Bach Choir of Bethlehem

Johannes Brahams, a brief biography

Johannes Brahms is perpetually linked with Bach as one of the famous "3 Bs" of classical music -- Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. In truth, however, most musicians tend to link Brahms more closely with Beethoven, his more immediate predecessor than with Bach. This association is mostly due to Brahms's writing in genres so strongly associated with Beethoven -- in particular, the symphony and the concerto -- and his music for the piano.

Like Mendelssohn, Brahms received a strong musical training in the classics, especially the works of Bach and Beethoven. His first solo concerts included a Bach fugue and Beethoven's famous "Waldstein" sonata. Like Beethoven, he was greatly interested in German folk music, and arranged numerous folksongs throughout his life. Other influences on Brahms's style included Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in c minor, Violin Concerto in D major; Mozart's Don Giovanni (though Brahms himself never wrote an opera); Hungarian folk music -- to which Brahms became exposed after Hungarian political refugees passed through Hamburg in 1848; German folk stories and poetry (including Die schöne Magelone, Faust, Siegfried, and Des Knaben Wunderhorn).

Here is a summary of Brahms's biography and achievements:

May 7, 1833: Brahms is born, the second child to Johanna and Johann Brahms
1843: Brahms's first documented performance as a pianist (he had studied piano, cello, and horn as a child)
1848: Brahms's first solo recital on piano, which included works by Bach and Beethoven
1848: Hungarian political refugees pass through Hamburg on their way to America; Brahms becomes enamored of their folk music and begins a life-long fascination with the rhythmic characteristics of their music
1851: Brahms's first surviving works date from this year; they include a solo song and a scherzo for piano
1853: Brahms undertakes a concert tour with the violinist Reményi; later that year, Brahms meets Robert and Clara Schumann, who would remain his friends as long as they each lived; by December, Brahms had contracts for his first publications
1854: Robert Schumann attempts suicide; Brahms returns to Düsseldorf to assist Clara Schumann in caring for her family; most people feel that Brahms fell in love with Clara, which may be why he never married, and though she felt great affection for him, she did not return his love
1857: Brahms accepts a 3-month position as a piano teacher, pianist, and conductor of an amateur choral society, a position he held twice
1859: Brahms founds an amateur women's chorus in Hamburg
1862: Brahms's first trip to Vienna, where he was accepted into the best musical circles (a number of events had caused him to be ridiculed in Leipzig and Hamburg in the late 1850s)
1863: Brahms is appointed director of the Vienna Singakademie, which performed some of Brahms's original works as well as works by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and several Renaissance composers
1865: Brahms's mother dies; he is inspired to work on the famous Ein deutsches Requiem, completing six movements (of seven) the following year
1867: first performance of Brahms's Requiem; a seventh movement is added in 1868
1872: Brahms takes over as director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, a position he held for 3 years; he replaced most of the amateurs with professional instrumentalists and focused on works by earlier composers, including Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Cherubini, Beethoven, and numerous Baroque and Galant composers
1873: Brahms completes his Variations on a Theme by Haydn, his first major orchestral works (though it was originally scored for duo pianos)
1874: Brahms resumes performances as a concert pianist, mostly performing his own works
1876: Brahms finally completes his first symphony (he worked on it for 14 years!)
1880: Brahms receives an honorary doctorate from the University of Breslau; he writes the Academic Festival Orchestra in response
1896: Clara Schumann dies; Brahms reflects on his career, and writes Vier ernste Gesänge op. 121, followed by 11 Chorale Preludes for Organ, his last compositions
March 7, 1897: Brahms makes his last public appearance, at a concert featuring his Fourth Symphony
April 3, 1897: Brahms dies; he is buried near Beethoven and Schubert in Vienna

Brahms's music was often held up as the epitome of the "conservative Romantic" line of composers (which included Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Schumann), as opposed to the "radical Romantic" school lead by Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz. The "conservative Romantics" cherished music of the past, especially that of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven; they most often wrote in Classical-period forms, especially sonata form; and they wrote "absolute music" -- music for music's sake, which did not attempt to tell a story or paint a scene, as did the "program music" of the radicals. Brahms, in fact, may have been the staunchest of this conservative crowd, writing, to the best of my knowledge, only one overtly programmatic piece: his op. 10/1 ballade, subtitled "Edward," and based on the old legend "Edward" found in Scottish folklore.