Tag: Best Frenemies

  • Tchaikovsky & Brahms Best Frenemies

    Tchaikovsky & Brahms Best Frenemies

    They were totally B.F.F. – Best Frenemies Forever.

    Prior to their unexpected meeting, Tchaikovsky had confided to his diary, “I have played over the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard!” Brahms reciprocated by falling asleep during Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, in the presence of the composer.

    Here’s a first-hand account of the introduction of the fastidious Tchaikovsky to the acerbic Brahms, with a special appearance by Edvard Grieg and his wife, Nina – making this almost as incident-packed as the latest installment of “The Avengers.”

    http://www.cmuse.org/tchaikovsky-and-brahms-it-is-fun-to-l…/

    Surprise! They actually delighted in one another’s company. In fact, they liked one another so well, they decided to do it again. However, the two never could reconcile themselves to one another’s music. When asked what he thought of the piano trio Brahms had been rehearsing, Tchaikovsky intimated, “Don’t be angry with me, my dear friend, but I did not like it.”

    Happy birthday, boys.

    Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

    Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

  • Tchaikovsky & Brahms: Best Frenemies Forever

    Tchaikovsky & Brahms: Best Frenemies Forever

    They were totally B.F.F. — Best Frenemies Forever.

    Prior to their unexpected meeting, Tchaikovsky had confided in his diary, “I have played over the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard!” Brahms reciprocated by falling asleep during Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, in the presence of the composer.

    Here’s a first-hand account of the introduction of the fastidious Tchaikovsky to the acerbic Brahms, with a special appearance by Edvard Grieg and his wife, Nina – making this almost as incident-packed as the new Captain America movie.

    Tchaikovsky and Brahms: it is fun to learn what happens when two fine composers of different temperaments meet for the first time

    Surprise! They actually delighted in one another’s company. In fact, they liked one another so well, they decided to do it again. However, the two never could reconcile themselves to one another’s music. When asked what he thought of the piano trio Brahms had been rehearsing, Tchaikovsky intimated, “Don’t be angry with me, my dear friend, but I did not like it.”

    Happy birthday, boys.

    Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

    Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

  • Brahms and Tchaikovsky: Best Frenemies Forever

    Brahms and Tchaikovsky: Best Frenemies Forever

    Brahms and Tchaikovsky were totally B.F.F. – Best Frenemies Forever.

    The latter famously confided to his diary, “I have played over the music of that scoundrel Brahms. What a giftless bastard!”

    And that’s only the short version.

    The two shared the same birthday, May 7 (Brahms born in 1833 and Tchaikovsky in 1840). Unfortunately, that was about all they had in common – Brahms, the great classicist among Romantics, and Tchaikovsky, always heart-on-the-sleeve.

    Or so they thought, until the two met on New Year’s Day, in 1888. Surprise! They actually delighted in one another’s company. There was much drinking and backslapping and drinking and hanging on one another’s shoulders and drinking and happy tears and drinking. (Of course, all this took place in spite of Brahms falling asleep during a rehearsal of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony.) In fact, they liked one another so well, they decided to do it again.

    However, the two never could reconcile themselves to one another’s music. After a lovely evening with Brahms, during which both men drank and smoked prodigiously, while Adolph Brodsky (the violinist who had introduced Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto) rehearsed with some friends a Brahms piano trio, Mrs. Brodsky asked Tchaikovsky what he had thought of the piece.

    “Don’t be angry with me, my dear friend,” he said, “but I did not like it.”

    Happy birthday, boys!


    PHOTOS: Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky (left) and Johannes Brahms, agreeing to disagree

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