Introduction
Music has always played an important role in society from the dark ages until today. It has developed through different periods, each characterized by diverse musical genres and composers responsible for their emergence. The evolution of each style had some important ways that it differed from those which came before and those which followed. One of the styles of music that is still interesting to study is the one which emerged during the Romantic era (Burkholder, Grout, & Palisca, 2014). Unrequited love characterized the music that developed in the period, with a special appeal to the emotions of the audience. Learning about the composers responsible for the appeal is important (Beard & Gloag, 2005). Johannes Brahms is among the composers of the Romantic era of music. While the focus of the discussion is mostly on the work of Brahms, the conflict between him and Richard Wagner forms an interesting aspect of the analysis.
Johannes Brahms (biography)
Brahms was born on May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany. He came to be seen as the leading composer and musician of the Romantic era. His father was Johann Jakob Brahms, who was also a musician, while his mother was Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen. He was the second born of their three children (Beard & Gloag, 2005). He had two siblings. He experienced music very early in his life, even started to play the piano when he was only seven. Born to a double bassist, it was not surprising that the young boy would be interested in the world of music. He had become an experienced musician by the time he was a teenager. Brahms met Robert Schumann, a famous German composer and music critic in 1853 (Frisch & Karnes, 2009). The critic’s praises on the young composer became the foundation for his rise to fame. While he spent most of his early days at home where his music found the roots, he later moved to Vienna and continued with his work.
Brahms’ first visit to Vienna was in the early 1860s. He became the director of a choral group, the Singakademie, in 1863. During this time, his focus became the historical and modern a cappella music. His success in music continued to grow while in Vienna. He came back to the country in 1965 upon the death of his mother. He composed A German Requiem as a personal reaction to death but became a famous Requiem for years after him.
The Society of Friends of Music had appointed him the director by the early 1870s (Frisch & Karnes, 2009). Brahms was working with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra at the time. Although he went back home a few times, including in 1863, he spent most of his later life in Vienna. In the 1880s and 1990s, he witnessed a growth in compositions that he could borrow from. He wrote various chamber music pieces during his last decade. Brahms was diagnosed with cancer of the liver in 1896. He made his last presentation on 3 March 1897, but his condition worsened. He died exactly after one month of his presentation, on 3 April 1897.
Historical Period and Context
Brahms was born during the romantic era, a reality that influenced his life and work. The movement was experienced from 1780 to 1850 and was characterised by a focus on emotion and individualism. Romanticists emphasised on expression using their work of art, including music. The movement was associated with the artistic and literary movement in Europe, Romanticism, which had emerged in the last half of the eighteenth century (Beard & Gloag, 2005). The movement was based on individual achievement and heroism. As a result, it generated individualistic artists with a freedom from classical artistic forms. The movement was accompanied by social and political changes, which led to the development of nationalists, where the people focused on the interests of their nation. Social and political revolution was taking place in Europe at the time.
Beginning from France and moving on to the rest of Europe, early 18th century was typified by the birth of a new form of realism. Leadership was emerging, which created an effective environment for economic development. The economic reality in Europe was improving at the time, which allowed people to invest in various opportunities, including the stock market. Individualism was at the core of the period between 1780 and 1850, which made people strive for personal economic empowerment (Kravitt, 1992). As a result, Vienna provided a huge opportunity for Brahms. The city was developing economically, which was a source of livelihood for the people who were seeking personal advancement. Brahms is suggested to have invested greatly in stock when his music was doing well in Vienna. He lived a comfortable life, although did not get married.
