My love for Schubert is a very serious one, probably because it is no fleeting fancy. Where is genius like his, which soars heavenwards so boldly and surely, where we see the few supreme ones enthroned. He is to me like a son of the gods, playing with Jupiter’s thunder, and also occasionally handling it oddly. But he plays in such a region, at such a height, to which the others are far short of raising themselves. […] I hope now we shall presently be able to chat about this loved one of the gods.”
J. Brahms, Briefe an Joseph Viktor Widmann, Ellen und Ferdinand Vetter, Adolf
– Johannes Brahms, in a letter to Adolf Schubring, June 1863
Schubring, ed. Max Kalbeck , Berlin, 1915, Deutsche Brahms-Gesellschaf, Briefwechsel VIII, p. 199 f, cited in R. Pascall, Brahms Beyond Mastery: His Sarabande amd Gavotte, and its Recompositions, New York, Routledge, p. 24
Brahms on Schubert
by
Featured Content
The art of pedalling
The one bee in my bonnet is over-pedalling, and I give my students a hard time about that. It’s the lack of being able to play a true legato with the fingers. People rely on the pedal for that, and the pedal is not there for that. The pedal is for putting the gloss on. […]
Bernstein’s response to violenceThis will be our response to violence To make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. – Leonard Bernstein.
A simple requestHumorists Ilf and Petrov described a concert by Rachmaninoff In New York (November 1935): The night we went to hear him he appeared tall, bent, and thin, with a long sad face, his hair closely clipped; he sat down at the piano, separated the folds of his old-fashioned back swallowtail, adjusted one of his cuffs […]
The development of keyboard techniqueBefore the time of Bach, keyboardists would often only use the middle three fingers of each hand and tended to keep their hands flat. Bach taught his students under the new principle of using all the fingers. Beethoven asked his pupils to curve the hand. Source: Marek, George (1969) Beethoven: Biography of a Genius. London: William […]
Education and researchAnecdotes Articles, papers, program notes Crosswords Quotes Tuition and research services
Personality“Personality is to a man what perfume is to a flower.” – Charles M. Schwab, The Ten Commandments of Success
Finding the voice of PiazzollaI was writing symphonies, chamber music, string quartets. But when Nadia Boulanger analyzed my music, she complained that she couldn’t find any Piazzolla in there. She could find Ravel and Stravinsky, maybe Bela Bartok or Hindemith, but never Piazzolla. The truth is I was ashamed to tell her that I was a tango musician, that […]
Love Came Down At Christmas (MP3)Title: Love came down at Christmas Text: Christina Rossetti Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano solo Product medium: MP3 audio Related products: – Love came down at Christmas – SATB and piano (PDF score) – Love came down at Christmas – Piano solo (PDF score) Samples:
Mozart on melody“Melody is the essence of music”, continued he; “I compare a good melodist to a fine racer, and counterpointists to hack post-horses; therefore be advised, let well alone, and remember the old Italian proverb – ‘Chi sa piu, meno sa – Who knows most, knows least’.” The Reminiscences of Michael Kelly, 1826. Cited in: Marshal, […]
October from The Seasons (Tchaikovsky)Title: “October” from The Seasons, op. 37 bis Composer: Pytor Illich Tchaikovsky Arranger: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Cello quartet Product medium: PDF score and parts Sample: