Modern music and musicians : [Encyclopedic] . ual life of Browning and Brahms whichwas akin. Both loved Italy; both were om-nivorous readers and caught inspiration from 282 JOHANNES BRAHMS whatever excited their imagination in fieldsfarthest asunder from that of art; Browningwas passionately fond of music, and Brahmsof poetry, and they were both philosophers. From this it follows that the mind ofBrahms is unlike that of other modern com-posers. His creative standpoint is even moreapart from theirs. These strive to expressemotions and motions in sound; such is thegenius of the romantic school.
Modern music and musicians : [Encyclopedic] . ual life of Browning and Brahms whichwas akin. Both loved Italy; both were om-nivorous readers and caught inspiration from 282 JOHANNES BRAHMS whatever excited their imagination in fieldsfarthest asunder from that of art; Browningwas passionately fond of music, and Brahmsof poetry, and they were both philosophers. From this it follows that the mind ofBrahms is unlike that of other modern com-posers. His creative standpoint is even moreapart from theirs. These strive to expressemotions and motions in sound; such is thegenius of the romantic school. Brahms, onthe other hand, has undertaken to expressthe ideas and scenes which cause emotion, Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife,And let me languish into life ! The world recedes; it disappears!Heaven opens on my eyes ! my ears With sounds seraphic ring:Lend, lend your wings ! I mount! I fly!O Grave ! where is thy victory ? 0 Death! where is thy sting ? correspond precisely to the allegretto graziosoof the Sonata in A, for piano and A GLIMPSE OF BRAHMSS LIBRARY. in sound. That is, he writes from the lit-erary standpoint, not the musical. He isoften confused with the classic school ofmusic, because he, too, is often content to ex-ploit but one phase of feeling in each com-position. Bach himself, within these limits,often reached the heights and depths of emo-tion. But it is much easier to trace inBrahmss ideas a likeness to the of poetry than to that of Bach andhis successors m music. For instance,Popes lines, Vital spark of heavenly flame !Quit! O quit this mortal frame !Trembling, hoping, lingeiing, flying,O, the pain, the bliss of dying! The point of similarity here, however, liesin the rapid narrative style, and in the pic-ture to be expressed, which happens to be-long to those grave and death poems bywhich the return of English poetry to roman-ticism was heralded. Brahms breaks withclassicism in his rugged grandeur. He con-ceived the thoughts of Pop
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidmode, booksubjectmusicians
