Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
-
Upload
vladvaidean -
Category
Documents
-
view
221 -
download
0
Transcript of Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
-
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
1/21
-
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
2/21
Aimez-vous
rahms?
Reflectionsn Modernism
BY PETER
GAY
I
begin
with
a scene from one of Franoise
Sagan's
cool
and
meretricious
ictions.
aule,
the
worldly, gingprotagonist
f Aimez-
vous Brahms receives letter rom
younger
man,
recent,
romising
acquaintance, nviting
erto a concert nd
asking
her,
n
passing,
Do
you
like
Brahms?" Puzzled and
intrigued,
aule
hunts
mong
her
records o find,back to back with Wagneroverture he knowsby
heart,
Brahms oncerto he has never istened o. The
coupling
s
improbable,
venmore
mprobable
han he
ouplings agan
normally
manufactures.Whatever he
probabilities,
aule
puts
on
the Brahms
concerto,
utdoes not isten o the
nd;
ts
very
pening epels
her,
he
says,
too "romantic." or
her,
knowing,
modern
woman,
Brahms s
pass.
x
Paule
speaks
for
he
generalpublic,
the
public
certain hat
Brahms
was a
musical
reactionary,
oo
"romantic,"
which is to
say:
sentimental,
ow
in
emotional
ppeal,
a museum
iece
on theorder
of
antimacassars,hinasculpturend virginal rides.Brahms s a dusty
relicfrom hose
old
days.
His
symphonies
nd concertos re
staples
f
our
musical
repertory;
he reviewer
cribbling
is
hasty
verdict n a
program ncluding
Brahms'
Fourth
Symphony
or
Second Piano
Concerto inds he
emptation
rresistible
o call them warhorses."He
is more
ikely
o assess the
performance
han
appraise
the music a
tribute
o
its
familiarity.
It is a tribute
oncealing
derision.
Familiarity
has
always
bred
contempt,
nd our
sensibility
as
elevated
he
ontempt
hat
amiliarity
breeds ntoan article f faith.
he
atmosphere
f
high
ulture hatwe
* I wish o acknowledgeid from he National Endowment or heHumanities,rant
#RO7779 3 224.
1
Aimez-vousBrahms?
1959).
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
3/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 17
have been
nhabiting
or
nearly
century
usually pitomized y
that
shorthand
ame,
Modernism is rather ike the Hell
that
George
Bernard haw's JohnTannervisits
n
his
dream:a
place
where ll is
reversed.
ere,
unpopularity
s the
precondition
f
popularity,
t least
among
the
ophisticated
onsumers f
the rts.
And the obverseholds
just
as true:
popularity
ngendersunpopularity, gain
among
the
sophisticated.
n
our
high
ulture,
s
in
Don Juan's
Hell,
one mustbe
damnedto be
saved,
and
the saved are damned.
Ifthis s aparadox, t s not cheapone. t s, n ny vent, otmine. t
pervades
the
performing
rts,
literature,
nd
thought.
Since the
Impressionists
irst efied
heFrench
Academy,
ainting
as
produced
a
parade
of
movements,
ach more
soteric han ts
predecessor.
ince
the
Symbolists
irsthut hemselvesnto heir
xclusive
nclaves,
oetry
has
spawned
schools
of
increasing ifficulty.
ince
in
his late
years
Henry
James
designed
monuments f
discrimination
making
evere
claims on their
public,
the novel has
ventured into
formal
experimentation,
inguistic
dventures,
nd
planned
incoherence.
Sculpture,
architecture,
hilosophy
and,
more
recently,
iterary
criticism ave been onquered y vant-gardes oing heirolitary ay,
despising
ot
merely
he ommonbut ven he
ducated
nderstanding,
looking
over
their houlder
with
a curious
mixture f
self-pity
nd
truculence. nd
modern
musichas
gone
as far s it s
possible
o
go
in
the ultivation
f
ncomprehensibility,
ts
urrendero the
machine,
r
to chance. t is
composedby
the
very
ew,
or he
very
ew.A
few rue
believers
part,
to attend a
concert
of
contemporary
music
is to
document ne's
membership
n
a
coterie,
r to
race,
desperately,
ven
masochistically,
fter cultural rain hat eft he tation
ong go.
The
recent ounterattack f common-sense
raditionalists,
ftenvirulent
andgenerallybtuse,s doubtlessmorepernicioushan he berrations
it
professes
o
combat;
Hilton Kramer has called
it,
in
a brilliant
polemic,
The
Revenge
of the
Philistines."2
ut
our
distasteforthis
vulgar,
ven
unsavory
eaction annot
ompel
us to
treat
berrationss
masterpieces.
And
these aberrations re
only
the
most
egregious
exemplars
f that
pervasive
Modernist haracteristic:he
will
to fail.
High
culture has become an
industry
f
self-fulfillingrophecies.
Anticipating,
ndeed
craving, misunderstanding,
afflement,
nd
rejection,
Modernists have manufactured rtifacts bound to be
misunderstood,
affling
and
rejected.
n
its
ode,
to succeed to be
understood ythepublic, praised bythereviewer,ubsidizedbythe
2
Commentary,
ol.
CIX,
5
(May,
1975),
pp.
35-40.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
4/21
18 PETER GAY
patron
is to
failwhere t
really
matters:
n
one's
artor one's
thought.
To sell is to
sell out.
Many
critics nd
historians,
t once
uncritical
nd
unhistorical,
ave
taken
the Modernists t
their elf-destructive which s to
say,
self-
serving
word;
they
have
professed
o
recognize
Modernist
rtists,
writers,
nd
philosophers
y
wo
ssential,
istinct ut
related,
ualities:
alienation nd
difficulty.hey
will
oncede hat he
rmy
f Modernism
is a
large,
ll-assorted
roop complete
with
ome notable
exceptions:
good bourgeois
rtists ike Edouard Manetand
Max Liebermann. ut
theywill nsist hatngeneral,heir efinitionoldsgood:theModern s
the
disruptive tranger.
I
Brahms,
n this
efinition,
ails o
qualify
s a Modern.
He is a
classic
and
seems,
from ur
perspective,
o have been
born that
way
-
a
composer
who
was never
young.
He
appears
not alienated but
conformist,
ot
difficult
ut
accessible. To
begin
with:
he
scarcely
sounds like an alienated experimenter. is symphonieshave the
expected
four
movements.His
chamber
music
moves
within
the
predictable
onfines
aid down
by
his lassical
predecessors,
nd
sounds
at first
earing
ather
ike
late,
somewhat
nfamiliar
eethoven.His
Lieder
march
n
the
paths
marked ut
by
Schubert
nd his
followers.
t
is not n accident
hat or ll his
repeated
ut
half-hearted
xplorations,
Brahms
never entured
ntothemusical
genre
which,
n
the
nineteenth
century,
fferedroublemakers heir
inest
pportunity:
he
pera.
The
familiar anecdotes
that cluster about him
only
underscore the
impression
hathe ooked to the
past
forhis
nspiration,
nd to the
past
alone. Brahms tudied arliermusicwith heearnestness f thedevout
conservative,
nd
put
the eal on
his
antiquarian assion by
collecting
musical
utographs
f
the
composers
he
most dmired:
Bach,
Haydn,
Mozart,
Beethoven.
Brahms'musical
olitics
xpress
he ame
tyle
f
hinking.
e
led,
or
(which
s much
the same
thing)
was
widely
hought
o
lead,
the
party
that
opposed
Liszt,
Wagner,
and Bruckner
the
self-proclaimed
Musicians f the Future.
And,
almost
by
definition,
he musicianwho
rejects
he
Music of the
Futuremust
peak
for he Music
of the
Past.
Perhaps
the
most
damaging
piece
of
evidence
onvicting
rahmsof
conformisms the ong, ormentedestationfhis First ymphony.t s
a familiar
ut true
tory:
rahms arried
he dea ofa
symphony
bout
withhim
for
manyyears.
As
early
s
January
854,
he could tell his
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
5/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 19
mentor,
obert
Schumann,
hathe had
already
rchestratedhe
first,
and
composed
the second and
third
movements.
n
the
1860s,
he
punctuated
his letters o his closest friends
with
allusions to
that
symphony.
ut instead f
completing
he
composition
o slow
in
the
making,
he
adopted
a series
of
strategic
etreats: he firstPiano
Concerto f
1859,
he First
tring
extet f
1862,
he
Piano
Quintet
f
1865. And as late as the
early
1870s,
he
could
sense
the
oppressive
presence
f Beethoven:
I'll
never
ompose symphony,"
e s
reported
to have said. "You have no idea how the
ikesof us feelwhenwe
keep
hearinguch a giantbehindus."3 It was not until1877,whenhe was
forty-four,
hat e dared
tep
before he
public
with
isFirst
ymphony,
a
delay
so
emphatic
hat
t
eloquently isplays
an unsurmountable
respect,
n invincible
umility,
efore he classics
of his craft.
Brahms'
way
of ife
eems
perfectly
onsistent
ith
uch
imidity.
he
mildest f debauches
apart,
he
lived
soberly,modestly,
olemnly;
is
lifelong
achelorhood s a
symptom
f
bourgeois
owardice
ather han
a
badge
of bohemian
freedom.
here was no madness
n
his
ife,
s
in
that
f his beloved
Schumann;
e
provoked
no salacious scandals
uch
as those
marking
he ifeof
Liszt;
he
made no
move to
compete
with
Wagner
n
prophesying
new
religion
f art. Brahms
ought
financial
security,racticed
nnocent
leasures,
njoyed
ecent
ompany;
he was
a slave
to the thic
f
work,
much ike bank
clerk r a
shop keeper.
He
had
been
young
manof
almost thereal
eauty
who entered
almost
fled nto
middle
ge
behind
he
ppropriate
isguise
f
bushy
eard,
the
very
mblem
f
respectability.
More
important:
rahms
s not difficult
ut
easy.
He
strikes
he
modern
ar,
n
fact,
s
all too
easy,
with hose
ong yearning
melodies
announced
by
the
cello,
and the hick
esounding
utti
roduced
by
his
sizable
orchestra.
ven his
chamber
music
-
that
demanding, pare
genre
hat eveals
ll - often ounds
ddly ymphonic.
Muchof t acks
the
cerbity,
he
dry
wit,
he
ntimacy
f classical
chamber
music;
with
its
ll-too-pleasing
hemes
nd sonorous
coring,
t
pproaches
t times
the
kindof
music
played
by
a discreet
nsemble
n
resort otels
o
the
clatter
of
spoons
and the hum of conversation.
Possibly
the
most
devastating ortrait
f
the
"easy"
Brahms
omes
from
George
Bernard
Shaw,
the
perfect
Wagnerite.
omparing
Brahms,
n
1920,
with
Elgar,
Shaw
thought
him
to have
been,
"with a
facility
s
convenient
s
Elgar's,"
a "musical sensualist
with
intellectual
ffectations,"
ho
"succeeded only as an incoherent oluptuary, oo fundamentally
3
Reportedly
remark
made
to Hermann
Levi, qu.
in Kurt
Stephenson,
"Der
Komponist
rahms
m
igenen
Urteil,"
rahms-Studien,
d. Constantin
loros
1
74),
Vol.
I,
p.
15.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
6/21
20 PETER GAY
addleheaded
to
make
anything reat
out of the
delicious musical
luxuries e
wallowed n."4 t was
bad
enough
o be
a
voluptuary,
ut o
be an incoherent
oluptuary
was to
throw
worseemotions fter ad.
The
iteraturef
condescension
hathas
collected roundBrahms he
"romantic
lassicist,"
s too
familiar o
require
ecital.
wantto
recall
only
one
telling
nstance.
n
his
Steppenwolf,
ermann
Hesse has
his
narrator mble his
way through
fantastic
ream
theatre;
herehe
encountersMozart
and,
as
the two talk about
music,
glimpses
mysterious
cene.
n
a distant
alley,
bscured
yfog
nd
clouds,
he sees
a
procession
ed
by
a
dignified
ld
gentleman
ith
long
beardand a
melancholyxpression,eading
train f
bout
ten
housand
men,
ll
in
black;
Mozart dentifies
im: "You
see,
that s Brahms.He
strives or
salvation,
ut that
will
ake
quite
some time."And the
narrator
earns
that
hosethousands f men
n
black
are
themusicianswho had been
compelled
to
play
all of those
superfluous
Brahmsiannotes.
"Too
heavily
rchestrated,"
ays
Mozart,
too muchmaterial
wasted."5 hese
are
the ounds we have
come
to call
-
loosely,
n
fact
naccurately
"romantic." To be
sure,
Hesse
consigns Wagner
to
the
same
predicament;Wagner,too, drags a black-coatedtrain of weary
musiciansbehindhim.
Rather ike Franoise
Sagan,
Hermann
Hesse
yokes
hese wo
dversaries
ogether.
ut t
s Brahmswho
s
the
model
of thosewe
may
call,
adapting
Brecht,
ulinary
omposers.
Whatever
staturewe
assign
o Hesse as a
writer,
e s
a
prince
mong
Modernists,
and it
s
chilling
o see how
pitilessly
e
places
Brahms
n
the
amp
of he
enemy,
he
anti-Moderns.
hat,
not
long
after
he
Steppenwolf
was
published,
Arnold
Schoenberg
hould write n
essay
entitled
Brahms
the
Progressive"
ould
appear
to be littlemore
han
bit
of
personal
perversity.
II
These re
the urrentonvictions
bout Brahms.
heir esemblance
f
historical ealities
s,
however,
urely
oincidental.
n
1874
-
that
s,
fifteen
ears
after ts first
erformance
the
Viennesemusic critic
EduardHanslick istened o
Brahms' irst
iano Concerto.
Hanslick
was
a
dependable
riend nd consistent
upporter
f
Brahms,
et
he found
himself
eflecting
hat Brahms s not
among
hose
who
obligingly
eet
you halfway.
e needs o be
thoroughly
nown,
evotedly
tudied.
But
4 "Sir EdwardElgar,"first ublishednMusic and Letters, anuary 920;collectedn
George
Bernard
haw,
How to become Musical
Critic,
d. Dan
H.
Laurence
1960),
p.
312.
5 Der
Steppenwolf
1927),
p.
271.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
7/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 21
then,"
he
added, Brahms,
"amply repays
our
efforts nd our
confidence."6
ix
years
arlier,
he
composer
Max Bruch
had
angrily
reproached
his
friend,
he
conductor,
Hermann
Levi,
for
being
"an
exclusive anatic orBrahms'music." And Bruchhad
boasted,
with
mixture f
pride
nd
anxiety,
hat
people
oved his
compositions;
hey
"do
not wonder t
it
from cold
distance,
s
they
o with
ome of the
works
iyour
dol."
7
Thiscold distance
ersisted. hortly
fter
rahms'
death,
J.
