Complete Shorter Works for Solo Piano

by Johannes Brahms

The entire corpus of Brahms's short piano pieces is contained in this volume: the delightful and familiar Waltzes; the effective Scherzo in E-flat Minor; the satisfying Eight Pieces; the two Rhapsodies; the Fantasies — among the most perfectly finished works Brahms ever wrote — the three Intermezzi; the Intermezzi, Ballade, and Romance comprising Six Pieces; and the superlative Intermezzi and Rhapsody that make up the final Four Pieces.
The music is reproduced directly from the definitive Vienna Gesellschaft der Musik-freunde edition, edited by its renowned musicologist, Eusebius Mandyczewski, who made his revisions from original sources, often Brahms's own manuscripts. For this Dover edition, the Editor's Preface (Revisionsbericht) and the Table of Contents have been translated into English.
Noteheads have been reproduced in a size large enough to be read easily at the keyboard. Margins and spaces between staves are generous, permitting insertion of written notes, analysis, fingertips, running measure numbers, etc. This edition will be welcomed, not only by the classical pianist, but by all who will find it highly practical and convenient for instruction, study, reference, enjoyment, and virtually any other purpose.

Genres: Music

192 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1971

About the author

In 1833, Johannes Brahms was born in Germany. As a teenager playing for drunken sailors in a Hamburg bar, Brahms would prop up books of poetry to read as a diversion. His favorite poet was the anticlerical G.F. Daumer, described by the Catholic Encyclopedia as "an enemy of Christianity". Brahms' works were influenced by such writers as Hoffman, Friedrich Schiller and Robert Burns. He was well-read in philosophy and science, and was an avid hiker who took inspiration from nature. When asked by a conductor to add additional sectarian text to his German Requiem, Brahms responded, "As far as the text is concerned, I confess that I would gladly omit even the word German and instead use Human; also with my best knowledge and will I would dispense with passages like John 3:16." (Jan Swafford, Johannes Brahms: A Biography). A liberal, Brahms ardently opposed anti-Semitism, was approachable even at the height of his fame, and was always generous with his time and charity. Biographer Swafford writes of the young composer: "Though he was to be a freethinker in religion, Johannes pored over the Bible beyond the requirements for his Protestant confirmation." From then on, "Music was Brahms' religion." According to Swafford, Brahms was "a humanist and an agnostic." After nearly 64 years of near perfect health, never even enduring a headache, Brahms succumbed quickly to liver cancer. There was no deathbed conversion. D. 1897.

In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs". The diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes...

http://www.johannesbrahms.org/

http://www.biography.com/people/johan...

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Brah...

http://www.ipl.org/div/mushist/rom/br...

http://www.naxos.com/person/Johannes_...

http://www.last.fm/music/Johannes+Brahms

http://www.classicalarchives.com/brah...

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/johann...

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/educati...

Reviews

[Sirish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a five star book. The people love Brahms music.

I read this book after first encountering Brahms music in one of the Schirmer anthologies. One of its major appeals is that it reads like a Chopin book if Chopin wasn't a sick person. In many moments, there is a theme of triumph followed by not quite regret, and that theme reoccurs. A secondary theme is the existence of some kind of grand musical failure, and because of that failure, the sound can get no better.

I only read this book once, and I would read it again, just not right now.