Natasha Loges

Exoticism, Artifice and the Supernatural in the Brahmsian Lied

Perhaps as a consequence of the late-nineteenth-century tendency to differentiate Brahms from the Wagnerian coterie at all costs, his enduring interest in exoticism has received little attention. This is not unreasonable, since his untexted works show no evidence of any foreign links further than Hungary. In addition, for obvious reasons, the specific tropes associated with exoticism, or more specifically orientalism, manifested themselves most clearly through art-forms better equipped to portray specific verbal content, such as opera, literature and painting, none of which is strongly associated with Brahms. Biographically, it is even harder to reconcile Brahms with exoticism, since the connotations of sensuality sit oddly with the burgerlich North German Protestant work ethic that generally defines perceptions of him. Still, the effect of over 30 years in cosmopolitan Vienna cannot be overlooked; also Brahms was a friend and supporter of artists as well as of musicians. Although Max Klinger and Adolf von Menzel spring primarily to mind, his interest in German painters dated from his early twenties, following his visit to the Schumanns in Dusseldorf. In particular, from the mid-1860s onwards he expressed constant interest in the works of the painter Anselm Feuerbach. Interestingly, both Brahmss and Feuerbachs concept of orientalism, specifically through the Persian poet Hafis, was mediated by the poetry of Georg Friedrich Daumer. This study will explore the simultaneous burgeoning of interest shown by Brahms in his Hafis settings and Feuerbach in his works Hafis vor der Schenke and Hafis am Brunnen in the mid-1860s, as well as the background of the poet who inspired them both.

Julius Stockhausen's Early Performances of Franz Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin

Franz Schubert9s song cycle Die schone Mullerin makes enormous demands not only on the performers but also on its audience, a factor that shaped the early performance history of the work. In this article, the pioneering complete performances of Die schone Mullerin by the baritone Julius Stockhausen (1826–1906) will be explored, as well as the responses of his audiences, collaborators, and critics. The circumstances surrounding the first complete performance in Vienna9s Musikverein on 4 May 1856, more than three decades after the cycle was composed in 1823, will be traced. A survey of subsequent performances reveal two things: within Stockhausen9s concert career at least, it was no foregone conclusion that the complete cycle should always be performed; and a performance of the “complete cycle” meant many different things in his day. Stockhausen9s artistic idealism jostled against the practical forces that necessarily influenced his approach to recital programming, leading to a multifaceted, untidy performance history for this cycle.

Brahms in the Home and the Concert Hall: Brahms and his arrangers

As a prolific arranger of his own music, Brahms understandably held strong views on how it should be done. The extensive surviving correspondence between the composer and arrangers of his music demonstrates his varying levels of interest – and intervention – in their work, and his assessment of the results. On occasion, he showed great interest in the fine details of the process, making suggestions and remarks on their work; at other times, he was simply content to trust to the expertise of colleagues without interference. Over 65 different arrangers produced at least 350 arrangements during Brahms’s lifetime, including at least fifteen arrangements of the ‘Wiegenlied’ Op. 49 no. 4 alone. This chapter explores the relationship between Brahms and the three most important arrangers of his music: Theodor Kirchner (1823–1903), Robert Keller (1828–91) and Paul Klengel (1854–1935).

Brahms in the Home and the Concert Hall: Brahms in the home: An introduction

Any exploration of domestic music-making is confronted with heavy over-laps between areas which, if they are considered at all, are usually considered quite separately. This sort of music-making is necessarily muddied by con-siderations of venue, performer, performing ensemble and audience, as well as by the actual music performed and the existence of multiple instantiations. The biggest challenge is the ubiquity – yet impermanence – of both the activity and its materials. The details of private music-making within Brahms’s circle can be partially reconstructed, but it is much harder to trace the extent of this activity beyond the orbit of a known musical personality or a canonical work. Locating such traces involves drawing a different kind of information from sources which are not necessarily event-specific, and often concern themselves with broader categories and practices. Thus, for example, publishers’ catalogues, private recollections and correspondence by figures within Brahms’s wider circle of friends become central to reconstructing these musical practices