Brahms’ Musical Style
Brahms was a firm believer of music which did not depend on narrative or concrete setting. In fact, this is the reason that kept him away from writing tone poem or an opera. He only used his experience in classical style for musical compositions. As a Romantic composer, he drew most of his influence from the work of Beethoven (Frisch & Karnes, 2009). He even had an image of the romantic composer over the place where he used to write his songs. The styles he applied were similar to those used by Beethoven. The Hammerklavier sonata of Beethoven was the model he used to open his initial piano sonata. In many other aspects, the work of Brahms was similar to that of Beethoven, explaining why he is believed to have been a form of successor for the Romantic composer (Becker, 1980). However, Beethoven was not the only composer that he revered for, but he did appreciate other composers such as Mozart and Haydn.
Brahms was firmly grounded in the classical music style of the Romantic period. He was mostly concerned with orchestra, symphony, and concertos. His works include “four symphonies, two piano concertos, a violin concerto, a double concerto for violin and cello, and the large choral work A German Requiem (Ein deutsches Requiem)” (Avins, 1997, p. 172). He wrote some of the works based on the Luther Bible, especially the German Requiem. He composed well in the theme and variation style. In this aspect he composed “the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Paganini Variations, Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, and Variations on the St. Antony Chorale” (Avins, 1997, p. 179). The works played an important role in increasing the financial strength of the composer and in supporting his other works.
Brahms’ works was not only on major compositions as he composed numerous small ensembles. He worked on chamber music, which was among those that formed the basis of the repertoire, such as the three string quartets. Two string sextets and a clarinet quintet were some of his initial compositions. He later composed the C minor piano quartet op. 60. In this case, he used the same style in composing the clarinet trio op. 114 (Levin, 1959). Besides composing, he also sang solo piano music with variation to communicate how far he had grown in composing music. He also composed about 20 songs within the style of lieder. Among his popular songs were the “Liebeslieder Waltzes,” “Zigeunerlieder,” “Mainacht,” “Vier ernste Gesange,” “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer,” “Feldeinsamkeit,” and the “Magelone” cycle” (Levin, 1959, p. 173). He composed various chorale preludes in the period leading to his death.
Folk music was another entirely different source of influence in Brahms’ music. Hungarian folk music styles influenced some of the music that he composed in his youth. The inspiration emanated from his father’s orchestra, which at some point he was responsible for arranging. He composed settings for piano. Most of the Lieder that he composed were based on folk themes. The orchestrated versions of the music have remained known and influential even today (Burkholder, Grout & Palisca, 2014). The Hungarian dances were the leading source of revenue for the composer. His music was influenced by the development in technology such as the miniature piano whose modern form emerged during his lifetime. Brahms was richer because of integrating comprehensive melodic lines, chordal collections, the pedal, and bass notes that were deep (Gál, 1963). When studying the western classical music, the name, Brahms cannot be left out because of the immense influence.
Song Analysis
Brahms composed the Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) in 1867 after the death of his mother. The inspiration for the song was the German Luther Bible, unlike the common requiem of the time that was mostly Latin. The song is in German, which differentiates it from the Latin Requiems. It was another piece that indicated the spiritual inspiration and his quest to understand nature, which was typical of his compositions. The song by Brahms, though a prayer for the dead, focused on the living. It was a prayer to God to console the bereaved. The work was another characteristic piece within his orchestra kind of music. The song became the longest of his compositions, with seven movements, together lasting between 65 and 80 minutes (Avins 173). However, it was a change from his first idea which was to include only six movements. By 1866, all but the fifth movements were completed. The song was the most famous among the compositions by Brahms.
Brahms vs. Wagner School of Music
One of the composers of the Romantic period that Brahms did not agree with was Richard Wagner. Wagner nominated the opera scene in Germany. One of the bones of contention between the two was the focus on the opera style by Wagner. The affection of Brahms for the classical music might have been evident in the selection of genres (Gál, 1963). He was fond of the classical styles of the symphony, sonata, and concerto. Most of the movements that he composed were in sonata form (Burkholder, Grout & Palisca, 2014). However, while he is considered the one of the greatest “Classical” Romantic composer, his work is not a reflection of the label. The label resulted from the musical division between musical schools of himself and other composers such as Wagner. However, Brahms did not agree, and his work did not reflect, the style adopted by Wagner in his compositions.
