Chris has taught music and has a master's degree in music education.
Johannes Brahms came from a rather poor family. He was born in Hamburg, Germany on May 7, 1833. His father was a town musician, his mother a seamstress. He was the middle child, having an older sister and younger brother. He studied piano first with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cassel, later with Eduard Marxsen (a student of one of Mozart's students), and finally Carl Maria von Bocklet (a friend of Franz Schubert). To help support the family, Brahms played piano in dance halls, and finally became known as a concert pianist at 19 (a comparatively late age - most of his contemporaries were well established performers in their early teens or younger).
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Despite being considered a grump, he counted Joseph Joachim (the violinist), Johann Strauss II, and Robert and Clara Schumann amongst his close friends. Others considered him sarcastic and abrupt, which influences how his music is often seen. His relationship with the Schumanns was an interesting one. He deeply admired Robert, who was an ardent supporter of his work. Clara considered him like a dearest son, and when Robert attempted suicide and was institutionalized, Brahms moved in upstairs to take care of Clara. Their relationship can be best summed up as such: in his letters to Clara, Johannes addressed her using the German 'sie' (formal form of you), with deepest admiration. Johannes never married, and he died of cancer (liver or pancreatic, never fully established) on April 3, 1897.
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Perhaps it would be easiest to characterize Brahms' music as the Romantic development of the great B's (Bach - Baroque, Beethoven - Classical) and while his music was typically Germanic (restrained, technical, academic), his development of piano techniques and advanced sonorities far exceeds simple derivation. As a pianist, his music required tremendous control of melodic independence throughout the hand (as a pianist in college, studying his music meant making sure each finger could independently control a melodic part, even when the music was written in what seemed like a harmonic style). Due to his extreme perfectionism, much of his music was destroyed or took painstakingly long to publish, ala his First Symphony, which took about 21 years to finish.
Brahms considered his music to be absolute, meaning it does not reference extra-musical elements, as opposed to programmatic music, which was the common practice of his contemporaries. He was prolific as both an orchestral and choral composer, again something that is rather uncommon for a Romantic era composer (composers like Chopin focused exclusively on piano music). He composed many large form major works, including four symphonies, two piano concertos, a violin concerto, the Academic Overture, a requiem, multiple sets of theme and variations, piano sonatas and ballades, and the chorale preludes. As a vocal composer, Brahms wrote over 200 lieder, or German art songs.
The four symphonies are strong enough that his first is often called 'Beethoven's 10th' (Beethoven wrote 9). The common belief is his curmudgeonly attitude is found in his music; rather the four symphonies are stubbornly late-Classical in their effect, academic and restrained (this should not be read as insulting, rather they stand in striking contrast to the wild styles of some of his contemporaries). Each of the symphonies is progressively less traditional, and while it is true they are largely conservative, there is significant harmonic and rhythmic experimentalism hidden - Brahms leaned heavily on the use of hemiola, or setting odd rhythmic meters against one another.
As a pianist, Brahms' compositions for piano were intensely difficult. He was often accused of having made mistakes in his music, however it would be more accurate to say that his music was actually too avant-garde and difficult. He also had really big hands, so things that you or I would probably struggle with were perfectly playable for him (I remember distinctly struggling on some of the spans in a few of his ballades). He wrote three piano sonatas, five sets of variations, and more than 50 pieces for solo piano, the opus 10 'Four Ballades', and opus 35 'Variations on a Theme of Paganini' are the most widely performed. The opus 122, 'Eleven Chorale Preludes' for the organ is a seminal work for the organ, and his 'Hungarian Dances' was his most profitable piece and was written for piano four-hands (that's a duet).
As a composer of vocal music, Brahms should be considered largely successful commercially, especially during his life. Much of his smaller scale vocal music remains popular, if not in the classical repertoire. Some of his more popular pieces include the 'Liebeslieder Waltzes' and 'Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht' - what is commonly called 'Brahms' Lullaby'. Perhaps his greatest contribution to the vocal genre is 'A German Requiem'.
'A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures' is Brahms' sole contribution to the large-scale vocal genre, as he did not compose any opera or stage works. The death of his mother may have been an inspiration for the piece, though Brahms never made that known. The requiem is a sacred piece, typically following the Latin liturgy. Brahms' requiem instead uses texts from the Luther Bible. To that end, the piece avoids specific religiosity, instead setting as its theme the transition from anxiety to comfort. It is written for the common orchestra, with mixed chorus and soprano and baritone soloists.
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Johannes Brahms was a prolific late Romantic era composer. He is well known for his instrumental and choral music equally. He is often considered the third B (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms). His music is absolute, avoiding the programmatic nature of his contemporaries. He composed both large and small works, including 4 symphonies, more than 50 pieces for solo piano, more than 200 lieders (vocal songs), and a requiem. The 'Hungarian Dances' were his most commercially successful pieces, and his 'A German Requiem' is his greatest achievement in the vocal genre.
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