History Music / JohannesBrahms

** Implied in the [[https://youtu.be/QJGoycymiC4 Piano Trio No. 1 in B major,]] which has a warm, ardent and optimistic beginning but a dark and tempestuous conclusion in the parallel [[{{Scales}} key]] of B minor. The young Brahms was still working on the trio when his mentor Music/RobertSchumann attempted suicide and was committed to a mental asylum, and [[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W4176_44331 it is possible]] (though not proven) that these tragic circumstances may have influenced the emotional course of the work. Brahms heavily revised the trio decades later but maintained the bleak minor-key ending; this revised version is the one most commonly heard today.

* DownerEnding: A possible interpretation of the [[https://youtu.be/QJGoycymiC4 first piano trio in B major,]] which has a warm, ardent and optimistic beginning but a dark and tempestuous conclusion in the minor [[{{Scales}} key]]. The young Brahms was still working on the trio when his mentor Music/RobertSchumann attempted suicide and was committed to a mental asylum, and [[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W4176_44331 it is possible]] (though not proven) that these tragic circumstances may have influenced the emotional course of the trio. Brahms heavily revised the trio decades later, and maintained the bleak minor-key ending.

Classical fans probably best know him for his Symphony No. 1 in C minor, which is the unofficial theme for his home city of UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}}, and his Hungarian Dances, especially the fifth. Pop culture fans will instantly recognize [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t894eGoymio his Lullaby]].

* {{Romanticism}}: Brahms' music belongs decidedly to the Romantic era, but he represented a more traditionalist strain of Romanticism that followed Baroque and Classical composers such as Haydn and Bach, disputing the ideology of more florid composers such as Wagner, Liszt, and Strauss as too undisciplined. In particular, Brahms refused to compose programmatic music that relied on external narratives, writing only "absolute music" such as sonatas, symphonies, and chamber music. The dispute has been called "The War of the Romantics".

* DownerEnding: A possible interpretation of the [[https://youtu.be/QJGoycymiC4 first piano trio in B major,]] which has a warm, ardent and optimistic beginning but a dark and tempestuous conclusion in the minor key. The young Brahms was still working on the trio when his mentor Music/RobertSchumann attempted suicide and was committed to a mental asylum, and [[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W4176_44331 it is possible]] (though not proven) that these tragic circumstances may have influenced the emotional course of the trio. Brahms heavily revised the trio decades later, and maintained the bleak minor-key ending.

Classical fans probably best know him for his Symphony No. 1, which is the unofficial theme for his home city of UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}}, and his Hungarian Dances, especially the fifth. Pop culture fans will instantly recognize [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t894eGoymio his Lullaby]].

* DownerEnding: A possible interpretation of the [[https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DviPLLjpujOU first piano trio in B major,]] which has a warm, ardent and optimistic beginning but a dark and tempestuous conclusion in the minor key. The young Brahms was still working on the trio when his mentor Music/RobertSchumann attempted suicide and was committed to a mental asylum, and [[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W4176_44331 it is possible]] (though not proven) that these tragic circumstances may have influenced the emotional course of the trio. Brahms heavily revised the trio decades later, and maintained the bleak minor-key ending.

* DownerEnding: A possible interpretation of the [[https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DviPLLjpujOU first piano trio in B major,]] which has a warm, ardent and optimistic beginning but a dark and tempestuous conclusion in the minor key. The young Brahms was still working on the trio when his mentor Creator/RobertSchumann attempted suicide and was committed to a mental asylum, and [[https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W4176_44331 it is possible]] (though not proven) that these tragic circumstances may have influenced the emotional course of the trio. Brahms heavily revised the trio decades later, and maintained the bleak minor-key ending.

Classical fans probably best know him for his Symphony No. 1, which is the unofficial theme for his home city of UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}}, and his Hungarian Dances, especially the fifth. Pop culture fans will instantly recognize [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t894eGoymio his Wiegenlied (Lullaby)]].

[[quoteright:246:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johanbrahms_7510.jpg]]

Classical fans probably best know him for his First Symphony, which is the unofficial theme for his home city of UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}}, and his Hungarian Dances, especially the fifth. Pop culture fans will instantly recognize [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t894eGoymio his lullaby]].

He is mentioned as being dead in the song "Decomposing Composers" by Creator/MichaelPalin sang on Creator/MontyPython's ''Audioplay/MontyPythonsContractualObligationAlbum''.

* ShoutOut: The composer's ''Music/AcademicFestivalOverture'', written in response to the honorary doctorate he received from the University of Breslau, quotes four songs frequently associated with German student academic life at the time: "Fuchslied," "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus," "Der Landesvater," and "Gaudeamus igitur." All were drinking or initiation songs at one point, though the last by then had been co-opted for use at college graduation ceremonies.
* StandardSnippet: His lullaby, perhaps better known in the west as "Lullaby and Goodnight," is often used in movies and shows where a character is sleepy or preparing to go to sleep. More often than not, the melody will be played on a music box or glockenspiel.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor has been compared to Beethoven's symphonies and was often considered "Beethoven's Tenth". Such comparisons annoyed Brahms, and he remarked "Any ass can see that".

* ShoutOut: The composer's ''Music/AcademicFestivalOverture'', written in response to an honorary doctorate the composer received from the University of Breslau, quotes four songs frequently associated with German student academic life at the time: "Fuchslied," "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus," "Der Landesvater," and "Gaudeamus igitur." All were drinking or initiation songs at one point, though the last by then had been co-opted for use at college graduation ceremonies.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Brahms' Symphony No. 1 has been compared to Beethoven's symphonies and was often considered "Beethoven's Tenth". Such comparisons annoyed Brahms, and he remarked "Any ass can see that".

** Symphony No. 3 starts and ends on an F-major chord.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Brahms' Symphony No. 1 has been compared to Beethoven's symphonies and was often considered "Beethoven's Tenth". Such a comparison annoyed Brahms, and he remarked "Any ass can see that".

* {{Bookends}}: ''Ein deutsches Requiem'' starts and ends with the same word, ''selig'' (blessed).

* {{Bookends}}: ''Ein deutches Requiem'' starts and ends with the same word, ''selig'' (blessed).

* ShoutOut: The composer's ''Music/AcademicFestivalOverture'', written in response to an honorary doctorate the composer received from the University of Breslau, quotes four songs frequently associated with German student academic life at the time: "Fuchslied," "Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus," "Hört, ich sing das Lied der Lieder," and "Gaudeamus igitur." All were drinking songs at one point, though the last by then had been co-opted for use at college graduation ceremonies.