内容简介
A New York Times Notable Book
"This brilliant and magisterial book is a very good betto...become the definitive study of Johannes Brahms."--The PlainDealer
Judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into Brahms's humancomplexity as well as his music, Johannes Brahms is anindispensable biography.
Proclaimed the new messiah of Romanticism by Robert Schumann whenhe was only twenty, Johannes Brahms dedicated himself to a long andextraordinarily productive career. In this book, Jan Swafford setsout to reveal the little-known Brahms, the boy who grew up inmercantile Hamburg and played piano in beer halls among prostitutesand drunken sailors, the fiercely self-protective man who thwartedfuture biographers by burning papers, scores and notebooks late inhis life. Making unprecedented use of the remaining archivalmaterial, Swafford offers richly expanded perspectives on Brahms'syouth, on his difficult romantic life--particularly hislongstanding relationship with Clara Schumann--and on hisprofessional rivalry with Lizst and Wagner.
"This brilliant and magisterial book is a very good betto...become the definitive study of Johannes Brahms."--The PlainDealer
Judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into Brahms's humancomplexity as well as his music, Johannes Brahms is anindispensable biography.
Proclaimed the new messiah of Romanticism by Robert Schumann whenhe was only twenty, Johannes Brahms dedicated himself to a long andextraordinarily productive career. In this book, Jan Swafford setsout to reveal the little-known Brahms, the boy who grew up inmercantile Hamburg and played piano in beer halls among prostitutesand drunken sailors, the fiercely self-protective man who thwartedfuture biographers by burning papers, scores and notebooks late inhis life. Making unprecedented use of the remaining archivalmaterial, Swafford offers richly expanded perspectives on Brahms'syouth, on his difficult romantic life--particularly hislongstanding relationship with Clara Schumann--and on hisprofessional rivalry with Lizst and Wagner.