He had recently moved to Vienna, the capital of the Hapsburg Empire, and hub of cultural life. He struggled to gain recognition in this until the publication of his A German Requiem in 1869 a work recognised as one of the masterworks of its genre. He was offered a concert tour of America before his teens but in spite of this, and the urging of his family, he set his sights on composition. In an age that counted many virtuoso pianists such as Liszt and Clara Schumann - herself a child prodigy - Brahms also was one of the greatest performers of his age. His relationship with Clara was one of early infatuation maturing to a profound reverence and mutual friendship that lasted the rest of their lives. He also met Robert and Clara Schumann who became his friends and mentors. This was to surface in his 21 Hungarian Dances, and the scherzo movements of various other works. Joachim and Brahms were to become lifelong friends. When he was 20 he met the Hungarians Liszt and Joachim. From an early age he absorbed the popular and folk idioms – often in a Hungarian style - as an arranger for his father's light orchestra in Frankfurt. īrahms was a child prodigy who grew up playing the piano in the saloons and brothels of Hamburg, often paid in drinks. His veneration for the past and his mastery of the architecture of absolute music brought him closer to the spirit of Beethoven than any of his contemporaries. Joseph Machlis, contrasting him with contemporaries Berlioz, Wagner, and Liszt, called him:Īn austere, high-minded musician dedicated to the purity of the classical style. Johannes Brahms (Hamburg, 1833 - Vienna, 1897) was a German classical music composer, whom conductor Hans van Bülow dubbed as one of the "three B's" ( Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms).
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