1859-1861
Third season at Detmold--'Ave Maria' and 'Begräbnissgesang'
performed in Hamburg and Göttingen--Second Serenade, first
performed in Hamburg--Lower Rhine Festival--Summer at Bonn--Music
at Herr Kyllmann's--Variations on an original theme first performed
in Leipzig by Frau Schumann--'Marienlieder'--First public
performance of Sextet in B flat in Hanover.
Brahms found himself more than ever in request amongst the general
circle of Detmold society during the autumn of 1859. He had become the
fashion. It was the thing to have lessons from him, and his presence
gave distinction to a gathering. The very circumstance of his
popularity, however, caused some friction between himself and his
acquaintances. He disliked to waste his time, as he considered it, in
mere society, and, when occasionally induced to attend a party against
his will, gave his hosts cause to regret their pertinacity. If not
silent the whole evening, he would amuse himself by exercising his
talent for caustic speech. Carl von Meysenbug, when at home, jealous for
his friend's credit, often called Johannes privately to account for his
perversity, but was always silenced by the unanswerable reply, 'Bah!
that is all humbug!' (Pimpkram).
The young musician's relations with the princely family remained
unclouded, and his musical gifts were, on the whole, fairly appreciated
by the entire court circle, though he was not regarded personally with
unanimous favour by those who did not know him well. Carl's mother, the
Frau Hofmarschall, took a few lessons from him to please her friends at
the castle, and once accepted his offer to play duets with her; but no
subsequent invitation could induce her to repeat this performance. 'The
good fellow should not have behaved as he did that once; I cannot put up
with it,' she wrote to Carl. Something in Brahms' manner--independence,
artistic self-consciousness, or whatever else it may be called--repelled
her; and, in view of the fact that she was not the first person whom he
had offended in a similar way, since the time when he had visited as a
youth at the Japhas' house in Hamburg, it may fairly be assumed that Her
Excellency had justifiable grounds for the reserved attitude she
maintained towards him.
It is, indeed, certain that Brahms, during his third season at Detmold,
began to grow impatient of his position there. His lessons to the
Princess, who was really musical and made rapid progress, continued to
give him genuine pleasure, but he chafed at the constant demands on his
time arising from his fixed duties, and the rigid etiquette observed at
the Court of a very small capital gave him a distaste for his work as
conductor of the choral society. The circle of Serene Highnesses,
Excellencies, and their friends, did not furnish sufficient voices for
the adequate rendering of two or three oratorios and cantatas by Handel
and Bach which he selected for practice during his second and third
seasons; and, with Prince Leopold's permission, he supplemented them by
persuading some of the towns-people to become members. His sense of the
ridiculous was strongly excited by the rules of conduct prescribed for
these not very willing assistants, who were not even permitted to make
an obeisance to the Serenities, and scarcely ventured to lift their eyes
from the music whilst in their august presence. There were some good
performances of great works, however, and Bach's cantata 'Ich hatte viel
Bekümmerniss' was given four times; but the difficulty of procuring
tenors continued serious, and the entire circumstances of the meetings
made Brahms feel increasing desire to be relieved from the necessity of
attending them.
To this season is to be referred the first private performance of one of
those of Brahms' great works which have made his name not only famous,
but popular. The Quartet in G minor for pianoforte and strings, destined
to become one of the most familiar of the master's achievements, was
tried by the composer, Bargheer, Schulze, and Schmidt, though not
altogether as it now appears. The complaint made by the young composer's
colleagues at Detmold, that his string passages were often ungrateful
and sometimes unplayable, was not unfounded. Brahms, like everyone else,
had to buy exact technical knowledge with experience, and the quartet
was considerably altered before its final completion. Essentially,
however, the work dates from the Detmold period, and the conception of
the finale is to be associated with the sudden visit of Joachim, with
his Hungarian Concerto, in the autumn of 1858. Of this movement, the
magnificent 'Rondo alla Zingarese,' Joachim declared in generous
triumph, comparing it with the last movement of his own composition,
that Brahms had beaten him on his own ground. It is not the business of
our pages either to endorse or contradict this statement, but it may be
permissible once again to remind the reader that the increasing
perfection of Brahms' instrumental works of the period was in no small
degree furthered by the invaluable criticism and self-forgetting
sympathy of his friend.
