbent on a +bidden guest, not only to appreciate, but to show appreciation, of the +hospitality of his host and hostess. 'There are people,' he used to say, +'who are afraid of showing that they like a good dinner.' Brahms was +certainly not one of these. He was prepared to do ample justice to the +recherché cookery and excellent wines with which his friends liked to +regale him, but he was at no period of his life either a glutton or a +wine-bibber, and, indeed, never varied from the abstemious habits which +the early circumstances of his life had made incumbent on him as a young +man. + +One of the annual Brahms festivities was the asparagus luncheon always +given by Ehrbar on, or as near as possible to, May 7, in honour of the +master's birthday. About twelve or sixteen people were invited, amongst +whom the Hanslicks and Billroth and his daughter were regularly +included. The luncheon hour was twelve o'clock, and the menu, which +never varied, consisted of oysters, caviare, cold meat, then the _pièce +de résistance_, asparagus, which was always provided in the proportion +of two bundles to each person. This was followed by cheese and dessert, +and there was a free flow of fine champagne. + +The summer of 1888, the last one passed by Brahms at Thun, did not reach +the end of its course in such unbroken tranquillity as the two previous +ones. A heated political discussion with Widmann, in which neither +disputant would give way, threatened to put a sudden end to the intimacy +which had been a source of pleasure and advantage to both friends. +Fortunately this catastrophe was averted by the good sense of the two +men and the cordial affection existing between them, and when Brahms +left Switzerland in October they looked forward to renewing the +experience of a journey to Italy together which had brought them a +succession of delights in the spring of the year. + +The third Sonata for pianoforte and violin, in D minor, was composed +during the summer, and was played for the first time in public from the +manuscript by Brahms and Joachim at Joachim's Vienna concert of February +13, 1889. It was published in the spring, with Brahms' dedication to +'his friend Hans von Bülow,' and was performed immediately afterwards in +London by Miss Fanny Davies and Ludwig Straus at Miss Davies' concert of +May 7. The three sonatas for pianoforte and violin were played one +summer's day at Gmünden, by Brahms and Joachim, before the Queen and +royal family of Hanover, an incident which carries the memory back to +the year 1853, when Johannes, having come safely through the first +stages of his concert-journey and taken Joachim's heart by storm, +appeared with Reményi for the first time before King George and his +circle at Hanover. + +The other publications of 1889 were a book of five Songs for mixed +Chorus _a capella_, and three books of five Songs each, for a single +voice with pianoforte accompaniment. Of these 'Wie Melodien,' 'Auf dem +Kirchhofe,' and 'Verrath' (Nos. 1, 4, 5 of Op. 105), and 'Serenade' (No. +1 of Op. 106), are great favourites of the author's. Brahms' songs, +however, offer such rich choice of beauty that the selection of one or +another, even of the more celebrated, for particular mention must be +regarded as little more than the indication of a personal preference. + +[69] The scope of these pages does not permit the author to yield to the +temptation of presenting an analysis of the means by which Brahms has +produced the romantic, mysterious atmosphere which pervades the 'andante +moderato.' They will be found strangely simple and intelligible by those +inclined to examine for themselves the harmonic material; in the first +place of the introductory bars (which consists of the chromatic major +concord on the minor sixth of the key, E major, and a couple of passing +notes); and in the second place of the full statement of the opening +theme (which includes the chords of the dominant minor ninth and the +tonic seventh and minor thirteenth, all chromatic). + +[70] Widmann's 'Johannes Brahms in Erinnerungen,' p. 58 and following. + +[71] A mountain near Thun. + +[72] _Die Musik_, first May number of 1902. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + 1889-1895 + + Hamburg honorary citizenship--Christmas at Dr. Fellinger's--Second + String Quintet--Mühlfeld--Clarinet Quintet and Trio--Last journey + to Italy--Sixtieth birthday--Pianoforte Pieces--Billroth's + death--Brahms' collection of German Folk-songs--Life at + Ischl--Clarinet Sonatas--Frau Schumann, Brahms, and Joachim + together for the last time. + + +From the year 1889 onward Brahms chose for his summer dwelling-place the +charming town of Ischl, the central point of the beautiful region of the +Salzkammergut, and a favourite watering-place of the Viennese. He rented +rooms, as on one or two former visits, in a cottage prettily situated on +the outskirts of the town near the rushing river Traun, away from the +visitors' quarter and convenient for his favourite walks about the +picturesque mountains which surround the valley. A strong note of +affectionate regret, very characteristic of the composer, is observable +in the letter in which he announced to Widmann his arrangements for the +open-air season of 1889. His extreme attachment, however, to his Vienna +friends, to whom he may be said to have belonged almost entirely during +the closing years of his life, probably determined his choice of Ischl, +which was well within the reach of any of them who wished to visit him, +whilst several had villas for summer residence in the immediate +neighbourhood. Johann Strauss always lived at Ischl during the summer, +the Billroths' delightfully situated home at St. Gilgen could be reached +by train or the lake boat service in an hour, whilst the house and +grounds of Herr and Frau Victor von Miller zu Aichholz at Gmünden, and +Goldmark's rooms, also at Gmünden, were not much further off, and so on +with other friends. + + 'I have heard by chance,' writes Billroth from St. Gilgen to Brahms + at Ischl on June 16, 'that Mandyczewski and Rottenberg are with you + ... make up your mind quickly therefore and come over with them to + St. Gilgen and invite Brüll or Goldmark also in my name....' + +Brahms always dined when at Ischl in the 'Keller' of the Hôtel +Elisabeth, which was reached by a flight of steps leading downwards from +the street, and is thus described by Billroth: + + 'I passed a couple of pleasant hours with Brahms at Ischl. We dined + in a damp, underground room belonging to the Hôtel Elisabeth. The + same dishes are served there as in the better class dining-room but + at rather cheaper prices; it is very cool in the summer and no + toilet is required; everything as if made for Brahms.' + +The city of Hamburg this year conferred its honorary citizenship on +Brahms, a distinction he shared with Bismarck and Moltke. Greatly +touched by this recognition, the master let himself go for once, and +immediately telegraphed his thanks to the mayor in natural, impulsive +fashion that he seems to have regretted when he saw his words in print. + + '... You will find me here,' he wrote to Hanslick from Ischl, + 'until--I must go to the music festival at Hamburg! I must, for my + honorary citizenship, with all that is associated with it, has been + too pleasant and gratifying. I dread it, however, for I see that my + telegram to the mayor has been printed! It sounds too foolish; "the + best that could have come to me from men"--as though I had been + thinking of eternal bliss; whereas all that I had in my mind was + that when a melody occurs to me it is more welcome than an order, + and that if it lead to my succeeding with a symphony, it gives me + more pleasure than all honorary citizenships!...'[73] + +In acknowledgment of the honour bestowed on him, Brahms composed three +eight-part choruses _a capella_, which he entitled 'Fest and +Gedenksprüche' (Festival and Commemoration Sayings) and dedicated to the +mayor of Hamburg, Herr Oberbürgermeister Dr. Petersen. Patriotic +remembrances and hopes were vividly present to his mind as he composed +them, and the work is to be accepted as a second great musical memorial +and glorification of the events of 1870-71. The texts are again selected +from the Bible: from Deuteronomy, the Psalms, and the Gospels of St. +Matthew and St. Luke. The choruses were studied by the Cecilia Society, +and performed under Spengel at the first of three festival concerts +arranged by Bülow for the opening of the Hamburg Industrial Exhibition. +Sittard calls them 'a splendid musical gift,' and places them amongst +the best and finest of the composer's works. + + 'The "Sayings" do not address themselves to a particular nation or + creed, but speak to every thoughtful mind, to every human heart + susceptible to earnest, ideal influences, and striving after the + high and the beautiful. There lives in these movements something of + that strong confidence which we find--expressive of another period + of thought and of art--in Handel's works, and which acts like a + tonic on every faithful mind. Brahms is the only composer of the + present day who can sufficiently control his own individuality to + be capable of expressing his texts in a musical language + universally applicable and intelligible.' + +The work was received with immense enthusiasm, and the master was +obliged to come forward to acknowledge the long-continued plaudits which +followed its conclusion. It was the last time that he stood on a concert +platform of his native city. + +Spengel, who witnessed with Bülow the presentation of the citizens' +document, which took place at Dr. Petersen's house, relates that Brahms +gave warm verbal expression to the deep feeling animating the written +acknowledgment by which he had supplemented his telegram of thanks. This +letter ran as follows:[74] + + /* 'YOUR MAGNIFICENCE 'MOST HONOURABLE HERR BÜRGERMEISTER */ + + 'I feel with my whole heart the need to add a few words to my + hasty, short telegram. Kindly permit me again to assure your + magnificence that my fellow-citizens have delighted and honoured me + beyond measure by the bestowal of the honorary citizenship. As the + artist is rejoiced by such a distinguished token of recognition, so + also is the man by the glorious feeling of knowing himself so + highly esteemed and loved in his native city. A feeling doubly + proud when this native city is our beautiful, ancient, noble + Hamburg!... The precious gift of my citizen's letter ... becomes + more precious and dear to me as I place it by the side of my + father's citizen's document (still in Low-German). My father was, + indeed, my first thought in connection with the pleasant event, and + one wish only remains, that he were here to rejoice with me....' + +This was not the only mark of the esteem felt for him in high places by +which the master was this year honoured. The news that the Emperor +Francis Joseph had conferred upon him the distinguished 'Leopold's' +order reached him in Ischl, taking him completely by surprise, and was +followed by an inundation of letters, cards, and telegrams of +congratulation, to all of which he replied individually. + +'I was so pleased that the Austrians, as such, were glad that I was +obliged to reply prettily,' he wrote to Hanslick.[75] + +Another of the distinctions bestowed upon Brahms late in his career, +which gave him, as a German musician, extraordinary pleasure, was that +of his election as foreign member of the Académie française. He +endeavoured to write his letter of acknowledgment in French, but, not +being able to satisfy himself, was obliged to be content with expressing +his gratification in his own language. + +It seems appropriate to record, with the mention of these pleasant +incidents, the fact of Brahms' warm admiration of the opera 'Carmen,' +the work of the French composer Bizet. + +A visit to Cologne--the last--in February is noteworthy as having +furnished opportunity for the first (private) performance from the +manuscript of three Motets for four and eight part chorus _a capella_. +They were sung by the students' choral class of the conservatoire, and +on the same occasion Brahms played--also from the manuscript--with two +of the professors, the revised edition of his early B major Trio for the +first time outside Vienna. We have already, in the early pages of our +narrative, expressed our preference for the original version of this +lovely work. + +A visit to Italy in the spring with Widmann, which included Parma, +Cremona, Brescia, and Vicenza, afforded Brahms opportunity of deriving +pleasure from the most varied sources. The sight of the cathedral of +Cremona by moonlight, upon which he and Widmann came suddenly the night +of their arrival, as they turned a street corner, quite overpowered him. +He could not gaze long enough at the wonderful scene, and was obliged to +return with his friend to look at it once again before he could persuade +himself to go in for the night. He was able, on the other hand, to +derive amusement from the trifling incidents of each day's adventures, +and was always ready to meet the passing difficulties and embarrassments +of the traveller with laudable equanimity and resource. He used, later +on, to describe, with some zest, an opera performance which he attended +at Brescia. The work, he declared, consisted entirely of final cadences, +but was so beautifully sung that he had great pleasure in listening to +it. + +His appearance and manner, which at this period of his life made an +irresistible impression of nobility and, generally, of benevolence on +strangers, in spite of his short stature and careless dress, attracted +the constant admiration of his casual fellow-travellers and of the +people of the country with whom he had to do; and amongst other +anecdotes related by Widmann is one of a guide at Palermo who had fought +under Garibaldi: + +'Our refined and amiable guide suddenly stopped short in the midst of +his flowing discourse, and, with a look at Brahms, exclaimed +involuntarily: "Ah! mi pare di parlare al mio venerabile generale +Garibaldi!" at which the master's eyes lightened enthusiastically.' + +Brahms was frequently asked to officiate as godfather to his friends' +children, and this summer he acceded to the request of Frau Dr. Marie +Janssen, eldest daughter of his first teacher, Cossel, that he would +stand sponsor to her little son. A few months later Frau Janssen sent +him a photograph of two of her children, which he acknowledged in the +following words: + + 'DEAR AND ESTEEMED LADY, + + 'I am not able to write a real letter however strongly your kind + and welcome packet tempts me to do so. Let me, however, briefly + express my thanks and believe that my most cordial thoughts go out + to you at Kiel, and again to Hamburg to your unforgettable father, + whose memory is amongst those most sacred and dear to me. Only one + thing were to be wished as to the charming little packet--that it + could have smiled at him. + + 'In warm remembrance and with best greetings + + 'Yours sincerely, + 'J. BRAHMS.' + +When the Janssens settled at Kiel, Brahms wrote to ask Groth to call +upon them, saying: + + '... The lady is the daughter of my first pianoforte teacher Cossel + of whom I must have told you. And when I began to speak of him I + was certainly unable to leave off again....' + +At the period we have now reached, Brahms had given up his solitary +Christmas evenings. The home of Dr. and Mrs. Fellinger became every year +more and more a substitute to him in some sort for that home of his own +which he imagined, perhaps, with longing and regret till the last year +of his life. Each Christmas Eve of his last seven winters found him +amongst the Fellinger family group, rejoicing in the joy of the young +people, stimulating their fun, happy in feeling himself truly one in the +midst of a family circle whose greatest delight it was to know that +their friend of friends liked to be amongst them. Frau Fellinger always +contrived some charming practical joke in the matter of the Christmas +presents prepared for the master, by which he was annually and +unfailingly taken in. One year--the first Christmas he passed at the +house--part of her own gift table, labelled with his name, was +tastefully arranged with toilet accessories. In front of a burnished +mirror two candlesticks stood, holding lighted candles; between these +was a pincushion, on to which was pinned a black silk necktie; some +parcels with pink paper wrappings, tied with ribbon and labelled 'Finest +perfume,' lay near. The only uncovered articles were packets of +writing-paper of the kinds most used by Brahms, supplied in sufficient +quantities to last some time. + +The usual general survey of the gift-laden tables took place, and Brahms +evinced much sympathetic interest during the tour of inspection, but +presently he walked silently away to the other end of the room, passing +his hand over his beard, then sauntered back carelessly, only to retire +again and pace about apart, the picture of quiet dismay. 'But won't you +look at your things, Dr. Brahms?' inquired Frau Fellinger by-and-by, +when her guest had summoned sufficient courage to mingle again with the +party and admire the young people's presents, though he carefully +avoided glancing at his own. Poor Brahms allowed himself to be led to +the table, and stood mute and dazed before it. 'Ah! _here_ is mine,' he +cried, suddenly catching sight of the paper; 'this is for me!' 'But all +is for you,' returned his hostess kindly but firmly. 'But these things +are all for you,' said the master, pleading; 'they are not for me, they +are yours.' 'But why, Dr. Brahms?' insisted the lady; 'pray look at your +things; do you not like scent?' By little and little the master was +persuaded to handle his presents, gingerly enough, it is true. And now +ensued the transformation scene. Each dainty trifle turned into some +useful article suited to Brahms' needs. The two candlesticks became +cream-jugs, the pincushion a sugar-basin, the packets of perfume proved +to be tablets of unscented soap. A bread-basket containing bundles of +English quills such as Brahms always used for writing music, and a +clothes-brush, stood in bare, attractive reality before his astonished +eyes. Soon nothing remained but the mirror. 'But this really does belong +to you,' he implored, still deceived. 'Look behind it,' said Frau +Fellinger; and the mirror became a nickel coffee-tray, chosen because of +its smooth, brilliantly-polished back, which had well served the +Christmas Eve purpose. 'Now I really must sit down,' said Brahms, +drawing a long breath, his kind face shining; and he insisted on +carrying away all his things in a cab the same evening. + +But though Brahms was persuaded, in the later years of his life, to join +the family festivities of these kind friends, he kept up to the last his +custom of showing himself at his landlady's Christmas Eve party. Frau +Truxa used to light up her tree an hour or two earlier than formerly, so +that he should feel quite happy in setting out for Dr. Fellinger's. Of +course her two boys were always remembered by the master, and his gifts +to them, generally books, were found punctually on the table at the hour +appointed for the commencement of the festivity. + +The publications of the year 1890 were the 'Fest und Gedenksprüche,' as +Op. 109, and three Motets for four and eight part Chorus _a capella_, +Op. 110. + +The writer of these pages was present at a supper-party given in Vienna +in January, 1890, after a concert of the Joachim Quartet, at which +Brahms with Joachim and his colleagues were the chief guests. 'What +shall we have next?' said Joachim to Brahms in the course of supper; 'a +quintet; we have one, a very fine one; we will have another.' A second +string quintet, with two violas, composed during the summer at Ischl, +was the next work produced by Brahms, and was heard for the first time +in public from the manuscript in Vienna at the Rosé Quartet concert of +November 11 (Rosé, Bachrich, Hummer, Jenek, and Siebert). An anecdote +which appears to the author worth preserving, as expressive of Brahms' +appreciation of his friend's incomparable playing, may find a place +here. At a period when the two men had not met for a couple of years an +occasion came when Brahms heard Joachim play. 'Now,' he said afterwards +to the lady who related the story to the author, 'now I know what it is +that has been wanting in my life during the past two years. I felt +something was missing, but could not tell what. It was the sound of +Joachim's violin. How he plays!' + +Brahms' Quintet in G major is, in the opinion of most competent judges, +one of the most powerful and fascinating of his works of chamber music +for strings. If there is, in one or two of his late compositions for +pianoforte and other instruments, something that suggests the feeling +that in this domain the elasticity of his imagination was approaching +its limits, nothing of the sort can be said of either of the works for +strings only, and the Quintet in G is certainly second to none of them +in wealth of spontaneous melody, in vigour and variety of inventive +power, in all, in short, that is included in the word 'vitality.' To the +present writer it appears quite clear and easy to follow, but that there +may be two impressions on this point is proved in a remarkable way by +two letters written by Billroth, the first to Brahms himself after the +work had been performed for the first time from the manuscript at a +party at Billroth's house, the second a few months later to Hanslick. + +In the letter to Brahms, dated November 6, the famous surgeon, writing +evidently under the influence of the great artistic excitement of the +day, tells the master that he cannot rest without sending him word of +his delight. + + 'Lately I have been silent, for I know not what more to say than, + wonderfully fine and now clear to me at first hearing, clear as the + blue sky!... Could one compare the various works of Michael Angelo, + Raphael, Beethoven, Mozart when they were at the height of their + powers? Only in the sense of a limited personal sympathy.... I have + often wondered what human happiness is--now I was happy to-day when + listening to your music. That is quite clear to me.' + +The following March, however, Billroth wrote to Hanslick that he found +the quintet one of the most difficult of Brahms' works. + + 'The form, when one has found it out, is simple and clear; but the + length of the first bass theme and the rhythmic and harmonic + over-rich, I might say overladen, five-part development make + enjoyment of the movement [the first] impossible except under great + mental strain. One must be fresher and better in health for it than + I am at present.... But it is easy to talk; we are always wanting + something new, something which interests us more than the last; no + one can quite satisfy us.'[76] + +Billroth heard the work the first time under the most favourable +imaginable conditions, when his own powers of receptivity were strongly +stimulated. He was depressed and out of health when he wrote the second +letter. The majority of music-lovers would, we fancy, range themselves +on the side of his original impression. The power and loveliness of the +first movement, the romance of the second (the wonderful adagio), the +plaintive daintiness of the third, the vivacity of the fourth, tinged +with Hungarian colouring, all seem to foretell a continued prolongation +of the composer's creative force and impulse. That Brahms himself, +however, in the beginning of the nineties was conscious of needing rest +is well known. Billroth says of him in a letter dated May 28, 1890, +after visiting him at Ischl: + + 'He rejected the idea that he is composing or will ever compose + anything. He is deep in Sybel's "Foundation of the German Empire," + three thick volumes and the fourth to come.' + +To another friend Brahms said in 1891: 'I have tormented myself to no +purpose lately, and till now I never had to do so at all; things always +came easily to me.' He professed his intention of giving his creative +activity a rest, and employing his time in reading, going excursions, +and seeing his friends, but did not at once persevere in the resolution. + +In the early part of the year 1891 he paid a visit to Meiningen. His +enjoyment was the greater since the Duke, to whom the master had often +spoken of Widmann, had invited this gentleman to meet his friend. +Several delightful details of the time are related by Widmann. For us, +however, the fact of particular interest is that it was now that Brahms' +admiration of the performances of the clarinettist Mühlfeld, of the +Meiningen orchestra, culminated in the determination to write for his +instrument. Mühlfeld had gained particular reputation as a soloist by +his performances of Weber, whose Concertino for clarinet and orchestra +had been introduced by him at Meiningen on December 25, 1886, the +hundredth anniversary of the composer's birth. Our master, who since +that date had had many opportunities of listening to Mühlfeld's +wonderful tone and execution, now asked for a private recital with only +himself as audience, in the course of which the clarinettist played to +him one piece after another from his répertoire, and discussed his +instrument with him. The sequel was the composition by Brahms, during +his annual residence at Ischl, of a trio for pianoforte, clarinet, and +violoncello and a quintet for clarinet and strings. These works were +performed from the manuscripts before the ducal circle at Meiningen +Castle on November 24 of the same year, the Trio by Brahms, Mühlfeld, +and Hausmann, the Quintet by the same musicians, Joachim, and two +members of the Meiningen orchestra. + +Brahms remained on as the Duke's guest for some little time after the +performance, and then followed his friends to Berlin in order to take +part in the Joachim Quartet concert of December 12, when his new works +were heard for the first time in public. This occasion was, and has +remained, unique in the history of the famous party of artists. The +Joachim Quartet concerts in Berlin, occupying a position in the +forefront of the musical life of the city, have now taken place annually +for nearly forty years; but into no other programme than that of +December 12, 1891, has a work not written exclusively for strings been +admitted. That Brahms was much gratified by the compliment paid him is +evident from a letter written by him on December 1 to Hanslick, in which +he says: + + '... I shall not be able to tell you about it [a performance of + Strauss' opera, 'Ritter Paynim'] for another fortnight. This is + because Joachim has sacrificed the virginity of his Quartet to my + newest things. Hitherto he has carefully protected the chaste + sanctuary but now, in spite of all my protestations, he insists + that I invade it with clarinet and piano, with trio and quintet. + This will take place on the 12th of December, and with the + Meiningen clarinettist. Tell Mandyczewski (or let him read) that + the quintet "adagio con sordini" was played as long and often as + the clarinettist could hold out.'