Despite his remarkable resemblance to a certain Mr. Claus, Brahms is probably about the last composer you’d think of cozying up to on Christmas. This is the man who infamously left a party, after all, with one of the all-time great exit lines: “If there’s anyone here I’ve failed to insult, I apologize!”
This week on “Music from Marlboro,” it’s a Brahms Christmas.
Actually, Johannes Brahms had a very generous spirit. He did not shoot cats with a homemade bow-and-arrow and work the sounds of their pain into his music, as his enemies suggested. What he did enjoy was Christmas shopping! On one occasion he gifted the Schumann boys some rather pricey toy soldiers. On another, he surprised his housekeeper’s sons with a Christmas tree. Sure, Brahms could be a bit of a hard nut sometimes, but he retained a certain child-like demeanor at Christmas throughout his life.
The second of his “Zwei Gesänge” (“Two Songs”) for voice, viola and piano, Op. 91, was written in 1863 for his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, and Joachim’s wife, Amalie. It had originally been intended as a wedding present, but Brahms resubmitted it the following year for the baptism of the couple’s son (who was named after him). Joseph was also well-versed on the viola, and Amalie was a contralto.
The work, “Geistliches Wiegenlied” (“Sacred Lullaby”), after a text by Emanuel Geibel, is a cradle song sung by Mary, mother of Jesus, who addresses the holy angels, requesting that they silence the rustling palms because her Child is sleeping. The viola quotes the Christmas melody “Joseph, lieber Joseph mein,” a sly reference on the part of the composer, who incorporates the carol’s text in order to include Joachim’s given name.
We’ll hear a performance from the 2011 Marlboro Music Festival, featuring mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, violist Hélène Clément, and, at the keyboard, Marlboro co-director Mitsuko Uchida.
The adult Brahms had no family of his own. He divided Christmas Day between his favorite tavern and coffee shop, but Christmas Eve was another matter. In his later years, he greatly enjoyed passing the night with friends – once he was done shopping, that is – as part of a kind of extended family.
Though he rarely spent Christmas with his longtime crush, Clara Schumann, Brahms thought of her every year, on at least one occasion writing her a nice Christmas letter in which he imagines sitting beside her at her breakfast table, conversing with her, and delighting in all of her last-minute holiday preparations.
Clara joined Brahms for the first performance of his “Variations on a Theme by Haydn,” in its original version for two pianos, at a private gathering in Bonn, in August of 1873. The first performance of the orchestral version took place three months later, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by the composer.
Brahms owed much of his interest in Haydn, who died 60 years earlier and whose music had pretty much fallen out of fashion, to his friend Karl Ferdinand Pohl, scholar-librarian of the Vienna Philharmonic. The theme that had so captivated Brahms is the famous “St. Anthony Chorale,” employed in the Wind Partita in B-flat, which at the time was attributed to Haydn.
This evening, we’ll have an opportunity to compare both versions of Brahms’ celebrated variations. First, we’ll hear them performed in 1976 by pianists Stephanie Brown and Cynthia Raim; then the great Pablo Casals will conduct the Marlboro Festival Orchestra, from 1969.
Of course, the theme is probably not by Haydn at all, but who are you going to believe, scholarship or Brahms? It is the Christmas season, after all. I’m willing to take it on faith. I hope you’ll join me for the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
In the meantime, feel free to enjoy this profile of Pablo Casals by Marlboro’s Frank Salomon:
Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page
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