A blog devoted to the actors and public policy issues involved in the 1998 District of Columbia Court of Appeals decision in Freedman v. D.C. Department of Human Rights, an employment discrimination case.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Opus 122, No. 8
Brahms wrote the collection of organ preludes, Op. 122, shortly before he died. They were his swan song.
The organ preludes Op 122 were arranged for piano by Ferruccio Busoni (April 1, 1866 – July 27, 1924), an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.
It turns out that in his mature years, Brahms, a cantankerous and rather solitary, gruff type of person became almost obsessed with issues of anti-Semitism, which had been come to an overt boil during his long tenure in Vienna. The Wagnerian-Nietzsche camp, under the spell of their rabid anti-semitic rhetoric which took over middle Europe in the mid-19th century, upset Brahms to no end.
“He wrote a few letters to many of his Jewish friends, including to the famous celebrity violinist and close friend of Brahms' Joseph Joachim, decrying this trend. To this end one of the most bizarre turns of events took place in and around 1860 - Brahms began to be known as ‘Brahms, the Jew,’ chiefly by Wagnerian groupies. In an era of rumor-turned reality, even the public bought the canard that he was Jewish, even though he was raised in a strict Lutheran household. He actually took pride in such rumors and defended his many Jewish friends with ardent loyalty to the end of his days.”
The organ preludes Op 122 were arranged for piano by Ferruccio Busoni (April 1, 1866 – July 27, 1924), an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.
ReplyDeleteHere's what Brahms actually wrote:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEesyb4PSVk&feature=related
It turns out that in his mature years, Brahms, a cantankerous and rather solitary, gruff type of person became almost obsessed with issues of anti-Semitism, which had
ReplyDeletebeen come to an overt boil during his long tenure in Vienna. The Wagnerian-Nietzsche camp, under the spell of their rabid anti-semitic rhetoric which took over middle Europe in the mid-19th century, upset Brahms to no end.
“He wrote a few letters to many of his Jewish friends, including to the famous celebrity violinist and close friend of Brahms' Joseph Joachim, decrying this trend. To this end one of the most bizarre turns of events took place in and
around 1860 - Brahms began to be known as ‘Brahms, the Jew,’ chiefly by Wagnerian groupies. In an era of rumor-turned reality, even the public bought the canard that he was Jewish, even though he was raised in a strict Lutheran
household. He actually took pride in such rumors and defended his many Jewish friends with ardent loyalty to the end of his days.”