4. At the summit.
In November 1872 Brahms conducted his first programme as director of the concerts of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, a position he retained for three years. He had long restrained himself from accepting any sort of official position, in order to protect his freedom to compose; his work in Detmold had left most of his year free, and his tenure with the Singakademie had lasted only one year. In 1870 he had declined nomination as conductor of the Gesellschaft orchestra, but two years later, after the death of his father and as he approached his 40th birthday, he accepted the directorship of both orchestra and choir. Earlier that year he moved into lodgings at Karlsgasse 4, near the Musikverein, where he remained for the rest of his life, living first in two modest rooms, later in three.
As music director Brahms reorganized the Gesellschaft orchestra, replacing amateurs with professionals from the court opera orchestra, and demanded extra rehearsal time. He brought to his Viennese audiences a rich repertory of ‘early music’: works by J.G. Ahle, Eccard, Isaac and Jacob Handl; four Bach cantatas (bwv4, 8, 34 and 50) and the St Matthew Passion; and Handel's ‘Dettingen’ Te Deum, the Organ Concerto in D minor,. the ode Alexander’s Feast and the oratorios Saul, Alexander's Feast and Solomon. Also presented were symphonies by Haydn, Mozart's oratorio Davidde penitente, Cherubini's C minor Requiem, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Missa solemnis, and works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Ferdinand Hiller, Volkmann and Schumann (Des Sängers Fluch, music to Manfred, Fantasy for violin) and by Brahms's contemporaries Bruch (Odysseus), Dietrich, Goldmark, Joachim and Rheinberger. Of his own works he conducted the German Requiem, the Alto Rhapsody, the Schicksalslied and the Triumphlied. The critics commented on the seriousness of his programmes and the choir initially resisted his repertory. However, his departure from the post was amicable and he remained on good terms with the Musikverein for the rest of his life.
For many years Brahms had struggled to master two genres dominated by Beethoven: the string quartet and the symphony. In the summer of 1873 he completed the first two string quartets (op.51, in C minor and A minor) that he considered worthy of publication. During the winter of 1873–4 he added the final movements to the Piano Quartet in C minor op.60, which he had begun in the mid-1850s and continued to polish through 1875. After three serious chamber works in minor keys the joyous and bucolic String Quartet in B op.67, written while he was on vacation in Ziegelhausen near Heidelberg in 1875, provided a welcome contrast.
Brahms resumed the composition of purely orchestral music in 1873 with the Variations on a Theme by Haydn, working in the extended form with which he felt most comfortable (the piece was first drafted in its version for two pianos). No less than a ‘grand symphony’ was now expected of him, and in summer 1876 he brought to completion the Symphony no.1 in C minor, which had occupied him at least since 1862. Such was his striving for perfection that even after it had been performed for an entire season, to ever-mounting acclaim, he recast the slow movement before allowing publication.
The Symphony no.2 in D soon followed (1877), its pastoral mood standing in clear distinction to the dark ruminations and mighty forces of its predecessor. Another pair of contrasting orchestral works date from the summer of 1880: the jocular Academic Festival Overture, based on student songs (for the occasion of the conferral on Brahms of an honorary doctorate by the University of Breslau), and the Tragic Overture, whose completion might have been prompted by the death of the painter Feuerbach in January (although, from the handwriting, sketches can be dated as pre-1872). The summers of 1883–5 were also devoted to orchestral composition, yielding Symphony no.3 in F (1883) and no.4 in E minor (1885). Three concertos complete Brahms's mature orchestral works: the Violin Concerto in D (1878), composed for and in close collaboration with Joachim; the Second Piano Concerto in B (1881), dedicated to Marxsen; and the Double Concerto for violin and cello (1887), written for Joachim and Robert Hausmann.
While completing the Violin Concerto Brahms began work on the Violin Sonata no.1 in G, which he finished during the following summer. An illustrious series of six chamber works followed: Piano Trio no.2 in C and String Quintet no.1 in F (both completed in 1882); the Cello Sonata no.2 in F, the Violin Sonata no.2 in A, and the Piano Trio no.3 in C minor (all 1886); the Violin Sonata no.3 in D minor (1886–8); and the String Quintet no.2 in G major (1890). During the 1870s and 80s Brahms added to the works for solo piano the eight Klavierstücke op.76 (1871 and 1878) and the two Rhapsodies op.79 (1879), and continued to compose choral music (both with and without piano accompaniment), quartets and duos for solo voices with piano (most notably the Neue Liebeslieder Walzer op.65 and Zigeunerlieder op.103), and solo lieder.
