Some Thoughts Upon the Position of Johannes Brahms Among the Great Masters of Music

Abstract

MAY I say at once that what I have ventured to call " my thoughts" upon Brahms, are not intended to be dogmatic, I do not presume to press with undue force any opinion of my own in regard to the position which Brahms does, or should, occupy among the great masters of music. With his high ideals of art and his lofty conceptions of duty in regard to it, he is assuredly the one composer who irresistibly commands our attention at the present time, and it is upon this fact that I rest the hope that I may ask you to spend a few minutes this evening in considering the question Why is there still some hesitancy to place him among the greatest composers ? Johannes Brahms, as a man and as an artist, opens up to us many interesting vistas of study. First of all, we know so little about him. I suppose no genius in musical art has ever hidden his personality and courted obscurity as he didnot that I think we lose anything valuable by this lack of knowledge-as to the secret thoughts of his mind, the exact sources of his inspiration, or the petty details of his everyday life; indeed I feel that the mystery which shrouds his personality is most attractive in this age of " interviewing," and that he is thereby set in a niche by himself among the hierarchy of musical composers. We know that he never took any pains or made any efforts to secure recognition, notoriety, or reward; and this at any rate is a gain. To the casual reader of musical history it seems remarkable that there should ever have been, and still is, so much controversy as to Brahms' artistic position. It is now pretty Downloaded by [University of Reading] at 13:31