Brahms - a few interesting facts

[gprengel]

Brahms actually praised the 5th symphony but had reservations (which Tchaikovsky shared) about the finale.

What reservations may they have had? To me this Finale is one of the greatest
of all symphonic literature!!!

Gerd

[Peter]

What reservations may they have had? To me this Finale is one of the greatest
of all symphonic literature!!!

Gerd

Tchaikovsky was notoriously self-deprecating and often had a love/hate relationship with his own music. He wrote to Nadezhda Von Meck about the 5th symphony "I have become convinced that this symphony is unsuccessful. There is something repulsive about it, a certain excess of gaudiness and insincerity, artificiality" - I think Brahms felt the finale to be rather bombastic. Tchaikovsky went on to say that the public instinctively recognised these faults, however he has certainly been proved wrong there!

[Peter]

Not trying to intervene. Although, this is a great thread. We need a thread like this for Beethoven? Where the forum members post factual accounts, remarks, letters, etc., or, "interesting facts" about him.

Perhaps, it could be long like the, what are you listening to, thread? Full of interesting facts about Beethoven.

Well I'm sure they have come up over the years on the forum and I have a page dedicated to such anecdotes on the main site. However I agree it would be nice to have a special thread for this so I'll start one!

[Chaszz]

Tchaikovsky was notoriously self-deprecating and often had a love/hate relationship with his own music. He wrote to Nadezhda Von Meck about the 5th symphony "I have become convinced that this symphony is unsuccessful. There is something repulsive about it, a certain excess of gaudiness and insincerity, artificiality" - I think Brahms felt the finale to be rather bombastic. Tchaikovsky went on to say that the public instinctively recognised these faults, however he has certainly been proved wrong there!

Brahms was also very critical of his own music so he and Tc. were alike in this respect. Brahms often expressed the opinion that the great days of music as exemplified by Bach and Beethoven were long past, and all composers of his day could do was their able best, which was not anywhere near as good as the masters'. He destroyed many pages of manuscript and reworked some compositions for years before publishing them. I personally think that the feelings of wistfulness, nostalgia and loss which his music often expresses are partly due to this sense of a golden age gone irretrievably into the past.

Re Tc. and the 5th symphony finale, I think an artist who wears his heart on his sleeve and pours out emotion, including self-pity, the way he did, inevitably has sometimes got to be wondering whether the elaborate feelings he is expressing are completely sincere or partly unfelt and a little forced.