[77] + +The visit to Berlin resulted in a phenomenal triumph. A public rehearsal +was held on the 10th, when every seat was occupied, and at the +conclusion of the quintet, the last number of the programme, the +audience indulged in an overwhelming demonstration to composer and +executants. They went so far as to demand a repetition of the entire +work, and Joachim and his colleagues at length consented to repeat the +adagio. A similar scene was enacted at the concert on the 12th. Both new +works were favourably noticed by the Berlin press, which waxed +enthusiastic over the quintet, and especially the adagio. + +The trio was played in Vienna the same month at a Hellmesberger concert; +the quintet on January 5, 1892, by the Rosé Quartet party, with the +clarinettist Steiner. Both works were heard again in the Austrian +capital a fortnight later at a concert given there by the Joachim +Quartet party, with the co-operation of Brahms and Mühlfeld. The quintet +was introduced to a London audience at the Monday Popular concert of +March 28 by Mühlfeld, Joachim, Ries, Straus, and Piatti, and repeated at +the Saturday concert of April 2, when the trio was also played by Miss +Fanny Davies, Mühlfeld, and Piatti. + +The Clarinet Trio appears to us one of the least convincing of Brahms' +works, and this in spite of the fact that it bears its composer's name +writ large on every page. No one could fail to recognise his handwriting +in either of the four movements, and to true Brahms lovers the +handwriting must always be dear; but if one may compare the composer +with himself, the inspiration of this work seems to us to halt, the +spirit to want flexibility. Far otherwise is it with the beautiful and +now favourite quintet, which contains, as Steiner says, richest fruits +of the golden harvest of the poet's activity. Here 'the brooks of life +are flowing as at high noon,' though the tone of gentle, loving regret +which pervades the four movements, and holds the heart of the listener +in firm grip, suggests the composer's feeling that the evening is not +far away from him in which no man may work. A fulness of rich melody, a +luscious charm of tone, original effects arising from the treatment of +the clarinet, 'olympian' ease and mastery, distinguish every movement of +this noble and attractive work, which, taking its hearers by storm on +its first production, has grown more firmly rooted into the hearts of +musicians and laymen with each fresh hearing. In the middle section of +the second movement Brahms has written for the clarinet a number of +quasi-improvisatory passages embracing the entire extent of its compass, +which are supported by the strings, and which, when competently +performed, are of surprisingly attractive effect. A fancy that suggested +itself to one of the Berlin critics, as to the position assigned in this +movement to the clarinet, seems to have commended itself to Brahms, who +was ever afterwards in the habit of introducing the distinguished artist +for whom it was written, to intimate friends, as 'Fräulein von Mühlfeld, +meine Primadonna.' + +In 1891 were published the String Quintet in G, Op. 111; six Vocal +Quartets, the last four being additional Gipsy Songs set to Conrat's +texts, Op. 112; and thirteen Canons for women's voices, the appearance +of which forms a direct link between the composer's late maturity and +early youth. + +The Clarinet Trio and Quintet and three books of short Pianoforte +Pieces, Op. 116, Nos. 1 and 2, and Op. 117, appeared in 1892. + +Brahms departed in good time in the spring of 1893 for what was to be +his last holiday in the south, meeting Widmann and two Zürich friends +(Friedrich Hegar and Robert Freund) in Milan and proceeding with them to +Sicily, whose scenery and general romantic charm had made an indelible +impression on his mind when he had travelled in the country with +Billroth some fifteen years previously. He had an additional and weighty +reason for desiring to leave Vienna in April. The coming 7th of May, +his sixtieth birthday, could not fail to be made the occasion, not only +of friendly rejoicings, but, if he were at home, of formal +congratulatory functions in which he would be asked to take part. To his +mind, such a predicament left but one course open to him--flight; and +for this he had made arrangement months beforehand. As early as the year +1892 he had refused Hegar's invitation to celebrate his birthday by some +festival performances at Zürich in the following terms: + + 'VIENNA, _September 29th, 1892_. + + 'DEAR FRIEND */ 'I hasten to place this pretty sheet of paper + before me and will endeavour approximately to express my gratitude + to you and your society for your extremely kind and friendly + project for the next 7th May. To-day I will only say that I have + for some time been intending to make a proposal to you. My + indolence in writing is the only cause that you have been + beforehand with me. I wished to ask you and Widmann if you would + not like, as I should, to go for a little while to Italy? + + 'When and where is all one to me; if on the 7th of May we are only + safe in the Abruzzi or somewhere else where no one can find us; if + we can only devote ourselves to touching (and preferably jovial) + meditation. You see my plans and ideas are quite different from + yours and my next letter will contain only many thanks for your + very kind thought....'[78] + +To Herr Ehrbar's annual invitation to the asparagus luncheon, therefore, +which was sent as usual about the middle of April to No. 4, Carlsgasse, +and which contained a special request that in this particular year the +festivity should be celebrated on May 7 itself, a telegraphic reply was +received from Genoa. The master was very sorry that he would not be able +to be present this year, but sent his kindest greetings to all friends +who should assemble on the occasion. Instead of postponing the party on +account of this disappointment, Herr Ehrbar decided not only to gather +the old friends about him as usual, but to hold the festivity at the +Hôtel Sacher, and to invite some additional guests to drink the health +of the absent composer, bringing up the number to about thirty. + +Widmann, who had an accident during the return journey which injured his +knee and obliged him to remain for two days at Naples under the +surgeon's care, has thus described how Brahms spent May 7: + + 'And so it happened that Brahms passed his sixtieth birthday in the + most quiet seclusion, remaining to watch faithfully by my bed after + we had persuaded our two friends to make an excursion to Pompeii. + The doctor's performances, which gave me little pain, excited him + fearfully, though he tried to conceal this by making jesting + remarks, as when he muttered grimly between his teeth, "If it + should come to cutting, I am the right man; I was always Billroth's + assistant in such cases." When we were alone he provided for my + comfort like a deaconess and took pains to keep up my spirits by + chatting cheerfully, saying for instance, "You have already tramped + about so much in the Swiss Alps and Italy. Even if, at the worst, + this should not again be possible, you are much better off than a + hundred thousand others who have not had such opportunity." ... + Every now and then whilst he was sitting with me, congratulatory + telegrams arrived from intimate friends who had obtained + intelligence from one or other of us as to our whereabouts.' + +It was rumoured in Vienna, nevertheless, that Brahms was present at Herr +Ehrbar's luncheon; that he was seen in the Augustinestrasse in the +evening of the 6th; that he astonished his friends by joining them at +the Hôtel Sacher at twelve o'clock on the 7th, just as they were about +to sit down to table; and that he vanished from the city immediately +after the festivity, to come back no more until the usual time of his +return in October. + +The sixtieth birthday of its honorary president was celebrated by a +special meeting and musical performance in the club-rooms of the +Tonkünstlerverein, and the Gesellschaft had a gold medal cast in the +master's honour. + +A note to Frau Caroline, written in June from Ischl, headed by a +diminutive photograph of himself in walking dress, is suggestive of +Brahms' happy mood at this time: + + 'Here I come, dear mother, and thank you for your dear letter. + + 'I am delighted that Fritz [Schnack] is making a nice tour which + shows that you are both well--let him only make further plans, and + travel!... I will be careful that you get a cast of the medal. It + will interest Fritz as a connoisseur--he must imagine the gold. I + am very well and the summer becomes finer every day. In the autumn + or winter I really must look in upon you myself and not merely in a + portrait. + + 'Have you a great deal too much money, or may I send some? I should + like Fritz to spend plenty in travelling and he can afterwards + entertain you and himself again with his sufferings!... + + 'Your JOHANNES.'[79] + +Years before this date, Frau Caroline had, at the urgent and +oft-repeated wish of Johannes, given up her boarding-house in the +Anscharplatz, and retired to enjoy the remainder of her life as mistress +of her son's quiet home in Pinneberg. Johannes kept his stepmother +supplied with the necessary funds, which were regularly transmitted to +her through his publisher, Herr Simrock of Berlin; but he was never +tired of urging upon her his readiness to meet intermediate demands as +they might arise, and particularly of suggesting holiday journeys for +Fritz Schnack as a good way of spending extra money. Frau Caroline and +her son, who both worshipped Johannes, frequently incurred his +displeasure on account of the moderation with which they availed +themselves of his generosity. + +He never went to Hamburg after his stepmother's retirement without +reserving a few hours to visit her at Pinneberg, and there, in the +modest little dwelling he had provided, felt himself, as it were, in the +old family home. He would sit in a corner of the sofa in the room by the +side of the shop filled with clocks whose hands pointed to the right +time and whose pendulums swung cheerily to and fro, and chat happily +with her and Fritz, hearing little items of domestic news, asking after +this and the other acquaintance; then would suddenly relapse into +silence and reverie, which were unfailingly respected by the two people +to whom he was so dear. By-and-by, after he had arranged his thoughts, +he would come out again from his musing to continue the pleasant +chit-chat where it had been left. + +Brahms always expected his stepmother to be present at his public +appearances in Hamburg, and continued to stay with her, when visiting +the city, until she went to live at Pinneberg. On an occasion of his +coming, after her retirement, to conduct a symphony at one of Bülow's +Hamburg concerts, he took a room for her next his own at the Hôtel +Moser, that they might be as much as possible together during the few +days of his stay, and led her on his arm to her seat at rehearsals and +concert. Frau Caroline did not, perhaps, entirely fathom the depths and +intricacies of her stepson's fourth symphony, but she loved the work, +and shared in the joy of it with her whole heart. Fritz, too, came over +from Pinneberg, and greeted his stepbrother in the artist's room before +the concert began. The master's sister, Elise Grund, died in 1892, and +his visit to Hamburg after her death seems to have been the last known +by his friends to have been paid by him to his native city. He was at +Pinneberg, however, after this date. + +Some of Brahms' time at Ischl this summer was given to the editing of +the supplementary volume of Frau Schumann's complete edition of her +husband's works. One cannot but read in this deeply-interesting book our +master's desire to associate his name once more with those of Schumann +and his wife, especially as he has taken the, for him, altogether +exceptional course of writing and signing the introductory sentences of +its first page. It contains, to quote Brahms' words, + + 'a few things found amongst Robert Schumann's papers which, on + account of their value, or of some special interest, ought not to + be omitted from this collection.... The theme with which the volume + concludes is, in a quite peculiar sense, Schumann's last musical + thought. He wrote it on the 7th of February, 1854, and afterwards + added five variations which are withheld here. It speaks to us as a + kindly greeting spirit [genius] about to depart and we think with + reverence and emotion of the glorious man and artist. + + 'JOHANNES BRAHMS. + ISCHL, _July 1893_.'[80] + +Of the composer's original work of the season Billroth writes a few +months later to a friend: + + 'Brahms has, so far as I know, composed a dozen pianoforte pieces + during the summer. I do not know the cause of this sudden passion. + I like him least of all in this style, the G minor Rhapsody + excepted. He does not sufficiently diversify his form in these + little works.... He ought to keep to the great style.' + +The pieces in question were published in the autumn in two books--Op. +118 and 119. The other publications of the year, issued without opus +number, were the two books of Technical Exercises for Pianoforte. + +Billroth's expression of feeling about the Pianoforte Pieces will +probably be endorsed by many even of the most faithful admirer's of +Brahms' art, whilst all will certainly agree as to his one exception. +Beautiful as many of the intermezzi, fantasias, etc., are, it is to be +doubted whether Brahms' short compositions for the pianoforte will ever +gain such universal and unreserved affection as has long since been +accorded to those of Schumann and Chopin. The manner in which the +thoughts are expressed sometimes seems out of proportion to the moderate +length of their development, the height of the structure to be, as it +were, too great in comparison with the superficial area allotted to it. +In several instances at all events, however, this impression is due to +the unusualness of the pieces, and passes away as they become really +familiar. It is as yet too soon to form any definite opinion as to the +place they may ultimately take. + +True appreciation of Brahms' small as of his great works is sometimes +slow in coming, even to those who love his music with deepest affection. +When, however, from time to time, the spirit dwelling within his +inspirations reveals itself unsought as in a sudden flash, the whole +heart is apt to go out with complete acceptance to the reception of its +beauty and truth. Only in one instance (Op. 117, No. 1) has the master +given any clue as to the sources which may have stirred his fancy during +the composition of his thirty short pieces for the pianoforte from Op. +76 onwards, and where he has been reticent it would ill beseem others to +stamp any particular piece with a definite suggestion. It may, however, +be surmised that many of the little compositions are expressions derived +from his passion for nature. The mountain storm swept up by the wind and +bursting with a sudden crash, the approaching and retreating roll of its +thunder, with the ceaseless pattering of rain on the leaves; the gay +flitting of butterflies; the lazy hum of the insect world on a hot +summer day; the long sweep of gray waves breaking into foam on the +shore--all may be found in them. The music of the spheres, also, too +ethereal for the perception of ordinary mortals, has been caught by our +master's ear, and, woven into gossamer sound-textures, has been conveyed +by him to the appreciation of organizations less delicate than his own. +Some of the pieces have certainly grown up around the fancies of a +legend or a poem. In these we may hear the weird footsteps of the spirit +world, the dread strike of the bell of fate, the catastrophe of human +lives. In no case, however, except in the one mentioned, are the several +works to be taken as having been associated with this or that in the +mind of the composer. The same one may mean different things to +different people, and Brahms has carefully guarded against the +possibility of being suspected of programme-music by giving to the +Fantasias, Rhapsodies, Ballades, Intermezzi, the vaguest of all +possible titles.[81] The book Op. 117 has become really popular, and is +sold in the United Kingdom alone in its thousands. One of the first +persons--perhaps the first--to hear books Op. 116 and 117 was Frau +Schumann's pupil, Fräulein Ilona Eibenschütz (now Mrs. Carl Derenberg), +to whom Brahms played them on their completion, inviting her especially +to hear them. + +Asking Brahms to be present in October at a festival meeting of the +Imperial and Royal Society of Physicians, Billroth says: + + 'I should like to see you for once in evening dress [_schön + decorirt_]. If, however, you object to this, you will find a place + among the younger doctors in the (not high) gallery in walking + costume.' + +It was one of the last semi-public functions in which the famous surgeon +took part. His health had for some time been declining, and he died on +February 6, regretted by all ranks of Vienna citizens. The funeral +procession was witnessed by crowds of people, especially of the poorer +classes. + + 'We do not wear such open hearts,' writes Brahms afterwards to + Widmann, 'nor show such pure and warm affection as they do here (I + mean the people, the gallery).... In the whole innumerable + concourse no inquisitive or indifferent face was to be seen, but + upon each countenance the most touching sympathy and love. This did + me much good when passing through the streets and at the + cemetery.'[82] + +Brahms could not trust himself to remain too close a spectator of the +last scene. Whilst the relatives and friends of the departed surgeon +remained standing round the open grave, he quietly strolled to a +side-walk and paced up and down, talking with an acquaintance of other +matters. + +The thought of death had, indeed, a power over the master which probably +held him in its clutch at times throughout his life. He could not bring +himself to face the enemy with resolute front, especially during his +later years, when the iron hand laid claim to one of his friends, but +would speak of the matter as little as might be, and no doubt kept it as +much as possible at bay in his thoughts. 'I do not mean to drink any +more coffee,' he said one day to his landlady in Carlsgasse. 'Why, Herr +Doctor, you enjoy your coffee so much!' exclaimed Frau Truxa, who had +gained an insight into his character, and felt sure that something lay +behind this announcement. 'I have taken coffee for a long time,' +returned Brahms. 'I am going to leave it off, and drink something else.' +A few days later Frau Truxa heard by chance of the death of a lady +living in Marseilles who had for years kept the master supplied with +Mocha. Nothing more was said, but an arrangement was made, without +Brahms' knowledge, by which the same supply was to be despatched at the +same interval by her daughter. Coming as it were from the same hand, +Brahms continued to drink the coffee, but without further comment. + +Death had, however, till now been kind to our master, sparing him the +agony of many severe partings. We have seen his deep grief at the loss +of the parents who had loved him with the entire devotion of their +simple, affectionate hearts. By the nature of things, his sense of +bereavement on the deaths of brother and sister had been less enduring +in its sting. His friend Pohl, librarian of the Gesellschaft, died in +1887, but with this exception the old circle of chums remained as it had +been. Joachim, Stockhausen, Grimm, Dietrich, Kirchner, Hanslick, Faber, +Billroth, Goldmark, Epstein, Gänsbacher, all had continued with him, +whilst in Frau Schumann's presence he was at the age of sixty-one still +young, with youthful feelings of veneration in his heart. The death of +Billroth dealt him a severe blow. Who shall say that even at this time +he had not a presentiment that before very long he was to follow? + +If this were so, but little change showed itself in his outward habits. +The pedestrian excursions near Vienna took place every second or third +Sunday as before, and if Brahms, growing every year heavier, found the +ascent of the surrounding heights more fatiguing than in past years, he +did not openly allude to the fact, but would invite his companions to +pause for a few moments to look at the country, whilst they, at once +acceding to his wish, always carefully avoided perceiving that he was +short of breath. Hugo Conrat frequently made one of the party of walkers +at this period, and the master was often a guest at his house, where it +is to be feared that Frau Conrat, in no way behind the rest of his +friends, sadly spoiled him. He had become in these years a complete +autocrat in the circles in which he moved. His comfort was studied, his +desires were anticipated, his witticisms appreciated, his tempers +accepted, and his utterances recognised as final. Brahms enjoyed his +position, and, it must be confessed, did not hesitate to avail himself +of his privileges. On one occasion of a dinner-party, being asked to +escort one of the principal lady guests to the dining-room, he turned +sharply round and offered his arm to the young governess. On another--a +party at the Conrats' country house--finding on his arrival that the +cloth had been laid in the dining-room, and not in the veranda, he went +up to the hostess, saying: 'But it is still fine weather. I always dine +out of doors in October.' The lady sent word to the kitchen that the +dinner was to be put back for twenty minutes, and, begging her visitors +to walk in the garden meanwhile, gave orders for the alteration of her +arrangements. 'But what did Brahms say when he found he was causing such +trouble?' someone asked Fräulein Conrat afterwards. 'Then he was good +again,' she replied. Such incidents could be multiplied from the +experiences of many of Brahms' friends. They serve chiefly to prove that +the master's mind lost its pliancy as he grew older, and that he became +incapable of adapting himself to circumstances outside his ordinary +routine. His friends accepted his whims as a part of himself, and, +knowing his sensitiveness to contradiction, did not contradict him. They +were aware that the sterling nature had not really changed, and did not +trouble themselves to criticise the outer crust of irritability and +roughness that sometimes concealed it from the appreciation of less +indulgent observers. + +[Illustration: SILHOUETTE BY DR. BÖHLER. + +_Photograph by R. Lechner (Wilh. Müller), Vienna._] + +'All that you tell me is very nice,' said Brahms one day to Herr +Conrat's two gifted young daughters, who, paying the master a visit in +his rooms, had been encouraged by him to talk about the progress of +their studies. 'You must know these things, which are very important; +but I will show you something to be learnt of still greater +consequence;' and he fetched from a drawer an old, worn, folded +table-cloth. 'Look here,' said he, showing the two girls some exquisite +darning, 'my old mother did this. When you can do such work you may be +prouder of it than of all your other studies.' + +After the completion of the Clarinet Quintet and Trio in 1892, Brahms +allowed his mind the refreshment of change of work. The only original +compositions belonging to the following year are the two books of +'Clavierstücke,' Op. 118 and 119, the appearance of which we have +already chronicled. He was, however, engaged with his collection of +German Folk-songs, arranged with pianoforte accompaniment, six volumes +for one voice, and the seventh for leader and small chorus. + +The publication of this valuable work in 1894, almost at the end of the +life of the great musician who compiled it, adds yet another and most +striking illustration to those on which we have commented, of the +general continuity of the lines on which Brahms' career was shaped. As +he began, so he ended. The boy of fifteen who arranged folk-songs for +practice by his village society, the youth of twenty who used them in +his first published works, the mature master who returned to them again +and again for inspiration and delight, all live in the veteran of +sixty-one, who, as he busies himself in preparing the unique collection, +every page of which bears mark of his insight, skill, and sympathetic +tact, seems to be looking back over the years of the past with longing +to leave behind him a final sign of his love for his great nation and +all belonging to it. 