Great Composers: Johannes Brahms

Рет қаралды 36,919

6 жыл бұрын

A look at a conservative revolutionary.
This was a viewer request from KZfaqr Cristian Garcia. See the current request queue at lentovivace.com/requestqueue.html.
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Classical Nerd is a weekly video series covering music history, theoretical concepts, and techniques, hosted by composer, pianist, and music history aficionado Thomas Little.
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Music:
- Johannes Brahms: Cello Sonata No. 1, Op. 38, performed by Wendy Warner and Eileen Buck and available on IMSLP: tinyurl.com/y7zvkeo5
- Thomas Little: Dance! #2 in E minor, Op. 1 No. 2, performed by Rachel Fellows, Michael King, and Bruce Tippette
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Contact Information:
Questions and comments can be directed to:
nerdofclassical [at] gmail.com
Tumblr:
classical-nerd.tumblr.com
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All images and audio in this video are for educational purposes only and are not intended as copyright infringement. If you have a copyright concern, please contact me using the above information.

Пікірлер: 81

@robinblankenship9234 4 жыл бұрын

Honestly, you are doing for classical music pretty much what the History Guy is doing for history and Drachinifel is doing for naval history. Outstanding work.

@SpaghettiToaster 6 жыл бұрын

Hey, just a comment, Brahms and Tchaikovsky actually got along very well personally; after getting increasingly disgruntled by the perceived hailing of Brahms as the second coming of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky did roast him a lot in his capacity as critic, but was very surprised (and felt bad) when they met and he realized him to be such a nice guy. They ended up on very good terms personally, even though Tchaikovsky just couldn't get himself to enjoy Brahms' music. You can find proof of this in various of Tchaikovsky's letters over at the Tchaikovsky research wiki. Thanks for these awesome videos!

@ClassicalNerd 6 жыл бұрын

Interesting! Most biographies on them tend to focus on their earlier animosity and the fact that they didn't care for one another's work. I suppose animosity and drama are more sensational topics than the later making-up.

@minka866 3 жыл бұрын

Tchaikovskyresearch.com has some letters and notes about them. It is true Tchaikovsky imagined insulting Brahms if he met him. The Russian wrote to Nadja about that!

@prototropo 3 жыл бұрын

So interesting. It fits, though-Tchaikovsky’s music is gorgeous on first hearing, whereas Brahms is gorgeous on the 17th listening, or at least takes a while-years, even-to savor. Compounding that discrepancy, Tchaikovsky was perhaps hypersensitive to other opinions and Brahms was hypo-sensitive to others’ feelings. Alarms go off-a fistfight brewing between the alto and bass clefs? No, it was just Brahms and Tchaikovsky meeting for an absinthe. But the waiter, mistaking them for bistro regulars Koch and Mendeleev, instead brought them shots of sodium and potassium, respectively, not realizing all composers follow their apertif with a quick swig of water.

@oritdrimer4354 2 жыл бұрын

Fun fact: Brahms and Tchaikovsky have the same birthday (which is May 7th)

@raymondgood6555 2 жыл бұрын

Not sure I have ever read of Brahms being called a nice guy or anything remotely similar. He drank too much and seemed to become increasingly insulting the more he drank. His personality was if anything difficult, exacting, and thorny.

@emilynightingale7758 4 жыл бұрын

I just started learning the cello sonata played in the beginning, such a beautiful piece.

@cruz8387 6 жыл бұрын

I don't know how your music channel isn't bigger. It's really good

@KenL414 2 жыл бұрын

Brahms' chamber choir compositions have a very special place in my heart - it's among his must under-appreciated work, IMO. Great video, subscribed to watch more.

@richardyu3591 3 жыл бұрын

thanks for this video - as always well researched and presented. i remembering coming across Brahms in high school and has fallen in love with his music since. His forms are conservative however he manages to bring new inspirations to these forms in such a creative fashion!

@claudefazio 2 жыл бұрын

Brahms was a very generous and kind human being according to those who knew him so it's no surprise that Tchaikovsky, despite their obvious differences in musical tastes, could get along well with him when they met.

@TheUtke Жыл бұрын

Today, I have enjoyed several of your videos. Thank you. As a Dane, I once heard a story about Hans Christian Andersen being invited to a front row vip seat of a concert where Brahms was accompanying a singer in Copenhagen. But he prefered to buy his own ticket, so he could be near the exit, and sneak out unobserved, because he had a feeling he wouldn’t like it much, based on Brahms’ appearance and reputation.

@markgoretsky766 Жыл бұрын

Outstanding presentation--concise, analytical, and stimulating!

@blackmagentaorange5940 6 жыл бұрын

Well THAT took me by surprise...... another great video job well done!

