A Brahms Reader (review)

A Brahms Reader. By Michael Musgrave. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. [xviii, 344 p. ISBN 0-300-06804-2. $40.]

Throughout the twentieth century biographers of Brahms have relied on the same sources, the most important of which has been Max Kalbeck's monumental study of the composer's life and works (Johannes Brahms, 4 vols. [Vienna: Wiener Verlag, 1904-14; various editions, Berlin: Deutsche Brahms-Gesellschaft; reprint, Tutzing: H. Schneider, 1976]). Kalbeck had been acquainted with Brahms and had prepared many of the editions of letters between the composer and his friends, and he included information from these sources in his biography. Following Kalbeck, the most significant biographical studies have been by Florence May and Walter Niemann. May also knew the composer, and like Kalbeck, she drew on early articles and reviews of Brahms's compositions (The Life of Johannes Brahms, 2 vols. [London: E. Arnold, 1905; 2d ed., London: W. Reeves, 1948; reprint of the 2d ed., Neptune City, N.J.: Paganiniana Publications, 1981]). Subsequently, Niemann added a unique interpretation in attributing much of Brahms's personality and music to North German culture (Brahms [Berlin: Schuster & Loeffler, 1920; English translation by Catherine Alison Phillips, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929; reprint, New York: Cooper Square, 1969]). These three works have served as the basis for all subsequent biographies. Although May and Niemann are available in English, Kalbeck's work has still not been translated, nor have many of the volumes of letters. Musgrave draws on these biographies and letters as well as on new research, but he provides an important contribution in that he quotes the primary sources at length and offers a fresh, innovative approach in his organization of the materials.

Rather than a chronological survey of the composer's life, Musgrave arranges his book by topic. The main sections are "Brahms the Man," "Brahms the Composer," "Brahms the Performer," "Brahms the Music Scholar and Student of the Arts," "The Social Brahms: Friendship and Travel," and "Brahms in Perspective." The chapters within these sections are likewise arranged by topic. Each includes many lengthy quotations from the principal early biographies and important primary documents, including letters and recollections of contemporaries. These extracts set Musgrave's book apart from other biographies, including the most recent German study by Siegfried Kross, titled an "attempt at a critical documentary biography" (Johannes Brahms: Versuch einer kritischen Dokumentar-Biographie, 2 vols. [Bonn: Bouvier, 1997]). Moreover, unlike many of the other biographers, Musgrave draws upon a wide array of sources rather than treating Kalbeck, whose authority has been somewhat diminished in recent studies, as the single primary source. This alone makes his book valuable, and his integrating of so many sources in such a compelling manner is also impressive.

This format is unusually challenging. In other books titled "reader" (e.g., The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents, ed. Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, rev. Christoph Wolff [New York: W. W. Norton, 1998]), editors have presented a series of documents and letters in full, with a few notes providing context or clarification. Musgrave, however, provides extracts, which he weaves together to form an interpretative, enthralling narrative. For example, he comments that "The fateful relationship with Clara . . . prevented Brahms from establishing permanent relationships with other women: his tie to her engendered feelings of guilt, responsibility, and obligation" (p. 52). In the chapters that deal directly with the composer's personality--the one on his attitude to friendships and women, for instance, and even the one on his performances--the assessments are not always flattering. This approach also contrasts with that of most previous biographers, who have been satisfied with merely chronicling the major events in Brahms's life and listing the arrival of each of his works. Furthermore, there is an unusually strong emphasis on Brahms the man as opposed to his achievements. Although only one chapter is titled "Brahms the Man," most of the others also emphasize the composer's temperament and character. For example, "Brahms the Composer" deals with...