Intermezzo by Brahms

I’d like to start my first post by sharing my love and affinity for Johannes Brahms. I am not quite sure why I like him so much. I took a class for a semester about his life and music during my graduate studies at USC. To this day, I remember that he was very conscious about what other people thought of him; he’d make sure to burn all of his drafts of music so that no one would find them and possibly criticize his work. I have this fear that when I die, someone would find all my journal entries (dating back from high school) and read through all of my private thoughts. I cringe at the sheer thought of it. I know, I’d be dead. I shouldn’t have to care about what others would think of me then. Alas, I do. There are times when I think about burning all of my old diaries, but I like to reminisce and see the changes that have taken place in me as a person. I must say that I am pretty impressed at how far I’ve come. I would have never imagined to post my thoughts online, the most public of all places. Perhaps that’s the difference between Brahms and me (well, and that he was a prolific composer and I am not) – he lived his whole life in fear whereas I am beginning to face my fears one step at a time. How bad could his drafts have been for him to be so ashamed to be caught with them?

I love this piece. It’s one of six pieces he wrote in a collection called Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118. He dedicated this collection to Clara Schumann, his secret love. Clara was the wife of Robert Schumann, who was Brahms’ mentor. Robert would praise young Brahms for his musicality and highly regard him as a rising star. Ah yes, it was yet another forbidden love story. This particular piece was composed during the later years of Brahms’ life, four years shy of his death and long after he and Clara went their separate ways. His mature and complex compositional style demands none other than a virtuosic pianist to skillfully master the piece. Yet, there is still something quite simple in his melodies that can allow listeners to hum along. I can sense his longing for youth, perhaps calling on nostalgia to take him to a place that has long been forgotten. Could it be that this was his way of walking down memory lane and realizing changes in the course of his life?