Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/465

* BBAHMS. 411 BBAHMS. persuaded the young musician to abandon the tour, and gave him a letter to Schumann, whom Brahms forthwith visited, and to whom he showed a number of his manuscript compositions. The result was Xeue liahiieu. "ilany new and remarkable geniuses have made their appearance," writes Schumann. '•I thought to follow with interest the pathways of tliese «lect. There would, there must, after such prom- ise, suddenly appear one who should utter the highest ideal expression of the times, who should claim tiie mastership by no gi-adual development, but burst upon us fully equipped, as ilinena sprang from the head of Jupiter. And he has come, this cIkScu youth over whose cradle graces ajid heroes seem to have kept watch. His name is Johannes Brahms." Of all the gi-eat composers, Brahms led the most uneventful life. At a period more or less strenuous, wlien Wagner was establishing a cult in support of his theories, Brahms withdrew almost wholly within his creative art, so that there is no other composer whose life is so fully the tale of his work. It is doubtful whether he personally s^Tupathized with those who set him up as a leader of the anti-Wagner cohorts. Cer- tainly he went his ovn way quietly enoiigh. He is known to have been a close student of Wag- ner's scores. The few important extraneous facts of his life are briefly summed up: In 1854 he became conductor for the Prince of Lippe-Det- niold. From 1S58 to 1802 he was in Hamburg and Switzerland, pursuing further musical stud- ies. In 1862 he was in Vienna, where, in 1863- 64, he conducted the Singakademie. He lived in various places, including Baden-Baden, until 1869, when he again went to Vieima. From 1871 to 1874 he was conductor of the Gesell- schaft der Musikfreunde. Afterwards he lived near Heidelberg until 1878, when he permanently settled in Vienna. To an offer of the degree of JIus. Doc. from Cambridge University in 1877, he paid no attention ; but in 1881 he accepted a Ph.D. from Breslau. Brahms's service to art consists in his having created, within established forms, music original, modern, and beautiful. Yet he is by no means fully appreciated. One reason for this is that he never, so to speak, led up to himself. The public expect a composer to be 'early.' 'middle,' and "late.' His 'early,' or more or less imitative, period prepares them for the assertion of his distinctive personality, after he has outgrown the influence of his predecessors. His contem- porar_v fame usually rests upon his 'middle' period. Brahms was 'late' from the start. Moreover, his appearances as a virtuoso, through which he might have brought the public to a better under- standing of his works, became fewer, and finally were abandoned almost wholly as he devoted himself more and more to composition. The work which established his reputation in Ger- many was his (Jerman Requiem, first given in its entirety in the cathedral at Bremen in April, 1868. Brahms had conducted vocal societies, and thus had acquired facility in handling choral masses; and he had already composed a num- ber of secular and sacred choruses — among them a Funeral Hymn, which seems in a measure to prelude the /?e<jruiem. This latter is one of the most important choral works of modern times. It is a 'German' requiem "••'ii,. i;i.— jT. in so far that Brahms, both in form and in spirit, made a radical departure from the requiem of the Latin Church, selecting and arranging the text from the German Bible, and choosing such verses as made it a song of hope ratlier than of grief; and as the text, though taken from dilVerent por- tions of the Bible, is peraded by a certain unity of spirit, so this unit' is preserved in the music. It is in seven divisions, all of which seem, how- ever, to have sprung from the single idea of hope in a divine future; the impression of unity be- ing enhanced by a repetition, toward the finale of the work, of the principal theme of the first chorus. Besides such technical triumphs as the pedal-point fugue in D in the tliiril chorus, and the climacteric double fugue at the end of the sixth, the work abounds in tender and benign passages, of which, perhaps, the most exquisite is that message of peace, "Vea, I will comfort you," for soprano solo and chorus, in the fifth division. This requiem is Brabmsian to the core. It is faultless as regards form: but, while conserva- tive in this respect, it is, musically, modern of the modern. Even the fugues belong to the Nine- teenth Century. They are, perhaps, the only fugues composed since the passing away of the great contrapuntists, that do not wear perruques. It is the great distinction of Brahms to have shown that thoroughly modern music can be com- posed within established forms, Brahms is the successor of no classical composer. He has been a conservator of classical form, especially in his symphonies, sonatas, and works of chamber- music : but in the music which he has created within these forms lie has shown himself an original and modern composer. In his symphonies and his chamber-music, Brahms again shows his complete mastery of form — that mastery which controls instead of being controlled, and does not hesitate to make innovations where these grow out of artistic necessities. For instance, in his piano quintet, he developed the first movement to the extent of introducing a third theme in addition to the two sanctioned by tradition. The last movement of his Fourth l^ymphony is new in symphonic writ- ing — so new that it has proved somewhat of a crux even to Brahmsians. It is, however, noth- ing more than an eight-bar theme with varia- tions — a revival of the old pas.iacaglia. The variations bear the Brahms stamp. Each is characteristic and individual, yet is obviously related sesthetically to the original theme. The scherzo movement of the symphony has been changed by Brahms into a kind of intermezzo, a word not used here in its technical sense. These intermezzi are among the most charming things he has composed. They form points of rest be- tween the longer divisions of his spnphonies. While not less valuable than the symphonies, in technical construction, the intermezzi appeal more readily to the emotions, and, therefore, were almost immediately appreciated. Among his other orchestral works are <i series of adapta- tions of Hungarian dances, which have been very popular, Brahms composed nearly one htindred and sixty songs. His last published work was a group of Ernste Lieder (Serious Songs). Upon his songs alone his fame could safely rest. Still working within established forms, he poured thoroughly original and thoroughly modem music