. ."
wrote
o the London
ournal,
Musical
Opinion,
rom
Berlin hat Brahms s
very
much nvidencethiseason: he
sualfate
f
composerswho wroteOvertheheads' of their ontemporaries."8hree
years
ater,
n
anonymous
ritic
oted
n
the ame
periodical
hatwhile
therewere ome who
thought
ighly
f
Brahms,
n
general
is
position
among
he
great omposers
s still matter fdebate
mong
musicians.
Some can see
neither
eauty
or motion
n
his
music,
nd declare hathe
is
never
ikely
o reach he
verage
music over
xcept
n
one or twoofhis
songs."9
A
review
f the iterature
mplyproves
those
unable to
find
either
eauty
r emotion
n
Brahms'music
n
a
sizable
majority.
In
short,
he
public
found
Brahms
ifficult.
nd
serious
ritics,
ike
professional
usicians,
greed
with
mateur
erformers
r
istenershat
Brahmswa.sdifficult.In872,Hans onBulow,
erhaps
hemost amous,
probably
the most influential onductorof the nineteenth
entury,
recommended
rahms'Variations n a Themeof
Haydn,
work hat
presents
s
with
o
puzzles
whatever,
s a
composition
e had
"grown
o
love
gradually,"
ut
one he still
thought
o be
"terribly
ifficult
furchtbar
chwer."10 wo
years
ater,
writing
o
Frits
Hartvigson,
pianist
he
respected,
ulow
described
rahms' irstPiano Concerto s
"very
eautiful
ndeed,"
ut
dded
that t
was
not
eally
piano
concerto
proper."
And he
thought
t
ess
ikely
o
please
the
public
han he
piano
concerto
f Hans von
Bronsart, composer
now
wholly orgotten.
In
February
889,
correspondent
rote rom
eipzig,
hat
great
musical
center,
hat he hirteenth
oncert f ts
Gewandhaus
Orchestra ad
been
6
Hanslick,
Concerte,
Componisten
nd Virtuosen er letzten
nfzehn
ahre.1870-
1885
2nd
edn.,
1886),
p.
111.
7
Bruch o
Levi,
26
April,
1868. HermannLevi
Nachlass,
Bayrische
taatsbibliothek,
Mnchen.
Quoted
in
Wilhelm
Lauth,
"Entstehung
und
Geschichte
des
ersten
Violinkonzertes
p.
26 von Max
Bruch,"
n
Max Bruch
tudien,
d. Dietrich
Kamper
(1970),
p.
63.
8 Musical
Opinion
nd Musical
Trade
Review,
Vol.
XXI,
No.
243,
December
,
1897),
p.
200.
9 Musical
Opinion,
Vol.
XXIII,
No.
272
(May
1,
1900),
p.
554.
10 Bulow to Frau
Laussot,
December
13,
1872.Hansvon
Bulow,
Briefe,
d. Marie von
Bulow,
Vol.
V,
1872-1880
1904),
p.
107n.
11
April
10,
1874.
Briefe,
ol.
V,
p.
161.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
8/21
22 PETER GAY
comparatively
ll-attended,
nd
"the
unreserved
eats
empty," ossibly
because
ts
program
ad included such
heavy
dishes s Brahms'First
Piano
Concerto nd d'Albert's
Overture
o
Esther'' He concededthat
d'Albert ad
played
he
Brahms
so
exquisitely"
hat thad made
"deep
impression,"
utthat
mpression
as
not
one of
uncomplicated elight;
echoing
Bulow,
no doubt
unwittingly,
e
pronounced
he Brahms
iece
to
"exceed
n
every
way
the
egitimate
imits f
concerto."Audiences
appreciated
hevirtuosos ho
managed
o
play
ll ofBrahms' otesmore
or ess
correctly.
nd
they
dmired he heer
ngenuity
f the
omposer
for xploringhe rontiersf uch raditional orms s thevariation. ut
thekind f
unreflectivemotional
urrender,
he
ributes
f
pious
ilence
or
wooning
ssent,
hat
would
greet ruly
romantic,"
enuinely opular
composers,
erenotfor im.
They
were eserved
or
Richard
Wagner
or for
Robert
Volkmann,
composer
ow name o
pecialists
lone. At
the
leventh
ewandhaus
oncert
f
he
1888-1889
eason,
Volkmann's
D-Minor
Symphony
formed,"
hereviewer
eported,
a
fitting
limax"
and
aroused
great
nthusiasm"
"as,"
he
took
care to
add,
"it
lways
does."
It
was
precisely
reat
nthusiasm hat
Brahms
arely
roused.
12
So
innovative,
o
self-consciously
odern
composer
s Richard
Strauss found Brahms' music inaccessible. n
January
1884,
after
listening
o
a rehearsal fBrahms' hird
ymphony
n
Berlin,
ewrote o
his
father,
distinguishedrofessional
musician,
hathis head was still
"buzzing
with
ll this
obscurity.
candidly
onfess hat haven't
yet
understood
t,
but t s so
obscure nd miserable
n
ts
nstrumentation,
that
n
the
first
nd lastmovement could makeout
only
wo onnected
ideas
of four
bars each."
13
He added thathe was
keeping
his
opinion
within
he
amily,
ince here
was,
n
Berlin,
omething
f Brahms ult
a
cult,
might
nterject,
argely
onfined o Brahms' ld friend
oseph
Joachim nd
Joachim's
upils. nterestinglynough,
trauss
hanged
is
mind n
repeated earings:
n
February
he could
report
ome hathe
had
by
now istened
othenewBrahms
ymphony
hree
imes,
and iked
it better
ach
time,
o
that
am
now almost enthusiastic"
4
that
12
See,
forboth
oncerts,
he
Monthly
Musical
Record,
Vol.
XIX,
No. 218
February
,
1
89),
p.
31. It is
fair o add that t times
Brahmshad reason to
take
pleasure
n
his
audiences.
n
that
very
eason
1888-1889,
he
premiere
n
Vienna
of
Brahms'Double
Concertoforviolin
nd cello
brought
im
"the cheers f an
enthusiastic
udience,"
while,
n
Budapest,
hefirst
ublic
performance
f histhird
iolin onata
produced
n
"ovation." Music
in
Vienna,"
Monthly
Musical Record
February
1,
1889),
p.
32.
13
January
,
1884.
Richard
Strauss,
Briefe
n die
Eltern,
882-1906,
d.
Willi
Schuh
(1954),
p.
32.
14Briefen dieEltern, . 38.There s an excellenturvey f GermanBrahms riticismn
one
nfluential
eriodical uring
rahms*
ost reative
eriod:
mogen
Fellinger,
Das
Brahms-Bild
er
Allgemeinen
Musikalischen
Zeitung
1863
bis
1882)/'
in
Heinz
Becker,
d.
Beitrage
ur Geschichte er
Musikkritik
1965),
pp.
27-54.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
9/21
-
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
10/21
24 PETER GAY
spoke
for
minority
n
thecritical
raternity.
ore
representative
as
the London reviewer
ho
found,
n
the 1888-1889
eason,
that
George
Henschel's
onducting
rahms9econd and Third
ymphonies
ad not
sated his
appetite;why
not,
he
asked,
put
the
First nd Fourth n the
program
s
well,
hus
ompleting
he remarkableeries?"He was
glad
to have attended
"good performance"
f the
Second,
the
"most
cheery"
f Brahms' our
ymphonies,
nd
thought
hat
t, oo,
was
"too
rarely
heard."20
n
like
manner,
colleague,
who
had
objected
to
Henschel's
nadequate
ehearsals nd hurried
empi,
escribed rahms9
Third
Symphony,
the most conciseand
genial"
of his
four,
s a
composition
hat
was
"strangely eglected."21
ater
n
the same
year,
commenting
n
Brahms'
much-debated
First Piano
Concerto,
a
correspondent
n
London called
t
"a
strangely eglected
work."22 hat
was the
principal
one sounded
in
the
musical criticism f the
day:
Brahmswas not
ust neglected,
e was
strangely
eglected.
