Brahms's Song CollectionsBrahms once complained that singers never performed his songs in the groups in which he had published them, which he likened to 'song bouquets'. Over a century later, many singers and musicologists continue to ignore Brahms's wishes and focus on the individual songs rather than the bouquet groups. This is a detailed study of the implications of Brahms's comments. Following an examination of contemporary aesthetic and generic frameworks, the book traces Brahms's Lieder from their conception, to the arrangement into bouquets, to performance and reception, and examines the sometimes contradictory roles played by poet, composer, performer and recipient in creating coherence in song collections. An investigation of the graphic cycles of Max Klinger reveals a startling visual analogue of Brahms's conception of the song bouquet, and a final examination of the evidence of Brahms's aesthetic outlook reveals that his intentions may have been cyclic in more than one sense. |
Contents
Section 1 | 36 |
Section 2 | 38 |
Section 3 | 40 |
Section 4 | 41 |
Section 5 | 46 |
Section 6 | 57 |
Section 7 | 76 |
Section 8 | 137 |
Section 9 | 168 |
Section 10 | 195 |
Section 11 | 198 |
Section 12 | 201 |
Section 13 | 202 |
Section 14 | 205 |
Section 15 | 207 |
Section 16 | 212 |
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Common terms and phrases
according already appears arrangement beloved Brahms Brahms’s Brahms’s song Chapter close coherence collections complete composer concept conclusion connections considered contains context continuity create death describes editions effect element evidence example expressions fact final final song first first song flat flowers four fourth fragment Ges¨ange Groth illustration implies individual intended interpretation Klinger letter Liebe Lied Lieder longing lyric cycle Magelone major meaning Melodien minor narrative narrator nature opening opus original particularly performance perhaps piano poems poet poetic poetry present progression provides publication published recall reference reflects relation relationship reveals Schumann seen selection sense separate sequence significance similar Simrock singer singing single song bouquets song collections song cycle suggests Table texts theme third tonal tonic transposed typically voice volume whole writes