Composers Datebook

Brahms breaks the rules


Listen Later

The first Piano Concerto by Brahms received its premiere public performance on today’s date in 1858 with the Hanover Court Orchestra under the direction of Brahms’s close friend Joseph Joachim and its 25-year composer as soloist.
That first night audience had never heard anything quite like it. In his biography of Brahms, Jan Swafford describes what was expected of a piano concerto back then, namely “virtuosic brilliance, dazzling cadenzas, not too many minor keys, [and nothing] too tragic.”
“To the degree that these were the rules,” writes Swafford, “[Brahms] violated every one of them.”
His concerto opens with heaven-storming drama, continues with deeply melancholic lyricism, and closes with something akin to hard-fought, even grim, triumph. Rather than a display of flashy virtuosity, Brahms’s concerto comes off as somber and deeply emotional. A second performance, five days later in Leipzig, was hissed.
"I am experimenting and feeling my way,” Brahms wrote to his friend Joachim, adding, "all the same, the hissing was rather too much."
Now regarded a dark Romantic masterpiece, it’s important to remember how long it took audiences to warm to Brahms’ music. The American composer Elliott Carter recalled that even in the 1920s, Boston concert goers used to quip that the exit signs meant, "This way in case of Brahms."
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Composers DatebookBy American Public Media

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

10 ratings


More shows like Composers Datebook

View all
PBS Washington Week with The Atlantic - Full Show by Washington Week

PBS Washington Week with The Atlantic - Full Show

1,342 Listeners

The Book Review by The New York Times

The Book Review

3,853 Listeners

New Classical Tracks with Julie Amacher by American Public Media

New Classical Tracks with Julie Amacher

177 Listeners

Piano Puzzler by American Public Media

Piano Puzzler

499 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,781 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,151 Listeners

Marketplace Tech by Marketplace

Marketplace Tech

73 Listeners

Piano Puzzler by American Public Media

Piano Puzzler

37 Listeners

Gramophone Classical Music Podcast by Gramophone

Gramophone Classical Music Podcast

60 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,357 Listeners

YourClassical Daily Download by American Public Media

YourClassical Daily Download

235 Listeners

The NPR Politics Podcast by NPR

The NPR Politics Podcast

25,801 Listeners

The Daily by The New York Times

The Daily

111,441 Listeners

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast by Joshua Weilerstein

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

2,094 Listeners

Up First from NPR by NPR

Up First from NPR

56,027 Listeners

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond by Pushkin Industries

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

4,116 Listeners

Short Wave by NPR

Short Wave

6,244 Listeners