Brahms

The premiere of the Deutsches Requiem on 10 April 1868 in Bremen brought international fame to the young Johannes Brahms as one of the greatest composers of his time. Very soon, this inspired work had been performed in Switzerland, Great Britain and Russia and it became part of the repertoire of almost every amateur choral society in Germany.

Brahms began work on his Deutsches Requiem in 1865, soon after the death of his mother. Unlike Schubert, who wrote his Deutsches Requiem much earlier, Brahms did not translate the canonical Latin text himself, instead selecting fragments from various books of the Bible as translated by Luther. There are no church dogmas in these fragments; the text deals with that which is dear to everyone, independent of their confession – namely solace. In 1868, after the Bremen premiere, the composer added a fifth section to the Requiem with a solo soprano whose theme is maternal comfort.

The Deutsches Requiem was preceded in Brahms’ life by his years of experience as a chorus master, and so the brilliance with which he writes for chorus is not surprising. In the orchestration there are also many innovations, in particular the gloomy first section which is performed without the violins. Several episodes are written in an older style, reminiscent of Handel’s oratorios, but most of the music is free of stylisations and takes the path of Beethoven’s spiritual music – “from heart to heart”.

Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto is one of the composer’s most important works. Its unique nature lies in the three movements it consists of are joined by a scherzo. The concerto thus took on the form and scale of a grandiose romantic symphony. At the same time, it rose to a higher rank in terms of the hierarchy of genres, serving not as a demonstration of virtuoso technique and for the public’s enjoyment but as an expression of mankind’s widely-held beliefs.

Brahms’ First Symphony was referred to as “Beethoven’s Tenth Symphony”. His piano concerti also follow Beethoven’s traditions. The “golden” B Flat Major Second Concerto is a classical work in every sense of the word.

The composer dedicated the Concerto to his teacher Eduard Marxsen. Officially, it was premiered on 9 November 1881 in Budapest, while an unofficial first performance had taken place somewhat earlier in Meiningen, where Hans von Bülow, the outstanding conductor and Brahms’ friend, had given him the chance to “try out” his new works with an orchestra.

The Second Concerto instantly won popularity and the composer himself performed it twenty-two times in the course of just the three months in various countries.

Anna Bulycheva