Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 5 / Ballades, Op. 10

Description

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)Piano Sonata No.3 in F Minor, Op. 5 Ballades, Op.10 Johannes Brahms was born on 7th May 1833 in the Gangevierteldistrict of Hamburg, the son of Johann Jakob Brahms, a double-bass player, and his wife, aseamstress seventeen years his senior. As was natural, he was at first taught music by hisfather, the violin and cello, with the intention that the boy should follow his father'strade, but his obvious interest in the piano led to lessons on the instrument from aninspiring teacher and his first modest appearance on the concert platform at the age often. From this time onwards he became a pupil of Eduard Marxsen, who gave him a firmgrounding in classical technique, while he earned money for his family by playing thepiano in establishments of doubtful reputation in the St. Pauli district of the port,frequented largely by sailors and others in search of amusement. By the age of fifteen hehad given his first solo concert as a pianist.In 1853 Brahms embarked on a concert tour with the Hungarianviolinist Eduard Remenyi, during the course of which he visited Liszt in Weimar, to noeffect, and struck up a friendship with the violinist Joseph Joachim, through whose agencyhe met the Schumanns then established in D??sseldorf. The connection was an important one.Schumann was impressed enough by the music Brahms played him to hail him as thelong-awaited successor to Beethoven, and his subsequent break-down in February 1854 andensuing insanity brought Brahms back to D??sseldorf to help his wife Clara Schumann andher young family. The relationship with Clara Schumann, one of the most distinguishedpianists of the time, lasted until her death in 1896.Further concert activity and his association with Joachim andClara Schumann allowed Brahms to meet many of the most famous musicians of the day. In1857 he took a temporary position at the court of Detmold as a conductor and pianoteacher, duties that he briefly resumed again in the following two years, continuing allthe time his activity as a composer and spending much of his time in Hamburg, where hisambitions were always to centre.Brahms first visited Vienna in 1862, giving concerts there andmeeting during the course of the winter the critic Eduard Hanslick, who was to prove adoughty champion. The following year brought appointment as conductor of the ViennaSingakademie for the season and in 1864 he again spent the winter in the city, a pattern,repeated in the following years until he finally took up permanent residence there in1869. For the rest of his life he remained a citizen of Vienna, travelling often enough tovisit friends or to give concerts, and generally spending the summer months in thecountry, where he might concentrate on composition without undue disturbance. He came insome ways to occupy a position similar to Beethoven in the musical life of the city, hisnotorious rudeness generally tolerated and his bachelor habits indulged by an admiringcircle of friends. He died in Vienna in