Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

May 7, 1833 – April 3 1897

Johannes Brahms- Life

• Musical family- great musical education

• In his youth, led a double life- During the day studied piano & composition- At night played dance music in cafes

• Became great friend of the Schumanns

Johannes Brahms- Music

• Romantic expression in classical forms!• Nicknamed the Autumn composer• Had an understanding of the “great

German lineage”- lived in Beethoven’s shadow- feared living up to people’s expectations

Johannes Brahms- Music

• 2 Serenades• 4 Symphonies

- The first is an obvious homage to Beethoven- The final three break away from classical roots

• Over 200 songs• Concerti, Choral, & Chamber works, but

no Operas (big on absolute music)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky- Life

• Russian• Complex relationship with hisfamily, esp. women• Age 10- Boarding school• Age 14- Death of mother• Establishment of sexuality

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky- Life

• Employment at Moscow Conservatory – Romantic relationships with students

• Marriage to a woman– Brief and traumatic– Attempt at concealing his sexuality– Attempted suicide 2 weeks after wedding

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky- Life

• 1877-1890- Received patronage from Nadezdha von Meck– Money allowed him to concentrate on music &

leave the Moscow Conservatory– Emotional relationship through letters– 1890: communication cut off abruptly

• 1893: Death, possibly suicide - nine days after conducting the premiere of Symphony #6

Instrumental Works

• Over-the-top romantic ideals and ideas• Wrote mostly for orchestra (ballets,

symphonies, concerti, overtures, etc.)• Piano Concerto No. 1• Symphony No. 4, 5, & 6• Deeply personal • Vehicles of expression• Possibly programmatic

Symphony No. 4

• Dedicated to Meck• “Fate motive” throughout:

“The fatal power which prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness. There is nothing to be done but to submit to it and lament in vain”

Symphony No. 5

• Motive throughout from Glinka’s Life of the Czar Opera- “Turn not to sorrow”

• Funeral treatment of motive in first movement

• Transformation to optimism in final movement

Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique”

• Admitted to program• “Pathetique” translates in Russian to

“passionate” or “emotional”• Predicts death

Symphony No. 6“Just as I was starting on my trip, the idea for a new symphony came to me, this time a program symphony, but with a program that shall remain unknown to all. Let them try to figure it out—the work will be called simply "A Program Symphony (No. 6)." The program for it is subjective through and through, and during my trip, as I composed it in my mind, I often actually wept. When I returned and set to work on my sketches my work went so rapidly that the entire first movement was finished in less than four days and the shape of the remaining movements was quite clear in my mind. There will be much that is novel in the form. The finale, for example, will not be a great allegro, but an extensive adagio.” -Feb. 22, 1893

“…I am confident in considering it the best and, above all, the "most genuinely sincere" of all my works. I love it as I have never loved any of my other musical offspring. “ –August 18, 1893

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881)

• Thought of as the most superior composer, but was revised by fellow composers to the point of changing his music

• Best compositions are songs and the opera “Boris Godunov” but biggest hits are:-Pictures at an Exhibition-Night on Bald Mountain

Pictures at an Exhibition

• Originally written for piano, later orchestrated by Ravel

• Based on the memorial exhibition of friend Viktor Hartmann,

• The Promenade serves as introduction (walking into the museum) and then as walking music in between paintings

• Underlining theme that the paintings tell the story of Hatmann’s life

• Last two movements: Baba Yaga & Great Gate of Kiev