Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
This long-awaited book situates the symphonies in their biographical context, offers text-critical investigations, presents matters of performance practice and gives an analytical overview of each work.
In Brahms: Symphonist, the late Robert Pascall offers new revelations about Brahms symphonies resulting from a life-long pursuit of Brahms scholarship. Completed shortly before his death, Pascall's book brings together four scholarly perspectives. First, it situates the symphonies in their biographical context narrating their genesis, performance history and reception. Second, the book offers text-critical observations, by investigating the relationships between sketches, manuscript sources, publications and arrangements made by the composer or by others in his lifetime. Third, matters of performance practice are presented: how were the symphonies performed in Brahms's lifetime, what performance values did Brahms espouse, what were the practicalities of performance, and what legacy as conductor did Brahms pass on to succeeding generations? Finally, the book gives an analytical overview of each work. One of the book's highlights is a reappraisal of the materials for Brahms's unfinished Fifth Symphony, situating them in relation to the broader question of Brahms's 'retirement' from composition. Brahms: Symphonist will be required reading for students and scholars of nineteenth-century and Romantic music, Johannes Brahms aficionados, as well as those interested in the development of the nineteenth-century symphony.
In Brahms: Symphonist, the late Robert Pascall offers new revelations about Brahms symphonies resulting from a life-long pursuit of Brahms scholarship. Completed shortly before his death, Pascall's book brings together four scholarly perspectives. First, it situates the symphonies in their biographical context narrating their genesis, performance history and reception. Second, the book offers text-critical observations, by investigating the relationships between sketches, manuscript sources, publications and arrangements made by the composer or by others in his lifetime. Third, matters of performance practice are presented: how were the symphonies performed in Brahms's lifetime, what performance values did Brahms espouse, what were the practicalities of performance, and what legacy as conductor did Brahms pass on to succeeding generations? Finally, the book gives an analytical overview of each work. One of the book's highlights is a reappraisal of the materials for Brahms's unfinished Fifth Symphony, situating them in relation to the broader question of Brahms's 'retirement' from composition. Brahms: Symphonist will be required reading for students and scholars of nineteenth-century and Romantic music, Johannes Brahms aficionados, as well as those interested in the development of the nineteenth-century symphony.
Price: $170.00
Pages: 372
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Boydell Press
Publication Date:
20 May 2025
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9781783277780
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
MUSIC / Genres & Styles / Classical, Art music, orchestral and formal music, MUSIC / History & Criticism, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Music, History of music
A thoroughly researched and well‑documented compendium of information on the early histories of this essential symphonic repertory. It also provides particularly new and interesting perspectives on Brahms's work on a fifth symphony. The volume should be of great interest and value to any serious musician or scholar engaged with the symphonies of Brahms.
— MUSIC & LETTERS
Offers a concise yet insightful exploration of Johannes Brahms's four symphonies, situating them within the context of 19th-century musical culture and the composer's career. Drawing on his authority as a leading Brahms scholar, Pascall shows how the symphonies embody both reverence for tradition and striking originality. Essential.
— CHOICE
Completed on his 74th birthday and just months before his death in 2018, renowned musicologist Robert Pascall's posthumously published Brahms: Symphonist represents the culmination of nearly five decades spent in intimate dialogue with Johannes Brahms' symphonic legacy. In the interplay between historical documentation and analytical insight, Pascall has created not merely a reference work, but an essay of sorts on the nature of symphonic achievement itself. Also featuring press reviews of performances of the time, diagrams and facsimiles of musical sketches and score excerpts, Brahms: Symphonist should be considered an essential addition to the library of anyone serious about understanding the composer's symphonic achievements and their place in musical culture.
— LIMELIGHT
— MUSIC & LETTERS
Offers a concise yet insightful exploration of Johannes Brahms's four symphonies, situating them within the context of 19th-century musical culture and the composer's career. Drawing on his authority as a leading Brahms scholar, Pascall shows how the symphonies embody both reverence for tradition and striking originality. Essential.
— CHOICE
Completed on his 74th birthday and just months before his death in 2018, renowned musicologist Robert Pascall's posthumously published Brahms: Symphonist represents the culmination of nearly five decades spent in intimate dialogue with Johannes Brahms' symphonic legacy. In the interplay between historical documentation and analytical insight, Pascall has created not merely a reference work, but an essay of sorts on the nature of symphonic achievement itself. Also featuring press reviews of performances of the time, diagrams and facsimiles of musical sketches and score excerpts, Brahms: Symphonist should be considered an essential addition to the library of anyone serious about understanding the composer's symphonic achievements and their place in musical culture.
— LIMELIGHT