The programmes of the court concerts of the season included the D major
Serenade; the 'Ave Maria,' sung by the ladies of the choral society; and
the Begräbnissgesang, for mixed chorus and wind instruments (Op. 13).
It is strange that this fine work, composed to a sixteenth-century text
by Michael Weisse, the editor of the earliest German church hymn-book,
is not more generally known. Like all Brahms' sacred compositions of the
time, it gives evidence of the strong impression he had derived from his
exhaustive study of the medieval church composers; and the music,
austere in its simplicity, is characterized by uncompromising fidelity
to the almost grimly severe spirit of the words. Too grave to be in
place in an ordinary miscellaneous programme, it is well adapted for
performance at a Good Friday concert or as a church anthem in Passion
Week. It was performed together with the 'Ave Maria,' both for the first
time in public, at Grädener's Academy concert of December 2, and Brahms,
who obtained leave to go to Hamburg for the occasion, appeared the same
evening with Schumann's Pianoforte Concerto.
The manuscripts were sent immediately afterwards to Göttingen for
practice by Grimm's choral society, of which Carl von Meysenbug was an
enthusiastic member.
'As Grimm was distributing the parts of the "Ave Maria" and the
"Begräbnissgesang" at one of the practices,' says the Freiherr von
Meysenbug, 'my neighbour, a glib University student with the
experience of several terms behind him, said to me in a surprised
tone: "Brahms! who is that?" "Oh, some old ecclesiastic of
Palestrina's time," I replied--a piece of information which he
accepted and passed on.'
The compositions were given under Grimm's direction at the society's
concert of January 19, 1860. There is little doubt that Philipp Spitta,
author of the exhaustive biography of Sebastian Bach, whose essay 'Zur
Musik' should be read by all earnest students of Brahms' music, took
part in the performance of the Begräbnissgesang. His friendship with our
composer dates from this period when he was a student of the Göttingen
University and one of the intimates of Grimm's circle.
It will be convenient to add here that the invitation to revisit Detmold
on the same terms as before was finally refused by Brahms in a letter to
the Hofmarschall dated from Hamburg, August, 1860:
'After renewed consideration, I must beg to express to His Serene
Highness the Prince my regret that I shall not be able to visit
Detmold in the winter. I have to add to the causes of this decision
which I have already had the honour to communicate, that I shall be
much occupied this autumn with the publication of my works, with
revising the proofs of some, and preparing others for the engraver.
On this account alone, therefore, I must decide to stay here during
the winter. I particularly desire to express my regret to the
Princess Friederike that I shall be unable to enjoy her progress
in playing and her great sympathy for music....'[86]
The post of conductor to the court orchestra, which became vacant on
Kiel's retirement with a pension in 1864, and which might probably under
other circumstances have been offered for the acceptance or refusal of
Brahms, passed to Bargheer, who retained it until 1876, when Prince
Leopold's death put an end to the musical activity of Detmold.
Brahms' interest in the orchestra had been by no means even temporarily
satisfied by the writing of the works of which we have recorded the
performances. The first serenade was not completed before he had
sketched a second, the finished manuscript of which he carried with him
on his departure from Detmold early in January, 1860. Separated longer
than ever from Joachim, whose successes in England, Scotland, and
Ireland detained him until nearly the end of the year 1859, Johannes now
went to see his dearest friend, and during his stay at Hanover heard a
private trial of the new Serenade for small Orchestra (wind, violas,
'celli, and basses). The work was performed for the first time in public
at the Hamburg Philharmonic concert of February 10. On the same occasion
Joachim transported the audience by his performances of Beethoven's
Concerto and Tartini's 'Trillo del Diavolo,' and Johannes had a great
success as pianist with Schumann's Concerto.
