The German Requiem is Brahms's largest work, making Brahms an international name and prompting comparisons between him and Bach and Beethoven. It has found new critical support recently, as an original and progressive work, and this detailed study examines its history, controversial past, and textual and musical structure.
Michael Musgrave presents a new focus on Schumann as a practical working musician, building a career and interacting with the professional world. The study emphasizes the value of Schumann's often neglected later works and sees his total achievement as central to emerging musical culture.
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essays represent recent research and reflect changing attitudes towards a composer whose public image has long been out-of-date.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.