Brahms - His Life And Work

Text extracted from opening pages of book: DR, KAR '-> LL BRAHMS AT THE AGE OF TWENTY, BY LAURENS ( 1853) TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER PREFACE Is a new biography of Brahms really necessary? Have not enough books been written on the master's life? These questions will be asked by many who hear of this new publication. The answer can only be: Undoubtedly, the number of first-rate books on Brahms is considerable; but so many hitherto unknown documents relating to Brahms, as man and as artist, have recently come to light, that a new work seems not only justified, but really essential. A unique body of material, until now inaccessible to other investigators, has been placed at my disposal. It consists of over a thousand letters received by Brahms from all sorts of correspondents. In accordance with an agreement between Brahms's heirs, they were handed over to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, and there kept under official seal. As Custodian of this collection, I was authorized to be the first - to read and use them for the purpose of my book. The bulk of the letters are from Brahms's mother, father, brother, and sister. They are supplemented by letters from a large number of eminent persons, among them some of Brahms's intimate friends; for example: Eugen d'Albert, Adolf Brodsky, Daniela von Bulow, Fried rich Chrysander, Peter Cornelius, Anton Dvorak, John Farmer, Benjamin Godard, Edouard Grieg, Sir George Grove, Sir George Henschel, Ferdinand Hiller, Hermann Kretzschmar, Franz Liszt, Adolf Menzel, Arthur Nikisch, Gustav Nottebohm, C. F. Pohl, Anton Rubinstein, Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss, Karl Tausig, Mathilde Wesen donck. From this valuable source new and interestingdocuments are available for almost every period of the master's life. Important supplements to these are: the letters from Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim to Brahms's parents; a particularly interesting letter from Brahms to Amalie Joachim; numerous letters from Brahms to Hans von Billow; and Brahms's correspondence with J. Allgeyer, A* I0 BRAHMS: HIS LIFE AND WORK which is in the possession of the Viennese Municipal Library, and has been made available by the courtesy of Professor Alfred Orel. Unknown as yet in the English Brahms litera ture is the correspondence between Brahms and Eusebius Mandyczewski, the former librarian of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde ( published by me in 1933), Brahms 's correspondence with Theodor Billroth ( recently published by Dr. Gottlieb-Billroth), and also the master's letters to his Hamburg relatives ( which were published in 1933 by Stephenson). With reference to the master's works, I was once more enabled to draw upon extensive material, which, though of the highest importance, had remained almost unnoticed in former biographies of Brahms. This material consists of the composer's sketches, also preserved by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde ( the heir to his artistic legacy), which are exceptionally rare, as he generally destroyed all his first drafts. In addition to this there are the manuscripts, which were thoroughly studied, as they give valuable indications of the changes which many compositions underwent between their first conception and their publication. The c' Gesell schaft der Musikfreunde possesses also Brahms's own collection of single copies of each of his published compo sitions, in which he noted corrections and alterations forpossible further editions, throwing light on his later attitude to his works. Taken as a whole, this material illustrates the different phases in the process of composition, and gives one a profound insight into the master's mode, of working. In the musical chapters I have not arranged the composi tions under the Opus numbers referring to the year of publication the mo