The second serenade was considered easier to understand than its elder
sister, and was received with comparative favour, though not with
enthusiasm. To the ears of the present generation the work appears
limpidly clear, and it is difficult to realize that it was ever
accounted otherwise. In it we have a chef-d'oeuvre which displays our
musician passed finally from his transition stage and standing out
clearly as a master in definite possession both of aim and method.
Unmistakably he has taken his footing on the basis of tradition, and
creates with the freedom of self-control within the forms consecrated by
the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, no longer betrayed by
immaturity into anything that could be misconstrued as the intentional
discursiveness of rhapsody. The work is impregnated with a breath as
fragrant as the spirit of Schubert's muse, and, though perhaps not fully
representative of the very powerful individuality now associated with
the name of Brahms, bears the distinct impress of his mind, and could
have been written by no other composer. Each of the five movements is a
gem of the first water. Each has a character of its own, which yet
combines with every other to make the serenade a perfect example of a
developed form of garden music, night music. Graceful romance, tender
playfulness, lively frolic, just the stirring of the deeper emotions,
all the gentler phases of poetic sentiment, are suggested in turn by its
lovely melodies.
[Music: etc.]
Why is this masterpiece so seldom heard?
Appropriately called a serenade from the character of its ideas, and
even from the structure of its movements, which, whilst fully developed,
are all quite clear, balanced and symmetrical each in itself and as part
of a whole, and indicate the composer's perfect fulfilment of his
intention, the length of the work again approaches that of a symphony.
It must be borne in mind that to a general audience the name 'serenade'
as applied to instrumental music does not now suggest any particular
class of composition, the times and customs which produced this form
having long since passed away; whilst it is customary to associate with
the word 'symphony' a suggestion of the more strenuous emotions of human
existence. Thus, the ordinary concert-goer who listens to Brahms' work
is puzzled as to what he ought to expect, and his uncertainty interferes
with his enjoyment.
Another drawback, under modern concert conditions, to the general
appreciation of the beautiful Serenade in A major is the absence of
violins from the score. It hardly needs pointing out that the, so to
say, muted tone of the combination of instruments employed by the
composer would be ideal in the surroundings proper to the performance of
the 'serenade' as originally so called--palpitating summer heat,
deep-blue, starlit sky, flitting to and fro of gallant and graceful
forms--but in the prosaic atmosphere of a modern concert-room the bright
tone of the violins cannot, perhaps, be safely dispensed with throughout
the length of so long a work. It consists of an allegro moderato,
scherzo, quasi minuetto with trio, rondo. It may still be hoped,
however, that the serenade may be revived, and may take its place in the
répertoire of our concert societies.
We have lingered so long over the two serenades that a bare mention must
suffice of the performance of the first in D major--the first
performance in the second and final rearrangement of the score--at the
Hanover subscription concert of March 3 under Joachim's direction, nor
need we dwell upon the fact that it was received with indifference by
audience and critics. It is time to glance again at the party conflicts
of the day, and especially to note the activity of the disciples of
Weimar, whose partisanship, as the reader may remember, had been
stimulated to violence by the candid admissions of Joachim's letter to
Liszt quoted on p. 212.
'In the _Grenzboten_,' says Moser,[87] 'Otto Jahn, the biographer
of Mozart, led the cause of the conservative party and of those
musicians whose creative art was rooted in classical tradition. In
the opposite camp, Brendel, with a staff of like-minded colleagues,
represented in the _Neue Zeitschrift_ the principles of radical
progress, and extolled Liszt as the Mozart of his time, in whose
works were united the efforts and results of all art epochs from
the day of Palestrina. Liszt's cause and the Wagner question were
treated as almost inseparable, and from this time dates the
unfortunate influence of the "Wagnerians," who, in Raff's words,
damaged rather than helped their master's cause.'
