Lateness and Brahms: Music and Culture in the Twilight of Viennese Liberalism

by Margaret Notley

Lateness and Brahms takes up the fascinating, yet understudied problem of how Brahms fits into the culture of turn-of-the-century Vienna. Brahms's conspicuous and puzzling absence in previous scholarly accounts of the time and place raises important questions, and as Margaret Notley demonstrates, the tendency to view him in neutralized, ahistorical terms has made his music seem far less interesting than it truly is.

In pursuit of an historical Brahms, Notley focuses on the later chamber music, drawing on various documents and perspectives, but with particular emphasis on the relevance of Western Marxist critical traditions.

Genres: Music

254 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The thrust of this work concerns “lateness” within Brahms’ works and in broad historical and music-historical narratives that encompass him and his time. The author starts off by accepting Said’s definition of late style, which embraces a changing complex of critical categories, including, prominently, anachronism, attenuation, fragmentation, abstraction, and concision. Notley’s argument is built around two ideas about Brahms. The first is that Brahm’s orientation toward chamber music and a highly sophisticated chamber music style were symptomatic of the “alienation” inherent in late style. Second, she argues that Brahms’ music retreats into artistic isolation (a hallmark of lateness) by rejecting the monumentality of Beethovenian symphonic style. Finally, she reviews Brahms’ strong interest in “anachronistic” styles and techniques, particularly his interest in canonic writing and arcane metrical manipulation. Fine and highly illuminating piece of research, this book sets the standard for the analysis of “late” style within the broader context of social expectations.