He had been born in Speck Lane, Hamburg, in 1833. In this section of Old Hamburg were dark, narrow streets and tall, gabled, and crowded houses--the commonplace reality of a bare and repulsive poverty." His father, who was twenty-seven years old at Johannes' birth, had come to Hamburg penniless and uneducated to seek a musical career. He had slender professional talent, but was shrewd, upright, and diligent. He made a scanty living by playing for chance audiences in street restaurants and for sporadic engagements in dance-halls and beer gardens. His financial situation improved slowly as through twelve years' work he became a regular and reliable contra-bassist in some of the humbler orchestras of Hamburg. At Johannes' birth the mother was forty-four. She was the daughter of the landlord of one of the father's rooming houses . . . a small, plain woman, of poor health and with a bad limp. For a time she helped the family income by a tiny business in needles, cotton, and tapes. She was described by a Hamburg neighbor as "a little withered mother who busied herself unobtrusively with her own affairs, and was not known outside her dwelling."There were three children, a sister older than Johannes and a brother younger. The family moved often during Johannes' childhood, but always remained in crowded, poor, and simple apartments. Theirs was a poor but honorable home, in which perhaps the greatest asset was the great affection of the parents for the children. Johannes' musical education began at home where as a tiny child he showed unusual aptitude. Recognizing this aptitude, his parents managed to begin formal lessons with a piano teacher, O. Cassel, when Johannes was eight. His first playing was in dance halls and taverns, late at night. By the age of ten, he had shown such genius that it was suggested that he should be taken on a tour to America to make money as a prodigy. To prevent such a fate, Cassell persuaded an eminent teacher named Marxsen to undertake the instruction. To accomplish this, Johannes' father and his musical friends arranged a benefit concert, a concert at which the ten-year old boy played with remarkable skill.
In 1853 a gypsy violinist from Hungary persuaded the young musician to accompany him on a tour through the cities of Germany. It was during this tour that Johannes made a number of friends who were to open a wider prospect and to provide counsel, inspiration, and support. These were quick to recognize his talent in both recital and composition. Among them were Joachim (Hanover), Robert and Clara Schumann (Dusseldorf), and Franz Liszt. Liszt, however, was at the time the idol and leader of a new school of music with which the young Brahms would have nothing to do. Between them developed quickly a feud which lasted many years. The Schumanns, on the other hand, began an enduring and fruitful comradeship with Brahms. In fact, Robert Schumann wrote an article hailing Brahms in the highest terms as the coming great composer, as an artist "at whose cradle graces and heroes mounted guard." Thus, at twenty, the boy from Hamburg was thrown into the center of German musical controversy and attention. This introduction to fame stirred in him both delight and dread, great embarrassment and a great sense of obligation to merit Schumann's confidence.
Brahms spent the next three years in close association with the Schumanns, who made Johannes a virtual member of the family and who introduced him to a large circle of musical friends. At the Schumann household Brahms' chamber music and his Liebeslieder found a congenial setting. The musicians played together, arranged concerts together, and composed many works under the inspiration of one another. This almost idyllic period was terminated by the sudden terrible illness of Robert Schumann. When his friend died, Brahms gave up everything in order to stand by the widow and the six children. His friendship for Clara Schumann now developed into an ardent love, which became the source of great inner turmoil until they both recognized the impossibility of marriage.
Johannes remained unmarried, primarily because of his artistic career. He often wished for marriage, but did not feel he could offer a wife the security she deserved. In a period when his music was often received with icy coldness or violent hissing, he did not wish to subject a woman to this animosity. Later on when admiring females would ask him if he were married, he would reply, "It is my misfortune still to be unmarried, thank God!"
...it is difficult to get a clear profile of Brahms' own inner convictions. This is due in part to his "deep-rooted dislike for all display of solemnity" and a great reticence in betraying his deepest feelings. It is also due to the fact that most of his biographers have been primarily concerned with his musical career rather than with his faith. We know that his mother was extremely solicitous of his moral training as a child and that she instilled a basic religious orientation toward life. We find evidence to establish the fact of constant and informed use of the Bible. This use began in primary school, where all the children-Jews, Catholics, and Protestants-listened to daily readings. There is no record that Brahms ever held a church post as organist or choir director. He was staunchly Protestant, aware of current philosophical and theological issues, but not attracted by dogmatic or creedal narrowness. He was more closely akin to the liberal than to the orthodox Lutheranism of the nineteenth century. When on his trips to Italy he entered a cathedral, he was careful not to wound the sensibilities of those around him. If "the worshipers turned to look at the newcomer, he would never omit to feign to dip his finger in the benitier and lightly make the sign of the Cross, in order not to scandalize the believers by the intrusion of a heretic."
We may perhaps best sense the temper of Brahms' faith by the whole body of his religious music. Schumann had said of listening to his music: "We stand in the wonderful view of the spiritual world." The best clue to his personal faith is provided by the texts which he adopted for the music.
excerpt from "Brahms' German Requiem" written by Paul Minear