To put the matter, so far as our narrative is concerned with it, as
shortly as possible, Brahms, who had been longing to enter the fray as
an active combatant, now induced Joachim to join him in drawing up a
manifesto for signature by musicians of their way of thinking, and
subsequent publication. An obstacle to the fulfilment of the plan
presented itself in the impossibility of obtaining unanimity of opinion
as to the suitable wording of the document, and part of the difficulty
seems to have arisen from Brahms' desire to differentiate between the
works of Berlioz and Wagner on the one hand, and Liszt's 'productions'
on the other. Before these preliminaries had been satisfactorily
arranged, however, accident settled the matter. By a mischance that has
never been explained, a version of the manifesto which was presumably
going round for signature found its way, with only four names attached,
into the _Echo_, a journal of Berlin. It ran as follows:
'The undersigned have long followed with regret the proceedings of
a certain party whose organ is Brendel's _Zeitschrift für Musik_.
The said _Zeitschrift_ unceasingly promulgates the theory that the
most prominent striving musicians are in accord with the aims
represented in its pages, that they recognise in the compositions
of the leaders of the new school works of artistic value, and that
the contention for and against the so-called Music of the Future
has been finally fought out, especially in North Germany, and
decided in its favour. The undersigned regard it as their duty to
protest against such a distortion of fact, and declare, at least
for their own part, that they do not acknowledge the principles
avowed by the _Zeitschrift_, and that they can only lament and
condemn the productions of the leaders and pupils of the so-called
New-German school, which on the one hand apply those principles
practically, and on the other necessitate the constant setting up
of new and unheard-of theories which are contrary to the very
nature of music.
'JOHANNES BRAHMS.
'JULIUS OTTO GRIMM.
'JOSEPH JOACHIM.
'BERNHARD SCHOLZ.'
A few days later the answer appeared in the _Zeitschrift_ of May 4, in
the shape of a parody written, not in a very formidable style of wit, by
C. T. Weitzmann:
'DREAD MR. EDITOR,
'All is _out_!----I learn that a political coup has been carried
_out_, the entire new world rooted _out_ stump and branch, and
Weimar and Leipzig, especially, struck _out_ of the musical map of
the world. To compass this end, a widely _out_reaching letter was
thought _out_ and sent _out_ to the chosen-_out_ faithful of all
lands, in which strongly _out_spoken protest was made against the
increasing epidemic of the Music of the Future. Amongst the select
of the _out_-worthies [paragons] are to be reckoned several
_out_siders whose names, however, the modern historian of art has
not been able to find _out_. Nevertheless, should the avalanche of
signatures widen _out_ sufficiently, the storm will break _out_
suddenly. Although the strictest secrecy has been enjoined upon the
chosen-_out_ by the hatchers-_out_ of this musico-tragic
_out_-and-_out_er, I have succeeded in obtaining sight of the
original, and I am glad, dread Mr. Editor, to be able to
communicate to you, in what follows, the contents of this aptly
conceived state paper--I remain, yours most truly,
'CROSSING-SWEEPER.'
'PUBLIC PROTEST.
'The undersigned desire to play first fiddle for once, and
therefore protest against everything which stands in the way of
their coming aloft, including, especially, the increasing influence
of the musical tendency described by Dr. Brendel as the New-German
school, and in short against the whole spirit of the new music.
After the annihilation of these, to them very unpleasant things,
they offer to all who are of their own mind the immediate prospect
of a brotherly association for the advancement of monotonous and
tiresome music.
'(Signed) J. FIDDLER.
'HANS NEWPATH.
'SLIPPERMAN.
'PACKE.
'DICK TOM AND HARRY.
'Office of the Music of the Future.'
Bülow, writing from Berlin to Dräseke, says:
'The manifesto of the Hanoverians has not made the least sensation
here. They have not even sufficient wit mixed with their malice to
have done the thing in good style, and to have launched it at a
well-chosen time, such as the beginning or end of the season.'
It must be said here that Brendel was sincere in his views, whether or
not they commend themselves to us, and that he had an exceptional power
of appreciating the ideas put forth by the leaders of the new school.
Equally certain is it that the antipathy felt by Joachim and Brahms for
Liszt's compositions proceeded from no feeling of malice or personal
animosity, but from the most sincere conviction. Joachim's confession to
Liszt had been wrung from him by the necessity of escape from a false
position. The extraordinary importance attached by the musical parties
of the day to his alliance is well illustrated by Wagner's bitter words:
'With the defection of a hitherto warm friend, a great violinist,
the violent agitation broke out against the generous Franz Liszt
that prepared for him, at length, the disappointment and
embitterment which caused him to abandon his endeavours to
establish Weimar as a town devoted to the furtherance of
music.'[88]
The baselessness, and even folly, of such a statement is self-evident.