1874 marked the resumption of Brahms's travels as concert pianist and the beginning of invitations as guest conductor. The works performed were most often his own. Compositions written in spring and summer would receive trial performances the following autumn and winter – only then were they sent to the publisher. Over the next two decades Brahms appeared in all the major cities in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and in Budapest, Prague and Kraków. From 1881 he developed a special relationship with the court orchestra at Meiningen, first under Bülow, later under Fritz Steinbach. This highly trained ensemble of 49 players gave Brahms an opportunity to hear Nänie, the Second Piano Concerto and the Fourth Symphony before their official premières. Brahms was welcomed as an honoured guest by Duke Georg III and his wife, and was presented with the Meiningen Commander's Cross and Grand Cross, yet court etiquette was waived so that this man of the people could reside there as simply and agreeably as possible. He expressed his gratitude by dedicating the Gesang der Parzen (op.89) to the duke. In 1882 Brahms toured with Bülow and the Meiningen orchestra, presenting his two piano concertos and the Academic Festival Overture to audiences in Berlin, Kiel and Hamburg (with Brahms and Bülow sharing soloist duties); subsequent tours took them to Budapest, Graz and Vienna in 1884 (with the piano concertos and the Third Symphony) and to the Rhineland and the Netherlands in 1885 (with the Fourth Symphony). Brahms's performing schedule was at times extremely intense during the 1880s; in the 1881–2 season, for example, he played his Second Piano Concerto 22 times in as many cities during a three-month period.
As his fame spread across the Continent and on to England and the USA, Brahms was repeatedly honoured by his peers and aristocratic admirers. In addition to the awards from Breslau and Meiningen, he received the Bavarian Order of Maximilian for science and art (1873, with Wagner), the Gold Medal of the Philharmonic Society in London (1877), a knighthood in the Prussian Order ‘Pour le Mérite’ for science and art (1887), the honorary presidency of the Tonkünstlerverein in Vienna (1886), the Knight's Cross of the Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold (1889), the freedom of Hamburg (1889), honorary membership of the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn (1889), and the Austrian Order for Art and Science (1895). In 1876 he declined an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge because he was unwilling to travel to England.
With the income from concert appearances and sizable honoraria from the sale of compositions Brahms had more than enough money to support his modest style of life, and he amassed a substantial fortune that, in later years, he allowed his publisher Simrock to invest for him. Since there was no longer any need for an official position, he turned down offers, including that of music director in Düsseldorf (1876) and head of the Cologne Conservatory (1884). Brahms was generous with his money, helping his family and aspiring young musicians, and underwriting scholarly projects of Gustav Nottebohm and Friedrich Chrysander. His most extravagant expenditure on himself was for eight lengthy trips to Italy between 1878 and 1893 in the company of various friends and colleagues. Otherwise he lived frugally, taking his main meal at the favourite gathering place for Vienna's musicians, the inn Zum roten Igel.
Young composers with whose music Brahms felt empathy also received assistance. As an adjudicator, he recommended that Dvořák should be awarded the Austrian State Stipendium for several years, encouraged Simrock to publish his works, offered financial support to him and his family, and even helped with the proofreading of his scores. He also recommended to Simrock the music of Walter Rabl and Gustav Jenner, the latter Brahms's only composition pupil (1889–95).
Brahms's large circle of friends included musicians, writers, artists, scholars and music-loving members of the professional and wealthy business classes. In the years 1874–92 Elisabet von Herzogenberg in Leipzig emerged as one of Brahms's most trusted musical advisers, who – as well as Clara Schumann and Theodor Billroth – offered him sensitive and frank assessments of his works; he dedicated the Rhapsodies op.79 to her. Brahms's relationships with the composers Karl Goldmark and Johann Strauss the younger were always cordial; he travelled in Italy with Goldmark and spent vacations in Bad Ischl near the Strausses. In the 1870s the baritone George Henschel was often in close contact with Brahms; in later years the young composer Richard Heuberger was a regular member of Brahms's Vienna circle. Both friends wrote important memoirs.
With the poet Klaus Groth, several of whose lyrics he set to music, Brahms could share an enjoyment of the Low German dialect of their common ancestral Ditmarsch homeland; with the Swiss poet and writer Josef Victor Widmann, who unsuccessfully tried to supply Brahms with an opera libretto, he could enter into discussions of literature, current events, scientific progress and religion, and enjoy travelling in Italy. The German poet and novelist Paul Heyse (who was later a Nobel prizewinner) and the Swiss writer Gottfried Keller were also friends of Brahms, who set their poems.
In addition to Feuerbach, the artists associated with Brahms included the celebrated Berlin painter and illustrator Adolf Menzel, the psychological interpreter of classical mythology Arnold Böcklin, and the painter, engraver and sculptor Max Klinger, who illustrated title-pages for several of Brahms's works and was inspired by his music to create a series of etchings, engravings and lithographs entitled Brahms-Phantasie (1894; fig.4). The Bach biographer Philipp Spitta, the Handel scholar Friedrich Chrysander, the Beethoven specialist Gustav Nottebohm, and the music archivists C.F. Pohl (biographer of Haydn) and Eusebius Mandyczewski (editor of Haydn and Schubert) were all friends of Brahms, who took an interest in their research. The professional men in Brahms's circle included the surgeon Theodor Billroth and the physiologist T.W. Engelmann, both capable amateur musicians (and the dedicatees of the String Quartets opp.51 and 67 respectively).