@sherrybirchall8677 Ай бұрын

I just love Brahms so much. His vocal pieces, both choral and solo are so wonderful. And his vocal pieces are accompanied so wonderfully. ❤

@dameg8976 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this. Very enjoyable and straight to the point!!!

@eliotmccann2589 3 жыл бұрын

Anyone else spray their coffee across the room at the 10sec mark, or was it just me?🤣

@ecyranot Жыл бұрын

Well done. My only suggested improvement is to include the third and fourth symphonies. A novice might not even realize he wrote two other symphonies. And in my opinion the 4th is his crowning achievement.

@BlindeEzel Жыл бұрын

Well you covered a lot of ground in such a short time ! Perhaps worth mentioning : Brahms was very active to protect the music of Schubert, that was being squandered at the time.

@DanDoroshDetroitMusic Жыл бұрын

An off topic question but I can't help but notice and wonder what those "rollers"? on either side of your bookcase are for. I just subscribed and excited to see more of your great content. Being newly interested in classical through my own life long musical journey, I couldn't of found a better channel.

@ClassicalNerd Жыл бұрын

Those are piano hammers! There's 88 of those inside a standard concert grand; the "roller" part is made of felt and strikes the 1-3 strings per pitch. I got them for free off of an old piano tech from my undergrad when he retired.

@frankz4900 Жыл бұрын

Excellent video

@agustinaadinearawinda7159 6 жыл бұрын

I love these! Can you please do a video about Pablo de Sarasate?

@ClassicalNerd 6 жыл бұрын

Your request has been reflected at lentovivace.com/requestqueue.html

@psijicassassin7166 Жыл бұрын

@@ClassicalNerd Please do John Corigliano.

@torram28 6 жыл бұрын

Please do a video on Prokofiev, or Xenakis

@ClassicalNerd 6 жыл бұрын

Xenakis is in the request queue, and Prokofiev has been bumped up in the request pool.

@jessicafrancoeur9655 4 жыл бұрын

This was interesting and informative thanks :)

@michaelspeir6086 11 ай бұрын

As much credit as Brahms gets, he should be getting even more.

@pauljones724 10 ай бұрын

Loved his intermezzos. And Hungarian rhapsodies. For piano.

@G.B.P. 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks man

@prototropo 3 жыл бұрын

Wonderful, rich bio. More music by the composer of regard-little inserts?-would be great.

@ClassicalNerd 3 жыл бұрын

I try to do that as often as KZfaq's broken copyright systems allow me to (which isn't as often as I-or anyone-would like).

@abrahammignon9496 3 жыл бұрын

Guten Tag. "JOHANNES BRAHMS".

@masadiceronio4577 10 ай бұрын

I like your intro! 🤣

@charlesdavis7087 3 жыл бұрын

I can't believe that anyone could fall asleep while Liszt was playing his or her music. Shut ones eyes, yes, fall asleep, no.

@hifrommike2120 4 жыл бұрын

There's Brahms & then there's everybody else.

@antoineminiconi4943 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot

@SeadogDriftwood 4 жыл бұрын

Not sure if you handle Renaissance composers, but would you be willing to do a video on Oswald von Wolkenstein - or, as an alternative, a video on late Mediaeval / early Renaissance composers in the German-speaking world (e.g. Walther von der Vogelweide, Neidhart/Nîthart, and The Monk of Salzburg)?

@ClassicalNerd 4 жыл бұрын

Wolkenstein has been duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html I'm more than willing to handle Renaissance composers; the issue is that the biographies I do are largely user-driven and there's not been a huge groundswell for anything pre-Baroque. I could add the other three that you mentioned, but my policy is to only take five requests from any given user and adding them would put you at five (with four of them concatenated at the very bottom of a 370+ person list).

@SeadogDriftwood 4 жыл бұрын

@@ClassicalNerd Oh! I wasn't thinking of the last three as individual focuses - there's just too little material on them to make a single episode. I listed them together rather as examples. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

@ClassicalNerd 4 жыл бұрын

It might be more useful to have a series of videos on some of the main movements and traditions of that era (for instance, talking about the _Minnesänger_ tradition or diving into the compositional techniques). The issue about such requests languishing at the bottom of the request pool would still be there, though ...

@SeadogDriftwood 4 жыл бұрын

@@ClassicalNerd Agreed - that would have more info available. The lack of public interest is practically a given with such esoteric subjects. Still, might as well see it on the list, I figure!

@miamadojesus Жыл бұрын

Ahora que, por fin, subtitulan al español este documental, lo hacen tan deprisa, que casi no da tiempo a leerlo. Espero que lo solucionen. Gracias.

@christiancortes4400 6 жыл бұрын

Please do one on bizet

@ClassicalNerd 6 жыл бұрын

As I have replied before: I admire your dedication to requesting this, but requesting it on every single video isn't going to make it come faster! I still am obligated to fulfill all earlier requests.