'It is the only one of my works from which I part +with a feeling of tenderness,' he said on its completion for the press. +A child of the people by birth, Brahms remained, with all his literary +and artistic culture, a child of the people by sympathy. He loved, and +ever had loved, the simple peasant folk of the country places where he +dwelt, as part of the great life of nature which was his delight. His +partiality for them had in it something which resembled his feeling for +children. He was pleased with their naïveté, valued their confidence, +and perhaps, idealist as he was, gave them credit for a genuineness and +simplicity not always theirs. In their songs, it was this same +naturalness that attracted him, and whether in his original settings of +national texts, or in his arrangements of the people's melodies, nearly +always, as we have seen, left the words as he found them in their +spontaneous directness of expression. Writing to Professor Bächtold, to +whom he sent a copy of his collection, he says: + + '... I think you will find some things new to you, for if you have + been interested in the music of our folk-songs, Erk and now Böhme + will have been your guides? These have hitherto led the (very + Philistine) tone, and my collection stands in direct opposition to + them. I could and should like to gossip more if I knew that you + were interested and especially if we were sitting together + comfortably....'[83] + +Brahms at one time contemplated changing his rather confined quarters at +Ischl, but a feeling of loyalty to the good folks in whose house he had +spent several summers, and who regarded themselves as having a +prescriptive right to their lodger, asserted its sway over his kind +heart. He returned to them as each succeeding spring came round, and the +little signs that heralded his approach--the opening of shutters, the +cleaning of windows, and other preparations visible from outside--were +eagerly looked forward to by the country people near as the first tokens +of the approaching season. + +Frau Grüber's little house, of which Brahms occupied the first-floor, +was built on a mountain slope, and a short flight of steps at the side +led to a small garden furnished with a grass plot, a garden bench, and a +summer-house. Visitors had to mount the steps, cross the garden, find a +second entrance-door at the back of the house, go in, and knock at the +door of the composer's sitting-room. Sometimes he would cross the room, +open the door, and peep cautiously out; but more often than not he +called out, 'Come in!' and the visitor stepped at once into his +presence. He laid strict injunctions on his landlady, however, that the +door of his rooms was to be kept locked and the key in her possession +whenever he was out, and that on no account was she to allow anyone even +to peep into the room containing his papers and piano. If he once found +out that she had disregarded this rule, once would be enough for him; +that very day he would pack up and leave her, never to return. It was a +most necessary precaution to take, for numerous visitors of either sex +who were unknown to him found their way to the house, and would gladly +have sought consolation for their disappointment at not seeing him by +inspecting some of his belongings. + +One or other of his friends frequently called for him about half-past +eleven, and soon afterwards he would start out and gradually make his +way to the Hôtel Kaiserin Elisabeth. Between two and three o'clock he +usually made his appearance on the promenade by the side of the river. +Stopping at Walter's coffee-house, he would seat himself at a table +under the trees outside, where a cup of black coffee and the daily +papers were at once brought to him. Here he generally remained for at +least an hour, and sometimes it was much longer, to be joined by one +friend and another till his party numbered a dozen or more. Walter's +became, indeed, at this hour of the day, a rendezvous not only for +Brahms' personal friends, but for many musical visitors to Ischl who did +not know him, but who heard that they could easily get a sight of him +there. He was very particular in acknowledging the greetings of his +numerous acquaintance as they passed along the promenade, and, owing to +his anxiety to be courteous and his near-sightedness combined, he +sometimes made a mistake and bowed to people whom he did not know. + +'Oh, if you had only been with us this afternoon!' a friend and +fellow-lodger said to the author one day in the summer of 1894. 'Paula +and I were walking on the promenade, and we met Brahms, who greeted us +so kindly. He waved his hand, and looked round, saying, "Good-day! +good-day!" Of course I returned his greeting. I wonder if it could have +been because he was pleased with my little Paula? He takes so much +notice of children.' Frau F. was far too much gratified by the incident +to accept the author's opinion that it was a case of mistaken identity, +as Brahms was not in the habit of consciously bowing to strangers. + +Herr Oberschulrath Wendt, of Carlsruhe, when staying at Ischl, was daily +to be seen in the master's company, and the two men, both of striking +appearance, presented a singular contrast as they paced side by side +along the promenade. Wendt, tall, thin, and pale, was delicate-looking, +and walked with a slight stoop. Brahms, rather short, very stout, with a +good deal of colour, probably acquired by exposure to the weather, that +seemed the more pronounced from its contrast with his white hair and +beard, went along with head well thrown back, the very personification +of vigour. On leaving Walter's he generally betook himself to a friend's +house, most frequently that of Johann Strauss. To his intimacy there the +world is indebted for some of the best of his late photographs--those of +Krziwanek, of Vienna and Ischl--which were taken one afternoon in the +summer of 1895 as he was sitting at ease with his friends. + +Brahms knew, and was well known to, all the children of the +neighbourhood, and when starting on his country walks would fill his +pockets with sweetmeats and little pictures, and amuse himself with the +eagerness of the small barefooted folk, who knew his ways and would run +after him as he passed, on the look-out for booty. 'Whoever can jump +gets a gulden,' he would say; and, displaying beyond reach of the little +ones a handful of sweetmeats made in imitation of the Austrian coin, he +would increase his speed, and raise his hand higher and higher, drawing +after him the flock of running, leaping children, until he allowed one +and another to gain a prize. + +Two Sonatas for clarinet and pianoforte, the last works of chamber music +composed by Brahms, were completed during the summer of 1894, and +towards the end of September Mühlfeld arrived at Ischl to try them with +the composer. The first private performance took place very soon +afterwards, when the two artists played them before the ducal circle of +Meiningen at the palace of Berchtesgarten. + +A reunion at Frankfurt in November is of pathetic interest. It carries +us back to the very early pages of our narrative, and is the last +complete one of the kind we shall have to record. For the last time we +find Frau Schumann and her husband's and her own two dearest +musician-friends assembled and making music together. Brahms arrived at +her house on a few days' visit on the 9th of the month; on the 10th +Mühlfeld spent the evening there, having come from Meiningen at the +composer's especial request, and the new works were played to the +illustrious lady, 'the revered Frau Schumann,' as Brahms used to call +her to his younger friends, who had now completed her seventy-fifth +year. The next day Joachim, prince of violinists at sixty-three as at +twenty-one, the age at which he entered these pages, gave a concert with +his colleagues of the Quartet, and on the 12th there was a party at Herr +and Frau Sommerhoff's, when Brahms and Mühlfeld again played the two +Sonatas, and Frau Schumann, Joachim, and Mühlfeld, Mozart's beautiful +Clarinet Trio, a favourite work of Brahms. The reunion of old friends +was completed by the presence of Stockhausen, who, like Frau Schumann, +had been resident in Frankfurt since 1878. On the 13th, the third +Frankfurt performance of the Clarinet Sonatas by Brahms and Mühlfeld +took place at a large music-party at Frau Schumann's, and another +memorable item of the evening's pleasures was the playing by Frau +Schumann and Mühlfeld of Schumann's Fantasiestücke for pianoforte and +clarinet. Joachim had left to fulfil other engagements before the +evening, and Brahms departed on the 14th. + +The master's journeys and performances with Mühlfeld gave him +extraordinary pleasure, and the publication of the two sonatas, which +in the usual course of things would have taken place in the autumn of +1894, was delayed until the summer of 1895, that his possession of the +manuscripts might be prolonged. Both works were performed at the Rosé +concerts, Vienna, by the composer and his friend--No. 2 in E flat on +January 8, 1895, when the Clarinet Quintet was also played; and No. 1 in +F minor at an extra concert on January 11, the programme of which +included the G major String Quintet. Amongst other towns visited by +Brahms and Mühlfeld in the month of February were Frankfurt, Rudesheim, +and Meiningen, and the master was seen for the last time in public by +his Frankfurt friends on the 17th, when he listened to a performance of +his D major Symphony, and conducted his Academic Overture at a Museum +concert. The two sonatas were performed for the first time after +publication at Miss Fanny Davies' concert of June 24 in St. James's +Hall, London, by the concert-giver and Mühlfeld, engaged expressly to +come to England for the occasion. The manuscripts of both works are in +the possession of Mühlfeld, to whom the composer presented them on +publication, with an appreciative autograph inscription. + +With the publication of the two Clarinet Sonatas, our master's career is +all but closed, and closed as we would have it. The more familiar they +become, the more firmly will they root themselves, as we believe, in the +affection of the lovers of his music. The fresh, bounding imagination of +youth is, indeed, not in them, nor would we wish it to be there; but +both works are pervaded by a warmth and glow as of sunset radiance, +which, reflecting the spirit of the composer as he was when he wrote +them, fill the mind of the listener with a sense of the mellow beauty, +the rich pathos, the unwavering sincerity of his art. To compare the two +sonatas one with the other is unnecessary. We prefer simply to commend +them to the study of those of our readers to whom they are not entirely +familiar, holding them, as we do, to be amongst the especially lovable +examples of the late period of Brahms' art. + +[73] _Neue Freie Presse_, June, 1897. + +[74] Spengel's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 8. + +[75] _Neue Freie Presse_, June 29, 1897. + +[76] Billroth's Briefe. + +[77] _Neue Freie Presse_, July 1, 1897. + +[78] Published in Steiner's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 29. + +[79] Published in Reimann's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 117. + +[80] The theme is the one alluded to on p. 156 of our first volume. + +N.B. On the occasion of Schumann's opera 'Genoveva' being put into +rehearsal at the Hanover court theatre in 1874, Brahms, with Frau +Schumann's approval, added a few bars to the close of Siegfried's song +in the third act. These do not appear, however, in the pianoforte score +of the work included in the complete edition. + +[81] See Appendix No. I. + +[82] Widmann's 'Recollections.' + +[83] Steiner, p. 33. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + 1895-1897 + + The Meiningen Festival--Visit to Frau Schumann--Festival at + Zürich--Brahms in Berlin--The 'Four Serious Songs'--Geheimrath + Engelmann's visit to Ischl--Frau Schumann's death--Brahms' + illness--He goes to Carlsbad--The Joachim Quartet in + Vienna--Brahms' last Christmas--Brahms and Joachim together for the + last time--The Vienna Philharmonic concert of March 7--Last visits + to old friends--Brahms' death. + + +But few events remain for record in the life which we have now followed +step by step nearly to the end of its progress. Of these few, several +have the pathetic interest of last visits to dear and familiar places +made, so far as appears, without presentiment that they were final. The +composer was present at a three days' festival held in Meiningen +September 27-29; 'the Festival of the three B's,' as it has sometimes +been called, from the circumstance that the programmes were devoted to +works by Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. Those of Brahms selected for +performance included the Song of Triumph, the fourth Symphony, the B +flat Pianoforte Concerto, with d'Albert as pianist, the Clarinet Sonatas +performed by the same artist with Mühlfeld, some of the Vocal Quartets, +amongst them the early favourite 'Alternative Dance Song,' and others. + +The festival was an immense success, and the pleasure which the master +derived from the concerts is evident in the following lines written to +Steinbach immediately after the last one: + + 'DEAR FRIEND, + + 'However tempted I may feel, I dare not break in upon your + well-deserved rest; but you shall find my hearty greeting awaiting + you on your happy awakening; how hearty and grateful it is there is + no need to tell you in detail. You must have perceived each day + that you gave me and all who took part in your splendid festival, a + quite exceptional pleasure....'[84] + +Brahms was, of course, a guest at the castle, and he remained on for a +few days after the last concert. Leaving Meiningen on October 3, he +proceeded to Frankfurt on a flying visit to Frau Schumann. Professor +Kufferath of the Brussels Conservatoire, with Mr. and Mrs. Edward +Speyer, accompanied him on the short journey, and were, by his +particular suggestion, invited to spend the evening at Frau Schumann's +house. Professor Kufferath, a pupil of Mendelssohn at Leipzig, and on a +very old footing of intimacy at the Schumanns', had been for more than +twenty years on terms of cordial friendship with Brahms also, though the +two men met but seldom. Frau Schumann's daughters Marie and Eugénie, and +Stockhausen, were the only others present. The hours were spent in +pleasant chat as between old friends, and music was represented only by +a few of Brahms' folk-songs sung by Mrs. Speyer (Fräulein Antonia +Kufferath) to the master's accompaniment. + +Brahms left the next morning, but before his departure he requested his +old friend to play to him. Forty-two years had passed since Schumann had +desired him to play for the first time to her, marking both musicians +with inevitable outward signs. The traces of suffering and sorrow had +deepened of late on Frau Schumann's countenance, but those who were +happy enough to listen to her playing at this period, in the privacy of +her home, knew that her spirit was still young, and Brahms' last +remembrance of the great artist, the remembrance of an old age which had +left the poetry of her genius untouched, will have fitly completed the +long chain of personal associations begun when Schumann called his wife +to rejoice with him in the daring power and romantic enthusiasm of +Johannes' inexperienced youth. When she rose from the piano on that +October morning, the final link had been added. Frau Schumann and +Brahms were not to meet again on earth. + +A four days' festival in October (19-22) to celebrate the inauguration +of the new concert-hall at Zürich seems to carry us more than one stage +nearer the end. It brought Brahms for the last time to Switzerland to +conduct his Triumphlied; a fine close--for as such it may almost be +regarded--to a noble career. + +Let us pause for a moment to picture the robust figure of the composer +as he stands before the vast audience completely filling the brilliantly +lighted hall, and leads with sure, quiet dignity the 'masses of chorus +and orchestra' that swell out in proud tones of thankfulness for his +country's glory. Listen! for with the sounds of the grand old hymn 'Now +thank we all our God' the bells of victory are pealing, and a sensation +of happiness spreads through the mass of hearers, a vibration that stirs +something of the feeling which roused the great German audience at +Cologne to enthusiasm as they listened twenty years ago to the same +jubilant tones. Who so fitted to raise the strain as the patriot citizen +of ancient Hamburg, the unique descendant of the mighty Bach, the +musician of true, rich, loving spirit, conqueror of life and of himself, +our Johannes Brahms? Conqueror, too, of death; for surely we cannot be +mistaken in accepting the likeness of the master, that looks down with +those of the greatest of his art from the painted ceiling of the new +hall, as the symbol of a further life to be his even here on earth, when +he has entered the darkness that is soon to cover him from our sight. + +Brahms was in overflowing spirits during the entire festival, enjoying +the concerts, the private gatherings, the meetings with old friends, in +a mood of harmless gaiety that recalls the Detmold days. + + 'We have seen Brahms and Joachim together again, both in full + vigour; may we not hope for a prolongation of this happy state of + things?' writes Steiner a few days after the festival. + +Widmann was, of course, there, and stayed with Brahms at Hegar's house. +When he bade the master farewell on the day after the concert, the two +friends clasped hands in a final grasp. + +One of Brahms' late public appearances was on the occasion of the +concert given in the Börsendorfer Hall, Vienna, by Signorina Alice Barbi +(now the Baroness Wolff Homersee) shortly before her marriage. He +pleased himself by acting as accompanist to the distinguished +cantatrice, whose programme included a number of his songs. He held the +bâton for the last time on a Vienna platform when he directed the +performance of his Academic Overture by the students of the +conservatoire at the festival concert given to celebrate the +twenty-fifth anniversary (1895) of the opening of the present home of +the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. He officiated for the last time in +public at d'Albert's concert in Berlin of January 10, 1896, conducting +his two Pianoforte Concertos and the Academic Overture, and was received +with the usual enthusiasm. Stanford speaks of being present at a +dinner-party given by Joachim during Brahms' brief visit. + + 'Joachim, in a few well-chosen words, was asking us not to lose the + opportunity of drinking the health of the greatest composer--when, + before he could say the name, Brahms started to his feet, glass in + hand, and calling out "Quite right; here's to Mozart's health," + walked round clinking glasses with us all. His old hatred of + personal eulogy was never more prettily expressed.... The last + vision I had of him was as he sat beside the diminutive form of the + aged Menzel, drinking in, like a schoolboy, every word the great + old artist said with an attitude as full of unaffected reverence as + of unconscious dignity.' + +Of all modern painters, Adolph von Menzel was the most admired by +Brahms. He visited him on several occasions, and spoke of him and his +works with unfailing enthusiasm. + +That the master had realized a competence some years before his +death--more than a competence for one of his extraordinarily simple +habits--is generally known. How he regarded it, how he used it, may have +been but little suspected outside a small circle. His friend and +publisher, the late head of the firm of Simrock, shared his confidence +on the subject more than anyone else, for it was often through his +agency that Brahms' munificence was applied to its object; the +substantial help, perhaps, of a needy musician, or a promising talent. +He contributed more than one large donation to the 'Franz Liszt +Pensionsverein' of Hamburg, a society founded by Liszt in 1840 for the +benefit of aged or disabled members of the Stadt Theater orchestra. +Several authentic stories are told by accidental witnesses of some of +his particular acts of generosity. One has been related to the author by +the Landgraf of Hesse, who was sitting with the master one morning when +a caller appeared with a tale of distress which touched his heart. He +listened quietly, asked some questions, then went to his writing-table, +and, handing his visitor the entire sum of money towards which he was +asked for a contribution, said quietly, 'Take this from me; I do not +need it. I have more money than I want for myself.' This was his usual +formula on such occasions, 'I do not need it,' to which was sometimes +added, 'If you should ever have it in your power, you can pay me back.' + +Brahms' heart was of gold, if ever such existed. He was rough +sometimes--often, perhaps--let it be freely granted. The spoiled humours +of his last two or three years have already been noted; they do not +amount to much. He permitted himself deliberately to repulse strangers +or slight acquaintances when he felt so disposed; necessarily, if his +time and tranquillity were to be protected. Now and then he was +inconsiderate or blunt to his friends. The concentration of mind, the +sacrifice of immediate inclination, the devotion of energy, involved in +the fulfilment of the career of genius are often but imperfectly +realized even by the friends of a famous man. The great poet, the great +painter, the great musician, has his brilliant rewards. He has also his +bitter disappointments, and one of the hardest of these--which is +especially apportioned to the lot of the creative musician--is the +discovery that, as in the case of other princes and sovereigns of the +world, his path in life must be solitary. Brahms may sometimes have +imagined he had reason for his impoliteness; more frequently a gruff +manner, an awkward joke, was the result of a constitutional want of +presence of mind in trifling matters, which frequently caused him to be +misunderstood. His real attitude is expressed in a note published after +his death by Hanslick in the _Neue Freie Presse_ article from which we +have already more than once quoted.[85] Hanslick had sent him a packet +of letters to read, and had inadvertently enclosed in it one from a +mutual friend which contained a comparison of Beethoven and Brahms. In +it were these words: + + 'He is often offensively rough to his friends like Beethoven, and + is as little able as Beethoven was to free himself entirely from + the effects of a neglected education.' + +Hanslick was very much upset on remembering what he had done, and +immediately wrote to Brahms to throw himself on his mercy and beg his +silence on the matter. The master immediately answered: + + 'DEAR FRIEND + + 'You need not be in the least uneasy. I scarcely read ----'s + letter, but put it back at once into the cover, and only gently + shook my head. I am not to say anything to him--Ah, dear friend, + that happens, unfortunately, quite of itself in my case! That one + is taken even by old acquaintances and friends for something quite + different from what one is (or, apparently, shows one's self in + their eyes) is an old experience with me. I remember how I, + startled and confounded, formerly kept silence in such cases; now + however, quite calmly and as a matter of course. That will sound + harsh or severe to you, good and kind man--yet I hope not to have + wandered too far from Goethe's saying, "Blessed is he who, without + hate, shuts himself from the world."' + +Brahms was ready for another journey to Italy in the spring, but Widmann +was unable to accompany him, and he passed his sixty-third birthday +anniversary in Vienna. When it dawned, the work that was for a short +time generally accepted as his swan-song had been completed. Deiters +writes that the immediate occasion of the composition of the 'Four +Serious Songs' was the death of the artist Max Klinger's father, which +occurred earlier in the year. The not unnatural assumption that has +sometimes seen in these solemn utterances of the great composer a +presentiment of his own fast-approaching end may or may not represent a +fact. It has not been accepted by those of his friends amongst whom he +passed the last few months of his life, and certainly nothing that is +known of his individuality lends likelihood to the notion of his going +out, as it were, to meet the thought of his death. On the other hand, +his repeated assertion that the songs had been composed for his own +birthday points to the possibility that his mind may have been under the +influence of forebodings of which he was, perhaps, but vaguely +conscious. 