It
is
apparent,
hen,
hat
difficulty
id
not
preclude
steem.Butwith
Brahms it
was esteem
chilled
by
a sense
of
duty.
Most
of his
contemporariesngested
rahms
ike some nutritious ut
unpalatable
diet:he wasgoodfor ne. Brahms aw this uiteunsentimentally.ear
the
nd ofhis
ife,
alking
with is
friend
nd
eventual
iographer,
ax
Kalbeck,
he
asked:
"My
God,
whatdo
you
want? have
got
far
nough.
People,
friends nd
opponents
like,
respect
me. Even
f
people
don't
love me
-
they
espect
me,
and that s themain
thing.
don't ask for
more."23
And,
of
course,
neglect, trange
r
otherwise,
s a relative
matter. rahmswas
performed,
ut ess
consistently
han
his
present-
day
staturewould ead us to
expect.
Consider
he
Halle
Orchestra f
without
is
brainlessness,
herefinement
nd
inspiration
f Mendelssohnwithout is
limitation nd timid
entility,
chumann's ense of harmonic
xpression
without is
laboriousness,
hortcoming,
nd
dependence
n external
oetic
timulus "As for
Brahms: Brahms,who alone toucheshim nmerebrutemusicalfaculty,s a dolt n
comparison
with
him."
Music in
London1890-94,
vols.,
Vol.
Ill
(edn. 1932),
p.
94.
Needless
o
say,
Goetz's
ymphony
as
disappeared
rom he
repertory,
hile hedolt
Brahms s
doing
well;
probably
he
nly omposition
fGoetz till
widely
erformed
s
the overture o his
opera,
The
Taming
f
the
Shrew.
20 Musical
Opinion March
1,
1889),
p.
276.
21
Musical
Times,
Vol.
XXX,
No.
551,
January
,
1889),
p.
22.
22
Musical
Opinion
September
1,
1889),
p.
576. The reviewerwas
willing
o
forgive
Brahms "the notorious reminiscence
rom the Ninth
Symphony
n
the
opening
subject,"
ecause the oncerto reflects
he
pirit
f Beethoven." e
thought
hework
"remarkable or
genuine
randeur
f
style
nd a wealthof ideas seldom
qualled
in
compositions
fthe
present
ay,
nd without
whichno virtuoso's
epertoire
houldbe
consideredomplete." ngland, s I havesaid,gaveBrahms generous earing airly
early,
but these re accentsrare
even
for
England.
23
Quoted
n
Stephenson,
Der
Componist
rahms
m
eigenen
Urteil,"
rahms-Studien,
Vol.
I,
p.
14.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
11/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 25
Manchester,
rominentmong ymphony
rchestras
n
Europe,
wned,
managed,
nd conducted
by
Sir Charles
Halle,
as
receptive
o music
from
isnative
Germany
s he was
to that fhis
doptedEngland.
n
his
twenty-concert
eason
of
1890-1891,
Halle
drew,
s
usual,
heavily
n
German
omposers:
e
put
on his
program
Volkmann's ello
concerto,
Reinecke's
uite,
From the Cradle
to
the
Grave,
and Raffs Lenore
Symphony,
ffered
many
elections
rom
Wagner's
music
dramas,
nd
spread
out
-
as did
every
onductor,
verywhere
a rich
diet
of
Beethoven: hree f Beethoven's
ine
ymphonies,
wo
of
his
five
iano
concertos,he violinconcerto, hree vertures,he choralfantasia,
song,
a
piano
sonata,
and
the Missa Solemnis.
n
the
same
season,
Halle's Orchestra
erformed
hree f Brahms'Lieder nd the German
Requiem,
but none
of Brahms'
ymphonies,
vertures,
nd
serenades,
and neither f
his
piano
concertos.
WhilteHalle found ccasionto offer
the violin oncerto
f Brahms'
ld friend
oachim,
e foundnone for
Brahms'
wn.
This was
typical.
n
1891-1892,
n adventurouseason
n
which
Halle
experimented
ithan all-Mozart
evening
nd a
program onsisting
entirely
f the
third
cts
of
Lohengrin
nd
Tannhauser,
rahmswas
represented y two Lieder and one HungarianDance. Like other
conductors
ntent n
filling
heir
alls,
Halle
could not fford o affront
his
public
too
often.However
ndependent
n
spirit,
owever idactic
his
purposes,
is
programming
ad
to reflect
ublic pinion,
nd
public
opinion
was
tepid
bout
Brahms.
Public
opinion
changed
over the
years,
and
public performance
changed
with t. Butnot
drastically.
n
thedecade
dating
rom rahms'
death
n
1897 to the
year
1906,
the Halle
Orchestra
layed
his First
Symphony
performed
nly
nce
before)
hreemore imes.
he
Second,
widely hought
hemost heerful
or,
the
east
depressing amongBrahms'
ymphonic
works,
njoyed
omewhat
greater cceptance:
t
had
been
played
ive
imes efore
nd was now
played
four
imesmore.
The
Third nd Fourth
ymphonies,
n theother
hand,
considered
ar
more
formidable,
ere ach
played
only
twice
n
thatdecade.
Wagner
and
Beethovenwere
performed
ar more
often,
oth
beforeBrahms'
death
and after.
While
Brahmswas
scarcely forgottenomposer,
he
was
anything
ut
a
popular
favorite.Audiences
id not mind
hearing
him,
but
did
not ask
for
more:
if Halle
was
induced to
repeat
his
Lohengrin-Tannhauser
rogram
within
he same
season,
no
similar
requests
or
Brahms re on
record.24
24
Computed
from
printed
programs
nd a
handwritten
Complete
List of Works
Performed
858-1907,"
enry
WatsonMusic
Library,
Manchester.Michael
Kennedy,
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
12/21
26 PETER GAY
The
performance
ecord
of
the Philharmonic rchestra f Berlin
confirmshe
mpression
leaned
from heHalle. Berlin s an
interesting
test
ity
orBrahms.
t
was
here,
n
March
4, 1889,
hat
he
great
Hans
von Bulow had
brought
is
good
friend o conducthis own
D
minor
Concerto,
with
Bulow
t the
piano:
to
complete
he
riumphantvening,
Brahmshad conducted
he
Academic
Festival
Overture
with
Bulow
performingreditably
t thedrum.
Moreover,
s a
private
rchestra f
recent
foundation,
he Orchestra
had,
from ts
beginning
n
1882,
rapidly layed
tselfnto heforefrontf
European
nsembles.
n
1895,
after he short
eigns
f such charismatic onductors s
Bulow,
there
began
the
principate
f Arthur
Nikisch,
who
was to establish his
unquestioned
uthority
ver
players,
udiences,
nd critics like. And
Nikisch
played
Brahms,
ess
frequently
han
Beethovenbut more
frequently
han
Wagner.
n
thefirst
wenty ears
fhis
tenure,
aithful
subscribers
ould
count
on
hearing
ll
of
Brahms'
ymphonies
nd
concertos everal
times,
s well as his
overtures nd a number f his
choral
compositions.
Even less than at
Manchester,
Brahms was
scarcely
forgotten
an
in
Berlin.
