The first of a two-week biography exploring the music and life of a defining voice of the German Romantic Era. In his formative year as a pianist, Brahms befriends Robert and Clara Schumann, and with their support and later with the violinist Joseph Joachim, develops his musical voice. Bill speaks of Brahms’ struggles to publish symphonies on the heels of Beethoven‑ his two orchestra serenades were played publicly twenty years before his four symphonies. We end this first part of Brahms’ story with the German Requiem.
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