'Yes, Grüber, we are in the front line now,' he said to his +landlord on hearing of the death of some of the old people in the course +of one of his last summers at Ischl. + +The 'Four Serious Songs' were published in the summer of 1896 with a +dedication to Max Klinger, his personal friend, of whose work, including +that inspired by his own compositions, he became a warm admirer, though +he at first disliked the painter's 'Brahms Fantasie.' + +Three of the songs deal grimly with the thought of death (Eccles. iii. +19-22, iv. 1-3; Ecclus. xli. 1, 2); the fourth has for its text St. +Paul's beautiful glorification of love (1 Cor. xiii. 1-3, 12, 13): + + '_For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; as the + one dieth, so dieth the other, for all is vanity...._ + + '_Though I spake with the tongues of men and of angels, and had not + love, I should be as sounding brass or a tinkling bell...._ + + '_We see now through a glass, in a dark word, but then face to + face. Now I know it partly, but then I shall know it as I am + known._ + + '_Now remain faith, hope, love; but the greatest is love._' + +It is certain that Brahms speaks to us in the songs from the depth of +his convictions. Herr Geheimrath Dr. Engelmann arrived one evening in +the course of the summer on a day's visit to Ischl. Brahms called at his +hotel at six o'clock the next morning, and after breakfast brought his +friend back to his rooms, where they spent several hours together. The +composer was in delight over some lately-arrived volumes of the complete +edition of Schubert's works, then in progress, and could not +sufficiently express his joy in their contents. 'See here,' he said, +with his energetic enthusiasm, as he pointed to one place after another +with beaming face and lightening eyes--'see here, what a splendid fellow +he was! People talk of him as a mere melodist, but look what material he +had even in his early works; look what the melodies are, how they grow.' +By-and-by, taking up a copy of the 'Four Serious Songs,' he said: 'Have +you seen my protest? I wrote these for my birthday.' + +The explanation of these words is that the master viewed with mistrust, +or even dislike, modern efforts to revivify and popularize the services +of the Evangelical Church by the introduction of sacred musical works +composed for the purpose, of which those of Heinrich von Herzogenberg +may be taken as the type. Brahms, who subscribed to no church dogmas, +regarded this tendency as artificial, and therefore as weak and +unhealthy, and much as he admired Herzogenberg's powers, he regretted +that they were dominated during the last ten years of his creative +activity by his strong ecclesiastical bias.[86] Brahms' love of the +Bible and his preference for Scriptural texts was, as we know, not that +of what is conventionally called a 'pietist.' He spoke in the language +of the people's book as a realist who was at the same time an idealist. +He has so arranged the texts of his German Requiem that it would be +difficult to construe the work as the embodiment of a definite belief, +and he expressly refused to enlarge it into an account of the Passion, +Death, and Resurrection of Christ; and yet, as we have endeavoured to +show, it contains the presentiment, the inspiration, of something +positive. From Brahms' standpoint the attempt to go behind the mysteries +of life and death, to construct the unspeakable, the unthinkable, into +verbal formulæ, is not only predoomed to failure, but is almost +irreverent. Yet, as we may remember, 'he had his faith,' and if anything +may be judged of it from the story of his life, the spirit of his works, +this faith lay in acceptance of the immutability of truth, the +sacredness of life, and the sovereignty of love. + +Brahms had been settled in his rooms at Ischl scarcely a fortnight, when +he was profoundly shaken by the tidings of Frau Schumann's death. She +passed away peacefully at her home in Frankfurt on May 20, in the +seventy-seventh year of her age, and was laid to rest by her husband's +side at Bonn on Whit Sunday, May 24. The story of her life, triply +crowned by fame, love, and sorrow, remains amongst the ideal possessions +of the world. + +A great crowd of musicians and friends assembled at the funeral, those +of Frankfurt, Bonn, and Cologne being strongly represented. The custom +of the ceremony had changed with time since Johannes had borne Frau +Clara's laurel-wreath to Schumann's grave, and on the conclusion of the +service, which consisted of the singing of chorales and an address by +Dr. Sell of Bonn University, more than two hundred floral tributes were +piled up around the spot. Joachim with Herzogenberg, bound by Italian +engagements, had attended a service held in the Schumanns' house at +Frankfurt. Woldemar Bargiel and Bernhard Scholz were at the cemetery, +and of our own particular musicians, Stockhausen and Brahms. Another +last meeting. + +On the termination of the service, Brahms, whose agitation had been very +unpleasantly heightened during his journey from Ischl by the delay of a +train, and his consequent anxiety lest he should be late, went to Honnef +to stay till the next day with Herr and Frau Wehermann, the near +relatives of his Crefeld friends, the von Beckeraths and von der Leyens, +who were at the time on a visit there. Professor Richard Barth and his +wife, Dr. Ophüls, and two of the Meiningen musicians, Concertmeister +Eldering and Herr Piening, were also of the party. The master was very +much excited and overcome on his arrival at Honnef, but the soothing +influence of the Rhine country, so closely associated with the +recollections of his youth, did him good, and he prolonged his visit to +nearly a week. Confiding to Barth the day after his arrival that he had +with him something new, which he would like to play very quietly to one +or two chosen listeners, his three most intimate friends retired with +him to a room secure from interruption, impressed by his manner with the +feeling that something unusual was about to ensue. When the little party +had taken their places, Brahms, with every sign of the most profound +emotion, which communicated itself to his companions, played through the +'Four Serious Songs' from the manuscript. 'I wrote them for my +birthday,' he said in the same words which he afterwards used to Dr. +Engelmann. He then played some new organ preludes. + +He was agreeably interested in Dr. Ophüls' project of arranging a +collection of his composed texts. 'I have often wished for such a thing, +for though I do not care to look closely at my music, it would be quite +pleasant to recall it now and then by reading the texts.' The collection +was completed during the ensuing months, and the manuscript placed in +the master's hands.[87] + +Brahms appeared unannounced in Vienna in the middle of June to take part +in the family celebration of Dr. and Frau Fellinger's silver wedding +day. Returning immediately to Ischl, he spent the next few weeks in his +usual fashion, though neither mind nor body really recovered the double +shock of Frau Schumann's death and of the anxious journey to Bonn. He +occupied himself still with his art, and on June 24 had completed seven +organ preludes, which he played to Heuberger on that date at Ischl. +'Splendid pieces,' says Heuberger's diary; and in another entry, dated +July 5: 'Brahms' things must have been sent away already, for he has +promised to show me _new_ compositions.'[88] These were, no doubt, some +more preludes. Eleven were found after Brahms' death, the last four +being written on a different kind of paper from that used for the first +seven. + +The 'Elf Chorale-Vorspiele' (Eleven Chorale-Preludes) for organ are +instrumental movements founded, as their name implies, upon some of the +grand old church tunes for which Germany is famous. They are worked in +florid counterpoint in a style which may be studied, also, in the organ +preludes contained in the third volume of the Leipzig Society's edition +of Bach's works, and are written with an ease to which no other composer +than Brahms has attained in this style since Bach's day. That the great +modern master had studied it during the years of his retirement in the +fifties, before he was in possession of the Society's volumes, seems +certain, from the fact that three old books of Bach's Chorale-Preludes +once belonging to Brahms are still in existence. One, bearing Brahms' +pencil autograph, is in manuscript, possibly that of his father or +brother; the others are early published editions.[89] + +The majority of the chorales selected for treatment in 1896 have death +for their subject, and are written in the profoundly serious vein to +which we are accustomed in the composer's sacred works. The fourth +prelude, 'Herzlich thut mich erfreuen,' is in a somewhat lighter vein +than the others, but is, none the less, absolutely and distinctly +Brahms. One of the most delicately touching is the eighth, 'Es ist ein +Ros' entsprungen.' 'Herzlich thut mir' is the subject of two of the +movements, 'O Welt ich muss dich lassen' of two, of which one is the +eleventh and last. + +It is impossible that we can be mistaken in accepting the +Chorale-Preludes, together with the 'Four Serious Songs' which +immediately preceded them, as indicating the bent of the composer's +thoughts during his last year of life, and we involuntarily apply to +them the words, quoted in the preceding chapter, used by Brahms in +reference to Schumann's theme. They speak to us 'as the message of a +spirit about to depart, and we think with reverence and emotion of the +glorious man and artist.' Nevertheless, a note written by the composer +to Frau Caroline on August 13 contains little sign of his depressed +condition. It opens with charming, simple comments on his stepmother's +last little budget of home news, urges a tour in Norway and Sweden on +Fritz Schnack--'it would give me real pleasure if he would do it, and +tell me all about it afterwards'--and ends: + + 'The summer is not exactly fine, but whoever, like myself, rises + early and can go out walking when he will, may be content and there + are innumerable beautiful walks here. I hope you will continue so + well and write sometimes to + + 'Your heartily greeting JOHANNES.'[90] + +It had not escaped the notice of Brahms' friends, however, that his +ruddy complexion had changed to a yellow colour, and some of them were +courageous enough to speak to him about his health, and urge him to +consult a doctor. At first he showed much annoyance when the subject was +broached, and turned it off impatiently with the reply that, as he never +used a glass, he did not know how he looked. But the uneasiness felt +about his condition increased, and he was at length persuaded to seek +medical advice in Vienna. The doctor whom he consulted did not issue an +alarmist report, but, pronouncing him to be suffering from jaundice, +ordered him to Carlsbad for the 'cure.' Much against his will, the +master, who hated the very idea of waters and cures, and who prided +himself on never having being ill in his life, gave up some pleasant +Ischl engagements, and started on September 2 for Carlsbad. He was met +at the station by two friends of Hanslick, Herr Emil Seling and +Musikdirektor Janetschek, who took him to the 'Stadt Brussels,' near the +Hirschensprung. Here, during the fine autumn days which succeeded the +wet summer, he made himself content, and even wrote cheerful reports to +his friends, in which he expressed satisfaction at having been obliged +to make the acquaintance of the celebrated watering-place. He was the +object of much considerate and respectful attention, which seemed to +cheer him; and Faber came to be near him, accompanied him in his daily +walks, and took tender care of him. + +The report written to Hanslick by the distinguished Carlsbad physician +Dr. Grünberger, after three weeks' careful observation, was ominous. +There was considerable swelling of the liver, with complete blocking of +the gall-passages, and the inevitable results--jaundice, indigestion, +etc. The eminent medical authority could not but regard the condition of +his patient as 'very serious.' + +No more definite name was given to the malady on the master's return to +Vienna after some six weeks' treatment at Carlsbad, and his request that +he should be told 'nothing unpleasant' was scrupulously observed. He +went about as before, dining more frequently, however, with his most +intimate friends the Fellingers, Fabers, Millers, Conrats, Strauss' and +von Hornbostels, and often accepting the offer from one and another of a +seat in a box at the Burg Theater. He became very testy if asked how he +was or if told that he looked better, and answered to every inquiry, +'Each day a little worse,' but continued in letters to his stepmother +and other friends at a distance to keep up the fiction that he was +suffering from an ordinary jaundice which only needed patience. Those +who loved him, however, looked with dismay at the alteration that was +taking place in his appearance. The yellow colour, which had been the +first striking symptom of his condition, was changing gradually to a +darker hue, the bulky figure shrinking to terrible emaciation; the firm +gait was beginning to falter, the head was no longer held erect. A visit +to Vienna, early in December, of Joachim and his colleagues of the +Quartet gave him touching pleasure; he was with them as much as possible +during the day, and generally remained with them, after attending their +concerts, until late at night. He continued to take interest in +important new compositions, and begged Hausmann to come to his rooms to +play him Dvorák's Violoncello Concerto. He accompanied the entire work +on the piano, and broke into enthusiastic admiration at the end of each +movement, exclaiming after the last one, 'Had I known that such a +violoncello concerto as that could be written, I would have tried to +compose one myself!' + +He not only spent Christmas Eve with the Fellingers, but invited himself +to dine with them also on December 25, 26, and 27. Frau Fellinger gave +him a 'secco,' a soft, short coat, as one of her Christmas presents, and +it seemed a sort of comfort to him to put it on when he was at the +house, where it was kept in readiness for his use, and to sit quietly in +the family sitting-rooms without need of exerting himself. After dinner +on the 27th he raised his glass, saying, 'To our meeting in the New +Year,' but by-and-by added, pointing downwards, 'But I shall soon be +there.' He dined again on New Year's Day with the same dear friends, +whose joy it was to feel that they were privileged to afford him some +solace in his weakness and suffering. + +The Joachim party returned to Vienna after a tour in the Austrian +provinces, and gave two concluding concerts in the Börsendorfer Hall on +January 1 and 2, 1897. Ill as he was, Brahms not only attended both +concerts, but came on the morning of the 2nd to Joachim's rooms at the +Hôtel Tegethof to listen to the rehearsal of his G major Quintet, which +was in the evening's programme. He derived peculiar pleasure from +hearing it. 'That is not a bad piece,' he said, as though half ignoring +that it was his own. The scene which took place after the performance of +the work in the evening is remembered with emotion by those who took +part in it. It was the final one in the friendship of Brahms and +Joachim--a friendship as striking and interesting as any contained in +the history of art. Its character may be suggested to the reader's +imagination in a few words written to the author by the great musician +whose love and recognition Brahms enjoyed from beginning to end of his +career. + + 'He had great pleasure that evening in the G major Quintet. It was + touching to see him come before the public to acknowledge the + enthusiasm aroused by his work. The tears were in his eyes and he + was very weak. The people cheered and cheered endlessly.' + +Thus the master's state gradually changed for the worse. He dined with +the Fellingers in the middle of the day on February 7, and seemed +excited and restless throughout the meal. When it was at an end, he +intimated that he wished to be alone with Dr. and Frau Fellinger, and, +retiring with them, began to speak about his affairs. He desired, he +said, to make a new will, but dreaded the necessary formalities to such +a degree that he knew not how to resolve to go through them. Would it +not be possible to arrange his affairs quietly without having to speak +about them with strangers? Dr. Fellinger said it could be done, and that +by the Austrian law things could be so managed that there need not even +be witnesses. The master remained for four hours--from two till six +o'clock--with Dr. and Frau Fellinger, discussed his affairs in minute +detail, and asked Dr. Fellinger to be his curator. He seemed relieved at +the end of the conversation, and stayed on with the family, chatting +about other topics. The following morning Dr. Fellinger took to the +composer at his rooms in Carlsgasse the copy of a will which he had +drawn out to meet Brahms' expressed desires, and explained to him that +he had only to write it out himself, date and sign his name to it, and +it would be valid according to Austrian law. Brahms, who was on the +point of starting out to his dinner, expressed himself as glad and +relieved, and placed the paper in a drawer of his writing-table; and Dr. +Fellinger, pleased to have cheered him, returned home with the +conviction that he would copy it without delay. The master did not +return to the subject at any future meeting with his friends, whilst +they, believing the matter to have been finally settled, did not again +allude to it. + +February passed, and Brahms grew continually worse. Every day he spent a +good deal of time in looking through and destroying old letters and +other papers. 'It is so sad,' he would say, when one or other intimate +friend called and found him thus employed, his stove filled with ashes. +He attended the Philharmonic concert on March 7, when Dvorák's +Violoncello Concerto, played by Hugo Becker, and his own fourth Symphony +in E minor were in the programme. Going into the concert-room he met his +old friend Gänsbacher. 'Ah,' he said, 'you have been so often to see me, +and I cannot go to you, I am so suffering;' then, rousing himself a +little, went on, 'You will hear a piece to-day, a piece by a man!' +(Dvorák's concerto). + +The fourth symphony had never become a favourite work in Vienna. +Received with reserve on its first performance, it had not since gained +much more from the general public of the city than the respect sure to +be accorded there to an important work by Brahms. To-day, however, a +storm of applause broke out at the end of the first movement, not to be +quieted until the composer, coming to the front of the 'artists'' box in +which he was seated, showed himself to the audience. The demonstration +was renewed after the second and the third movements, and an +extraordinary scene followed the conclusion of the work. The applauding, +shouting house, its gaze riveted on the figure standing in the balcony, +so familiar and yet in present aspect so strange, seemed unable to let +him go. Tears ran down his cheeks as he stood there shrunken in form, +with lined countenance, strained expression, white hair hanging lank; +and through the audience there was a feeling as of a stifled sob, for +each knew that they were saying farewell. Another outburst of applause +and yet another; one more acknowledgment from the master; and Brahms and +his Vienna had parted for ever. + +Brahms appeared after the concert at a luncheon-party given by Excellenz +Dumba, a distinguished protector of art in Vienna. About twenty-five +gentlemen, chiefly artists and art-lovers, and the ladies of the house +were present. Brahms was placed near to several of his intimate +friends--Epstein, Conrat, Hanslick, Gänsbacher, and Mandyczewski--but he +was not able to remain long. Within a few days of this date his Ischl +landlady received a postcard from him announcing his intention of going +to Ischl earlier than usual, and desiring that his rooms might be got +ready. The last opera he heard was his friend Goldmark's 'Das Heimchen'; +he entered a theatre for the last time on March 13, sitting with +Hanslick at the production of Johann Strauss' 'Die Göttin der Vernunft,' +but was obliged to leave at the end of the second act, and, much against +his will, suffered a friend to accompany him home in a cab. + +From this time he grew rapidly worse. He complained that he could no +longer remember what he read, but wished for Busch's 'Bismarck,' the +last book with which he tried to occupy himself. He soon became unable +to take a walk even in a friend's care, and Dr. Victor von Miller called +every day in his carriage to take him to drive in the Prater, where the +fresh air somewhat revived him. His strength of will remained phenomenal +to the last. He dragged himself to a rehearsal of the Roeger-Soldat +Quartet party held at Frau Wittgenstein's less than a fortnight before +his death, to hear Weber's Clarinet Quintet with Mühlfeld's +co-operation. A performance of the work at Meiningen had particularly +pleased him, and its inclusion in the Soldat programme was by his +suggestion. In the same week he paid his last visit to the Fabers, and, +whilst ascending the staircase to their flat, nearly fainted with pain. +Herr Faber revived him, and got him on to the drawing-room sofa, where +he sat exhausted, his head on his breast. He was obliged to leave the +family dinner-table of some other intimate friends, and, retiring to the +next room, sank down in agony. Frau Fellinger was ill at this time, and +unable to leave her room. Brahms' last call of inquiry at her house was +made on March 19. + +The master was very gentle during the last months of his life, and +touchingly grateful for every attention shown him. His evenings were of +necessity passed in his rooms, for he firmly refused all the entreaties +of his friends that he would take up his abode in one or another house. +Every evening at dusk he used to place himself at the piano, and +improvise softly for about half an hour, and when too tired to +continue, would sit by the window gazing out on the familiar scene till +long after darkness had set in. On March 24 Frau Door, who had always +been a favourite with him, called to take him a bunch of violets. She +was not admitted, but, observing Dr. von Miller's carriage before the +house door, waited near the entrance, hoping to see Brahms pass out. He +came down in about half an hour leaning on his friend's arm, and, +noticing Frau Door, gave her his hand. 'I am very ill' (Mir geht es sehr +schlecht), he answered faintly to her inquiry. He did not go out again. +The next day Conrat was admitted, and was sitting talking quietly with +him, when Brahms, who was on the sofa smoking, suddenly dropped his +head. 'There must be something in it,' he muttered. Conrat gently left +the room without disturbing him. On the 26th the physician wrote word to +Frau Fellinger that all chance of moving him was over. Brahms did not +leave his bed again. His two or three closest friends were constantly at +his side, whilst his landlady, Frau Truxa, was his faithful and devoted +nurse. He spoke little during the last days, and was too weak to notice +much of what was passing in his room, but he managed on the 29th to +write a few pencil lines from his bed to Frau Caroline: + + 'D. M. For the sake of change I am lying down a little and cannot, + therefore, write comfortably. Otherwise there is no alteration and + as usual, I only need patience. + + 'Affectionately your JOH.'[91] + +A few more weary days and nights, during which the beloved master's life +ebbed rapidly away, bring us to the early morning of April 3. He had +lost consciousness several times in the night and been restored, and had +recognised Faber, who, calling at about six o'clock and performing some +slight service for him, caught the whispered words, 'Du bist ein guter +Mensch' (You are a kind man). It is now nearly nine o'clock, and Brahms +has fallen asleep. Early messages of inquiry have been answered, and +the doctor, who has been at hand during the night, has departed, +promising soon to return. The day has begun with the bright spring +promise that the master was wont to greet year after year with joyful +welcome; the sun shines, a soft breeze enters through the open window; +outside there is a twittering of birds. Near the bed sits the untiring +nurse, noticing the signs of the fast-approaching end. A movement from +the bed claims her assistance. Brahms has opened his eyes, and tries to +raise himself. With Frau Truxa's help he attains a sitting posture, and, +looking at her, tries to speak. The lips move, but the tongue has lost +its power, and he can only utter an inarticulate sound. Great tears roll +down his cheeks; a last sigh, a last breath, and he sinks back, +supported by gentle hands, on to his pillow, rid of his sufferings, +passed quietly to his rest.