It is hardtoknowhow to interpretuchfigures. s Nikischhimself
noted,
he was
n
no
position
o
dictate
o
visiting
irtuosos,
nd
n
those
days,
n
Berlin s
elsewhere,
o
symphony
oncertwas
complete
without
at least ne soloist.
5
Besides,
owever
nchallenged
ikisch's
uthority
might ppear,
he was
only
ne
element,
f
powerful
ne,
n
a
complex
field
of
force,
involving
ntricate accommodations and mutual
concessions
among
conductors,
players,
soloists,
critics,
rival
orchestras,
ighly laced
bureaucrats,
nd the
public
-
or, rather,
publics.
Moreover,
whenever
Nikisch
performed
Brahms,
did he
TheHalle Tradition: CenturyfMusic 1960), ddsuseful tatistics.ncidentally,he
demand
for
Wagner
was so
stormy,
hat Halle
repeated
hat
Lohengrin-
annhauser
evening
nce
more
n
the
following
eason,
n
1892-93.
n the ast decade of Brahms'
life,
rom 887to
1896,
heHalle Orchestra
layed
Brahms'
ompositions
hirty-eight
times,
Wagner
0 and Beethoven
12 times.
n
the
following en-yearpan,
from 897
to
1906,
he
figure
or
Brahms ose from
8 to
59,
while hatforBeethoven
eclined
slightly
o
110;
Wagner
rose to
148.
25 In
an
unpublished reply
to
a
critic
accusing
Nikisch of
vastly
over-valuing
Tschaikowsky,only
published
fter is
death),
Nikisch
made the
point
hat tatistics
of
performances
o not
wholly
eflect
he onductor's
aste,
ince we are
seldom
n
a
position
o influence soloist's hoice of
programs."
ee Ferdinand
Pfohl,
Arthur
Nikisch,"
n
Arthur
Nikisch:ben und
Wirken,
d.
Heinrich
hevalley
1922),
p.
81.
The rage forsoloistswas general;Michael Kennedy, he historian f the Halle
Orchestra,
xplicitly
otes that the 1901-2 eason
"began
with n innovation
a
purely
rchestral oncert."
The Halle
Tradition,
.
149.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
13/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 27
perform
im
s a classicor as a rebel?26 he
category
f the classical"
differed
arkedly
n
those
ays
from urcurrent efinition:he
lassical
farewe
expect
to
encounter
ften
Haydn symphonies
nd Mozart
piano
concertos
were lmost
wholly
bsent
rom
Nikisch's
rograms.
In
contrast,
e
gave hospitality
o German
omposers
ike Alexander
Ritter,
elix
Draeseke,
or Xaver
Scharwenka,
houghnormally
or
single ppearance.
But
they
nd their ind
figure
armore
prominently
than
foreign
adical ike
Claude
Debussy,
who,
n
those
wenty ears
between
895 nd
1914,
ppears
n
a
Philharmonic
rogram nly
once,
with
single erformance
fhisL Apr s-midi 'un aune. ncontrast
German
xperimenter,
ichard
Strauss27,
as
in
the scendant:
t s a
commentary
n
the stateof musical
taste
n
Berlin
t
the
turn
f the
century
hat he
Philharmonic
hould have
played
Straussmoreoften
than
Mozart,
nd
more han wice
s often s
Haydn.
Brahms, hen,
was
comfortably
or,
rather,
uncomfortably lodged
between
the
ancients
and
the moderns:
not ancient
enough
to
be,
like
Haydn,
slighted;
ot
modern
nough
o
be,
ike
Strauss,
itillating.
t was a critic
in
London
who,
n
1890,
laced
his
position
most
precisely.
omparing
Brahms'TragicOverturewithLiszt's
Dante
Symphony,
e found he
two
works
very
widely
ontrasted,
hough
ach
belongs
o
themodern
school;
but
Brahms dheres
o classic
precedents,
hereas
Liszt casts
them side
. . ,"28
rahms
was a conservative
ifficult odern
lassicist.
Most of
Brahms'
ontemporaries,
hen,
hought
im
unimaginative
and
solid,
a technician
who
was,
at
best,
n
apt disciple
f his
betters.
One
widely
ead
German
musical
historian,
rofessor
mil
Naumann,
listed
Brahms
mong
the followers
f
Schumann,
n
the
company
of
AlbertDietrict
nd
Robert
Volkmann,
nd devoted
ess
space
to
him
than to Raff.29
AnotherGerman
critic,
urveying
he
condition
of
26 In thepassageI have ust quoted (see note25), Nikisch nstructivelyalls Brahms
composer
whom
I
am
already
ounting" mong
ourclassics."
The
"already" uggests
Brahms' ransitional
tatus.
intend o
explore
what
here all "fields f
force"
n
a
forthcoming
ook.
27 It s
nteresting
o
note hat venHermann
evi,
oward he nd ofhis
ife,
ad
to
admit
that for all his commitment
o the Music
of the
Future,
he could no
longer
fully
understand ichard
trauss:
evi to Paul
Heyse,
a. December
1899
half year
before
Levi's
death):
Auch ch
vermag
traussnicht
mehr u
folgen
"
Heyse-Archiv,
ol.
VI,
Levi Letter
no. 44. Hand
Schriften
bteilung,
ayrische
taatsbibliothek,
Munich.
28
Musical
Times
July
1,
1890),
p.
407.
29
See
Naumann,
Deutsche
Tondichter
5th
edn.,
1882),
h.
12,
"Die
Gegenwart,"
p.
346-377
passim.
This ow estimate
ates from he
first dition f
1871,
when
Brahms
hadalreadypublished greatdeal ofdistinguished usic;by 1882,hehad added the
violin oncerto
nd his
firstwo
ymphonies,
utnoneof
heseworks aused
Naumann
to revisehis verdict.
or a
survey
f these
minor
omposers,
ee Rudolf
Louis,
Die
deutscheMusik
der
Gegenwart
rd.
edn.
1912).
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
14/21
28 PETER GAY
chamber music
in
1890,
praised
Brahms,
but for
understanding
Beethovenbest and
following
im
most
closely.30
he
year
before,
Brahms'one-time
riend nd admirerHermann
Levi,
long
after he
friendship
ad soured
and
the
admiration
lapsed, put
it more
economically
nd
more
avagely
whenhe
calledBrahms n
"epigone."
1
It was
a
word,
t
seems,
hat
ame
easily
o the
pen.
n
themidst f
an
appreciation,
he once famous
criticPaul
Marsop
called his
favorite
among
ll
of Brahms'
ompositions,
he
German
Requiem,
derivative
piece:
"the tribute hat n
epigonepresents
o
the
mmortals."32
Brahms' tributes" erenot lways he ubject fderisiveeflections.
One
English
mateur
poet published
n
1891
a sonnet
hat
reflects
sunnier iew:
Brahms,
trong,
elf-governed
oul,
be this
thy
praise,
That
in
a fitful
ge
thou didstrefrain
From methods
alse,
rom
iberties
rofane:
For
thou hast
gathered
n
tradition's
ays
The
flowers f full-blown
hought
hat
rown
hy
days.
Hark, nthymellowmusic, trong nd sane,
Beethoven's armonies
ibrate
gain,
And fill
our
listeningpirit
with maze.
His mantle
ests
upon
thee. Art
not thou
High
Priest
f
Music's
mysteries
n
his
stead,
The
ealous guardian
f the
aws divine?
So men shall
call thee
Master;
even
though
now
They
follow
fter ther
gods
than
thine,
And
trample
ut the
footprints
f the
dead.
