Written by Robert Greenberg
Format: MP3
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In both his life and his music, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was a man of contrasts.

*He composed serious Teutonic music and joyful dance music.
*He was miserly with himself and exceedingly generous with family and associates.
*He was kind to working people and known for his biting, malicious wit in artistic and aristocratic social circles.

Not an easy man to know, Brahms destroyed a good deal of his own work and almost all of his lifetime's correspondence, in later years even collecting his letters from friends so that he could consign them to the flames.

This course links the complexities of the man with the electrifying music of the composer through biographical information and musical commentary.


8 Lectures
45 minutes / lecture

1 J.B., We Hardly Knew You!
2 The Brothels of Hamburg
3 The Schumanns
4 The Vagabond Years
5 Maturity
6 Mastery
7 The Tramp of Giants
8 Farewells