[92] + +Dr. von Miller, whose house was in the vicinity, was the first of the +friends to receive intelligence of the master's decease. He hurried at +once to Carlsgasse, and was immediately joined by Dr. Fellinger and Herr +Faber. Many others called during the morning, some of whom were admitted +to look at the still features, smoothed by the caress of death into an +expression of noble serenity. A sketch was taken by the painter +Michalek, a mask by Professor Kundemann, a photograph by a private +friend. The cause of death was certified, after a medical examination of +the remains, as degeneration of the liver. The body, in evening dress, +was placed the same afternoon in the coffin, and the room arranged with +candelabra containing lighted candles; on a crimson cushion were +displayed the various orders of the deceased composer. The next day the +arrival began of the flowers, wreaths, crosses, and other floral +tributes that transformed the room into a temple of beauty. + +On the afternoon of the 4th General-Secretary Koch, Dr. Fellinger, and +Herr Faber met in the dwelling, and searched for a will in the presence +of a notary, but only found one written in May, 1891, on two sheets of +paper, the last of them signed and dated, in the form of a letter to +Simrock. This, a legally competent document in its original form, except +for the slight omission of the signature on the first sheet of +paper--which, under the indisputable circumstances establishing the +authenticity of the will, would not have rendered it invalid--had been +returned to the master at his own request by Simrock some time +subsequent to the death of his sister, Elise Grund, in 1892. It was +found, however, to have been marked by Brahms in pencil, some of the +clauses lined out, whilst notes in the margin indicated designed +alterations. These were in exact correspondence with the wishes +expressed by Brahms in February to Dr. and Frau Fellinger, and embodied +by Dr. Fellinger in the paper he had delivered into the hands of the +composer to be copied by himself and signed. Another search was made the +next day, therefore, but it proved fruitless. Only Dr. Fellinger's +manuscript was found, and it must be presumed that Brahms had put off +the dreaded task from day to day in the hope of feeling more capable of +it, until his strength was no longer equal to its fulfilment. Nothing +remained, therefore, but to apply to the proper authorities for the +nomination of a curator in order that the necessary arrangements might +be proceeded with. This was done; Dr. Fellinger was appointed, and on +the afternoon of the 5th the sitting-room which, with the small inner +room leading from it, contained Brahms library, manuscripts, and other +possessions, was formally sealed. The coffin was closed the same day. + +As soon as the master's death became known, the offer of an honorary +grave was made by the city of Vienna. There was no hesitation in +accepting it, but a deliberation was held as to whether the remains +should be taken direct to the Central Friedhof or should be cremated at +Gotha, according to directions contained in the letter to Simrock, and +the ashes only deposited in Vienna. The remembrance of a few words +dropped by Brahms himself when speaking of the 'sacred spot' which +contains the graves of Beethoven and Schubert decided the point. It was +felt that he would have chosen to rest in the place selected for him: +the particular garden of the Friedhof in which the remains of Beethoven +and Schubert lie, and which is sacred also to the memory of Mozart. + + 'All musical Vienna accompanied the great dead to the grave on the + afternoon of April 6 and a stranger not knowing the man's greatness + might have measured it by the number of prominent artists mingling + in the great assemblage of the funeral procession, by the + celebrated men and women who came from afar to show the last honour + to Brahms.' + +Till the hour appointed for the commencement of the ceremony deputations +continued to arrive, from various parts of Europe, from the numerous +societies of which the composer had been an honorary member, and +telegrams and messages to pour in. At one o'clock a deputation from the +Hamburg Senate was admitted to the house to lay a magnificent wreath on +the coffin side by side with that from the Corporation of Vienna. +Wreaths had been sent by the Queen of Hanover, the Duke of Cumberland, +the Princess Marie of Hanover, Duke George of Saxe-Meiningen, the +Princess Marie of Saxe-Meiningen, Helene, Baroness von Heldburg, and +innumerable private friends known and unknown to Brahms; by the Society +of Plastic Arts, Committee of the Opera, Gesellschaft, and other +societies of Vienna; by the Philharmonic Society, Society of +Music-lovers, Cecilia Society of Hamburg; by the Royal Academy of Arts, +Berlin; by the various musical societies of Berlin, Leipzig, Budapest, +Cologne, Salzburg, Mannheim, Frankfurt, Jena, Laubach, Lemberg, Graz, +St. Petersburg, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cambridge, Basle, Zürich, and many +other towns. Six cars scarcely sufficed to hold them. + +The arrangements of the public funeral with which the city of Vienna +honoured the remains of the great composer formed a singular contrast to +the simplicity which had marked the daily habits of his life. Details +may be read in the journals of the time. We shall confine ourselves to +the record of a few of those appropriate to our narrative. The cortège, +followed by the long train of mourners, started from Carlsgasse about +half-past two, and, proceeding to the building of the Gesellschaft der +Musikfreunde, halted before the principal entrance, where arrangements +had been made for a short ceremony, consisting of an address by Herr +Direktor J. R. Fuchs, of the conservatoire, and the singing of Brahms' +part-song 'Fahr'wohl,' for unaccompanied chorus, under the direction of +Richard von Perger, conductor of the Singverein. The procession then +passed on to the Evangelical Church in Dorotheenstrasse, where the +clergy and choir and several of the city dignitaries were assembled. +After the coffin had been carried into the church, the choir sang +Mendelssohn's 'Es ist bestimmt in Gottes' Rath.' The funeral address was +delivered by Dr. von Zimmermann, who especially dwelt on the inspiration +derived by the deceased composer's art from the pages of the Bible, on +his love for children and the childlike spirit, and on his sympathy with +distress. + + 'Wherever he could bring support to the unknown sufferer, the + laborious striver, the helpless, the dying, there, in the man who, + in his own habits, was frugal to the verge of parsimony, was found + the most eager benefactor. The master Johannes Brahms is not dead. + His spirit has conquered death and has entered into the light and + blessed world of the pure harmonies of peace.' + +At the entrance to the Friedhof the coffin was surrounded by personal +friends of the deceased composer, carrying lighted wind-torches, and was +accompanied by them to the grave. They were Ignaz Brüll, Anton Dvorák, +Arthur Faber, Dr. Fellinger, Robert Fuchs, Richard Heuberger, Max +Kalbeck, Ludwig Koch, Eusebius Mandyczewski, Dr. von Miller-Aichholz, +Richard von Perger. At the grave-side Dr. von Perger spoke a few words +of last farewell: + + 'This sacred place is now to receive the mortal remains of our + great contemporary. He who has so enriched and blessed the whole + world, what has he been to us musicians! In the light which + streamed from his creative genius, his penetrating + art-comprehension, we were able to look up confidently to his + incomparable mastership, to his lofty, unbending artistic + intelligence. Amid the countless paths and by-paths which to-day + intersect the domain of musical art, we were guided by the torch + held high and secure by the hand of her first priest. He has met + his worthy spiritual brothers, indeed, for the first time to-day in + this resting-place, but he was always a simple, sympathetic friend + to his living colleagues in art, in spite of the great distance + which raised him above them; always a helper of uprising talent, a + sure and faithful friend in adversity and suffering.... Here thou + restest now, thou blessed of heaven, in this vast, awful + world-solitude; clouds of light float above thee and that of thee + which is immortal floats with them through eternal spaces. Ade + Meister Johannes, fahr'wohl, fahr'wohl.' + +Joachim was in England at the time of Brahms' death, fulfilling +long-contracted engagements. Stockhausen, now a man of seventy-three, +and not in strong health, was at this period unequal to a hurried and +distressing journey from Frankfurt to Vienna. + +Memorial performances were given by the Cecilia Verein, Hamburg, on +April 5, the day preceding the funeral; by the Vienna Gesellschaft on +the 11th; by the Beethoven-Haus Verein, Bonn, in May; by the Royal High +School for Music, Berlin, in the summer; and by innumerable musical +societies of Europe and America during the season 1897-98. In nearly all +instances the German Requiem formed part of such concerts as were +orchestral. + +A clause in Brahms' will provided that any of his unpublished works +found in his rooms after death should be the property of Simrock. There +was one opus only--the eleven Organ Preludes. With them were the +arrangements, as pianoforte duets, of Joachim's two overtures referred +to in an earlier chapter. All three works were published in 1902, a +delay of five years having been caused by difficulties that arose in +connection with the will. Apart from detail, these may be generally +stated as follows: + +Brahms is said to have left, besides his library, which included +valuable autograph musical manuscripts, and a very few personal +possessions, about £20,000 in investments. In the original will three +societies--the Liszt Pensions-Verein of Hamburg, the Czerny Verein and +the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde of Vienna--were named as the +inheritors, subject to the payment of a legacy to the composer's +landlady, Frau Truxa, and of two life-annuities--one to his stepmother, +Frau Caroline Brahms, to be continued after her death to her son, Fritz +Schnack, for his life; the other to Brahms' sister, Elise Grund. These +would practically account for the time being for the income arising from +the investments. + +In the absence of any legally valid document, about twenty cousins of +various degrees of kinship came forward, in answer to advertisements in +the newspapers, as claimants to the property. Litigation ensued, and was +protracted through several years. The original process and the first +appeal were determined in favour of the societies; the second appeal +reversed these decisions, and declared the blood relations to be the +heirs. To prevent the further expense and delay of another appeal, a +compromise was now arrived at by the contending parties, and the general +results of the will, the law-processes, and the compromise have been +that the blood relations have been recognised as the heirs to all but +the library, which is now in the possession of the Gesellschaft der +Musikfreunde; that Frau Truxa's legacy has been paid; and that certain +sums accepted by the societies, by which they will ultimately benefit, +have been invested, and the income arising from them secured for the +payment of the life-annuity to Herr Schnack. (Frau Caroline Brahms died +in the spring of 1902.) + +Projects for the erection of memorials to the master in Hamburg, Vienna, +and Meiningen, were set on foot soon after his death. The first to be +completed has been that now standing in the 'English Garden' at +Meiningen, the unveiling of which was made the occasion of a Memorial +Festival in October, 1899. The bust of the master which it displays is +the work of Professor Hildebrandt. + +The memorial erected at the grave by the heirs, after the final +settlement of the property, designed and executed by Fräulein Ilse +Conrat, was unveiled on May 7, 1903, the seventieth anniversary of +Brahms' birth. It consists of a marble bust and pedestal in front of a +marble headstone, on which are allegorical figures in bas-relief. + +Memorial tablets have been placed by the respective municipalities on +the houses in which Brahms lived in Vienna, Ischl, and Thun, and the +garden of the house at Mürz Zuschlag has been bought by the town and +made into a music-garden. A bronze bust of the master by Frau Dr. +Fellinger stands in the musicians' pavilion. + +A Brahms-Haus has been erected by Dr. von Miller-Aichholz in his private +grounds at Gmünden, the rooms of which are constructed to the exact +dimensions of those occupied by Brahms in Ischl, and furnished with the +Ischl furniture as it used to stand. They contain an interesting +collection of musical and other autographs of the master, photographs, +programmes, and other mementos. + +A Brahms Society has been formed in Vienna for the purpose of collecting +and preserving all available mementos in a special museum. + +Our task is now completed. If it should prove to have been so far +successfully accomplished as to suggest to our readers at all a true +conception of the character and individuality of Brahms, to throw some +additional light upon the spirit which dictated the composition of his +works, our aim will have been achieved. It is as yet far too soon to +attempt any surmise as to the exact ultimate place that he will occupy +amongst the great ones of his art. Schumann's words, however, spoken +rather more than half a century ago, which proclaimed Johannes as the +prophet destined to give ideal presentment to the highest spirit of his +time, have, even now, been surely proved true. Brahms stands immovable +in his position as the representative of the musical thought of the +ages as it has gradually developed through three hundred and fifty years +from Palestrina's day to his own; and in his works dwells the high and +beautiful spirit--the essential spirit of life--which, whilst it knows +no compromise with truth, works out its appointed course in 'faith and +hope and love, these three; and the greatest of them is love.' + +[84] Reimann, p. 109. + +[85] _July 1, 1897._ + +[86] See for an account of Herzogenberg's church music 'Heinrich von +Herzogenberg und die evangelischen Kirchenmusik,' by Friedrich Spitta. +Reprint from the _Monatschrift für Gottesdienst und kirchliche Kunst_, +1900, No. 11. + +[87] Preface to the 'Vollständige Sammlung der von Johannes Brahms +componirten und musikalisch bearbeiteten Dichtungen,' by Dr. G. Ophüls. + +[88] 'Der musikalische Nachlass von Johannes Brahms,' by Ludwig Karpath. +_Signale_, March 26, 1902. + +[89] In the author's possession. + +[90] First published by Reimann, p. 118. + +[91] Reimann, p. 118. + +[92] See 'Am Sterbebett Brahms,' by Celestine Truxa, _Neue Freie +Presse_, May 7, 1903. + + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF THE PUBLISHED WORKS OF JOHANNES BRAHMS + +_The references are to the pages of this work._ + + -----+--------------------------------+-----------+---------------------- + OP. | TITLE OF WORK. | PUBLISHED | PAGES. + | | [93] | + -----+--------------------------------+-----------+---------------------- + 1 | Sonata in C major for | 1853 | I. 98, 109, 116, 118, + | Pianoforte | | 129, 131, 132, + | | | 139, 140, 141, + | | | 144, 154, 170, + | | | 281; + | | | II. 180. + 2 | Sonata in F sharp minor for | 1853 | I. 93, 116, 132, 141, + | Pianoforte | | 144, 176, 177, + | | | 281; + | | | II. 180. + 3 | Six Songs for Tenor or | 1854 | I. 141, 145. + | Soprano[94] | | + 4 | Scherzo in E flat minor for | 1854 | I. 90, 108, 116, 131, + | Pianoforte | | 132, 138, 140, + | | | 141, 144, 281; + | | | II. 71. + 5 | Sonata in F minor for | 1854 | I. 117, 133, 135, + | Pianoforte | | 144, 172, 193; + | | | II. 150. + 6 | Six Songs for Soprano or Tenor | 1853 | I. 141, 144, 145. + 7 | Six Songs for one voice | 1854 | I. 145, 167. + 8 | Trio in B major for Pianoforte,| 1854 | I. 154, 161-163, 167, + | Violin and Violoncello | | 193, 215, 217, + | | | 273, 281. + | The same; revised edition | 1891 | I. 162; II. 242. + 9 | Variations on a theme by | 1854 | I. 160, 161, 167, + | Schumann for Pianoforte | | 171, 193, 281. + 10 | Ballades for Pianoforte | 1856 | I. 166, 173, 174, + | | | 191; + | | | II. 103. + 11 | Serenade in D major for large | 1860 | I. 220, 223, 233, + | Orchestra | | 236, 237, 249, + | | | 257, 272, 281; + | | | II. 11-13, 21, 39, + | | | 88. + 12 | Ave Maria for women's Chorus | 1861 | I. 239, 241, 246, + | with accompaniment for | | 256, 257, 281. + | Orchestra or Organ | | + 13 | Funeral Song for Chorus and | 1861 | I. 245, 246, 256, + | Wind instruments | | 263, 281. + 14 | Songs and Romances for one | 1861 | I. 257; + | voice | | II. 82. + 15 | Concerto in D minor for | | I. 30, 167, 207, 220, + | Pianofortewith accompaniment | | 222, 223, 225-235, + | for Orchestra | | 256, 257, 281; + | | | II. 38, 42, 101, + | | | 102-104, 136, + | | | 145, 146, 198. + 16 | Serenade in A major for small | 1860 | I. 247, 257, 260, + | Orchestra | | 273, 281; + | | | II. 14-16, 103, + | | | 112, 135. + | The same; revised edition | 1875 | + 17 | Songs for women's Chorus with | 1862 | I. 242, 262. + | accompaniment for two | | + | Horns and a Harp | | + 18 | Sextet in B flat major for two | 1862 | I. 19, 259, 260, 270, + | Violins, two Violas and two | | 274, 278, 281; + | Violoncellos | | II. 14, 22, 23, 53, + | | | 86, 102, 113, + | | | 175. + 19 | Five Songs for one voice | 1862 | I. 281. + 20 | Three Duets for Soprano and | 1861 | I. 260, 281. + | Contralto with Pianoforte | | + | accompaniment | | + 21, |} Variations on an original | 1861 | I. 260, 281; II. 71. + No. 1|} theme for Pianoforte | | + 21, |} Variations on a Hungarian | 1861 | I. 211, 260, 281; + No. 2|} air for Pianoforte | | II. 103. + 22 | Marienlieder for mixed Chorus | 1862 | I. 278, 279, 280, + | _a capella_ | | 281; + | | | II. 15, 163. + 23 | Variations on a theme by | 1863 | I. 278, 279; + | Schumann for Pianoforte | | II. 15, 40, 93, 103. + | Duet | | + 24 | Variations and Fugue on a | 1862 | I. 238, 269, 270, + | theme by Handel for | | 272, 280, 281; + | Pianoforte | | II. 7, 8, 54, 103, + | | | 180. + 25 | Quartet in G minor for | 1863 | I. 245, 259, 270, + | Pianoforte, Violin, Viola | | 271, 274, 281; + | and Violoncello | | II. 6, 7, 40, 103, + | | | 135, 144, 175. + 26 | Quartet in A major for | 1863 | I. 259, 267, 271, + | Pianoforte, Violin, Viola | | 274, 281; + | and Violoncello | | II. 6-10, 79, 102, + | | | 144. + 27 | The 13th Psalm for three-part | 1864 | I. 241, 281; II. 26. + | women's Chorus with | | + | Pianoforte accompaniment | | + 28 | Duets for Alto and Baritone | 1864 | I. 281; + | with accompaniment for | | II. 26, 79, 102. + | Pianoforte | | + 29 | Two Motets for five-part mixed | 1864 | I. 281; + | Chorus _a capella_ | | II. 26. + 30 | Sacred Song (by Paul Fleming) | 1864 | I. 281; + | for four-part mixed | | II. 26. + | Chorus with accompaniment | | + | for Organ or Pianoforte | | + 31 | Three Quartets for Solo voices | 1864 | I. 281; + | with Pianoforte | | II. 24, 26, 38, 113, + | | | 267. + 32 | Songs for one voice | 1864 | II. 26. + 33 | Romances from Tieck's | 1865 | I. 264, 265, 275, + | 'Magelone' for one voice. | | 276, 278, 281; + | Nos. 1-6 | | II. 35, 70. + | " 7-15 | 1868 | II. 38, 83. + 34 | Quintet for Pianoforte, two | 1865 | I. 259, 277; + | Violins, Viola and | | II. 32, 35, 36, 51, + | Violoncello | | 76, 103. + 34 |}Sonata for two Pianofortes | 1872 | I. 277; II. 23, 24, + _bis_|} (after the Quintet) | | 32, 35. + 35 | Variations on a theme by | 1866 | II. 24, 43, 54, 112, + | Paganini for Pianoforte. | | 180. + | (Two sets) | | + 36 | Sextet in G major for two | 1866 | I. 259; + | Violins, two Violas and two | | II. 43, 47, 52, 102, + | Violoncellos | | 113. + 37 | Three Sacred Choruses for | 1866 | I. 239, 242; II. 43. + | women's voices without | | + | accompaniment | | + 38 | Sonata in E minor for | 1866 | II. 31, 43, 113. + | Pianoforte and Violoncello | | + 39 | Waltzes for Pianoforte Duet | 1867 | II. 25, 68, 79. + 40 | Trio for Pianoforte, Violin | 1866 | I. 259; + | and French Horn | | II. 31, 38, 39, 43, + | | | 51, 68, 113. + 41 | Five Songs for four-part men's | 1867 | II. 68. + | Chorus | | + 42 | Three Songs for six-part | 1868 | II. 83. + | Chorus _a capella_ | | + 43 | Four Songs for one voice | 1868 | II. 81. + 44 | Twelve Songs and Romances for | 1868 | I. 242, 256, 262; + | women's Chorus. Pianoforte | | II. 83. + | accompaniment _ad libitum_ | | + 45 | A German Requiem for Soli, | 1868 | I. 6, 167, 238; + | Chorus and Orchestra (Organ | | II. 44, 48, 50, 54, + | _ad libitum_) | | 55, 59-68, 72-78, + | | | 81, 86-88, 90, + | | | 93, 98, 102, 111, + | | | 114, 140, 141, + | | | 156, 167, 169, + | | | 180, 195, 201. + 46 | Four Songs for one voice | 1868 | II. 81 + 47 | Five Songs for one voice | 1868 | II. 81, 82. + 48 | Seven Songs for one voice | 1868 | II. 81, 82. + 49 | Five Songs for one voice | 1868 | II. 81, 82. + 50 | Rinaldo (Cantata by Goethe) | 1869 | II. 84, 85, 90, 94, + | for Tenor solo, men's | | 135. + | Chorus and Orchestra | | + 51 | Two Quartets for two Violins, | 1873 | II. 48, 113, 122, + | Viola and Violoncello (C | | 124, 128, 130, + | minor and A minor) | | 140, 147. + 52 | Love Songs. Waltzes for | 1869 | II. 93, 94, 103, 113. + | Pianoforte Duet with voices | | + | _ad libitum_ | | + 53 | Rhapsody (Fragment from | 1870 | II. 93-97, 135, 141, + | Goethe's 'Harzreise') for | | 183. + | Contralto solo, men's Chorus | | + | and Orchestra | | + 54 | Song of Destiny for Chorus and | 1871 | I. 238; II. 77, + | Orchestra | | 104-106, 108, 114, + | | | 136, 155, 205. + 55 | Song of Triumph for eight-part | 1872 | I. 238; II. 98-101, + | Chorus and Orchestra (Organ | | 111, 112, 114-119, + | _ad libitum_) | | 132, 136, 137, + | | | 146, 180, 183, + | | | 267, 269. + 56A | Variations on a theme by | Jan. 1874 | II. 121, 128, 129, + | Joseph Haydn for Orchestra | | 135, 136, 145, + | | | 195. + 56B | Variations on a theme by | Nov. 1873 | II. 121, 130. + | Joseph Haydn for two | | + | Pianofortes | | + 57 | Songs for one voice | 1871 | II. 106. + 58 | Songs for one voice | 1871 | II. 106. + 59 | Songs for one voice | 1873 | II. 130. + 60 | Quartet in C minor for | 1875 | I. 207, 220; + | Pianoforte, Violin, Viola | | II. 138, 143, 144. + | and Violoncello | | + 61 | Four Duets for Soprano and | 1874 | II. 138. + | Contralto with Pianoforte | | + 62 | Seven Songs for mixed Chorus | 1874 | II. 138, 139. + | _a capella_ | | + 63 | Songs for one voice | 1874 | II. 138. + 64 | Quartets for Solo voices with | 1874 | II. 138. + | Pianoforte | | + 65 | New Love Songs. Waltzes for | 1875 | II. 103, 138. + | four Solo voices and | | + | Pianoforte Duet | | + 66 | Five Duets for Soprano and | 1875 | + | Contralto with Pianoforte | | + | accompaniment | | + 67 | Quartet in B flat major for | 1876 | II. 146, 147. + | two Violins, Viola and | | + | Violoncello | | + 68 | Symphony in C minor for large | 1877 | I. 133, 220, 280; + | Orchestra. (No. 1) | | II. 114, 142, + | | | 147-156, 162, + | | | 163, 166, 168, + | | | 184, 195, + | | | 198-220. + 69 | Nine Songs for one voice | 1877 | II. 162. + 70 | Four Songs for one voice | 1877 | II. 162. + 71 | Five Songs for one voice | 1877 | II. 162. + 72 | Five Songs for one voice | 1877 | II. 162. + 73 | Symphony in D major for large | 1878 | II. 142, 163-166, + | Orchestra. (No. 2) | | 170, 171, 174, + | | | 176, 183, 220. + 74 | Two Motets for mixed Chorus | 1879 | II. 177. + | _a capella_ | | + 75 | Ballads and Romances for two | 1878 | I. 166; II. 176. + | voices with Pianoforte | | + | accompaniment | | + 76 | Pianoforte Pieces. (Two books) | 1879 | II. 170, 179, 181, + | | | 257. + 77 | Concerto in D major for Violin | 1879 | II. 170, 177-179, + | with accompaniment for | | 181, 188. + | Orchestra | | + 78 | Sonata in G major for | 1880 | II. 122, 179, + | Pianoforte and Violin | | 181-183, 184. + 79 | Two Rhapsodies for Pianoforte | 1880 | II. 183, 184, 189, + | | | 256. + 80 | Academic Festival Overture for | 1881 | II. 104, 189, 190, + | large Orchestra | | 192, 195, 201, + | | | 270. + 81 | Tragic Overture for Orchestra | 1881 | II. 189, 190, 192, + | | | 195, 201. + 82 | Nänie (by Friedrich Schiller) | 1881 | II. 29, 192, 193, + | for Chorus and Orchestra | | 196-198, 205, + | (Harp _ad libitum_) | | 206. + 83 | Concerto for Pianoforte in | 1882 | I. 27, 33; + | B flat major with | | II. 193, 194, 195, + | accompaniment for Orchestra | | 198-201, 231, + | | | 267, 270. + 84 | Romances and Songs for one or | 1882 | II. 201. + | for two voices with | | + | Pianoforte accompaniment | | + 85 | Six Songs for one voice | 1882 | II. 201. + 86 | Six Songs for a deep voice | 1882 | II. 201. + 87 | Trio in C major for Pianoforte,| 1883 | II. 203, 204. + | Violin and Violoncello | | + 88 | Quintet in F major for two | 1883 | II. 203, 204. + | Violins, two Violas and | | + | Violoncello | | + 89 | Song of the Fates (by Goethe) | 1883 | II. 202, 203, + | for six-part Chorus and | | 204-207. + | Orchestra | | + 90 | Symphony in F major for large | 1884 | II. 207-210, 220. + | Orchestra. (No. 3) | | + 91 | Two Songs for Contralto with | 1884 | II. 33, 210. + | Viola and Pianoforte | | + 92 | Quartets for Soprano, | 1884 | II. 210. + | Contralto, Tenor and Bass | | + | with Pianoforte | | + 93A | Songs and Romances for | 1884 | II. 210, 288. + | four-part mixed Chorus | | + | _a capella_ | | + 93B | Tafellied for six-part mixed | 1885 | II. 213. + | Chorus with Pianoforte | | + 94 | Five Songs for a deep voice | 1884 | II. 210, 211. + 95 | Seven Songs for one voice | 1884 | II. 210. + 96 | Four Songs for one voice | 1886 | II. 229. + 97 | Six Songs for one voice | 1886 | II. 229. + 98 | Symphony in E minor for large | 1886 | II. 211, 215, + | Orchestra (No. 4) | | 216-220, 229, + | | | 255, 267, 282. + 99 | Sonata in F major for | 1887 | II. 222, 223, 229. + | Pianoforte and Violoncello | | + 100 | Sonata in A major for | 1887 | II. 222, 223-225, + | Pianoforte and Violin | | 229. + 101 | Trio in C minor for Pianoforte,| 1887 | II. 222, 229. + | Violin and Violoncello | | + 102 | Concerto in A minor for Violin | 1888 | II. 230, 231, 232, + | and Violoncello with | | 233. + | accompaniment for Orchestra | | + 103 | Gipsy Songs for four Solo | 1888 | II. 233, 234. + | voices with Pianoforte | | + | accompaniment | | + 104 | Five Songs for mixed Chorus | 1889 | II. 238. + | _a capella_ | | + 105 | Five Songs for a deep voice | 1889 | II. 238. + 106 | Five Songs for one voice | 1889 | II. 238. + 107 | Five Songs for one voice | 