Cambridge Companion To Brahms, The

Description:
This Companion gives a comprehensive view of the German composer Johannes Brahms (1833-97). Twelve specially-commissioned chapters by leading scholars and musicians provide systematic coverage of the composer's life and works. Their essays represent recent research and reflect changing attitudes towards a composer whose public image has long been out-of-date. The first part of the book contains three chapters on Brahms's early life in Hamburg and on the middle and later years in Vienna. The central section considers the musical works in all genres, while the last part of the book offers personal accounts and responses from a conductor (Roger Norrington), a composer (Hugh Wood), and an editor of Brahms's original manuscripts (Robert Pascall). The volume as a whole is an important addition to Brahms scholarship and provides indispensable information for all students and enthusiasts of Brahms's music.

Review:
'Musgrave's contributors write engagingly, and balance fresh, sometimes provocative insights with routine but indispensable survey material.' Alain Frogley, BBC Music Magazine

Table of Contents:
List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Notes on contributors; Chronology; Preface; Part I. Stages of Creative Development and Reception: 1. Brahms the Hamburg musician 1833-1862 Kurt Hofmann; 2. Years of transition: Brahms and Vienna 1862-1875 Michael Musgrave; 3. Brahms and his audience: the later Viennese years, 1875-1897 Leon Botstein; Part II. The Music: Genre, Structure and Reference: 4. Opposition and integration in the piano music John Rink; 5. Medium and meaning: new aspects of the chamber music David Brodbeck; 6. Formal perspectives on the symphonies Kofi Agawu; 7. 'Veiled symphonies'? The concertos Malcolm MacDonald; 8. The scope and significance of the choral music Daniel Beller-McKenna; 9. Words for music: the songs for solo voice and piano Michael Musgrave; Part III. Brahms Today: Some Personal Responses: 10. Conducting Brahms Roger Norrington with Michael Musgrave; 11. The editor's Brahms Robert Pascall; 12. A photograph of Brahms Hugh Wood; Notes; List of works; Bibliography; Index.