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93rd out of 112 books
—
16 voters
Johannes Brahms: A Biography
by
Jan Swafford
A New York Times Notable Book
"This brilliant and magisterial book is a very good bet to...become the definitive study of Johannes Brahms."--The Plain Dealer
Judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into Brahms's human complexity as well as his music, Johannes Brahms is an indispensable biography.
Proclaimed the new messiah of Romanticism by Robert Schumann when he was o...more
"This brilliant and magisterial book is a very good bet to...become the definitive study of Johannes Brahms."--The Plain Dealer
Judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into Brahms's human complexity as well as his music, Johannes Brahms is an indispensable biography.
Proclaimed the new messiah of Romanticism by Robert Schumann when he was o...more
Paperback, 636 pages
Published
December 7th 1999
by Vintage
(first published November 25th 1997)
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This is truly one of the best biographies I've ever read.
Okay, but I'm not saying that objectively. I enjoyed it so much because it does exactly what I want a composer's biography to do: it not only covers the composer's life, but also spends a significant amount of time on the music.
I've read many a composer's biography where, in the introduction, the author claims that they are not a musicologist and thus will not be analyzing or diving deeply into the work of a composer. I can appreciate th...more
Okay, but I'm not saying that objectively. I enjoyed it so much because it does exactly what I want a composer's biography to do: it not only covers the composer's life, but also spends a significant amount of time on the music.
I've read many a composer's biography where, in the introduction, the author claims that they are not a musicologist and thus will not be analyzing or diving deeply into the work of a composer. I can appreciate th...more
I almost didn't want to read it after I read the introduction, but I was won over once the focus was Brahms and not Swafford. I read this when I was a caste away in Orange County California and I think some of my happiest memories from that first stranding are of reading this book.
The only problem is that at times Swafford admits that Brahms is not as great as Beethoven. Of course he isn't, but whenever he did that I wanted to put the book down and go read another Beethoven biography. It's not t...more
The only problem is that at times Swafford admits that Brahms is not as great as Beethoven. Of course he isn't, but whenever he did that I wanted to put the book down and go read another Beethoven biography. It's not t...more
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Not only one of the best biographies of a composer I have read, but one of the best biographies of anyone!
This book is engaging, earthy, detailed and magisterial all at the same. The reader feels he/she really gets to understand this not-always-very-approachable man and links the great events of his life with his music.
Unlike many music biagraphies, you can read it and enjoy it without having heard a note of Brahms' music. But in truth if you do read it you will want to listen to the music of B...more
This book is engaging, earthy, detailed and magisterial all at the same. The reader feels he/she really gets to understand this not-always-very-approachable man and links the great events of his life with his music.
Unlike many music biagraphies, you can read it and enjoy it without having heard a note of Brahms' music. But in truth if you do read it you will want to listen to the music of B...more
A very nicely paced narrative of a great and interesting man and his times. Because of the intelligence of the author and his respect for his subject, I became filled with enthusiasm for Brahms and listened to a lot of his music. I travelled through his life with him from Opus 1 on. About half the music was new to me (thank you, YouTube). Though I'm an amateur, almost all the musical analysis was accessible and helpful. I loved Swafford's way with words - movingly high-flown just where I wanted...more
It took me a lot longer to finish this book than it did for others of my musical friends who've read this fantastic biography, but that had more to do with my impatience with musical analysis than other factors (after all, the book IS a scholarly work, even though it generally reads as a story anyone would pore over with great interest--so long as the reader loves the music of Brahms, anyway!) It IS a large tome, though--over 600 pages, easily--and there's so much to digest, it takes doing so a...more
Readers of liner notes know all about Brahms as a grumpy perfectionist haunted by a sense of his own belatedness in a field in which Beethoven had done it all. It is hard not to find such a character relatable and human. Swafford's massive biography situates Brahms's grumpiness in historical and political context, revealing Brahms as a political liberal with musically conservative tastes who became the target of a Wagnerian musical avant-garde that was, paradoxically, aligned with the political...more
In a veritable tome of a biography, Swafford seems to manage to recount every waking moment of Brahms' life. That said, it's a wonderful read that almost dangerously blurs the line between author and subject, and one has to wonder where his incredible knowledge and insight about Brahms ends and where his opinions begin, because it can really be difficult to discern. But therein lies the very quality that makes this one so worth it! It's a sincerely honest portrayal of a peculiar character in all...more
Other than a bit too much analysis of specific musical works, this was a very balanced and well-researched biography of Brahms. As much about Clara Schumann as about Brahms. a Great read, nice and long too. I was sorry when it was over.
Maybe I don't love Brahms enough, but I found this book to be too detailed. It would go on an on about very minor little historical characters and their interaction with Brahms. I felt like I was sifting, along with the researcher, through piles and piles of papers to get to the essence of who Brahms was. I wish he would have been more willing to not share EVERYTHING he researched. I finally gave up after reading about 450 pages of this tedious book.
I will say that it is well researched and con...more
I will say that it is well researched and con...more
Well, I don't know if I can really say I am "currently reading" this, as I just loaned it to a friend. I WAS currently reading it, though. About 200 pages in I decided to put it down (or loan it out, rather), with the intention to return. I read an article by Swafford excerpted from this book that painted Brahams as a sarcastic, trickster, self-conscious of his talent--sure that all the true greats in music had already come before him. So while that storyline is very interesting--the book is als...more
This is, by far, the best biography of any composer I have read. It not only presented interesting information about Brahms, the man, it also presented concurrent and detailed analysis of some of his seminal works. As I was reading, I would go find a youtube recording, and immediately not only see, but hear was I was reading about. My understanding and appreciation of Brahms the person and the breadth of his composition has been enhanced many fold.
Oct 06, 2007
Nathanial
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
composers with a grudge
Have you noticed that the good folks at goodreads have added a handy little feature for us to figure out how to rate your books? As you scroll the cursor over the field of stars, it allows a few words to pop up if you let it rest over one star or another: the first star says, "didn't like it," the second star says, "it was ok," et cetera. Anyway, I liked this book, although I read only the first half of it and that was almost a year ago. Just wanted to dish about the star feature.
Excellent biography and musical/cultural history of central Europe in the last half of the 19th century. Brahms' enigmatic relationship with Robert Schumann's widow Clara was especially fascinating.
Good on the biography, though I think he does a little too much mind-reading. Very scanty on the music.
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“Part of what Brahms and others could never quite get over was that Bruckner the composer of epic symphonies behaved, much of the time, like a nincompoop.”
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Oct 28, 2008 09:29pm