Brahms was the leading critic of the Wager musical school. He suggested that his compositions lacked counterpoint. While Wagner was “radical” in the style of music that he adopted, Brahms was more conservative. The rivalry between the two was the foundation of a gulf within the musical community (Gál, 1963). The contention has been argued by some musical experts to have been exaggerated during their time, but more implausible during the twentieth century because of the reversal of their respective roles. On investigating Brahms’ work, it is possible to establish that he was totally a Romantic style kind of composer (Burkholder, Grout & Palisca, 2014). He was responsible for blurring the divisions in compositional forms, much more than any other composer of the era. His work was focused more on practicality of his world than narrative or any other works that did not reflect the ideal.
Brahms was more of a pragmatist while Wagner tended towards absolutism. While the former was a Romantic-era composer, he was more focused on the reality (Kravitt, 1992). In fact, this is evident in the source of inspiration for his work. He used nature as the source of motivation, things that are real and practical. It is the same reason that he never composed any opera or poem as part of his numerous works. Unlike Brahms, Wagner was more of an absolutist and a fervid nationalist. While the former was moving around Europe seeking inspiration for his work, the latter worked from Germany the whole of his life (Levin, 1959). He believed that the music which was composed at the time should not be influenced by Italian and French styles. From the perspective, he completely excluded the self-contained arias. He also wrote a wide range of works compared to Brahms.
Unlike Brahms, Wagner also believed that the ideal German music, opera, poetry, staging, action, and set design were in a perfect and absolute union tied together by one dramatic idea. His work was not inspired by nature, but was a narrative from Teutonic legend. For example, while the orchestra of Brahms was inspired by nature and God, the ones composed by Wagner would have the same part as the sung words to advance the operatic narrative. His work was based on characters, objects, or ideas, for example, the orchestra Leitmotiven (“leading motives”) (Burkholder, Grout, & Palisca, 2014). The work was ideal for presentation on the stage. The emotional element of the work was expressed through the setting and the characters. Although he was also a Romantic composer, Brahms eliminated such emotive elements in his work (Kravitt, 1992). Unlike Brahms who never wrote any opera, Wagner was mostly focused on writing operas.
Brahms, unlike Wagner has been known to have been a perfectionist. The personality trait went well with his pragmatic nature of music. Arguably, the symphony, which is commonly known as his pioneering might not have been his first one. He would never be willing to present to the people a piece that he believed was not perfect. He destroyed any piece that was below the standards he had set for quality. Since he was believed by Schumann to be the next best composer after Beethoven, it was necessary that he met the standards. He was committed to his craft and would never desire to showcase anything that was below standards. The reason contributed to the delay in producing his first symphony which is believed to have come out after a decade of work (Burkholder, Grout & Palisca, 2014). He had to take time to give the best to his audience. His work, unlike that of Wagner and some other Romantic composers, was a reflection of nature, which he believed to be perfect.
Conclusion
The Romantic Era of music witnessed a development of many famous composers. One of the common names in the scene was Johannes Brahms who is a renowned western classical composer. He is believed to have followed in the footsteps of Beethoven, one of the greatest classical music writers. Brahms drew most of the influence in composing music from the icon. His music was also influenced by the scripture and nature. He spent time outdoors looking at the natural world as he composed his music. The tendency placed him within the pragmatist style of music, which was different and conflicted with the styles assumed by other composers such as Wagner. Although the two belonged to the same musical era, they differed a lot in terms of the style of music and the music school each adopted. While Brahms did not write a single opera, the style is what the opponent entirely focused on. He has composed a lot of famous pieces based on his personal beliefs and the influence he received from nature and Beethoven as well as other composers of his time. He has come to be known as the leading figure of symphonic and sonata styles of music. His music was influential during his time and even today.
References
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Musgrave, M. (2000). A Brahms Reader. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.