1889 | II. 238. + 108 | Sonata in D minor for | 1889 | II. 238. + | Pianoforte and Violin | | + 109 | Fest and Gedenksprüche for | 1890 | II. 240, 241. + | double Chorus | | + | _a capella_ | | + 110 | Three Motets for four- and | 1890 | II. 242, 246. + | eight-part Chorus | | + 111 | Quintet in G major for two | 1891 | II. 246-248, 251, + | Violins, two Violas and | | 280, 281. + | Violoncello | | + 112 | Six Quartets for Soprano, | 1891 | II. 251. + | Contralto, Tenor and Bass | | + | with Pianoforte | | + 113 | Thirteen Canons for women's | 1891 | II. 251. + | voices | | + 114 | Trio in A minor for | 1892 | I. 40; + | Pianoforte, Clarinet (or | | II. 249-251, 261. + | Viola) and Violoncello | | + 115 | Quintet in B minor for | 1892 | I. 39; + | Clarinet (or Viola), two | | II. 249-251, 261. + | Violins, Viola and | | + | Violoncello | | + 116 | Fantasias for Pianoforte (two | 1892 | II. 251, 258. + | books) | | + 117 | Three Intermezzi for | 1892 | I. 166; II. 251, 257, + | Pianoforte | | 258. + 118 | Pianoforte Pieces | 1893 | II. 256, 261. + 119 | Pianoforte Pieces | 1893 | II. 256, 261. + 120 | Two Sonatas for Clarinet (or | 1895 | II. 265, 266, 267. + | Viola) and Pianoforte (F | | + | minor and E flat major) | | + 121 | Four Serious Songs for a Bass | 1896 | II. 273, 274, 276, + | voice | | 277. + 122 | Eleven Chorale-Preludes for | 1902 | II. 276-278, 289. + | Organ (the only posthumous | | + | work) | | + -----+--------------------------------+-----------+---------------------- + + +WORKS WITHOUT OPUS NUMBER + + -------------------------------------+--------------+-------------- + TITLE OF WORK. | PUBLISHED | PAGES. + -------------------------------------+--------------+-------------- + Song, 'Mondnacht,' for one voice | 1854 | + republished | 1872 | + Children's Folk-songs with added | 1858 | I. 220. + Pianoforte accompaniment | | + German Folk-songs arranged for | 1864 | II. 26. + four-part Chorus | | + Fugue in A flat minor for Organ | 1864 | II. 26. + Studies for Pianoforte (Nos. 1 and 2)| 1869 | I. 67; + after Chopin and Weber | | II. 98. + Hungarian Dances arranged for | 1869 | II. 79, 98. + Pianoforte Duet, Books 1 and 2 | | + Gavotte by Gluck arranged for | 1871 | I. 201; + Pianoforte | | II. 106. + Hungarian Dances arranged for | 1872 | I. 222; + | | II. 79, 98. + Pianoforte solo, Books 1 and 2 | | + Hungarian Dances arranged for | 1874 | I. 135. + Orchestra, Nos. 1, 3, 10 | | + Studies for Pianoforte (Nos. 3, 4, 5)| 1879 | II. 181. + after Bach | | + Hungarian Dances arranged for | 1880 | II. 184. + Pianoforte Duet, Books 3, 4 | | + Chorale-Prelude and Fugue for Organ | 1881 | I. 219; + | | II. 138. + Fifty-one Technical Exercises for | 1893 | II. 256. + Pianoforte. (Two books) | | + German Folk-songs with Pianoforte | 1894 | I. 80; + accompaniment. (Seven books) | | II. 261, 262. + Arrangements of Joachim's Overtures | 1902 | II. 92, 289. + to 'Henry IV.' and 'Demetrius' | | + as Pianoforte Duets | | + -------------------------------------+--------------+-------------- + + +WORKS EDITED BY BRAHMS + + Couperin: Clavier Compositions. (Chrysander's 'Denkmäle der + Tonkunst.') + + Mozart: Requiem. (Breitkopf and Härtel's critically revised + complete edition.) + + Schubert: Three Pianoforte pieces. + + Schumann: Supplementary volume to Clara Schumann's complete + edition. + +Brahms' name appears for the first time in 1878 in the list of the +committee of the Leipzig Society's edition of Bach's works. + +[93] The dates of publication here printed are those given in Simrock's +published Thematic Catalogue of Brahms' works, excepting in the few +instances especially indicated in the main narrative. + +[94] Unless otherwise described, all songs for a single voice are +composed with pianoforte accompaniment only. + + + + +ARRANGED CATALOGUE OF WORKS + + +INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC + +FOR ORCHESTRA. + + Op. 11. Serenade, D major + Op. 16. " A major + Op. 56A Variations, Haydn's Theme + Op. 68. Symphony, C minor + Op. 73. " D major + Op. 90. " F major + Op. 98. " E minor + Op. 80. Overture, Academic + Op. 81. " Tragic + Arrangement: 3 Hungarian Dances + +PIANOFORTE WITH ORCHESTRA. + + Op. 15. Concerto, D minor + Op. 83. " B flat major + +PIANOFORTE SOLOS. + + Op. 1. Sonata, C major + Op. 2. " F sharp minor + Op. 5. " F minor + Op. 4. Scherzo, E flat minor + Op. 10. Ballades + Op. 9. Variations, Schumann's Theme + Op. 21,} " Original Theme + No. 1 } + Op. 21,} " Hungarian Air + No. 2 } + Op. 24. Variations and Fugue, Handel's Theme + Op. 35. Variations, Paganini's Theme + Op. 76. Pianoforte Pieces, 2 books + Op. 79. Two Rhapsodies + Op. 116. Fantasias, 2 books + Op. 117. Three Intermezzi + Op. 118. Pianoforte Pieces + Op. 119. " " + Technical Exercises, 2 bks. + Arrangement: Hungarian Dances, 2 books + " Studies 1-5 + " Gavotte by Gluck + +PIANOFORTE DUETS. + + Op. 23. Variations, Schumann's Theme + Op. 39. Waltzes + Op. 52A Waltzes + Arrangement: Hungarian Dances, 4 books + +TWO PIANOFORTES. + + Op. 34} Sonata in F minor (after + _bis_} the Pianoforte Quintet) + Op. 56B. Variations, Haydn's Theme + +PIANOFORTE AND VIOLIN. + + Op. 78. Sonata, G major + Op. 100. " A major + Op. 108. " D minor + +PIANOFORTE AND VIOLONCELLO. + + Op. 38. Sonata, E minor + Op. 99. " F major + +PIANOFORTE AND CLARINET (OR VIOLA). + + Op. 120,} Sonata, F minor + No. 1 } + Op. 120,} " E flat major + No. 2 } + +TRIOS. + + Op. 8. Pianoforte, Violin, Violoncello, B major + Op. 87. Pianoforte, Violin, Violoncello, C major + Op. 101. Pianoforte, Violin, Violoncello, C minor + Op. 40. Pianoforte, Violin, Horn, E flat major + Op. 114. Pianoforte, Clarinet, Violoncello, A minor + +QUARTETS. + + Op. 25. Pianoforte, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, G minor + Op. 26. Pianoforte, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, A major + Op. 60. Pianoforte, Violin, Viola, Violoncello, C minor + +QUINTET. + + Op. 34. Pianoforte, 2 Violins, Viola, Violoncello, F minor + +PIANOFORTE WITH VOICES. + + Op. 52. Liebeslieder, Waltzer (voices _ad libitum_) + Op. 65. Neue Liebeslieder + +ORGAN. + + Op. 122. Eleven Chorale-Preludes + Chorale-Prelude and Fugue + Fugue in A minor + +STRINGS WITH ORCHESTRA. + + Op. 77. Violin Concerto, D major + Op. 102. Concerto for Violin and Violoncello, A minor + +STRING QUARTETS. + + Op. 51,} C minor + No. 1.} + Op. 51,} A minor + No. 2.} + Op. 67. B flat major + +STRING QUINTETS. + + Op. 88. F major + Op. 111. G major + Op. 115. Quintet for Clarinet, 2 + Violins, Viola, Violoncello, + B minor + +STRING SEXTETS. + + Op. 18. B flat major + Op. 36. G major + + +VOCAL MUSIC + +MIXED CHORUS WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 22. Marienlieder + Op. 29. Two Motets; five-part + Op. 42. Three Songs (Gesänge); six-part + Op. 62. Seven Songs (Lieder) + Op. 74. Two Motets; four- and six-part + Op. 93A Songs (Lieder) and Romances + Op. 104. Songs (Gesänge) + Op. 109. Fest and Gedenksprüche + Op. 110. Three Motets; four- and eight-part + German Folk-songs (dedicated + to the Vienna Singakademie) + +WOMEN'S CHORUS WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 37. Three Sacred Choruses + Op. 44. Twelve Songs and Romances + Op. 113. Thirteen Canons + +MEN'S CHORUS WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 41. Five Songs (Lieder) + +VOCAL MUSIC WITH ORCHESTRAL ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 12. Ave Maria: women's Chorus + Op. 45. A German Requiem: Soli and Chorus + Op. 50. Rinaldo: Tenor Solo and men's Chorus + Op. 53. Rhapsody: Contralto Solo and men's Chorus + Op. 54. Song of Destiny: mixed Chorus + Op. 55. Triumph-Song: double Chorus + Op. 82. Nänie: mixed Chorus + Op. 89. Song of the Fates: mixed Chorus + +VOCAL MUSIC VARIOUSLY ACCOMPANIED. + + Op. 13. Funeral Song: mixed Chorus and Wind + Op. 17. Songs for women's Chorus with accompaniment for + 2 Horns and a Harp + Op. 91. Two Songs for Contralto with Viola and Pianoforte + +CHORUSES WITH PIANOFORTE OR ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 12. Ave Maria: women's Chorus + Op. 27. The 13th Psalm: women's Chorus + Op. 30. Sacred Song: mixed Chorus + +CHORUSES WITH PIANOFORTE ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 93B. Tafellied: mixed Voices + German Folk-songs + +VOCAL QUARTETS WITH PIANOFORTE ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 31. Three Quartets + Op. 64. " " + Op. 92. Four " + Op. 112. Six " + Op. 52. Love Songs (Pianoforte duet) + Op. 65. New Love Songs (Pianoforte duet) + Op. 103. Gipsy Songs + +VOCAL DUETS WITH PIANOFORTE ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 20. Soprano and Contralto + Op. 61. " " + Op. 66. " " + Op. 28. Contralto and Baritone + Op. 75. Ballads and Romances + Op. 84. Romances and Songs + +SONGS FOR ONE VOICE WITH PIANOFORTE ACCOMPANIMENT. + + Op. 3. 6 Gesänge + Op. 6. 6 " + Op. 7. 6 " + Op. 14. 8 Lieder und Romanzen + Op. 19. 5 Gedichte + Op. 32. 9 Lieder und Gesänge + Op. 33. 15 Magelone Romanzen + Op. 43. 4 Gesänge + Op. 46. 4 " + Op. 47. 5 Lieder + Op. 48. 7 " + Op. 49. 5 " + Op. 57. 8 Lieder und Gesänge + Op. 58. 8 " " + Op. 59. 8 " " + Op. 63. 9 " " + Op. 69. 9 Gesänge + Op. 70. 4 " + Op. 71. 5 " + Op. 72. 5 " + Op. 84. 5 Romanzen und Lieder + Op. 85. 6 Lieder + Op. 86. 6 " + Op. 94. 5 " + Op. 95. 7 " + Op. 96. 4 " + Op. 97. 6 " + Op. 105. 5 " + Op. 106. 5 " + Op. 107. 5 " + Op. 121. 4 Gesänge + Mondnacht + (Total 195 Songs) + German Folk-songs + Children's Folk-songs + + + + + INDEX + + FOR INDEX OF WORKS, SEE CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE, P. 293. + + + A. + + Abel, II. 50, 51. + Aegidi, I. 259. + Ahle, J. H., II. 130. + Ahna, de, II. 204. + Ahsen, Jenny v., I. 239. + Albers, I. 73. + Albert, Eugen d', II. 232, 267, 270. + Albrechtsberger, I. 64, 67. + Allgeyer, Julius, I. 166; + II. 29, 42, 44, 90, 93, 104, 120, 159, 176, 185. + Arien, d', I. 84. + Arnim, Bettina v., I. 144. + " Gisela v., I. 195. + Artôt, I. 83. + Asmus, Christiana, I. 46. + Astor, II. 134. + Austria, Francis Joseph, Emperor of, II. 242. + + + B. + + Bach, Friedemann, II. 71. + " Philipp Emanuel, I. 113, 188. + " Johann Sebastian, I. 12, 13, 17, 18, 63, 65, 146, 188, 216, 234, + 244; + II. 20, 23, 115, 116, 119, 120, 130, 136, 141, + 148, 155, 168, 172, 180, 182, 218, 267, + 269, 277. + " Works of, played by Brahms on the pianoforte, + I. 15, 16, 185, 199, 201, 209, 215, 221, 235, + 272; + II. 13, 39, 40, 54, 60, 71, 86, 102. + Bachrich, II. 143, 246. + Bächthold, II. 229, 262. + Backhaus, I. 73. + Bade, Carl, I. 54; + II. 57, 80, 175. + Baden, Frederick, Grand-Duke of, II. 29. + Bagge, Selmar, II. 4, 26. + Baglehole, II. 102. + Balcke, I. 98. + Barbi, Alice, II. 270. + Bargheer, Carl, I. 208-210, 214, 215, 217, 245, 247; + II. 41, 137, 171, 204. + Bargiel, Woldemar, I. 126, 218, 275; + II. 187, 275. + Barth, Heinrich, II. 200, 204. + " Richard, II. 73, 183, 276. + Baumeyer, Marie, II. 201. + Baumgarten and Heins, I. 68, 88, 192. + Bavaria, Ludwig II., King of, I. 127, 131. + Bechstein, II. 195. + Becker, Dr., I. 257. + " Frau, I. 36. + " Hugo, II. 230, 282. + Beckerath, Alwyn v., II. 183, 213, 275. + Beethoven, Ludwig van, I. 104, 180, 197, 267, 283, 285, 289; + II. 1, 20, 23, 119, 123, 130, 139, 140, 148, + 152, 155, 164, 168, 171, 172, 177, 181, + 189, 198, 200, 212, 217, 218, 267, 287. + " Works played by Brahms, I. 59, 84, 96, 98, 186, 191, 199, + 206, 209, 215, 263, 272; + II. 13, 40, 54, 60, 70, 71, 86, + 139. + Begas, I. 92. + Bellini, I. 180. + Bennet, John, II. 25. + Bennett, W. Sterndale, I. 128, 197; II. 155. + Bergmann, Carl, I. 163. + Berlioz, Hector, I. 100, 124, 135, 136, 138, 139, 147, 286, 288; + II. 139. + Bernhard de Trèves, I. 290. + Berninger, II. 73. + Bernsdorf, Edward, I. 227, 228, 229; + II. 134, 154, 178. + Bernstorff, Countess, I. 107. + Bernuth, Julius v., II. 70, 166, 176, 183, 210. + Bibl, Rudolf, II. 4, 20, 117, 119. + Billroth, Theodor, II. 46, 47, 60, 62, 84, 90, 115, 119, 124, 137, + 140, 142, 149, 150, 163, 169, 184, 199, 201, + 203, 207, 237, 239, 240, 247, 248, 256, 258, + 259. + Birgfeld, I. 59, 79. + Bismarck, Otto v., II. 137, 240, 283. + Bizet, G., II. 242. + Blagrove, Henry, II. 53. + Blume, Amtsvogt, I. 78, 80, 94, 117, 164. + " Calculator, I. 97. + " " Frau, I. 98. + Bocklet, C. M. v., I. 64. + Böhm, Josef, I. 92, 102. + Böhme, F. M., II. 262. + Böie, John, I. 261, 268, 270, 277; + II. 143, 175. + Böie, Marie, I. 123, 266. + See also under Völckers. + Boieldieu, F. A., I. 236, 255; + II. 71. + Bölling, Bertha, I. 176, 184. + Boni, II. 94. + Borrisow, Rev. L., II. 103. + Börs, I. 84. + Börsendorfer, II. 9, 10. + Borwick, Leonard, II. 201. + Bosshard, II. 196. + Boston Symphony Orchestra, I. 273. + Brahms, Caroline, II. 45, 49, 79, 109, 110, 142, 175, 201, 253-255, + 278, 284, 290. + " Elise, I. 51, 74, 142, 205, 218; + II. 22, 27, 34, 35, 110, 175, 176. + See also under Grund. + " Fritz, I. 53, 70, 81; + II. 10, 27, 109-111, 175. + " Johann, I. 46. + " Johann Jakob, I. 48-60, 87, 130, 142; + II. 27, 35, 37, 38, 45, 49, 57-59, 73, 78, 79, + 80, 108, 109, 175, 176. + " Johanna Christiana, I. 51-54, 75, 81, 95, 121, 142; + II. 9, 34, 35. + See also under Nissen. + " Peter, I. 45, 46. + " Peter Hinrich, I. 47. + Brahmüller, II. 51. + Brandes, Emma, See Engelmann. + Brandt, Auguste, I. 239. + Branscheidt, II. 187. + Brassin, Louis, II. 88. + Breitkopf and Härtel, I. 123, 124, 129, 135, 141, 144, 162, 187, 191; + II. 26, 138. + Brendel, Franz, I. 102, 128, 138, 139, 249-253, 274, 275; + II. 95. + Brentano, Arnim, I. 169. + Breyther, F., I. 261, 270. + Broadwood, I. 197; II. 200. + Brodsky, II. 179. + Brouillet, II. 94. + Bruch, Max, II. 51, 73, 141, 168, 177. + Brückner, Anton, II. 4. + Brüll, Ignaz, II. 153, 163, 202, 207, 240, 288. + Bruyck, Carl Debrois van, I. 193, 194. + Bülow, Hans v., I. 26-31, 100, 103, 124, 128, 133, 139, 154, 211, + 217, 252; + II. 50-52, 148, 183, 191, 192, 198, 216, 217, 218, + 231, 232, 238, 241. + " Marie v., II. 51. + Bulthaupt, Heinrich, II. 91, 92, 157. + Burnett, II. 103. + Busch, II. 283. + Buths, Julius, II. 104. + + + C. + + Calderon, II. 91, 159. + Candidus, Carl, II. 162. + Carlyle, Thomas, I. 276. + Chamisso, Adalbert v., I. 89. + Chappell, S. Arthur, II. 53, 103. + Cherubini M. Luigi, I. 228; + II. 172. + Chopin, Frederic, I. 109; + II. 256. + Chorley, Henry, I. 180. + Chrysander, Friedrich, I. 283. + Cicero, I. 89. + Clasing, Heinrich, I. 63, 150. + Claus, Wilhelmine, I. 177. + Clementi, Muzio, I. 10, 21, 58. + Cobb, Gerard F., II. 103. + Conrat, Frau, II. 260. + " Hugo, II. 233, 234, 251, 260, 279, 282, 284. + " Ilse, II. 260, 261, 291. + Cordes, August, I. 215. + Cornelius, Peter, I. 103, 124; + II. 4, 14. + Cornet, Madame, I. 83, 84, 85, 90. + " Fräulein, I. 83, 84. 85. + See also under Passy-Cornet. + Cossel, Frau, I. 69; + II. 34, 175. + " Johanna, II. 34, 35. + " Marie, II. 175. + See also under Janssen. + " Otto Friedrich Willibald, I. 56-62, 66, 118, 143; + II. 175, 244. + Cossmann, Bernhard, I. 103, 140; + II. 31. + Couperin, François, I. 283; + II. 86. + Cramer, John, I. 58. + Cranz, August, I. 86; + II. 26, 83. + Cusins, G. W., II. 87, 103, 136, 156, 179. + Czartoriska, Prince Constantin, II. 18. + Czerny, Carl, I. 12, 58; + II. 290. + + + D. + + Dalfy, II. 20. + Dalwigk, Reinhard v., II. 10. + Dante, I. 89. + Danzer, II. 20. + Daumer, G. F., II. 93, 106. + David, Ferdinand, I. 140, 179, 180, 256, 263, 270; + II. 133, 135. + Davidoff, C., I. 263, 270. + Davies, Fanny, II. 233, 238, 250, 266. + Davison, J. W., I. 227. + Deichmann, I. 115-117. + Deiters, Hermann, I. 201; + II. 4, 77, 78, 81, 94, 122, 154, 162, 189, 272. + Denninghoff-Giesemann, I. 263-265. + See also under Giesemann. + Derenberg See under Eibenschütz. + Dessoff, Otto, II. 2, 15, 128, 142, 147. + Detmering, I. 61. + Detmold, Lippe-- + Leopold II., Prince of, I. 182, 216, 221, 246; + II. 41. + Dowager Princess of, I. 183. + Friederike, Princess of, I. 183, 208, 216, 233, 244. + Luise, Princess of, I. 183. + Pauline, Princess of, I. 183. + Devrient, Edward, II. 29, 30, 90. + Diabelli, Anton, II. 5, 14. + Dietrich, Albert, I. 93, 119, 120, 124, 126, 142, 145, 156, 158, 188, + 201, 203, 255, 256, 265, 267, 277, 278, 280; + II. 15, 38, 39, 42, 50, 54, 55, 59, 68, 73, 79, 93, + 97, 101, 114, 131, 136, 142, 187, 259. + " Clara, I. 255. + Dobyhal, II. 6. + Doetsch, II. 188. + Döhler, Theodor, I. 83. + Dömpke, II. 217. + Donizetti, I. 84. + Donnhorf, II. 186, 188. + Doppler, Franz, II. 16. + Door, Anton, I. 185; + II. 103, 202, 217, 237. + " Frau, II. 284. + Dörffel, A., II. 134, 152, 164, 165, 178, 179, 217. + Dräseke, Felix, I. 252. + Dumba, II. 282. + Dunkl, II. 98. + Dustmann, Louise, I. 277; + II. 128. + Dvorák, Anton, II. 143, 185, 280, 282, 288. + + + E. + + Eberhard, G., II. 137. + Eccard, J., II. 22, 116. + Eckert, Carl Anton, II. 2. + Ehlert, Louis, II. 153. + Ehrbar, Friedrich, II. 153, 163, 207, 208, 217, 237, 252, 253. + Ehrlich, Heinrich, I. 107, 122. + Eibenschütz, Ilona, II. 258. + Eichendorff, J. v., I. 89, 137. + Eldering, II. 276. + Ella, John, I. 197; + II. 102. + Engel, I. 272; + II. 42. + Engelmann, Dr. and Frau, II. 121, 138, 145, 154, 191. + " Dr., II. 274, 276. + Eötoos, Baroness, II. 191. + Epstein, Julius, II. 4, 6, 16, 202, 214, 217, 236, 259, 282. + Erard, I. 197. + Erk, II. 262. + Ernst, I. 96. + Essen, II. 142. + Eschmann, II. 46, 47. + Ettlinger, Anna, II. 31, 159. + Eyrich, II. 85, 162. + + + F. + + Faber, Arthur, II. 5, 16, 22, 202, 207, 217, 279, 283, 284, 285, 288. + " Bertha, II. 5, 22, 82, 279, 283. + See also under Porubszky. + Falk, Clementina, I. 14. + Farmer, John, II. 73, 75. + Fellinger, Dr. and Frau, II. 202, 203, 215, 244-246, 276, 279, 280, + 281, 286. + " Dr., II. 285, 288. + " Frau, II. 223, 226-228, 283, 291. + Ferrari, Frau, II. 20. + " Sophie, II. 87. + Feuerbach, Anselm, II. 29, 124-127. + " Henriette, II. 29, 197, 198. + Fichtelberger, II. 21, 39. + Fischer, Georg, I. 226. + Flatz, Franz, II. 18. + Fleming, Paul, II. 26. + Flotow, II. 173. + Folkes, II. 103. + Formes, I. 80. + Frank, Ernst, II. 146, 156. + Franz, Frau, II. 202. + " Robert, I. 126. + Fräsch, I. 85. + Frege, I. 228. + Freund, Robert, II. 251. + Fribberg, Franz, II. 15. + Friedländer, Theka, II. 103. + Froude, J., I. 276. + Fuchs, II. 202, 217, 288. + Fürchtgott, II. 9. + + + G. + + Gabrielli, Giovanni, II. 22. + Garcia, Manuel, I. 198. + Garibaldi, II. 243. + Gehring, Franz, II. 111. + Geibel, Emanuel, II. 33, 91. + Gericke, W., II. 205. + Gernsheim, Friedrich, II. 173. + Giesemann, Adolph, I. 71, 74, 78, 80, 81, 90, 94, 95, 113. + " Elise, I. 71-77, 80, 81, 90-92. + See also under Denninghoff. + Gille, II. 95. + Glade, I. 84. + Gleich, Ferdinand, I. 227, 229, 230, 231. + Gluck, C. W. v., I. 5, 201; + II. 86, 116. + Goethe, Wolfgang v., I. 16, 89, 180; + II. 24, 84, 94, 95, 96, 154, 202. + Goldmark, Carl, II. 4, 131, 143, 163, 202, 217, 239, 240, 259, 283. + Goldschmidt, Otto, I. 87, 180-182, 183, 184; + II. 200. + " Lind-, Jenny, I. 179-182, 183, 184. + Goltermann, C. E., I. 59. + " Louis, I. 59. + Gompertz-Betteheim, II. 233. + Gompertz, Richard, II. 183. + Gotha, Friedrich, Prince of, II. 84. + Götz, Hermann, II. 138, 156. + Götze, I. 138. + Gouvy, Theodor, I. 136, 180. + Gozzi, II. 92, 159. + Grädener, I. 207, 239; + II. 5, 173. + Graun, II. 98. + Grimm, Hermann, II. 92. + " Julius Otto, I. 134, 135, 142, 146, 154, 155, 188, 191, 207, + 211, 219, 223, 246, 251, 270; + II. 95, 146, 154, 166, 173, 176, 187, 190, 259. + " Marie, I. 142, 188, 211. + " Philippine, I. 207, 219. + Groth, Claus, I. 46, 49, 198, 201; + II. 71, 72, 91, 106, 122, 126, 127, 128, 173, 176, 229, + 234, 235. + Grove, George, I. 198. + Grüber, II. 262, 273, 283. + Grünberger, II. 279. + Grund, Elise, II. 286, 290. + See also under Brahms. + " Wilhelm, I. 88, 235, 268, 277; + II. 170, 172. + + + H. + + Hafner, Carl, I. 260, 261, 263. + Hallé, Charles, II. 103. + " Lady, See Norman-Néruda. + Hallier, I. 258, 259, 262; + II. 175. + " Julie, I. 268, 269. + Handel, G. F., I. 113, 216, 244; + II. 98, 115, 116, 117, 136, 172. + Handel's 'Saul', I. 280; + II. 118. + Hanover, George V., King of, I. 107; + II. 48, 120, 238. + " Queen of, II. 238, 287. + " Marie, Princess of, II. 287. + Hanslick, Edward, I. 168, 180, 190, 230; + II. 4, 8, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 23, 61, 68, 69, 113, + 142, 143, 150, 151, 170, 171, 173, 174, 202, + 208, 212, 213, 217, 229, 237, 240, 242, 247, + 259, 272, 278, 279, 282, 283. + Hare, I. 276. + Hauptmann, Moritz, I. 136, 187. + Hauser, II. 31. + " Frau, II. 94. + Hausmann, Fräulein, II. 94. + " Robert, I. 40; + II. 204, 222, 223, 230, 231, 280. + Heermann, II. 102, 204. + Hegar, Friedrich, II. 39, 47, 78, 95, 137, 138, 196, 229, 251, 252, + 270. + Heldburg, Helene, Baroness v., II. 194, 195, 287. + Heller, Stephen, I. 126, 180. + Hellmesberger, Josef, II. 3, 6, 7, 14, 15, 23, 52, 68, 122, 140, 143, + 146, 156, 181, 204, 222, 250. + Henschel, Georg, II. 137, 152, 231, 233. + " Lilian, II. 233. + Hensel, Fanny, II. 91. + Henselt, Adolf, II. 95. + Herbeck, Johann, II. 2, 108, 141, 142. + Herder, I. 166; II. 84. + Hermann, I. 270. + Herz, Henri, I. 59, 84. + Herzog, I. 84. + Herzogenberg, Heinrich v., II. 134, 154, 274, 275. + " Elisabeth v., II. 134, 154. + Hesse, Anna, Landgräfin of, II. 32. + " Alexander Friedrich, Landgraf of, II. 32, 33, 146, 216, 229, + 230, 236, 271. + Heuberger, Richard, I. 99; + II. 42, 89, 158, 162, 163, 186, 276, 288. + Hildebrant, II. 291. + Hille, I. 154. + Hiller, Ferdinand, I. 101, 118, 179, 203; + II. 40, 118, 173, 187, 203. + Himmelstoss, II. 104, 183. + Hirsch, R., II. 16, 53, 62, 151. + Hirschfeld, II. 74. + Hoch, II. 122. + Hoffmann, E. T. A., I. 89, 93, 116, 121, 164. + " J. F., I. 66, 188. + Hölderlin, F., II. 77, 104, 105, 205. + Hohenemser, II. 82. + Hohenlohe, II. 195. + Hohenthal, Ida, Gräfin v., I. 135, 144. + Holmes, Henry, II. 103. + " W. H., II. 102. + Holstein, Franz and Hedwig v., I. 136; + II. 134, 154. + See also under Salamon. + Honnef, I. 83. + Honroth, I. 261. + Hopfer, Bernhard, II. 138. + Hoplit, See Pohl, R. + Hornbostel, v., II. 279. + Hubay, Eugen, II. 222. + Hübbe, Walter, I. 241, 258. + Hullah, John, II. 56, 87. + Hummel, J. N., II. 95. + Hummer, II. 246. + Hunger, I. 270. + + + I. + + Isaak, Heinrich, II. 20, 116. + + + J. + + Jacobsen, II. 79. + Jaell, Alfred, I. 217; + II. 102. + Jahn, Otto, I. 180, 195, 198, 201, 249, 257. + Janetschek, II. 278. + Janovitch, I. 93. + Japha, Louise, I. 67, 88-90, 93, 113, 119, 121, 125, 144, 145; + II. 76. + " Minna, I. 90, 93, 121, 144. + Jansen, Gustav, I. 123. + Janssen, Marie, II. 243, 244. + See also under Cossel. + Jenek, II. 246. + Jenner, II. 186, 234-236. + Joachim, Amalie, II. 17, 26, 33, 73, 95, 117, 121, 135. + " Joseph, I. 39, 40, 65, 95, 100, 102-108, 112-114, 123-126, + 139, 144, 147, 154-158, 172-175, 182, 183, 186, + 187, 200, 203, 204-207, 211-213, 221-223, 225, + 226, 232-236, 245, 247, 249-252, 255-260, 262, + 263, 267, 268, 271, 277; + II. 10, 11, 15, 48, 50, 51, 53, 59, 60, 69, 71, 73, + 92, 101, 102, 103, 116, 121, 122, 124, 134, 141, + 146, 147, 148, 154, 155, 166, 167, 170, 171, 174, + 175, 177-179, 182, 187-189, 190, 198, 204, 209, + 210, 223, 230, 231, 233, 234, 236, 238, 246, 249, + 250, 259, 265, 269, 270, 275, 279, 280, 281, 289. + + + K. + + Kahnt, II. 50. + Kalbeck, Max, I. 49, 87, 148, 280; + II. 144, 217, 229, 288. + Karpath, Ludwig, II. 277. + Kayser, I. 261. + Keiser, Reinhard, I. 113. + Keller, Gottfried, II. 46, 137, 162, 222, 229. + Kemp, Stephen, II. 201. + Kiel, Friedrich, II. 51. + " Capellmeister, I. 183, 209, 222, 247. + Kirchner, Theodor, I. 120, 126, 157, 275; + II. 39, 45-47, 50, 134, 154, 173, 229, 259. + Kleinecke, II. 68. + Kleist, Heinrich v., II. 155. + Klems, I. 168. + Klindworth, Carl, I. 109, 111, 112, 144. + Klinger, Max, II. 273. + Klopstock, I. 89, 113. + Knaus, II. 207. + Kneisel, I. 273. + Koch, Town-musician, I. 91. + " Sophie, I. 91. + " General-Secretary, II. 285. + " Ludwig, II. 288. + Köhler, Louis, I. 227. + " Dr., I. 96. + " Rector, I. 73, 78; + II. 32. + Königslow, Otto v., I. 256, 277; + II. 40. + Koning, II. 203. + Köppelhöfer, I. 85. + Köstlin, Professor, II. 203. + " Josephine Lang, II. 203. + Krause (Pianist), I. 138. + Krause, (Singer), II. 38. + " Emil, I. 192. + Krauss, Dr., II. 87, 94, 116. + Krebs, Marie, II. 103. + Kreisler, Johannes (Pseudonym for Joh. Brahms), I. 93, 122, 146. + Kreisler, Fritz, II. 179. + Kremser, Edward, II. 177. + Krenn, Franz, II. 18. + Krziwanek, II. 264. + Krolop, Franz, II. 76. + Kufferath, Professor, II. 268. + " Antonia, II. 183, 205. + See also under Speyer. + Kuhnau, Johann, II. 80. + Krummholtz, I. 270. + Kundemann, II. 285. + Kürner, II. 94. + Kyllmann, I. 256, 257; + II. 187. + + + L. + + Lachner, Franz, I. 180; + II. 88, 230. + Lallement, Avé, I. 207, 232, 233, 258, 268, 277; + II. 10, 11. + Lamond, Frederic, II. 201, 216. + Lange, S. de, II. 116. + Langhans-Japha, Louise, See under Japha. + Lasserre, II. 102. + Lasso, Orlando di, I. 188. + Laub, Ferdinand, I. 136; + II. 15. + Laurens, de, I. 122, 169. + Lee, Louis, I. 260, 261, 268, 270; + II. 143. + Lehmann, II. 75. + Lemke, Carl, II. 162. + Le Roy, Guillaume, I. 290. + Leser, I. 169, 255. + Lessing, Gotth. Eph., I. 89, 113. + " C. F., I. 120. + Levi, Hermann, II. 30, 38, 90, 93, 94, 104, 111, 120, 129, 133, 136, + 137, 147, 159, 184, 185. + " (Publisher), II. 10. + Levin, II. 143. + Leyen, Rudolf v. der, II. 183, 275. + Lind, Jenny, See under Goldschmidt. + Liszt, Franz, I. 100, 101, 103, 108-112, 124, 128, 135, 136, 139, 144, + 147, 180, 181, 211-213, 249-252; + II. 46, 95, 132, 191, 271, 290. + Litolff, Henry, I. 90. + Little, Lena, II. 233. + Lohfeldt, Rudolph, I. 86. + Lorscheidt, II. 187. + Löwe, I. 74. + " J. C. G., II. 70. + " Sophie, II. 103. + Löwenherz, Aaron, I. 76, 77, 264. + Lükbe, II. 