Brahms Patriotic and Political

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-64825-107-8
Verlag: University of Rochester Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 203, 306 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 599 g

Reihe: Eastman Studies in Music

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brodbeck, David

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Geschichte der Musik
• Geisteswissenschaften Musikwissenschaft Musikwissenschaft Allgemein Einzelne Komponisten und Musiker
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Ideologien Nationalismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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

Über Autor(innen)

Brodbeck, David
DAVID BRODBECK is Professor of Music, History, and European Studies at the University of California, Irvine.