Search - Antonin Dvorak, Johannes Brahms, Kirill Kondrashin :: Violin Concertos

A famous motto of Johannes Brahms was "If we cannot compose as beautifully as Mozart and Haydn, let us at least try to compose as purely." Brahms was born in Hamburg, the son of a double bass player. In his early years, Johannes was known for playing in dives and bordellos. Brahms later acknowledged that this early contact with the opposite sex contributed to his ultimately remaining a lifelong bachelor. He most admired composers of baroque and classical epochs. In many respects, Brahms brings the classical-romantic continuum to an end. He felt no kinship to "the music of the future", that was the mantle of Wagner and Liszt. Brahms synthesized the musical language of romanticism with classical forms and with Baroque counterpoint. In the genre of concerto, Brahms followed the classical ideas of dialogue and of equality between soloists and orchestra. This was opposite to 'romantic' concertos, where virtuoso soloists overwhelmed the orchestra, turning it into banal accompaniment. In the summer of 1878, while vacationing in Austria, Brahms began a violin concerto for his colleague, Joachim. The two men had performed together for decades, and Brahms certainly knew the impressive extent of the violinist's talent. Joachim, being a composer himself, was engaged in editing the violin part of Brahms' concerto for about a year. Critics called this composition "a concerto against the violin"; and many violinists, including Sarasate, refused to play it. The concerto was premiered in 1879.