Brahms: Variations, Op. 21 / Five Piano Studies

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JohannesBrahms (1833 - 1897)Variationen??ber ein eigenes Thema, Op. 21, No.1 (Variations on an Original Theme) Variationen??ber ein ungarisches Lied, Op. 21, No.2 (Variations on a Hungarian Song)JohannesBrahms was born on 7th May 1833 in the Gangeviertel district of Hamburg, the son ofJohann Jakob Brahms, a double-bass player, and his wife, a seamstress seventeen years hissenior. As was natural, he was at first taught music by his father, the violin and cello,with the intention that the boy should follow his father's trade, but his obvious interestin the piano led to lessons (the instrument from an inspiring teacher and his first modestappearance on the concert platform at the age of ten. From this time onwards he became apupil of Eduard Marxsen, who gave him a firm grounding in classical technique, while heearned money for his family by playing the piano in establishments of doubtful reputationin the St. Pauli district of the port, frequented largely by sailors and others in searchof amusement. By the age of fifteen he had given his first solo concert as a pianist.In1853 Brahms embarked on a concert tour with the Hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi,during the course of which he visited Liszt in Weimar, to no effect, and struck up afriendship with the violinist Joseph Joachim, through whose agency he met the Schumanns,then established in D??sseldorf. The connection was an important one. Schumann wasimpressed enough by the music Brahms played him to hail him as the long-awaited successorto Beethoven, and his subsequent break-down in February 1854 and ensuing insanity broughtBrahms back to D??sseldorf to help his wife Clara Schumann and her young family. Therelationship with Clara Schumann, one of the most distinguished pianists of the time,lasted until her death in 1896.Furtherconcert activity and his association with Joachim and Clara Schumann allowed Brahms tomeet many of the most famous musicians of the day. In 1857 he took a temporary position atthe court of Detmold as a conductor and piano teacher, duties that he briefly resumedagain in the following two years, continuing all the time his activity as a composer andspending much of his time in Hamburg, where his ambitions were always to centre.Brahmsfirst visited Vienna in 1862, giving concerts there and meeting during the course of thewinter the critic Eduard Hanslick, who was to prove a doughty champion. The following yearbrought appointment as conductor of the Vienna Singakademie for the season and in 1864 heagain spent the winter in the city, a pattern repeated in the following years until hefinally took up permanent residence there in 1869. For the rest of his life he remained acitizen of Vienna, travelling often enough to visit friends or to give concerts, andgenerally spending the summer months in the country, where he might concentrate oncomposition without undue disturbance. He came in some ways to occupy a position similarto Beethoven in the musical life of the city, his notorious rud