With regard to Brahms particularly, though such works as Liszt's
Symphonic Poems and Dante Symphony were abominations to him, he always
cherished a profound respect for the music of Wagner, even though the
principles underlying its composition were not those of his own artistic
faith. His allegiance, like that of Joachim, was wholly given to the
masters of classical art, to whom he had paid homage from childhood, and
it was one of the ironies of fate that he should have been widely
supposed, during many years, to belong to the New-German party, and that
he was handled more tenderly by the _Zeitschrift_ than the _Signale_. By
Brendel himself, indeed, who from the year 1859 onwards worked
earnestly to effect a reconciliation between the contending musical
parties, Schumann's young hero was treated fairly, and even generously,
and a steady Brahms propaganda was practised in years to come by the
fraternity of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein, a society founded
by Brendel in 1861 for the furtherance of his pacific aim.
Our composer, who had been betrayed into polemic partly by loyalty to
his convictions and partly by his exuberant vitality, was not by
temperament a party man any more than his friend, and was to be removed
before very long from the immediate scene of party strife. For the
future he took the wiser course of holding himself aloof from the
contentions of the day, issuing no other manifestoes than such as were
constituted by his works, and never allowing himself to be tempted into
answering the many printed attacks that were levelled at him. Henceforth
he lived his life, and wrote his works, and followed his faith, leaving
the question of the false or the true to the decision of time. Who shall
yet say what will be the final judgment of this supreme arbiter of all
such matters?
Johannes was again settled in his parents' home during the spring of
1860, but his thoughts were busy with many plans for the future. He
longed to extend his travels, and the desire to see Vienna was stirring
forcibly within him. He played his Concerto and some numbers of
Schumann's Kreisleriana at Otten's concert of April 20; but the concerto
was very badly accompanied, and once more proved a complete failure. The
critic of the _Nachrichten_ confesses his inability to understand the
work, 'which is recognised so warmly by the musicians of the newest
tendency,' and elects to say nothing about it.
The young musician's greatest pleasure was derived from his singing
society of girls, who resumed with ardour their practices under his
direction. He placed it this season on a more formal footing by drawing
up a set of rules, signature to which was made a condition of
membership. The document, headed 'Avertimento,' is playfully worded in a
bygone style of formality, and after a short prelude, in which is set
forth, amongst other things, that the practices are to be held only
during spring and summer, five laws are laid down, the first two of
which enjoin punctual attendance.
'Pro primo, it is to be remarked that the members of the Ladies'
Choir must be _there_.
'By which is to be understood that they must oblige themselves to
be _there_.
'Pro secundo, it is to be observed that the members of the Ladies'
Choir must be there.
'By which is meant, they must be there precisely at the appointed
time....'
Absentees and late-comers were to be fined in various amounts, according
to various degrees of delinquency, and the money collected given to
'begging people,' 'and it is to be desired that it may surfeit no one.'
The fourth rule relates to the careful preservation of the music
entrusted to the care of the 'virtuous and honourable ladies,' which was
not to be used outside the society, and the fifth, to the admission of
listeners under conditions. The whole concludes:
'I remain in deepest devotion
and veneration of the Ladies' Choir their most assiduous
ready-writer and steady time-beater
'JOHANNES KREISLER JUN.
(_alias_ BRAHMS).
'Given on Monday,
'The 30th of the month of April,
A.D. 1860.'
