The music of Johannes Brahms is deeply colored, Daniel
Beller-McKenna shows, by nineteenth-century German nationalism and
by Lutheran religion. Focusing on the composer's choral works, the
author offers new insight on the cultural grounding for Brahms's
music.
Music historians have been reluctant to address Brahms's
Germanness, wary perhaps of fascist implications. Beller-McKenna
counters this tendency; by giving an account of the intertwining of
nationalism, politics, and religion that underlies major works, he
restores Brahms to his place in nineteenth-century German culture.
The author explores Brahms's interest in the folk element in old
church music; the intense national pride expressed in works such as
the Triumphlied; the ways Luther's Bible and Lutheranism are
reflected in Brahms's music; and the composer's ideas about nation
building. The final chapter looks at Brahms's nationalistic image
as employed by the National Socialists, 1933-1945, and as witnessed
earlier in the century (including the complication of rumors that
Brahms was Jewish).
In comparison to the overtly nationalist element in Wagner's
music, the German elements in Brahms's style have been easy to
overlook. This nuanced study uncovers those nationalistic elements,
enriching our understanding both of Brahms's art and of German
culture.
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