Brahms symphony 4 beethoven biography

During the summer of 1885 at the summer retreat of Mürzzuschlag, and just one year after completing his Third Symphony, Johannes Brahms set to work on his fourth and final symphonic essay.

Brahms symphony 4 beethoven biography

That year he completed only the first two movements, which he kept secret until the following summer. At that point, he wrote the finale and then the third movement. Ever skeptical of his own work, Brahms played a four-hand piano version of it for a handful of friends before releasing the orchestral score for performance.

The composer himself conducted the premiere with Hans von Bülow’s Meiningen orchestra, and to Brahms’s surprise, the symphony was a success with the public.
         
What to listen for:One of the most powerful features of the Fourth Symphony is its economy of means.

Terseness is obvious right from the first theme: a graceful, expansive musical idea built on just two notes, which Brahms turns