@edwardwalter3100 2 жыл бұрын

GET OUT with that intro! My kids just told me to stop laughing!

@robbydyer4500 5 жыл бұрын

Clara definitely fell in love with Brahms and he was likely the one to break off romantic relations, rather than vice-versa, as he did with Agathe and so on.

@kieran77mcrae 3 жыл бұрын

Am interested to know where the history side of Brahms was gleaned from ???

@ClassicalNerd 3 жыл бұрын

Are you asking about sources? Jan Swafford's 1999 biography of Brahms was a primary source, and I usually supplement books from my shelf with academic sources like dissertations and theses. Unfortunately this video was made long enough ago that I no longer have a list of sources.

@Rach1941 3 жыл бұрын

@@ClassicalNerd I too learned most of what I know about Brahms’s life and compositional development from Swafford’s highly-readable and informative biography. Surprised to hear you remark that those rather sordid stories of the pre- pubescent Brahms working as piano player at the seediest pubs/houses of prostitution along the docks of Hamburg might never have happened. Swafford suggests this early nightly exposure to women engaged in sex with rough sailors around him caused his later problems with women and romantic relationships with them (aside from his long and intense but ambivalent friendship with Clara).

@gerritsevereid4657 6 жыл бұрын

can you please do Telemann?

@ClassicalNerd 6 жыл бұрын

Telemann is now in the request pool.

@gerritsevereid4657 6 жыл бұрын

Classical Nerd Thank you so much! you’re work here is amazing and I love your videos! im currently a freshman violist in high school and these videos totally satisfy my interest in music history. You’re so unappreciated, thank you for these videos. I’ll try to find some of your music :)

@junenovae 5 жыл бұрын

I couldn't find any evidence of the hate between Brahms and Liszt, what are your sources on that one, I'm very intrigued cause I like this story, but at the same time I've heard as many times it was true as I heard it was not.

@ClassicalNerd 5 жыл бұрын

My primary source on this video was Jan Swafford's biography of Brahms. It's not the most recent research so there were a few minor things that I tweaked, but the story of Brahms falling asleep during Liszt's _Sonata_ is one that's corroborated by many other musicologists.

@robinblankenship9234 4 жыл бұрын

How about a campaign to rebrand Brahms as a clean shaven man. He was that until his later years.

@CMI2017 4 жыл бұрын

Brahms admired Wagner (and had a piano score of Tristan wihch Wagner was not happy about as a sort of copyright leak) though not all his work without the pathological hatred that Clara Schumann had for anything by Wagner. He did not rate Lizst at all and the other New German composers who were shrill fools in his view.

@channings.wright7041 3 жыл бұрын

I'm still waiting for a vid about either nadia or lilli boulanger

@ClassicalNerd 3 жыл бұрын

I did both of them in March 2017.

@channings.wright7041 3 жыл бұрын

@@ClassicalNerd I didn't know that! Time to add 1 to that view count

@allesvergaengliche 5 жыл бұрын

please do a bio on Karol Szymanowski

@ClassicalNerd 5 жыл бұрын

Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html

@prototropo 3 жыл бұрын

Now, shouldn’t the stoic elegance of Handel earn a processional step ahead of Szymanowski, Hindemith, Telemann or Bizet? (The answer’s yes, though I love the others, too).

@carumartinho9663 3 жыл бұрын

I love Brahms. I would even say ... more than Wagner... :D

@haaladbam3665 3 жыл бұрын

00:09 OMG! I'M DEAAAAD 💀💀💀💀

@segmentsAndCurves 3 жыл бұрын

Best intro ever!

@WolfgangXP65-67 3 жыл бұрын

Ikr ayyyyyyyyyyye

@ericrakestraw664 6 жыл бұрын

No mention of Brahms's Lullaby? What gives? ;)

@vinista256 3 жыл бұрын

This channel is called “Classical Nerd” for a reason, hon. Its goal is not to catalog all of the “greatest hits” that even non-musicians are familiar with 😉

@zacharywhite5466 6 жыл бұрын

Hindemith???

@ClassicalNerd 6 жыл бұрын

Your request has been reflected in the request pool!

@vinista256 3 жыл бұрын

6:53 LOL-Brahms men have the milfer gene 🧬. Regarding whether Brahms was a misogynist, it’s actually more complicated-it seems that he divided most of womankind into those he respected and yearned for, on the one hand, and those he had sex with (mostly while frequenting brothels), on the other. (Dame Ethel Smyth fell into neither category, and you are right that he criticized her music on its merits … or lack thereof.)

@qwaqwa1960 6 жыл бұрын

You kinda need more actual MUSIC.

@ClassicalNerd 6 жыл бұрын

No matter where the balance is, I can't please everyone. Basically I try to make sure that the music doesn't interfere with the talking, so sometimes there's more and sometimes there's less.