From the business and industrial community Brahms had the friendship and support of Richard Fellinger (of Siemens Brothers), whose wife, Maria, sculpted and photographed Brahms; the industrialist Arthur Faber, who with his wife, Bertha (a special friend of Brahms's since the days of his women's choir in Hamburg), cared for Brahms like a family member; and the steel magnate Karl Wittgenstein, whose musical sisters sang in Brahms's Singakademie and whose daughter Margaret Stonborough amassed the largest private collection of Brahms manuscripts in the 1920s and 30s (now in the Library of Congress, Washington). Although Brahms lived simply and was wary of being lionized, he enjoyed the attention and fine food lavished on him by his wealthy admirers. Those sharing his company were regaled by his repartee and reaped the benefits of an inquiring mind with broad interests and knowledge.
The prickly side of Brahms's personality, usually directed against those who invaded his privacy or lacked modesty or sincerity in their dealings with him, was experienced by close acquaintances as well. Clara Schumann, who confessed that even after 25 years he remained a riddle to her, was wounded more than once by his gruffness. But Brahms could be a true and loyal friend, as when he supported Amalie Joachim in her divorce proceedings in 1881, writing a letter highly critical of her jealous husband. Brahms's relationship with Joachim, whose nature was so different from his own, was suspended, until he tendered the Double Concerto (1887) as a peace offering. Brahms also had a special love of children, whom he accepted unconditionally and enjoyed teasing and spoiling.
In his later years Brahms's bachelor existence was brightened by infatuations with two young singers. He met the contralto Hermine Spies, a student of Julius Stockhausen, in 1883. This gifted, quick-witted woman from the Rhineland invigorated the 50-year-old composer with her merry nature and spirited renderings of his songs. Brahms's changed mood was discerned by Billroth in the songs of opp.96 and 97. For her part, she openly confessed her ‘Johannes passion’, but by this time in his life marriage was not a serious option. The artistry and beauty of another contralto, Alice Barbi, captured Brahms's attention in 1890, and they greatly enjoyed each other's company (fig.5). But Brahms was also capable of treating less talented and less intelligent women with rudeness.
Throughout his career Brahms devoted much energy to preparing arrangements for piano four hands or for two pianos. His transcriptions of Schumann's Piano Quintet and Piano Quartet, three overtures by Joachim and most of his own chamber and orchestral works demonstrate a special affinity for this medium, which was important for the dissemination of music before the age of the gramophone. He also made keyboard arrangements of works by Bach, Chopin, Gluck, Schubert and Weber; composed keyboard realizations for vocal duets and trios by Handel; orchestrated six songs by Schubert; and made piano reductions of the orchestral accompaniments to Schubert's Mass in E (d950) and many of his own choral works.
Brahms's study of early music led him to oversee editions of works by C.P.E. and W.F. Bach and François Couperin. He anonymously prepared an edition of Mozart's Requiem for the collected works and brought out previously unpublished works by Schubert and Schumann. He also edited Schubert's nine symphonies for the Gesamtausgabe, provided editorial assistance for Chopin's collected works and helped prepare Clara Schumann's collected edition of her husband's music.
Brahms's extensive collection of musical autographs and rare editions reflects the depth of his historical interests, as well as his tastes in more recent music. Choice items included early editions and manuscripts of Domenico Scarlatti's sonatas; more than 60 sheets of Beethoven sketches; and autographs of Haydn's string quartets op.20, Mozart's Symphony no.40, several Schubert songs and his Quartettsatz d703, Berlioz's La mort d'Ophélie, Chopin's E minor Mazurka and A Prelude, the original version of Schumann's D minor symphony (no.4), and excerpts from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Das Rheingold. Brahms copied out music that he could not acquire in manuscript or print, assembling large collections of European folk music and Renaissance and Baroque art music. He was also an inveterate collector of passages in the music of his predecessors containing parallel octaves and 5ths.
Brahms's historical awareness found resonance in his own music. His choral music drew heavily on the models of Renaissance and Baroque polyphony, uniting old methods with modern musical language in works that represent a peak in musical historicism. Such syntheses are found in his instrumental music as well. The double variations (à la Haydn) that comprise the slow movement of the String Quintet in F (op.88), for example, are based on two neo-Baroque dances (a saraband and a gavotte) that he had composed in the mid-1850s. His Haydn Variations op.56 culminate with a set of variations on a ground bass, and a grandly scaled passacaglia closes the Fourth Symphony. Folk music as well informs Brahms's mature instrumental compositions. Austrian ländler-style movements are often encountered, and the style hongrois continues to exert its influence.
Brahms, Johannes