46. + Luther, Martin, II. 63. + + + M. + + Maier, II. 26. + Mangold, C. F., I. 126. + Manns, August, II. 102, 179. + Mannstädt, II. 207, 216. + Mara, La, I. 59, 67, 85, 131, 140, 147. + Marks, G. W. (ps. Joh. Brahms), I. 86. + Martucci, II. 229. + Marxsen, Edward, I. 57-61, 63-68, 74, 79, 84, 85, 89, 90, 97, 113, + 118, 143, 147-152, 161, 187; + II. 9, 10, 28, 62, 175, 200, 230, 231. + Mason, William, I. 108, 109, 111, 128, 163, 273; + II. 53. + Mattheson, Johann, I. 113. + May, Florence, II. 103, 200. + Meinhardus, Ludwig, II. 174. + Mendelssohn, Felix, I. 21, 99, 100, 101, 180, 216, 226, 227, 238; + II. 22, 91, 118, 132, 141, 174, 177, 191, 198, + 268, 288. + Menzel, Adolph v., II. 270. + Meyer, I. 73. + " C., I. 85. + " David, I. 79. + Meyerbeer, II. 18. + Meysenbug, Carl v., I. 204, 205, 208-210, 214, 223, 243, 246; + II. 41, 68, 121, 190. + " Hermann v., I. 214, 217, 240. + " Hofmarschall v., I. 208, 246. + " Frau v., I. 214, 216. + " Fräulein v., I. 204, 208, 240. + Michalek, II. 285. + Miller, Christian, I. 69, 90. + " Victor v. zu Aichholz, II. 202, 239, 279, 283, 284, 285, 288, + 291. + Mollenhauer, I. 85. + Moltke, v., II. 240. + Morley, John, II. 25. + Moscheles, Ignaz, I. 216. + Moser, Andreas, I. 107, 155, 249. + Mozart, Wolfgang A., I. 17, 18, 70, 220, 238, 267; + II. 116, 117, 141, 148, 171, 172, 177, 199, 200, + 202, 217, 270, 287. + Mozart's works played by Brahms, I. 59, 192, 215, 216, 262. + " 'Figaro's Hochzeit', I. 80, 81, 83, 84, 180; + II. 90. + Mühlfeld, Richard, I. 39, 40; + II. 248-251, 265-267, 283. + Müller, II. 203, 204. + + + N. + + Nagy, Zoltan, II. 233. + Naumann, Ernst, I. 120, 126, 157, 158; + II. 94, 95. + Néruda, Franz, II. 147. + Neumann, Carl, I. 167; + II. 197. + Niebuhr, I. 46. + Nissen, the sisters, I. 54. + " Johanna H. Christiana, See under Brahms. + Norman, Ludwig, I. 126. + Norman-Néruda, Wilhelmine, II. 103, 147, 183, 204. + Nottebohm, M. G., II. 3, 16, 22. + Novello, Clara, I. 104. + + + O. + + Oldenburg, Grand-Duke of, I. 267; + II. 10. + " Grand-Duchess of, II. 68. + Ophüls, G., II. 276. + Oser, Dr. and Frau, II. 163, 202. + Ossian, II. 84. + Otten, G. D., I. 186, 192, 206, 253. + Otterer, Christian, I. 59, 68; + II. 175. + Ould, C., II. 103. + + + P. + + Paganini, Nicolo, II. 60. + Palestrina, G. P. da, I. 188, 250; + II. 292. + Pänzer, II. 60. + Paque, W., II. 53. + Passy-Cornet, II. 5, 9, 13. + See also under Cornet. + Paul, Jean (F. Richter), I. 89, 116, 170, 173. + " Jeanette, I. 138. + Perger, Richard v., II. 288, 289. + Peroni-Glasbrenner, I. 154. + Peters, II. 138. + Petersen, II. 241, 242. + Pezze, II. 103. + Pfund, I. 228. + Piatti, Alfredo, II. 53, 103, 147, 204, 250. + Piening, II. 276. + Pohl, C. F., II. 4, 202, 259. + " Richard (Hoplit), I. 140, 189, 190, 193; + II. 31. + Pope, Alexander, I. 89. + Popper, David, II. 143, 222. + Porubszky, Bertha, I. 239, 258. + See also under Faber. + Possart, Ernst v., II. 188. + Potter, Cipriani, II. 87. + Prückner, Dionys, I. 108, 124. + Pyatt, G., II. 103. + Pyllemann, Franz, II. 117. + + + R. + + Radicati di Marmorito-- + Count, II. 93. + Countess, II. 93. + See also under Julie Schumann. + Raff, Joachim, I. 100, 103, 108, 136; + II. 51. + Rameau, J. P., I. 38. + Raphael, I. 140. + Redeker, II. 103. + Regan, Anna, II. 87. + Reichhardt, J. F., II. 94, 95. + Reimann, Heinrich, I. 234; + II. 9, 142, 278, 284. + Reimers, Christian, I. 116, 256. + Reinecke, Carl, I. 118, 259; + II. 87, 132, 173. + Reinhold, II. 143. + Reinthaler, Carl Martin, II. 55, 56, 59, 60, 73-76, 91, 98, 112, 173. + " Henriette, II. 76, 211, 212. + Reuter, I. 266; II. 72. + Rheinberger, II. 131. + Richarz, I. 157. + Richter, Hans, II. 51, 163, 208, 217. + Rieckmann, I. 73, 82. + Riedel, II. 133. + Ries, Louis, II. 53, 103, 147. + Rieter-Biedermann, I. 257, 265, 278; + II. 26, 35, 43, 73, 81, 83. + Rietz, Julius, I. 180, 259; + II. 132, 136. + Risch, I. 83. + Ritter, I. 113. + Ritterhaus, II. 188. + Rittermüller, Philippine, See under Grimm. + Roeger-Soldat, Marie, II. 179, 283. + Röntgen, I. 270. + Rosa, Carl, I. 55. + Rosé, Arnold, II. 22, 246, 250, 266. + Rosegger, II. 215, 216. + Rosenhain, J., I. 83; + II. 28, 230. + Rösing, Elisabeth, I. 265, 276; + II. 10. + Rossini, G. A., I. 83. + Rottenberg, v., II. 186, 237, 240. + Röver, II. 6. + Rovetta, Giovanni, I. 188; + II. 22. + Rubinstein, Anton, I. 3, 65, 191, 192, 217; + II. 28, 108, 133, 139. + Rückert, Friedrich, II. 211. + + + S. + + S..., Agathe, I. 223, 224. + Sahr, Heinrich v., I. 134, 137, 256. + Salamon, Hedwig, I. 136-138. + See also under Holstein. + Sallet, Friedrich v., II. 161, 162. + Santley, Charles, II. 87. + Saxe-Meiningen-- + George, Duke of, II. 194-196, 207, 248, 287. + Marie, Princess of, II. 287. + Sayn-Wittgenstein, Princess Caroline v., I. 108. + Scarlatti, D., I. 5, 6, 18, 38, 197; + II. 54, 71, 102. + Schaafhausen, II. 188. + Schäfer, Julius, I. 126. + Schelle, II. 52, 54, 62, 119. + Schelper, II. 99. + Schiller, Friedrich, I. 89, 137, 138, 289; + II. 91, 92, 193, 197, 206. + Schirmer, J. W., I. 120. + Schleinitz, I. 136. + Schloenbach, I. 136, 138, 139. + Schmall, II. 143. + Schmidt, Julius, I. 209, 214-217, 245. + " Professor, II. 213. + Schnack, Caroline, II. 40, 41. + See also under Brahms. + " Fritz, II. 40, 45, 108, 109, 175, 254, 278, 290. + Scholz, Bernhard, I. 251; + II. 103, 104, 140, 166, 183, 275. + " Dr., II. 18. + Schröder, I. 73, 74, 90, 96. + Schröder-Devrient, I. 177. + Schubert, Franz, I. 21, 84, 235, 238, 267; + II. 5, 15, 116, 119, 130, 136, 162, 174, 212, 274, + 287. + " Works played by Brahms, I. 5, 186, 199, 205, 209, 215, 236, + 263, 268; + II. 42, 54, 60, 70, 71, 86. + Schübring, A., I. 118, 274, 275; + II. 73. + Schultz, A., II. 18. + Schulze, I. 209, 245. + Schumann, Clara, I. 1-9, 13, 15, 22, 23, 65, 89, 104, 119, 125, 144, + 155, 159, 160, 163-178, 181-185, 192, 193, + 194-198, 201-206, 210, 211, 218-220, 222, 259, + 260, 262, 267-271, 273, 278; + II. 48, 68, 73, 79, 80, 94, 101, 102, 103, 111, 121, + 122, 154, 167, 171, 187, 188, 203, 204, 230, + 255, 258, 259, 268, 269, 275. + " Robert, I. 65, 89, 101, 102, 113, 116, 118-132, 133, 134, + 143, 154-158, 167-178, 179, 186, 187, 189, 190, + 194, 195, 198, 201-203, 255, 256; + II. 3, 20, 25, 26, 74, 113, 116, 121, 132, 136, 141, + 148, 166, 171, 172, 186-189, 190, 191, 198, 255, + 256, 275. + " Works played by Brahms, I. 186, 191, 206, 215, 216, 246, + 247, 253, 263; + II. 7, 13, 39, 42, 54, 60, 70, 86, + 102, 189. + " Elise, I. 168, 173. + " Eugénie, I. 220; + II. 268. + " Felix, I. 219. + " Julie, I. 169, 279; + II. 93. + " Marie, I. 168, 173, 252, 262; + II. 48, 73, 268. + Schütz, Heinrich, II. 22. + Schwarz, Johanna, II. 106. + Schwenke, I. 63. + Sechter, Simon, II. 3. + Seebach, Elizabeth v., I. 137. + Seebohm, II. 72. + Segisser, II. 31. + Seling, Emil, II. 278. + Sell, II. 275. + Senff, I. 141, 144; + II. 98. + Sengelmann, I. 239. + Seyfried, Ignaz v., I. 64, 67. + Seyfrix, II. 194. + Shakespeare, I. 258. + Shakespeare, W., II. 203, 233. + Siebert, II. 246. + Simrock, Fritz, I. 257; + II. 154, 202, 229, 271, 286. + " N., I. 257; + II. 10, 43, 81, 94, 98, 106, 124, 138, 203, 289. + Sittard, Josef, I. 151, 152; + II. 62, 218, 231, 241. + Smetansky, II. 130. + Sohn, Carl, I. 93, 120. + " Clara, See under Dietrich. + Sommerhoff, II. 265. + Sophocles, I. 89. + Speidel, II. 11, 12. + Spengel, Julius, I. 188; + II. 207, 234, 241. + Speratus, Paul, II. 26. + Speyer, II. 268. + See also under Antonia Kufferath. + Spiess, Hermine, II. 213, 229. + Spina, II. 5, 10, 15, 17, 26. + Spitta, Friedrich, II. 274. + " Philipp, I. 246; + II. 83, 134, 181, 219. + Spohr, L., I. 183, 208; + II. 171. + Stanford, C. V., II. 87, 103, 155, 156, 183, 270. + Steche, Lily, I. 138. + Stegmayer, F., II. 3, 17, 18, 26. + Stein, I. 180. + Steinbach, Fritz, II. 232, 267. + Steinbrügger, II. 31. + Steiner, A., II. 47, 138, 197, 229, 250, 269. + Stern, Adolph, II. 95. + Stern, Capellmeister, II. 88. + Stockhausen, Julius, I. 198, 199, 233-236, 255-257, 262, 263, 265, + 275; + II. 10, 11, 22, 35, 69-72, 73, 79, 81, 83, 84, + 85, 86, 87, 102, 104, 106, 111, 121, 137, + 154, 167, 187, 211, 259, 265, 268, 275, 289. + " Frau, II. 35, 73. + Stone, I. 277. + See also Minna Völckers. + Stradella, A., II. 71. + Straus, Ludwig, II. 103, 147, 238, 250. + Strauss, Richard, II. 216. + " Johann, I. 22; + II. 127, 202, 239, 249, 264, 279, 283. + " Joseph, II. 30. + Suter-Weber, II. 78. + Sybel, II. 248. + + + T. + + Tartini, I. 235, 247; + II. 60, 73. + Tasso, Torquato, I. 89; + II. 84. + Tausig, Carl, II. 4, 14, 23. + Taylor, Franklin, II. 103. + Telemann, G. P., I. 113. + Thalberg, Sigismund, I. 85, 87. + Thomas, Theodor, I. 163. + Thompson, II. 87, 102. + Thorwaldsen, II. 71. + Tieck, Ludwig, I. 265, 275, 276, 291, 303. + Tourgenieff, II. 31, 91. + Truxa, Celestine, II. 226-228, 246, 259, 285, 290. + + + V. + + Vega, Loppe de, II. 33. + Verhulst, I. 180; + II. 173, 191. + Versan, Raoul de, II. 103. + Vesque v. Püttlingen, Helene, I. 136, 137. + Viardot-Garcia, Pauline, II. 31, 94, 95, 102. + Vienna Singakademie concerts under Brahms, II. 20, 22, 23, 25, 26. + Vienna Gesellschaft concerts under Brahms, II. 116-120, 129-131, 136, + 139-141. + Vieuxtemps, Henry, I. 96, 98. + Vinci, Leonardo da, I. 218. + Viotti, II. 177. + Vogel, II. 107. + Vögl, Bernhard, II. 217. + Vogler, II. 18. + Völckers, Herr, I. 258, 265, 266. + " Betty, I. 255, 265, 266; + II. 175. + " Marie, I. 255, 265, 266; + II. 72, 82, 175. + See also under Böie. + " Minna, I. 266; + II. 73. + Volkland, Alfred, II. 134. + Volkmann, R., II. 130. + Voss, J. Heinrich, II. 91. + + + W. + + Wachtel, Theodor, I. 84. + Wäfelghem, II. 102. + Wagner, Friedchen, I. 192, 218, 219, 238, 239, 240, 241, 269; + II. 175. + " Thusnelda, I. 239. + " Richard, I. 100, 101, 103, 105, 252, 287-290; + II. 14, 30, 95, 141, 157-159, 184, 185, 186. + Wahrendorf, Fritz, I. 88. + Waiz, I. 113. + Wallace, Lady, II. 91. + Walter, Gustav, II. 85, 94, 233. + " Fräulein, II. 233. + Wasielewsky, Josef v., I. 114-116, 118, 132, 195; + II. 121. + Webbe, Septimus, II. 201. + Weber, C. M. v., I. 67, 288; + II. 18, 174, 249, 283. + Wehermann, II. 275. + Wehner, I. 118, 137. + Weigand, II. 133. + Weiglein, II. 233. + Weiss, Amalie, See under Joachim. + Weitzmann, I. 251 + Wendt, Gustav, I. 148; + II. 31, 229, 230, 264. + Wenzel, Ernst F., I. 134, 144. + Wesendonck, II. 46. + Westermann, II. 42. + Widmann, J. V., I. 67, 86; + II. 39, 89, 138, 156-161, 193, 194, 221-225, 229, 230, + 238, 239, 243, 251-253, 258, 269, 270, 272. + Wieck, Friedrich, I. 134. + " Marie, I. 134. + Wiedemann, II. 94. + Wiemann, I. 261. + Wiesemann, I. 203. + Wildenbruch, Ernst v., II. 222. + William I., German Emperor, II. 69, 116, 137. + William II., German Emperor, II. 69. + Wilsing, E. F., I. 126. + Wilt, II. 13, 20, 87, 99, 116. + Winter, II. 84. + Wittgenstein, II. 202, 283. + Wolf, Hugo, II. 220. + Wolff-Homersee, Baroness, See under Barbi. + Woronzow, I. 56. + Wrede, II. 187. + Wüllner, Franz, I. 116; + II. 117, 166. + + + Y. + + Young, Edward, I. 89. + + + Z. + + Zelter, II. 94. + Zerbini, II. 53, 147. + Zimmermann, Agnes, II. 103. + " Dr. v., II. 288. + + THE END + + BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD. + + + + + Telegrams: 41 and 43 Maddox Street, + 'Scholarly, London.' Bond Street, London, W., + _November, 1908_. + +Mr. Edward Arnold's List of New Books. + + THE REMINISCENCES OF + LADY RANDOLPH CHURCHILL. + + By Mrs. GEORGE CORNWALLIS-WEST. + + _Second Impression._ + + _Demy 8vo. With Portraits._ =15s. net.= + +The title of this delightful book gains point from its contents. Mrs. +George Cornwallis-West is unable to bring her recollections down to the +immediate present, and so she brings them to a close when she ceased to +be Lady Randolph Churchill. But that was only a few years ago, and it is +doubtful whether any volume of reminiscences of Society has ever +described the life of the interesting and distinguished people so close +to our own day. + +Lady Randolph Churchill's earliest experiences were in Paris during the +last gay days of the Empire and the horrors of the Franco-German War. +Then came her marriage and introduction to all that was best and highest +in English Society. In 1876 Lord and Lady Randolph accompanied the Duke +of Marlborough to Dublin, and her account of life at the Viceregal Court +is full of entertainment. Then come recollections of political society +in London, of the formation of the Primrose League, and anecdotes of +well-known politicians, such as Mr. Balfour, Sir William Harcourt, Mr. +Chamberlain, and others. + +Lady Randolph visited the Royal Family both at Windsor and at +Sandringham: she has also many interesting glimpses to give of +Continental Society, including an audience of the Czar in Russia, Court +functions at Berlin, a dinner-party with Bismarck, a friendship with +General Boulanger. Such are some of the varied items that catch the eye +as one turns over the pages. They are samples from a mine of well-chosen +topics, handled with tact, courage and grace. + +LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD. 41 & 43 MADDOX STREET. W. + + + EIGHTEEN YEARS IN UGANDA + AND EAST AFRICA. + + By the Right Rev. ALFRED R. TUCKER, D.D., LL.D., + BISHOP OF UGANDA. + + _With 60 Full-page Illustrations from the Author's Sketches, several + of them in Colour, and a Map. In Two Volumes. Demy 8vo._ =30s. net.= + +This is a book of absorbing interest from various points of view, +religious, political and adventurous. It will appeal to the Churchman +and philanthropist as a wonderful record of that missionary work, of +which Mr. Winston Churchill has recently said: + + 'There is no spot under the British Flag, perhaps in the whole + world, where missionary enterprise can be pointed to with more + conviction and satisfaction as to its marvellous and beneficent + results than in the kingdom of Uganda.' + +It will interest the politician as a chapter of Empire-building, in +which the author himself has played no small part. Lastly, it will +delight all those who travel or who love reading about travel. The +Bishop describes his wanderings, mostly afoot, through nearly 22,000 +miles of tropical Africa. He tells of the strange tribes among whom he +dwells, of the glories of the great lakes and the Mountains of the Moon. +He tells of them not only with the pen, but also with pencil and brush, +which he uses with masterly skill. + + + ON SAFARI. + + Big-Game hunting in British East Africa, with Studies in Bird-Life. + + By ABEL CHAPMAN, F.Z.S., + AUTHOR OF 'WILD NORWAY,' 'BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS,' 'WILD SPAIN,' + ETC. + + _With 170 Illustrations by the_ AUTHOR _and_ E. CALDWELL. _Demy 8vo._ + =16s. net.= + +The author of this fascinating book is a well-known ornithologist, as +well as a mighty hunter and traveller. He takes us 'on safari' (_i.e._, +on trek) through a new African region--a creation of yesterday, +Imperially speaking, since British East Africa only sprang into +existence during the current decade, on the opening of the Uganda +Railway. 'The new Colony,' he says, 'six times greater in area than the +Mother Island, is an Imperial asset of as yet unmeasured possibilities, +consisting, to-day, largely of virgin hunting grounds, unsurpassed on +earth for the variety of their wild fauna, yet all but unknown save to a +handful of pioneers and big-game hunters.' Much knowledge, however, can +be acquired through the pages and pictures of this book, describing, as +it does, the vast tropical forests, with their savage inhabitants and +teeming animal life. The numerous illustrations of African big game, +owing to the expert knowledge of both author and artist, are probably +the most accurate that have ever appeared. + + + OLD AND ODD MEMORIES. + + By the Hon. LIONEL A. TOLLEMACHE, + AUTHOR OF 'TALKS WITH MR. GLADSTONE,' 'BENJAMIN JOWETT,' ETC. + + _Denny 8vo. With Portraits._ =12s. 6d. net.= + +One of the most brilliant men of his day, only prevented, probably, by +the physical infirmity of near-sightedness, from being also one of the +most prominent, gives us in this volume a collection of remarkably +interesting reminiscences, which extend over half a century. They +include, mostly in anecdotal form, life-like portraits of the author's +father, the first Baron Tollemache (another Coke of Norfolk, but with +more eccentricities), and of Dr. Vaughan of Harrow. The author's years +at Harrow, of which he records his memories, were from 1850 to 1856, and +those at Oxford from 1856 to 1860. The book contains, besides, a number +of characteristic stories, now for the first time given to the public, +of the Duke of Wellington, Lord Houghton, Lord and Lady Mount Temple, +Fitz-James Stephen, to take but a few names at random from these +fascinating pages. + + + IN SEARCH OF A POLAR + CONTINENT. + + By ALFRED H. HARRISON, F.R.G.S. + + _Illustrated from Photographs taken by the Author in the Arctic + Regions, and a Map. Derry 8vo._ =12s. 6d. net.= + +The white North continues to exert its magnetism upon British explorers. +Mr. Harrison's object was to explore the unknown region off the North +American Coast of the Arctic Ocean, but he first travelled 1,800 miles +by waterway through Northern Canada, till he arrived at the delta of the +Mackenzie River. There he was frozen in and delayed for three months. He +then continued his journey to the Arctic Ocean with dogs, but was +obliged to abandon his supplies. He hoped to obtain provisions at +Herschel Island, but being disappointed in this, he went into the +mountains and spent two months with the Eskimo, whose manners and +customs he describes. He next returned to Herschel Island and made a +voyage to Banks Land in a steam whaler. There, too, the failure of an +expected tender to arrive from San Francisco again defeated his hopes of +procuring supplies. Consequently he once more threw in his lot with the +Eskimo, between the Mackenzie Delta and Liverpool Bay, and spent a year +among them. + +Such are the adventures described in this interesting book, the last +chapter of which, explaining the author's plans for resuming his +enterprise, once more illustrates the fact that an Englishman never +knows when he is beaten. + + + CHRONICLES OF THE HOUGHTON + FISHING CLUB, 1822-1908. + + Edited by the Rt. Hon. Sir HERBERT MAXWELL, Bart., + AUTHOR OF 'MEMORIES OF THE MONTHS,' 'THE CREEVEY PAPERS,' + 'THE STORY OF THE TWEED,' 'BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES,' ETC. + + _With numerous Illustrations, many in Photogravure or on Japanese + Vellum, including facsimile Reproductions from Sketches by Landseer, + Chantrey, Turner, etc. + Demy 4to._ =£2 2s. net.= _Limited to 350 copies._ + +This sumptuous volume, which gives the history of one of the oldest and +most famous fishing clubs, on that finest of all English streams, the +Test, forms an unique addition to angling literature. The effect of +angling on literature has always been genial and discursive, and these +delightful Chronicles are no exception to the rule. They throw much +light on the changes which have affected social habits in general, and +the craft of fly-fishing in particular, during the best part of a +century. They contain not only records of sport, but various +contributions--literary and pictorial--to the club album, made by +celebrated members and visitors. These included Penn's well-known +fishing maxims, some portraits by Chantrey, several sketches by Landseer +and Sir Francis Grant, and one precious drawing from the hand of Turner. +In the leisurely old days of mail-coaches, the members of the club and +their guests had more time for such diversions, when the weather was +unfavourable to sport, than is the case in the present age of telegrams +and express trains. + + + IN OLD CEYLON. + + By REGINALD FARRER, + AUTHOR OF 'THE GARDEN OF ASIA.' + + _With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo._ =12s. 6d. net.= + +The shrines of Oriental romance have once more charmed the pen of Mr. +Reginald Farrer. His book has little concern with modern Ceylon, its +industries and exports. He tells rather of the bygone glories and +sanctities of ancient Lanka, when the island was the seat of a powerful +monarchy and a dominant church. He gladly deserts the beaten track for +the fastnesses of the jungle and the great dead cities whose bones lie +lost in a shoreless ocean of green. Under his guidance, all those who +love contemplation of 'old unhappy things and battles long ago' can +follow the tale of the Buddhist hierarchy and the Cingalese monarchy, +realizing their ancient glories amid the ruins where they lie buried, +and their final tragedy in the vast jungle that now for many centuries +has engulfed their worldly majesty. + +Nor is the interest of the book wholly antiquarian and historic, for +Ceylon--that Eastern Island of Saints--is a vast flowering garden, of +whose blossoms and paradises all votaries of horticulture will delight +to read in Mr. Farrer's pages. + + + THE BOOK OF WINTER SPORTS. + + With an Introduction by the Rt. Hon. the EARL OF LYTTON, + and contributions from experts in various branches of sport. + + Edited by EDGAR SYERS. + + _Fully illustrated. Dewy 8vo._ =15s. net.= + +Every winter more and more visitors are attracted to Switzerland, the +Tyrol, and Scandinavia, to take part in the various winter sports of +which this book is the first and only comprehensive account in English. +Each sport is dealt with separately by an expert. Thus, Mr. and Mrs. +Syers write on Skating, Mr. C. Knapp on Tobogganing, Mr. E. Wroughton on +Ski-running, Mr. Bertram Smith on Curling, Mr. E. Mavrogordato on Bandy, +and Mr. Ernest Law on Valsing on Ice. The various chapters give +instructions in practice, rules, records, and exploits, as well as +useful information as to hotels, hours of sunshine, the size and number +of rinks, and competitions open to visitors at the different centres. +The book contains a large number of original illustrations. It should be +indispensable, not only to experts in the various sports, but to the far +larger class of holiday-makers who engage in them as a pastime. + + + FIVE MONTHS IN THE HIMALAYAS. + + A Record of Mountain Travel in Garhwal and Kashmir. + + By A. L. MUMM, + LATE HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE ALPINE CLUB. + + _Magnificently illustrated with Photogravure Plates and Panoramas, and + a Map. Royal 8vo._ =21s. net.= + +The first and principal portion of this volume contains an account of a +journey through the mountains of Garhwal made by the author in May, +June, and July, 1907, with Major the Hon. C. G. Bruce and Dr. T. G. +Longstaff, whose names are already well known in connexion with +Himalayan mountaineering. The tour has considerable geographical +interest, which is enhanced by a magnificent series of original +photographs of scenes never before submitted to the camera, and it was +rendered memorable by the fact that in the course of it Dr. Longstaff +reached the summit of Trisul, 23,415 feet above the level of the sea, +the loftiest peak on the earth's surface whose actual summit has, beyond +all doubt or question, been trodden by man. + +Later on, Major Bruce and Mr. Mumm proceeded to Kashmir, where they +climbed Mount Haramukh, whose snowy crest is familiar to all visitors to +'the happy valley'; and made a 'high-level route' down the range of +mountains which separates Kashmir from Kagan. Their photographic spoils +were of an interest hardly inferior to those of the Garhwal journey. + + + PAINTING IN THE FAR EAST. + + An Introduction to the History of Pictorial Art in Asia, especially + China and Japan. + + By LAURENCE BINYON. + + _With 31 Full-page Illustrations in Collotype from Original Chinese + and Japanese Pictures. One Volume. Crown 4to._ =21s. net.= + +This important book is a pioneer work in the artistic interpretation of +the East to the West, and in the breaking down of the spiritual barriers +between them. For a basis of study of Eastern art, writes Mr. Binyon, +'the public at present has nothing but a few general misconceptions.' He +therefore puts forward his volume with the modest hope that it 'may not +be thought too presumptuous an attempt to survey the achievement and to +interpret the aims of Oriental painting, and to appreciate it from the +standpoint of a European in relation to the rest of the world's art. It +is the general student and lover of painting,' he continues, 'whom I +have wished to interest. My chief concern has been, not to discuss +questions of authorship or of archæology, but to enquire what æsthetic +value and significance these Eastern paintings have for us in the West.' +Besides its stimulating artistic criticism, the book is full of +interesting glimpses of Eastern history and thought in so far as they +have affected art, as well as of biographical sketches of Eastern +painters. + + + MADAME ELIZABETH DE FRANCE, + 1764-1794. + + A Memoir. + + By the Hon. Mrs. MAXWELL-SCOTT, + AUTHOR OF 'JOAN OF ARC,' 'ABBOTSFORD AND ITS TREASURES,' ETC. + + _With Coloured Collotype and other Illustrations. + Demy 8vo._ =12s. 6d. net.= + +Among the victims of the French Revolution, perhaps the figure which +excites most sympathy is that of the modest and heroic Princess whose +life is told in this deeply interesting memoir. Madame Elizabeth was the +sister of Louis XVI. Her life was at first one of calm and quiet. Her +studies, her charities, and her intimate friendships filled her time +until the storm broke over France, and she left her peaceful Montruil to +take her part in the dangers and sufferings of her family, and to be +their consoler in the time of trial. It was not till the King and Queen +had both been executed that Madame Elizabeth was brought from prison, +tried for corresponding with her brother, and condemned to the +guillotine. + +The fresh documents lately discovered by M. Lenotre have enabled the +author, who, by the way, is a great-granddaughter of Sir Walter Scott, +to throw much new light on the life of 'The Angelic Princess.' + + + SCOTTISH GARDENS. + + By the Right Hon. Sir HERBERT MAXWELL, Bart. + + Illustrated in Colour by MARY G. W. WILSON, + MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF SCOTTISH ARTISTS. + + _With 32 Full-page Coloured Plates. Crown 4to._ =21s. net.