Brahms Sets to Music the Words of his Favorite Writer, Goethe

Johannes Brahms maintained a Classical sense of order in his works, in contrast to the opulence of the works of some his contemporaries.  He venerated Beethoven, modeled some of his music from that of Schubert, and collected first editions and autographs of the works of Mozart and Haydn.  The Romantic composers likewise had an influence on him, among them Schuman, who encouraged him as a young musician.  His influence was widespread and is today widely admired.  Writing in The New Oxford Companion to Music, Denis Arnold concludes, "…his appeal to musicians lies in the quality of his craftsmanship. His wider appeal surely lies in the essential conflict between the depth of emotion so often evident yet hidden behind his natural reserve. …"

Of all the German literary giants, Brahms appreciated most the poetry of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, long thought the greatest of his generation. In discussing the perfection of Goethe's work, Brahms wrote, "Schubert's Suleika songs are to me the only instances where the power and beauty of Goethe's words have been enhanced by the music. All other of Goethe's poems seem to me so perfect in themselves that no music can improve them."

Goethe was a broader symbol of German pride, the apex of the artistic world in the German intellectual awakening that had been sparked by Kant and would continue through men like Brahms into the musical world and make the German speaking world the hub of music and philosophy well into the 19th century.  In ___, Goethe had written a poem drawing attention to the development of the arts in Germany, comparing the effect of the muses in Ancient Greece with their hypothetical counterparts in Germany.  Parnassus was the mountain on which the muses were said to reside and so the mountain itself became synonymous with love, expression and art.   Goethe's poem was entitled fittingly the German Parnassus."Neath the shadow, of these bushes, on the meadow where the cooling water gushes. Phoebus (Apollo, who also is associated with Parnassus), gave me when a boy, all life's fullness to enjoy."

The "Freie Buhne" or "Free Stage" theater was founded in Berlin in 1889 by 10 writers and critics under the supervision of writer-director Otto Brahm of the purpose of staging new, free thought, naturalistic plays.  The plays were private and given to subscribers only.  Its first play took place in September 1889.  It was a counterpart to other Western European entities meant to exhibit the arts in Germany.   Like Beethoven, Brahms was fond of nature and often went walking in the woods around Vienna.  It is not surprising then that Brahms, called on to give support, would turn to the widely admired Goethe.

Autograph Musical Quotation Signed, Vienna, May [18]91, with four gilt edges, six bars of music from the "German Parnassus (“Deutscher Parnaß”), “Shouts I hear, wherein the sound of the Waterfall is drown'd. From the grove loud clamours rise, Strange the tumult strange the cries."

This album page was donated by Brahms for a spring festival of the Freie Bühne in May 1891.  A rare example of Brahms, consisting of a bridge between the arts and demonstrating the power and continuity of the German artistic movements of the 19th century.