The signatures, or most of them, must have been added after this date,
for amongst them is that of Frau Schumann, who paid a visit to Hamburg
at about this time certainly, but not in April. She arrived on May 6
with Fräulein Marie Schumann, who was from an early age her mother's
constant and devoted travelling companion, and, residing at the Hôtel
Petersburg, attended the practices of the choir during her nearly three
weeks' stay. We shall have occasion to mention the name of the great
artist more than once again in interesting connexion with the sisterhood
of singers, who were not a little proud of the right given them, by her
signature, to claim her as an honorary colleague.[89]
Notwithstanding the stringent rules as to punctuality of attendance
inserted in this formal document, the meetings were seriously
interrupted during the season, and by the absence of no less a person
than the director himself. Johannes could in no case, especially in his
present restless mood, have remained away from the Rhine Festival of the
year (Düsseldorf, May 27-29). Schumann's B flat Symphony was to be
performed, Hiller to conduct, Joachim to play the Hungarian Concerto and
a Beethoven Romance, and Stockhausen to sing selections by Boieldieu,
Schubert, Schumann, and Hiller. Frau Schumann was to attend the
concerts, and expected to meet many intimate friends at Düsseldorf,
amongst them being Dietrich and his bride, a lady long known to the
circle as Clara Sohn, daughter of the painter and professor at the Art
Academy. Brahms therefore accompanied Frau Schumann and her daughter
when they left Hamburg for Düsseldorf on May 24, and the occasion of the
festival proved no less enjoyable than those similar ones which have
been referred to in our pages. A new feature at one or more of the
private reunions that took place in the intervals of the concerts was
the singing of quartets, under Brahms' direction, by four members of the
Ladies' Choir who had come to the Festival: the sisters Fräulein Betty
and Fräulein Marie Völckers, Fräulein Laura Garbe, and--Frau Schumann
herself. She, indeed, it was who proposed to her hostess, Fräulein
Leser, that the Dietrichs, Joachim, Stockhausen, and a few others,
should be invited to listen to what proved a delightful performance.
Under the circumstances, it cannot be regarded as surprising that Brahms
did not immediately return to Hamburg after the festival, but made one
of a party that proceeded to Bonn, where he remained with his companions
till towards the middle of July.
'The spring had set in gloriously,' says Dietrich, who, as the
reader will remember, had been settled for some years in the city.
'There is something enchanting in such a spring on the Rhine. The
pink blossoming woods of fruit-trees, the numerous whitethorn
hedges on the banks of the river, the voices of nightingales in the
light, warm nights, the fine outlines of the Siebengebirge in the
distance; what excursions we were induced to make! It was a happy,
sunny time, rich also in artistic enjoyment.
'For Brahms, after six years' long silence, had brought with him a
number of splendid compositions. There were the two serenades, the
Ave Maria, the Begräbnissgesang, Songs and Romances, and the
Concerto in D minor.
'He had employed his retirement in the most earnest studies; he had
composed, amongst other things, a Mass in canon form, which,
however, has not been printed.
'We met frequently at the Kyllmanns' hospitable and artistic house
for performances of chamber music and the enjoyment of
Stockhausen's splendid singing.
'The artists came also often and gladly to our young home, and
before we parted they were present with us at the baptism of our
first child. Brahms, Joachim, and Heinrich von Sahr were the
sponsors.'[90]
Herr Kyllmann's house in Coblenzstrasse, with its beautiful garden
situated on the Rhine bank and commanding a view of the Siebengebirge,
was the scene of many noteworthy reunions that gave equal pleasure to
the famous guests and the art-loving, art-appreciating family, who were
proud to entertain them. One party which took place early in June,
during the week that Frau Schumann was able to remain amongst her
friends, must be recorded in detail, for the musical performances
included a string quartet played by Joachim, David, Otto von Königslow
(for many years concertmeister of the Gürzenich subscription concerts,
Cologne), and the excellent 'cellist Christian Reimers; Schumann's
Quintet, by the same artists, with Frau Schumann as pianist; and songs
sung by Stockhausen to Frau Schumann's accompaniment--amongst them
'Mondnacht' and 'Frühlingsnacht.' Otto Jahn, who was, of course, present
to enjoy the music, brought with him his friend Dr. Becker, just arrived
from England on his resignation of his post of private secretary to the
Prince Consort, and Brahms must be counted with them amongst the
listeners. He retired to the sofa of an inner drawing-room, and was not
to be induced to perform, though Frau Schumann herself came to request
him to do so, and Joachim followed with his persuasive 'Oh, Johannes, do
play!' Johannes, as is abundantly evident, was no diplomatist. He often
felt it easier to know himself misunderstood than to overcome his
nervous shrinking from the ordeal of sitting down to play before a mixed
party of listeners.