33
One
listener's
plagiarist,
t
would
appear,
was
another
listener's
classicist.
30 In
short:
Brahms'
minence
n
chamber
music
composition
ies
in
his
capacity
o
imitate.
He, too,
has not
arried
he
hamber
music
tyle
orward.
We
still tandwhere
we
stood
sixty
years
go."
Neue
Zeitschriftr
Musik,
Vol.
CXXXVI(1890),p.556.
31 Levi
to an
unidentified
orrespondent,
ecember
15,
1889.
Oesterreichische
Nationalbibliothek,
Wien,
Autograph
195/46.
For
Levi,
on
whose instructive
testimony
have drawn
freely
ere,
ee Peter
Gay,
"HermannLevi and the Cult of
Wagner,'*
he Times
Literary
upplement
April
11,
1975),
pp.
402-404.
32 "JohannesBrahms,"Musikalische ssays 1889),p. 194.
33
Musical
Times,
Vol.
XXXII,
No. 578
(April
1,
1891),
p.
210.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
15/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 29
III
The
19th-centuryeputation
of
Brahms, then,
embraces
two
incompatible
lements:
e seemed t once
traditional
nd
difficult.
ut
the
paradox
s
only
pparent.
ome words f he
English
onnet
oint
o
its resolution:
rahms,
he
poet
tells
us,
has
gathered
n
tradition's
ways
The flowers f full-blown
hought.
Similarly,
n
English
eview alled
Brahms' ourth
ymphony,
n
1890,
"one of themost bstruse nd least nspired f thecomposer's arger
works."34
n
the ame
tenor,
rahms' ntimate
riend,
he
distinguished
surgeon
nd
gifted
mateur
ianist,
heodor
Billroth,
riticized rahms
for
having
too little
ensuality
zu
wenig
innliches
in
his
art,
s
composer
and
performer
alike."35
Phrases like
"calculating
intellectuality,"
mathematical
music" nd
"dry
pedantry,"
abstruse,
intellectual"
nd
"unintelligible, ry,
deliberate nd
uncongenial",
"emotional
mpotence"
wamp
the critical iterature. rahms
was the
Browning
f
music.
6
Even
Brahms'
Double Concertofor Violin and
Cello,
which
t
would
take ome
maginative
fforto
find
ngrateful
o
the
magination,
roused t least heManchesterGuardian o
precisely
that
reflection:
Those who look
upon
music for the
expression
of
emotion
will find little
.. to arouse
the
feelings."37
he same
newspaper,
eporting
n thefirst
Manchester
erformance
f Brahms'
34 See
Musical
Times,
Vol.
XXXII,
No. 581
(July
1,
1890),
p.
407. Italics mine.
The
reviewer
oes
exempt
he slow
movement,
a
gem,"
from his
general
tricture.
he
charge
f
ntellectuality
uns
hrough
he
Marsop
essay
have
ust
quoted.
Brahmswas
"a restless
tudent
ein
rastloser
erner;"
with few
exceptions
here
s
"always
something
eavy
and
dry
-
etwas
Dumpfes
und Trockenes
in the Brahmsian
orchestration;"
here
s
"always omething
eliberate,
ntellectualized Gewolltes
Brahms'
ragic
ision
Tragik."
nd o forth.
hough,
t the ame
time: This cholar
andthinkern oundwas, t the ametime, poet einDichter."Johannes rahms,"
Musikalische
ssays,
pp.
184-195
assim.
35 This
n themidst f
paean
to
Brahms.
Billroth,
greeing
with
Hanslick,
o Professor
Lubke,
December
4,
1867.
Briefe
on Theodor
Billroth
8th
unchanged
dition,
910),
p.
73.
By linking
Brahms
o Bach and Beethoven
n
this
complaint,
Billroth
nly
confuses
matters
urther;
n
any
event,
he
thought
rahms'
ntellectualism
ot some
defect
n
sensual
powers
but
the
consequence
of a deliberate
olicy.
36 The first
uotation
s from
Musical
Opinion April
1
1 9
1
,
p.
255;
the
thers,
n
order,
from
he Boston
Gazette
January
4,
1878);
Boston
Daily
Advertiser
October
31,
1882),
Boston Gazette
November
,
1884);
J. F. Runciman
Boston]
Musical Record
(January
1,
1900);
New York
Times
February
8,
1896),
all
quoted
from
Nicolas
Slonimsky,
d.
Lexicon
of
Musical
Invective:Critical
Assaults
on
Composers
ince
Beethoven's
Time
edn., 1965),pp. 68,
70, 71, 79,
182.
The
Lexicon,
a
shrewdly
gathered
reasure,ontains nsults o other omposers s well,though ewhave so
single-minded
group
of
assailants s
Brahms.
37
Kennedy,
The
Halle
Tradition,
.
60.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
16/21
-
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
17/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 31
String
extets,
nd
the Second
Symphony.
nd
ust
as he had
thought
the Fourth
Symphony
"cold"
composition,
from
which both
"originality
nd
the heat of
inspiration
were
absolutely
bsent,"
so
Pougin
now
found he
Third
acking
n
"inspiration,"
nd thework s
a
whole,
gray".41
eed
I
add
that
gray
s
the color of
the brain?
Pougin
was
speaking
forhis
colleagues:
Brahmsdid
not rank
very
high
withFrench ritics.
n
April
1892,
eflecting
n
the
oncert
eason
just
past,Hyppolite
arbedette
riticized
he wo
eading
onductors
n
Paris,
Charles Lamoureux
and Edouard
Colonne,
for
their timid
programming,nd proposedthat hey laymoreHaydnand seekout
the
minorworks
f Beethoven
r
Mendelssohn.
hen,
moving
own
to
a
lesser
rank,
o
"Niels
Gade,
Brahms,
Rubinstein,
aff,"
Barbedette
suggested
hat
they,
oo,
might
have
some
interesting
vertures
r
symphonic
works
worthy
f
resurrection.
he
company
nto
which
Berbedette,
n articulate
nti-Wagnerian
ritic
or
e
Mnestrel,
laced
Brahms
s,
from ur
perspective,
stounding
ut
from
isown
perfectly
natural.42
ot even
the
pious
hyperbole
hat
marks,
nd
mars,
most
obituaries
ould
wholly
rase
he
dutiful
ppreciation
hatFrench
music
critics
rought
o
Brahms,
he ntellectual.
Writing
n
Le Mnestrel
n
mid-April
897,
ust
afterhenewsof Brahms' eathhadreachedParis,
O.
Berggruen
oted
his rare
ntellectual
ultivation."
ut
ven
Brahms'
prolific
utput
f
songs,
Berggruen
hought,
ould
not
qual
the
uality
of
Schumann's,
r even
Robert
Franz's,
Lieder:
"To tell
the
truth,
t
most a
dozen
or so
of his
songs
have become
popular."
The
German
Requiem,
which
had
made
Brahms
famous,
was a
work
he
never
surpassed;
his vocal
music
hows
him to
have been an
"inquiring
nd
abstract
spirit."
Brahms'
instrumental
music
displays
the same
character:
arely truly
lowing
melody nywhere.
erggruen
onceded
that nemust dmireBrahms' ift ormaking ombinations,
is
powers
of construction
nd
his
sovereign
ontrol
of
the means
of
musical
production
all
(need
say?) qualities
of an
intellectual
raftsman.43
The
French,
n
short,
hared
nd
underscored
he
opinion
of
Europe:
Brahmswas
a cerebral
omposer.
