Full Description
Offers a historical context in which to understand how Brahms's three most intensely political and nationalistic works interact with questions of German patriotism, liberalism and nationalism.
Johannes Brahms rarely composed music that engaged the national-political issues of the day. Three of his works, though, do precisely this: the Fünf Lieder für Männerchor; the Triumphlied for eight-part chorus and orchestra; and the Fest- und Gedenksprüche for eight-part chorus a cappella. In Brahms Patriotic and Political, David Brodbeck challenges notions that Brahms's political music evinces embarrassing anticipations of later Prussian militarism and German chauvinism. Instead, he provides a thick historical context in which to read these works and offers a more nuanced understanding of the intersections of Brahms's music and questions of German patriotism, liberalism, and nationalism than has been customary in the field of historical musicology.
In particular, Brodbeck relates the Männerchor-Lieder to the debate over how and in what form a German nation-state might be achieved; he relates the Triumphlied to the euphoria but also the solemnity that attended the foundation of the German Reich; and he relates the Fest- und Gedenksprüche to the necessary work of instilling in the diverse German people a genuine sense of national belonging. At the same time, he traces Brahms's changing attitude toward Otto von Bismarck, the "Blacksmith of the Reich," whom he originally loathed but, in time, came to venerate.
Brahms Patriotic and Political will appeal to readers with interests in both nineteenth-century German music and Central European history.
Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Musical Examples
Note on Nomenclature, Place Names, and Orthography
Introduction
1. Prologue: A Young Man's Political Formation
Part 1 Fünf Lieder für Männerchor, op. 41
2. Liedertafel and Liberal Nationalism
3. Soldiers' Songs and the German Question
Excursus 1 From the German War to A German Requiem
Part 2 Triumphlied, op. 55
4. "A Song to Paris"
5. Sounding the Nation
Excursus 2 National Holidays, Monuments, and Celebrations
Part 3 Fest- und Gedenksprüche, op. 109
6. "Words quite lovely and for us Germans uplifting"
7. The Stuff of Tragedy?
8. Revanche and Response
9. Epilogue: An Old Man's Political Disillusionment
Appendix
Bibliography
Index