The nearly two months passed at Bonn, during which Johannes and Joachim
lodged respectively at 29 and 27, Meckenheimerstrasse, proved of
importance in Brahms' career. It was at this time that he made the
acquaintance of Herr Fritz Simrock, a young man about his own age,
junior partner in the well-known publishing house of N. Simrock at Bonn,
and destined, as the later head of the firm after the removal to Berlin,
to usher into the world the great majority of the composer's works.
Between Fritz Simrock and Brahms a cordial understanding gradually
established itself; the publisher's dealings with the musician were from
the first considerate and generous, and when Brahms' fortunes became
flourishing, it was Simrock who was his confidant and adviser in
business matters. As an earnest of the future, the Serenade in A, Op.
16, was published by the firm before the close of the year, the Serenade
in D, Op. 11, being issued in the autumn by Breitkopf and Härtel. The
Pianoforte Concerto, refused by this firm, was accepted by
Rieter-Biedermann, together with the 'Ave Maria,' Begräbnissgesang, and
the Lieder und Romanzen (Op. 14), all of which were published the
following year.[91]
'I am very glad to see Johannes' things in print before me at
last,' wrote Joachim to Avé Lallement. 'Now the _Signale_ and other
superficial papers may abuse them as they please. We have done
right. They will continue to smile on with their beautiful motifs
long after the clumsy fault-finders have been silenced.'
The meetings of the ladies' choral society were recommenced on Brahms'
return to Hamburg in July. Fräulein Porubszky, with whom he had been on
terms of lively friendship during her year of membership, which had seen
him a frequent visitor at her aunt's house in the Bockmannstrasse, had
now returned to Vienna, where the reader will presently renew her
acquaintance as Frau Faber. The members of the choir were, however, one
and all thoroughgoing admirers of their conductor, and amongst the
houses open for the holding of the practices, two at which he became
intimate, must be particularly mentioned--those of Herr Völckers and his
two daughters at Hamm, and of the Hallier family at Eppendorf, both at
that time almost in the country.
The large Eppendorf garden was the scene of many a pleasant gathering of
the singers; now and again they performed there before an invited
audience of friends. Hübbe tells of an open-air evening party, with an
illumination, vocal contributions by the choir, which were conducted by
the director from the branch of a tree, and fireworks in the intervals.
The Halliers lived in town during the winter, and Brahms often dropped
in to their informal Wednesday evenings, which were attended by the
artists and art-lovers of Hamburg. He was good-natured about playing in
this familiar, sociable circle, and would perform one thing after
another, unless particularly interested in conversation, when no
entreaty could get him to the piano. As his Detmold friends had found
out, he formed definite opinions on most current topics of interest, and
did not hesitate to avow them, or to confess the unorthodoxy of his
religious views. He went constantly also to Avé Lallement's house, where
a few men used to meet regularly to read Shakespeare and other authors,
and found time to attend lectures on art history and to study Latin
under Dr. Emil Hallier, and history under Professor Ægidi of the
Academic Gymnasium.
The autumn of this year was signalized by the appearance of a new and
very great work--the String Sextet in B flat--the first of Brahms'
important compositions to attain general popularity. Joachim was its
sponsor, producing it at his Quartet concert at Hanover of October 20;
and it was partly owing to his enthusiastic appreciation that the
composition was so quickly and widely received into public favour.
It would be beside the mark to discuss, in a narrative which has no
technical aim, the musical characteristics of a work that has become so
entirely familiar as this one, which has long since taken its place
among the few classics that attract an audience on their own merits,
apart from the consideration of whether a public favourite is to lead
their performance. It may, however, be remarked that the String Sextet
in B flat is a work to which neither 'if' nor 'but' can be attached.