IV
I
have
submitted
ufficient
vidence,
think,
o substantiate
my
argument
hat
our
favorite
ommonplace
about
Brahms,
his
easy
41
"Revue des
grand
concerts,"
e
Mnestrel,
1st
Year,
No. 5
February
,
1895),
.
36.
42 Le
Mnestrel
58th
Year,
No.
16
(April
17,
1892),
p.
127.
43
"Ncrologie,"
e
Mnestrel
3rd
Year,
No.
15
April
11,
1897),
pp.
113-115.
erggruen
concedes
hat
ome of
Brahms' ate chamber
music,
ike
he larinet
works
written or
his
friend
Muhlfeld,
re
"ravishing;"
or the
rest,
Brahms
s "laborious
and
solid,"
deserving
espect,
o
more.
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
18/21
32 PETER GAY
romanticism,
as held
by
an
insignificant
inority
n
his
ifetimend
for ome
years
fterhis death. wantto
note,
briefly,
hat
the
other
commonplace,
is
conformism,
s at least
open
to
question.
We are told
that he
distinguishing
ark fthe
vant-garde
s to
be
at odds with he
"bourgeois
ivilization" f ts
ge.
"
Now,
Brahmswas
distinctly
t odds
with
his
age. Compared
to the
giants
of the
eighteenth
nd
early
nineteenth
entury,
e would
nsist,
ver nd over
gain,
the
musicians
ofhistimewere
ulgarians:
ninventivemitatorsr brash
ccentrics:
I
don't like
us,"
he said.
"Wir
gefallen
mir
nicht"45His own
way
of
confrontinghedepressingituation f modernmusicwas tocompose
with
that mixtureof
respect
and
disrespect,
f
adaptation
and
independence,
hat haracterizes he true ultural nnovator.
Even Brahms9 hoice of textsfor his
copious
vocal
compositions
provides
lues
to
depths
unsuspected
nd
unexplored.
An
earnest
f
unsystematic
eader,
e drewhis
nspiration
rom
npredictable
asses
of
printed
materials
anging
rom he
nsipid
o the
profound,
rom
he
sentimentalo the
experimental.
nd at least two of his
most
moving
works for voice and
orchestra,
he
Song
of
Destiny
and the
Alto
Rhapsody,
tilize exts
trikingly
uperior
o the
workaday
oetic
astes
of thenineteenth-centuryermans.Brahms' chicksalslied s a setting
of a
poem
that Hlderlin nserted nto his
novel,
Hyperion.
With ts
painful
nd
yearning
ontrast
etween
lear-eyed,
nchanging
Greek
gods
and
restless,
ever
suffering umanity,
t
was more
than
conventional
ostalgia;
whenBrahms ame
upon
Hlderlin n
1868,
his
poetry
was little nown nd his
message
uncertain.
6
And when
oon
after rahms ecided
o
composeportions
fGoethe's ark
Harzreise n
Winter,
e fell
pon
a text
which,
hough yGermany's
most elebrated
Dichter,
was like
Hlderlin's
verse,
far from
being
a
popular poem.
Brahms'
etting
f
Goethe's
ines,
with
ts
splendid
nterweaving
f
contralto, rchestra nd late-enteringhorus, s unforgettable:he
lonely
raveler f
Goethe's
oem
s
estranged
rom
he
world,
n
danger
of
transforming
elf-hatredntohatred f
others,
ating
himself
p
and
appealing
o a
divinity
o show
him
he
way
out.
Such
choices,
nd the
music
Brahms
composed,
seem like
prophetic nticipations
f the
Modernistmalaise and the Modernist
ensibility.
This s the
point
of
my ssay.
t is doubtless
nteresting
nd useful
n
itself
o
document
he dramatic
hift
n
Brahms'
eputation,
ut
that
44
Presumably,
o is
the
onservative;
ut
n
thisneat
pattern,
he
onservatives seento
hatethe
present
nd
hanker or he
past,
while he
vant-garde
ates he
present
nd
fantasizes he future.
45 See
Stephenson,
Der
Komponist
rahms
n
eigenen
Urteil," rahms-Studien,
ol.
I,
pp.
11-13.
46
Consider
hebrief reatment
n
HermannHettner's
lassic
volume,
iteraturgeschichte
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
19/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 33
story
olds few
urprises.
he
history
f
taste
s,
after
ll,
full
f such
shifts
o which
not even
Dante,
not even
Shakespeare,
have been
immune.
Only stability
needs
explaining.
But
more went into the
making
of our
Brahmsthan this. What
changed
was not
merely
judgment
ut a
mode of
udgment.
Brahms
he
frigid
ntellectual as
become
Brahms he
ultry
entimentalist.his s more
han
widening
appreciation,
t s more than n act
of
earning.
t
warns hehistorian
thatnot
valuations
lone,
but ven
presumably
table
ategories
re far
from
ermanent
r bsolute.
t s not
imply
hatwe
havecometo ike
or detest whatoncemainly uzzledourelders, utrather hatwhat
one
century
aw as
the
product
f ntellect
nother
entury
as come
to
see as the
product
f
motion.
sychologists
ave
ong
hrown oubton
the
proposition
hat hemental ctivities
e call
"reason" nd
"passion"
are
mutually
xclusive
nd
wholly
nalterable,
nd historians
must
ake
their
point
and
relativize heir
perception
of
these
psychological
forces.47
o
do so
will
tighten
heir
grip
on
the events
hey
eek to
understand
y taking
hem ut
of their wn mental et.
I
can
illustrate,
oth
whathas
happened
o Brahms
n
particular
nd
the hameleon
ature f
reason"
nd
"passion"
n
general
yciting
he
analogous
history
f
mpressionist
ainting.
he Monets nd Renoirs
that
oday,
n
cheapreproductions,
dorn
hewallsof
gushing eenagers
just
past puberty,
ere corned
nly centurygo
as offenses
o
good
taste,
as
violations
of nature.
Degas,
the
misanthrope,
with his
awkward,
sweating
ballerinas,
exhausted
jockeys
and
depressed
prostitutes
as been victimized
y
a
change
in
sensibility
hat
has
trivializedhis beautiful
ugliness
to mere
prettiness.
f
we
read
Schoenberg's
ssay,
Brahms he
Progressive,"
ith
uch hifts
n
mind,
we
will
read
it with
new
comprehension.
he radical innovations
n
harmony
nd
rhythm
hat
Schoenberg
iscerns
n
Brahms'
workhave
been absorbed ntothe mainstream f tastewith he
passage
of
time;
what
once
mystified
nd alienated listeners
now
lies
comfortably,
almost
azily,
n
our
ear.
But
am after till
igger ame
than his.
am
offering
he
history
f
Brahms'
reputation
s an
argument
or the need to reexamine
he
history
f the
high
culture
we inhabit.
The
prevailing
ccount sees
modern culture
emerging
rom the irrevocable
plit
between the
Modernist
vant-garde
nd the Academic
Establishment. he makers
of our
mind,
rom ezanne to
Kandinsky,
rom
Kierkegaard
o
Marx,
der Goethezeit 3rd edn. 1876; reprintedwith unaltered ext 1970), pp. 591-99;
appreciative
ut
rather
erfunctory.
nterestingly,
he ittle
ssay
endswith he
very
lines
that Brahms
et
to music.
47 For a
specific
pplication
of this
dea
to the
psychology
f
music,
ee Leonard
B.
Meyer,
motion nd
Meaning
n Music
(1956).
