Brahms His Life And Work

by Geiringer, Karl

• ISBN13: 9780306802232
• ISBN10: 0306802236
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1984-08-22
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

Karl Geiringer's biography of Brahms is generally regarded as the finest study of the composer ever published in any language. It is based upon the great body of material in the archives of the Viennese Society of Friends, for which Dr. Geiringer was curator from 19301938, and which contains more than a thousand letters written by and to Brahms. These letters, exchanged with family and with his famous contemporaries, reveal his loneliness, grim humor, loyalty, painful shyness, and enthusiasm for the music of Beethoven and Schubertmoods that the self-effacing composer did not publicly display. Divided into sections on Brahms's solitary, scholarly existence and his fruitful composing careerincluding examinations of rare first draftsthe biography relates how crises in Brahms's personal life were translated into his music, and how he often managed to ignore or suppress them. Supplemented with a new appendix on "Brahms as a Reader and Collector," this third edition of a classic biography is both a literary and musicological event.

Author Biography

Karl Geiringer was born in Vienna in 1899 and studied at the University of Berlin and the University of Vienna where he received his Ph.D. An American citizen since 1945, he has taught at Hamilton College, Boston Univeristy, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is the author of several books including The Bach Family and Music of the Bach Family.

Table of Contents

His Life
Father and Mother	p. 3
Childhood and Youth (1833-1853)	p. 14
Seven Eventful Months	p. 28
'Sturm Und Drang' (1854-1856)	p. 41
Detmold and Hamburg (1857-1862)	p. 54
At Home and Abroad	p. 68
First Appointment in Vienna (1863-1864)	p. 78
'A German Requiem'	p. 92
Artistic Director of the 'Gesell-Schaft Der Musikfreunde' (1869-1875)	p. 103
On the Summit (1876-1879)	p. 121
Old Friends and New (1880-1885)	p. 138
A Fruitful Autumn (1886-1890)	p. 161
Nearing the End (1891-1897)	p. 177
His Work
Brahms's Life Work	p. 201
Compositions for the Pianoforte	p. 205
Compositions for the Organ	p. 222
Chamber Music	p. 224
Compositions for Orchestra	p. 247
Songs for one, Two, and Four Voices With Pianoforte Accompaniment	p. 266
Smaller Choral Works	p. 292
Large Choral Works	p. 306
The Man and the Artist	p. 327
Brahms Writes Letters	p. 344
Brahms as a Reader and Collector	p. 369
Bibliography	p. 381
Supplementary Bibliography	p. 386
Index	p. 389
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