Both in beauty and variety of idea and in spontaneous clearness of
development, it is without flaw, and these qualities combine with the
fineness of its proportions, perfectly conceived and perfectly wrought
out, to place it with few rivals amongst the greatest examples of
chamber music. Fresh, happy, and ingenuous, the mastery it displays over
the art which conceals art may be compared with that of Mozart himself.
With it opens the great series of works of its class which reveals the
powerful individuality of Brahms in all its moods, and includes the
first and second Pianoforte Quartets, the Pianoforte Quintet, the second
String Sextet, and the Horn Trio--works which, in the author's opinion,
were not surpassed even during later periods of the composer's
magnificent activity in this domain.
Frau Schumann, Joachim, and Johannes met in November at Leipzig, the two
last-named artists to assist actively on the 26th of the month at the
annual Pension-Fund concert of the Gewandhaus, which was given under the
direction of Carl Reinecke, the lately appointed successor to Julius
Rietz. Both Johannes and Joachim appeared as composers--Brahms with the
second Serenade, Joachim with the Hungarian Concerto--and each conducted
the other's work. Their own artistic conscience, with each other's and
Frau Schumann's approval, and perhaps that of a few other friends, was
their best reward. The audience was cold; the daily press left the
concert unmentioned; the _Zeitschrift_ dismissed it with a few dubious
sentences--perhaps not ungenerous treatment under the circumstances--and
the _Signale_, candid as ever, declared the serenade to be a terribly
monotonous work which showed the composer's poverty of invention,
together with his despairing attempts to appear learned. Joachim's
concerto was pronounced decidedly richer in invention than his friend's
work, but rather monotonous also, and certainly very much too long.
Frau Schumann, nothing dismayed by these remarks, introduced at
her concert of December 8, given in the small hall of the Gewandhaus,
the very beautiful Variations on an original theme, which, though
hardly suitable for general concert performance, should be much
better known than they are. They show the composer in one of his
Bach-Beethoven-Brahms moods, by which is here meant his learned and
profoundly serious vein touched with exquisite tenderness. The theme, in
three-four time, has about it, nevertheless, something of the pace of a
grave march, and the opening variations are tender reflections on a
solemn idea. In the eighth and ninth we have the imposing tramp of pomp,
whilst the eleventh and last breathes forth tones of mysterious
spirituality which subdue the mind of the listener as to some passing
divine influence.
These Variations together with the earlier set on a Hungarian melody,
and the three Duets for Soprano and Contralto, Op. 20, were published by
Simrock in 1861.
The fact that Brahms' sextet was placed in the programme of the
Hafner-Lee concert announced for January 4 affords evidence that the
composer was gradually penetrating with his works to the heart of
musical life in his native city, though he may not have enjoyed the
particular favour of its public. The Quartet-Entertainments of these
artists were among the regularly recurring artistic events of Hamburg,
and enjoyed unfailing support. Hafner, a Viennese by birth and a
Schubert enthusiast, had found a second home in the northern city, and
was accounted its first violinist; and in the 'cellist Lee he had a
sympathetic colleague. He was not, however, destined to lead the sextet.
His sudden illness caused the postponement of the concert, and his death
followed. The work was played in Hamburg from the manuscript by his
successor in the enterprise, John Böie, with Honroth, Breyther, Kayser,
Wiemann, and Lee, and with immediate success. The impression made was so
great that the work was repeated three times within the following few
weeks by the same concert-party.
[86] 'Aus Brahms' Jugendtagen.' See footnote on p. 205.
[87] 'Joseph Joachim,' p. 154.
[88] Reprint of Wagner's pamphlet 'Das Judenthum in der Musik.'
[89] The rules, first published by Professor Walter Hübbe in his 'Brahms
in Hamburg,' are given entire in the original German in Appendix No.
III.
[90] This pleasant description is given entire, as containing a
substantially accurate account of Brahms' artistic progress, though
Dietrich, writing after the lapse of many years, has overlooked the fact
that the works referred to had already been performed in public from the
manuscripts.
[91] A revised edition of the second serenade was published by Simrock
in 1875.