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
20/21
34 PETER GAY
fromNietzsche o
Freud,
from
Wagner
to
Schoenberg,
were
great
outsiders,
espising
he modernworld nto which n unkindfatehad
plunged
them,
hating
the mass-manufacture f
vulgarity,
he
stranglehold
fthe
bourgeois,
herewards vailable o bad taste nd
the
lamentable
ecay
of
civility.
There
s,
of
course,
s
I
noted t the
beginning,omething
n
all
this,
but ess thanwe have
thought.
do notwant o
argue
from
xceptions:
there re
always
exceptions.
want to
argue quite generally
hatthe
material have
presented
nvites s to
revise,
n
two
ways,
hecurrent
account of how ourModernistensibilityrose:wemustrethinkhe
distance f the
vant-garde
rom ts
contemporary
stablishment,
nd
the relative hare of the
past
in
its
aggressive
work.That
mysterious
activity
we call
creation,
which has
fascinated nd defied so
many
investigators,
s
always
n
act offusion.However
rgent
he
mpulse
f
defiance r the ssertion
f
originality,
here re elements
n
the reator's
world hat
he
accepts
nd
incorporates.
What he
sees
as his"world"
s,
after
ll,
not an
undifferentiated ass of
stupidity,neptitude
nd
hostility,
ut a series of
environments f
which at least some are
admirable r
prove nescapable.
he
rebel's
ndividuality
an
never
e as
totalas hewould ike to think.
Doubtless theword
creativity,
ith
ts
resonanceof a divine
power making
omething
ut of
nothing,
s,
however
flattering,
rofoundly
misleading. nspirationdepends
on
knowledge
nd
technical
ompetence
s
much s
it
does on some
private
alchemy
nique
o the
reator;
e builds t
east
partly
with
ricks e has
got
from thers.
The creator s
quite
s enmeshed
n
the
tradition.We would see this
more
plainly
han
we
normally
o
if
we
used
comprehensive
erms ike
present
nd
world,
r
tradition nd
past,
in
the
plural.
Nor,
forthat
matter, re presents nd pasts insulatedfrom one another: Manet
quoted
seventeenth-centurypaniards
o discomfit
ineteenth-century
Frenchmen
ust
as,
a hundred
ears
before
im,
Diderothad
exploited
ancient
agans
to assail
contemporary
hristians. o
turn o the
past
or,
rather,
ne
past
-
may
be themost ffective
ay
of
preparing
he
future. am far
rom
isparaging
he
daring
f he nnovator r
denying
the
reality
f nnovation.
8
am
only
rying
o
give
realistic
ccountof
both.
I
return o
my
tarting oint.
Brahmswas both traditionalist
nd
an
innovator,
oth
a
conservativend a
radical,
both a craftsman
nd
a
creator;he was an emotional ntellectual, ithout rippling onflicts,
48
I
have dealt
with
Diderot's
and
the ther
hilosophes1)trategies
f
exploiting
what
have
called
"the useful nd beloved
past"
in
The
Enlightenment:
n
Interpretation,
Vol.
I,
The Rise
of
Modern
Paganism 1966);
and
I deal withManet's
n
my
Art
nd
Act:
On Causes in
History
Manet,
Gropius,
Mondrian
1976).
This content downloaded from 139.18.244.76 on Mon, 09 Nov 2015 16:40:42 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
7/25/2019 Peter Gay - Aimez-Vous Brahms. Reflections on Modernism
21/21
Aimez-vousBrahms?Reflectionsn Modernism 35
without
paradox. Only
a handful of critics have discerned
this
compound
f
qualities
n
Brahms.
An
anonymous
eviewer,
riting
n
the Boston
Daily
Advertiser
n
1878,
was disturbed
nough
by
the
First
Symphony
o
defineBrahms s "a modernof the moderns."His
"C
minor
ymphony,"
e
added,
"is a remarkable
xpression
f the
nner
life
of this
anxious, introverted,
ver-earnest
ge,"
a
shrewd,
f
tendentious
ppraisal.
9
Billroth,
f
ourse
armore
ppreciative,
alled
his
good
friend
our mostmodern
omposer,"50
hile
s
early
s 1869
an obscure
ritic,
.
Kleinert,
erceptively
uggested
hat
while
Brahms
had listened o the old masters losely nd intelligently,e had byno
means
mitated
hem,
ut
had, rather,
bsorbed
what
hey
ad to teach
and
gone
his own
way:
"We are
confronted ithmodernmusic."51
These were
solated
oices,
nd
they
ave remained
solated;
n
our
day
it has been
Schoenberg
who said
of
Brahms,
he
would have been
a
pioneer
f
he had
simply
eturned
o Mozart."
And
he
mmediately
dds:
"But he did
not ive on
inherited
ortune;
e made one of
his own."52
have
written
his
ssay
to
show
that
Schoenberg
was
right
n
both
of
these
ssertions,
nd that he
onsequences
fhis
being
ight
re,
for
he
historian, othing
ess than
momentous.
And,
yes, aime
Brahms.
49
(January
8,
1878),
quoted
in
Slonimsky,
exicon,
p.
68.
50
In
a
freely
endered
ut
doubtless
argely
uthentic
onversationhatHanslick
ecords
holding
with
Billroth,
n
Hanslick,
Aus meinem
eben,
2
vols.
1894),
Vol.
II,
p.
302.
Marsop
s rather
morehalf-hearted:Brahms oo
belongs mong
hediscoverers f he
modern.
nly
we
must
roup
him
mong
those
who,
rather
han
blazing aths
nto
yet
unknown
ands,
demonstrate itherto
eglected
beauties and charms
among
old
familiar
hings."
Musikalische
ssays,
p.
191.
51
Quoted
n extenso
n
Max
Kalbeck,
Johannes
rahms,
vols,
n
8
1904-1914),
Vol.
II,
pp.
1,
273-4. Kalbeck's
biography, espite
ts
patent Brahms-worship,
emains
he
classic.
52 "Brahms
he
Progressive,"
1933,
revised
n
1947),
n
Style
nd Idea
(1950),
p.
99. The
wholeessay pp. 52-101) s of central elevance o this ubject. n preparingt,as a
lecture,
e
wrote o Hans
Rosbaud
on
January
,
1933:
Would
you
be
interested
n
a
lecture n Brahms?
think
might
ave
something
o
say
on that
ubject
hat alone
can
say.
To be
sure,
my
ontemporaries
nd thosewho are older han am have ived
through
he
age
of Brahms Brahmszeit
,
but
they
re not Modern.' And
the
younger
rahmsians o
longer
know he
Brahms
radition rom heir wn
experience
and are also for the most
part reactionary.'
ut :
I
am
thinking
f the
theory
f
composition,
necdotes " Arnold
Schoenberg,Briefe,
elected nd edited
by
Erwin
Stein
1958),
pp.
185-6.On March
18, 1939,
he
explained
o Alfred rankensteinhat
he had orchestrated
rahms' iano
Quartet
n
G-minor
ecausehe oved
he
piece,
nd
had known Brahms'
tyle
for
almost
fifty ears.
Briefe, .
223;
I
do not want
to
overstate he
solation f
Schoenberg's erception
f Brahms
and,
with
hat,
my
wn
originality).
record
my
indebtedness o a
long essay
by
Donald Francis
Tovey,
"Brahms' hamberMusic",1 29, onvenientlyeprintedn generousollection fhis
essays,
TheMain Stream
of
Music and Other
Essays,
d.,
Hubert Foss
(1949;
edn.
1959),
pp.
220-270.
Brahms'
problematicmodernity
s also
noted,
briefly
nd
perceptively,
n
Ivor
Keys,
Brahms'Chamber
Music,
BBC
Music Guides
1974).