= + + _Also an Edition de Luxe, limited to 250 copies, at_ =£2 2s. net=. + +This work is the outcome of a desire to produce a volume worthy in every +respect of the beautiful gardens of Scotland. Sir Herbert Maxwell, whose +knowledge of the subject is probably unique, is personally acquainted +with the places described, and has throughout been in consultation with +the artist, Miss Wilson. Visitors to her studio in Edinburgh, or the +exhibitions of her work in London, will need no further testimony to the +charm of her pictures, which are here reproduced with the utmost care +and on the largest feasible scale. + +One of the objects of the work is to dispel certain popular fallacies as +to the rigours of the Scottish climate. Its chief aim, however, is to +present a typical selection of Scottish garden scenes representing all +styles and all scales, modest as well as majestic, and formal as well as +free, so that the possessor of the humblest plot of ground may be +stimulated to beautify it, with as fair hope of success, in proportion, +as the lord of many thousand acres. + + + ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS. + + By REGINALD FARRER, + AUTHOR OF 'MY ROCK GARDEN,' ETC. + + _With Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo._ =7s. 6d. net.= + +Like most hobbies, rock-gardening provides an endless topic of interest +for its devotees, and the lore of the subject is inexhaustible. At any +rate, Mr. Reginald Farrer, who is a recognized authority on the art, by +no means exhausted his stock of information and anecdote in his previous +work, 'My Rock Garden.' That garden, as most of his fellow-enthusiasts +know, is on the slopes of Ingleborough in Yorkshire, and it is a place +of pilgrimage for the faithful of this cult. As a writer, Mr. Farrer +combines a light and genial style with sound practical information, so +that his books are at once readable and instructive. Some idea of the +scope of the present volume may be gained from the list of chapters, +which is as follows: 1. Of Shrubs and their Placing. 2. Of Shrubs, +Mostly Evergreen. 3. Ranunculaceæ, Papaveraceæ, Cruciferæ. 4. A +Collecting Day above Arolla. 5. Between Dianthus and Epilobium. 6. From +Epilobium on through Umbelliferæ and Compositæ. 7. Of Odd Treasures. 8. +The Big Bog and its Lilies. 9. The Greater Bog Plants. 10. Iris. 11. The +Mountain Bog. 12. More of the Smaller Bog Plants. 13. The Water Garden. + + + THE HISTORY OF THE 'GEORGE' + WORN ON THE SCAFFOLD BY + KING CHARLES I. + + By SIR RALPH PAYNE-GALLWEY, Bart., + AUTHOR OF 'THE MYSTERY OF MARIA STELLA,' ETC. + + _Finely illustrated in Collotype. Royal 8vo._ =7s. 6d. net.= + +A 'George,' in the sense in which it is here used, is the jewelled +pendant of St. George and the Dragon which is worn by Knights of the +Garter. There are two of these 'Georges' used in the Insignia of the +Order. One is attached to the collar, and is worn only on solemn feasts: +the other is called 'the lesser George,' and is worn on general +occasions, attached to a chain or lace of silk. + +The sovereign is, of course, head of the Order, and Charles the First +was wearing his 'George' when he ascended the scaffold to be executed. +The question afterwards arose as to what had become of it, and it has +since been given up as lost. Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, however, who has +already, in his book on Maria Stella, proved himself a skilful literary +unraveller of historical mysteries, makes out a very good case, in his +new volume, for identifying the missing 'George' with one that is now in +King Edward's possession at Windsor. + + + A PARSON IN THE AUSTRALIAN + BUSH. + + By C. H. S. MATTHEWS, M.A., + LATE VICE-PRINCIPAL OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD, N.S.W. + + _Illustrated from Sketches by the_ AUTHOR, _etc. + Crown 8vo._ =6s. net.= + +The Rev. C. H. S. Matthews, better known in the bush of New South Wales +as 'Brother Charles,' is one of the founders and chiefs of an Anglican +Society called the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd, formed to minister +to the religious needs of those remote regions. During five years spent +almost entirely in itinerating in the 'back-blocks' of the colony, he +has had exceptional opportunities for studying bush-life. Finding, on +his return to England, a widespread interest in Australian affairs, +coupled often with an astonishing ignorance of the real Australia, it +occurred to him to set down his own experiences and views on various +Australian problems. Knocking about among the bushmen, camping with +sleeper-cutters and drovers, visiting the stations and selections +'out-back,' Mr. Matthews has caught the spirit and atmosphere of the +bush, with its mingled pathos, humour and humanity. The book should +appeal, not only to those interested in missionary enterprise, but to +all who like to learn how the other parts of the Empire live. + + + THE ROSE-WINGED HOURS. + + English Love Lyrics. + + Arranged by St. JOHN LUCAS, + EDITOR OF 'THE OXFORD BOOK OF FRENCH VERSE,' ETC. + + _Small 8vo., elegantly bound._ =5s. net.= + +The special claim of this anthology, arranged, as it is, by one of our +most promising younger poets, will be due to the prominence given in it +to the love-lyrics of those Elizabethan and Jacobean poets whose verse, +though really entitled to rank with the finest flowers of their +better-known contemporaries, is unduly neglected by the ordinary reader. +The love-lyric is, indeed, the only form in which a great many of the +lesser poets write anything at all memorable. + +Sidney and Campion, both writers of extraordinary power and sweetness, +devote themselves almost entirely to this form, and the strange and +passionate voice of Doune finds in it an accent of deep and haunting +eloquence. And since every love-lyric from Meleager to Meredith has a +certain deathless interest that is shared by every poem of its kind, no +matter how many the centuries between them, in this volume the great +line of the Elizabethans will lead to the nineteenth century poets, to +the singers of an epoch with a lyrical harvest as great, indeed, as all +the gold of Elizabeth. + + + THE MISTRESS ART. + + By REGINALD BLOMFIELD, A.R.A., + PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE TO THE ROYAL ACADEMY. + AUTHOR OF 'A HISTORY OF RENAISSANCE ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND.' + + _Crown 8vo._ =5s. net.= + +The author of this interesting book, who speaks, as it were, _ex +cathedrâ_, has here collected a series of eight lectures on architecture +delivered in the Royal Academy. In them he has endeavoured to establish +a standpoint from which architecture should be studied and practised. +His general position is that architecture is an art with a definite +technique of its own, which cannot be translated into terms either of +ethics or of any of the other arts, and the development of this thesis +involves a somewhat searching criticism of the views on architecture +advanced by Ruskin and Morris. + +The first four lectures deal with the study of architecture--its +relation to personal temperament, its appeal to the emotions, and its +limitations. In the last four, devoted to 'The Grand Manner,' the writer +has illustrated his conception of the aims and ideas of architecture by +reference to great examples of the art in the past. + + + WOODSMEN OF THE WEST. + + By M. ALLERDALE GRAINGER. + + _With Illustrations. Demy 8vo._ =7s. 6d. net.= + +This is an extremely interesting personal narrative of 'logging' in +British Columbia. 'Logging,' as everyone knows, means felling and +preparing for the saw-mill the giant timber in the forests that fringe +the Pacific coast of Canada, and it is probably true that no more +strenuous work is done on the face of the earth. Mr. Grainger, who is a +Cambridge Wrangler, has preferred this manual work to the usual mental +occupations of the mathematician, and gives us a vivid and graphic +account of an adventurous life. + + + ARVAT. + + A Dramatic Poem in Four Acts. + + By LEOPOLD H. MYERS. + + _Crown 8vo._ =4s. 6d. net.= + +The author of this play is a son of the late Frederick Myers, the +well-known authority on 'Psychical Research.' It is a poetical drama in +four acts, describing the rise and fall of the hero, Arvat. The time and +place are universal, as are also the characters. But the latter, though +universal, and therefore in a sense symbolic, are psychologically human, +and the significance of the action, heightened as it may be by +interpretation through the imagination, is nevertheless independent of +it. Thus Arvat's career, while providing subject-matter for a drama +among individuals in the flesh, may also be taken as the symbol of a +drama among ideas in the spirit. + + + PEEP-IN-THE-WORLD. + + A Story for Children. + + By Mrs. F. E. CRICHTON. + + _Illustrated by Harry Rountree. Crown 8vo._ =3s. 6d.= + +The author of this charming tale ought to take rank with such writers as +Mrs. Molesworth in the category of childhood's literature. The story +tells of a little girl who visits her uncle in Germany and spends a year +in an old castle on the borders of a forest. There she finds everything +new and delightful. She makes friends with a dwarf cobbler, who lives +alone in a hut in the forest, and knows the speech of animals and birds. +Knut, the cobbler, is something of a hermit and a misanthrope, but he is +conquered by Peep-in-the-World, whom he eventually admits to the League +of Forest Friends. She wants him to teach her how to talk to the wild +things of the woods, and though she has to leave Germany without +learning the secret, she gains a growing sense of the magic power of +sympathy and kindness. + + + LONDON SIDE-LIGHTS. + + By CLARENCE ROOK. + + _With Frontispiece by S. de la Bere. Crown 8vo._ =6s.= + +The author of these entertaining sketches has taken his place as an +ordinary Londoner who is a journalist as well. He has walked and ridden +about London with pennies in his pocket, eyes in his head, and a brain +behind the eyes. He has found secrets of London hotels, he has pierced +the problem of London traffic, he has been to queer boxing contests, and +he has been present at the birth of the popular song. He has sat in the +gallery of the House of Commons, and in the newspaper office that cuts +and carves its speeches. And he knows the story of the famous block in +Piccadilly. He has found, too, the problem of the London woman who is +alone. The problem also of those London children whom the Salvation Army +rescues. And at the end comes the 'Bath of Silence,' which gives the +City peace. + + + THE DOWAGER OF JERUSALEM. + + A Romance in Four Acts. + + By REGINALD FARRER, + AUTHOR OF 'IN OLD CEYLON,' 'MY ROCK GARDEN,' ETC. + + _Crown 8vo._ =3s. 6d. net.= + + + CHRONICLES OF SERVICE LIFE IN + MALTA. + + By Mrs. ARTHUR STUART. + + _Illustrated by Paul Hardy. Crown 8vo._ =6s.= + +Fiction is always the more interesting the more closely it is drawn from +life, and these sketches of naval and military society in Malta, +depicted in the form of stories, come from the pen of a lady who is +intimately acquainted with the life of which she writes. The names of +some of the stories, such as 'The Temptation of the Engineer,' 'The Red +Parasol,' 'The Prince, the Lady, and the Naval Captain,' will perhaps be +as good an indication as can be given of the character of the book. It +will doubtless appeal especially to those familiar with society at naval +and military stations, while the fact of its having a specific _milieu_, +should in no way detract from its general interest. 'Plain Tales from +the Hills' did not appeal only to the Anglo-Indian. + + + KNOWN TO THE POLICE. + + Memories of a Police Court Missionary. + + By THOMAS HOLMES, + AUTHOR OF 'PICTURES AND PROBLEMS FROM LONDON POLICE COURTS.' + + _Demy 8vo._ =10s. 6d. net.= + +There is probably no man living who is so well qualified as Mr. Holmes +to write the naked truth about the 'submerged tenth' of our population. +His are not the casual, superficial observations of the amateur, but the +first-hand experiences of one whose whole life is spent among the scenes +he describes. His work has lain among the hungry and thirsty; he has +visited the criminal in prison, and been face to face with the Hooligan +and the Burglar in their own haunts; but through all the gloom and +shadow of crime he has contrived to preserve a fellow-feeling with +humanity in its most depressing garb. Every chapter is full of interest, +of strange and quaint narratives in chequered pages of despair and hope. + + + VEGETARIAN COOKERY. + + By FLORENCE A. GEORGE, + AUTHOR OF 'KING EDWARD'S COOKERY BOOK.' + + _Crown 8vo._ =3s. 6d.= + +Some are vegetarians for conscience' sake, and others for the sake of +their health. Miss George caters for both these classes in her new book; +but she does not strictly exclude all animal food, since eggs, butter, +milk, cream and cheese form a large part of her dishes. As far as +possible, dietetic foods have been avoided in the recipes, as they are +often difficult to procure. Every recipe given has been tested to ensure +accuracy, and the simplest language is used in explaining what has to be +done. A special feature of the book is the large number of vegetable +soufflés and creams. The various chapters deal with Stock and Soups; +Sauces; Pastes, Borders and Garnishes; Casseroles, Patties, Pies, +Puddings and Timbales; Curries, Stews and Scallops; Galantines; +Croquettes; Vegetables; Aspics, Creams and Salads; Soufflés, Omelettes +and Egg Dishes; Aigrettes and Fritters; Savouries; Macaroni and Rice; +Sweets; and Menus. + + + THE SEEKERS. + + By FRANK SAVILE, + AUTHOR OF 'THE DESERT VENTURE,' ETC. + + _Crown 8vo._ =6s.= + +This is a stirring novel of adventure in Eastern Europe. A learned +Professor astonishes the British Association by announcing that he has +located the famous lost treasure of Diocletian, as buried somewhere in +the principality of 'Montenera.' This little State with its brave Prince +is hard pressed for funds to defend itself against more powerful +neighbours who aim at absorbing it, and the treasure would be +invaluable. Whether it was discovered or not, the reader learns in the +course of a spirited and exciting story. In reviewing the author's last +novel, 'The Desert Venture,' the _Times_ said: 'When you have agreed to +treat it as crude adventure, it is really as good as you can wish.' The +_World_ said: 'If Mr. Savile's style is to some extent modelled on that +of Merriman, this is no fault, but a virtue. And the reading world will +find that it may safely welcome such work as this on its own account--as +it assuredly will.' + + + THE WITCH'S SWORD. + + By DAVID KERR FULTON. + + _Illustrated by the Author. Crown 8vo._ =6s.= + +This work, by a new author, is of a highly imaginative and romantic +tendency, and deals with a most interesting period in Scottish history. +The hero, who tells his own story, is an All Hallows child, born in the +one weird hour which makes him kith and kin to the spirits of the air. +The mystery of Flodden and the strange events grouped round the ancient +tradition as to the fate of the gallant James are stirringly told, and +lead up to the dénouement, which comes with vivid unexpectedness at the +close of the book. + +The lonely orphan of a wronged father is unwittingly schooled to +vengeance by the fiery Welsh swordsman Jevan, who, at the instigation of +the dying old nurse, forges the wizard steel that gives the story its +name. + +A tender love idyll is woven into the tale and relieves the scenes of +violence through which the wearer of the Witch's Sword must fight his +way to honour and acceptance. + + + AMABEL CHANNICE. + + By ANNE DOUGLAS SEDGWICK, + AUTHOR OF 'VALERIE UPTON,' ETC. + + _Crown 8vo._ =6s.= + +Readers of 'Valerie Upton' will turn eagerly to Miss Sedgwick's new +novel. The scene is laid in England, and the principal characters are +four--Amabel Channice, her son, her husband, and another woman, Lady +Elliston. The relations between mother and son form the basis of the +story, and the dramatic situation begins when the son, a youth of +nineteen, broaches to his mother the question why she and his father do +not live together. Curiosity is thus awakened, and the emotional +atmosphere charged with uneasy expectation. Thereafter events move +quickly, reaching a dramatic climax within the space of a week. Further +than this it would not be fair to the author to reveal her plot. + + + A ROOM WITH A VIEW. + + By E. M. FORSTER, + AUTHOR OF 'THE LONGEST JOURNEY,' 'WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD,' ETC. + + _Crown 8vo._ =6s.= + +A novelist's third book, when its predecessors have shown great promise, +is generally held to make or mar his reputation. There can be no +question that Mr. Forster's new story will effectually establish his +position. It is a comedy, having more affinity in style with his first +book, 'Where Angels Fear to Tread,' than with 'The Longest Journey.' The +author's whimsical humour, and unexpected turns of satire, have attained +a still more piquant quality. He excels especially in satirizing the +banalities of ordinary conversation, and his dialogue is always +deliciously amusing. + + + MIRIAM. + + By EDITH C. M. DART. + + _Crown 8vo._ =6s.= + +This is a promising first novel by a new writer, whose style is +remarkable for delicate workmanship. The story moves round the dying +fortunes of an old country family and its ancestral home. The hero +belongs to another branch of this family, and there is a mystery about +his birth. The heroine is an orphan, the daughter of a yeoman father and +a French mother. Another important character is a scheming lawyer, and +with these threads of love and intrigue the author has woven an +interesting plot which is cleverly worked out. + + + THE DRESSING OF MINERALS. + + By HENRY LOUIS, M.A., + PROFESSOR OF MINING AND LECTURER ON SURVEYING, ARMSTRONG COLLEGE, + NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE. + + _With about 400 Illustrations. Royal 8vo._ =30s. net.= + +The object of this book is to fill a gap in technological literature +which exists between works on Mining and works on Metallurgy. On the +intermediate processes, by which the minerals unearthed by the miner are +prepared for the smelter and for their use in arts and manufactures, no +English text-book has yet appeared. The present work should, therefore, +be very welcome to students, as well as to miners and metallurgists. + + + THE GEOLOGY OF ORE DEPOSITS. + + By H. H. THOMAS and D. A. MACALISTER, + OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. + + _Illustrated. Crown 8vo._ =7s. 6d. net.= + +This book belongs to a new series of works under the general editorship +of Dr. J. E. Marr, F.R.S., for students of economic geology, a subject +which is receiving more and more attention in our great educational +centres. It is also hoped that the series will be useful to students of +general geology, as well as to surveyors and others concerned with the +practical uses of geology. The chapters in the present volume treat +severally on the Genesis of Ore Deposits, Segregation, Pneumatolysis, +Metasomasis, Deposition from Solution, Sedimentary Deposits, and +Secondary Changes in Lodes. + + + STEEL ROOF AND BRIDGE DESIGN. + + By W. HUME KERR, M.A., B.Sc., + LECTURER ON ENGINEERING, DRAWING AND DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH. + + _With detailed Drawings. Demy 8vo._ =10s. 6d. net.= + +In accordance with a need long felt by engineering students, this work +presents the complete designs of four typical structures--two roof +trusses and two bridges--worked out with full arithmetical calculation +of stresses. There is a minimum of theory, and the author's object has +been to make the methods of design so clear as to enable students and +engineers to proceed to design independently. + + + THE BODY AT WORK. + + By ALEX HILL, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.S., + SOMETIME MASTER OF DOWNING COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. + AUTHOR OF + 'AN INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE,' 'THE PHYSIOLOGIST'S NOTE-BOOK,' ETC. + + _With Illustrations, xii + 452 pages, Demy 8vo._ =16s. net.= + +This is a book for the non-professional reader, not a regular text-book +for the medical student. It does not assume any technical knowledge of +the sciences, such as chemistry, physics and biology, which lead up to a +formal study of physiology. Dr. Hill describes the phenomena of life, +their interdependence and causes, in language intelligible to people of +general education, and his book may be compared in this respect with Dr. +Hutchison's well-known work on 'Food.' There is perhaps a prejudice +against the ordinary popularizer of scientific knowledge, but when a +master of his subject takes up his pen to write for the public, we +cannot but be grateful that he has cast aside the trammels of the +text-book, and handled subjects of vital interest to humanity in so +broad and philosophic a manner. + + + A TEXT-BOOK OF EXPERIMENTAL + PSYCHOLOGY. + + By Dr. C. S. MYERS, + PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY AT KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON UNIVERSITY. + + _Crown 8vo._ =8s. 6d. net.= + +The lack of a text-book on Experimental Psychology has been long felt, +the literature of the subject having been hitherto so scattered and +profuse that the student has to collect a small library of books and +periodicals. The present work gives an account of the more important +results obtained, and describes methods of experiment, with practical +directions for the student. + + + APPLIED PHYSIOLOGY. + + A Handbook for Students of Medicine. + + By ROBERT HUTCHISON, M.D., F.R.C.P., + PHYSICIAN TO THE LONDON HOSPITAL, AND ASSISTANT PHYSICIAN TO THE + HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN. + AUTHOR OF 'FOOD AND THE PRINCIPLES OF DIETETICS,' ETC. + + _Crown 8vo._ =7s. 6d. net.= + +The author of a standard work on diet is not likely to err by being too +theoretical. The principle of Dr. Hutchison's new book is to bring +physiology from the laboratory to the bedside. 'Physiology,' he writes, +'is studied in the laboratory, and clinical medicine in the wards, and +too often one finds that the student is incapable of applying his +scientific knowledge to his clinical work.' + + + LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD, 41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, W. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Apparent printer's errors have been retained, unless stated below. + +"_" surrounding text represents italics. + +"=" surrounding text represents boldface print. + +Punctuation, capitalization, accents and formatting markup have been +made consistent. + +Illustrations have been moved to be closer to their discussion in the +text. + +Page vi, "Geheimrathe" changed to "Geheimrath" for consistency. +(Geheimrath Gille) + +Page 11, "Weiner" changed to "Wiener". ('The serenade, a fine, +interesting, and intellectual work, deserved warmer acknowledgment,' +wrote Speidel in the _Wiener Zeitung_.) + +Page 13, "music alnature" changed to "musical nature". (Though he could +not stoop to the attempt to dazzle his public by phenomenal feats of +virtuosity, the grace, tenderness, and truth of his musical nature +appealed to his southern audience, whilst the significance of his genius +dawned on the perception of one or two discerning musicians.) + +Page 54, "Weiner" changed to "Wiener". (The musical critic of the +_Wiener Zeitung_ writes that Herr Brahms was cordially received by his +"party.") + +Page 54, "muscial" changed to "musical". (If, however, the audience of +the evening is to be described as the "party" of the distinguished +artist, it must be said that his party consists of the cultivated +experts of musical Vienna.') + +Page 55, "give" changed to "gave". (Joachim and I probably gave concerts +here before.) + +Page 62, "Weiner" changed to "Wiener". (Hirsch did not fail to make use +of his opportunity in the _Wiener Zeitung_.) + +Page 106, "performe dearly" changed to "performed early". (The +Schicksalslied was published by Simrock in December, and was performed +early in 1872 in Bremen, Breslau, Frankfurt, and Vienna.) + +Page 117, "works" changed to "work". (Both as regards its form and its +treatment of masses, this work bears the stamp of a masterpiece.) + +Page 119, "Waiden" changed to "Weiden". ('Dort in den Weiden steht ein +Haus.') + +Page 139, "Solennis" changed to "Solemnis". (On December 6--Beethoven's +Missa Solemnis in D major.) + +On Pages 143, 185, 280, 282, 288 and 307, the caron over the letter "r" +in "Dvorák" has been omitted. + +"Wiesemann, I. 203." moved to page 319 to restore the Index's +alphabetical order. + +Page 277, "in is" changed to "is in". (The fourth prelude, 'Herzlich +thut mich erfreuen,' is in a somewhat lighter vein than the others, but +is, none the less, absolutely and distinctly Brahms.) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Life of Johannes Brahms (Vol 2 of +2), by Florence May + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40644 *** |