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Home , Kaisermarsch, Mathilde Wesendonck, Max Kalbeck, Serenades (Brahms), Theodor Billroth, Theodor Kirchner

Volume XXX, Number 2 Fall 2012

Brahms, , and the Would-Be “Cremation Cantata”

Mathilde Wesendonck (1828–1902) is best known to music historians not for her poetic and dramatic writings, but for her romantic entanglement with and artistic influence on Richard in the 1850s. In early 1852, Wagner met Mathilde and her husband Otto Wesendonck in , having fled there in search of asylum from the German authorities, who held a warrant for the composer’s arrest due to his involvement in the revolutionary activities at in 1848. Otto, a silk merchant, became a patron of Wagner, and in April 1857 the Wesendoncks began to shelter the composer and his wife Minna in a small cottage alongside their own villa in Zurich; Wagner called the cottage his “Asyl.” It was during this time that a love affair apparently evolved between Mathilde and Richard, although it was not necessarily consummated. Not surprisingly, this arrangement proved unsustainable. Minna confronted her husband about the affair in April 1858, and Wagner soon departed his Asyl permanently, heading to Venice; the affair with Mathilde was over, and his marriage would never recover.1 Although Wagner and Mathilde Wesendonck remained in touch, the Wesendoncks would turn down Wagner’s request Mathilde Wesendonck, sketch by Franz von Lenbach for a loan in 1863, and within another year, he was no longer welcome in their home.2 The relationship, however, had left its attitude toward Brahms in the mid-to-late 1860s may have been mark on his work: it is generally recognized as an inspiration influenced by the shift in Mathilde’s loyalties.4 for (1857–59), and Wagner had set some of A relatively little-known oddity is the collection of poetic Mathilde’s poetry as his (1857–58); earlier, texts that Mathilde composed and sent to Brahms in 1874 in the he had dedicated to her his Sonate für das Album von Frau M. hope that he would set them to music. Little has been written W., WWV 85 (1853). about this somewhat awkward episode, particularly outside of What is less commonly realized is that, in the 1860s, once the German language. Here, I provide Mathilde’s texts and the her relationship with Wagner had cooled, Mathilde not only relevant correspondence in English translation, with annotations. became an admirer and personal acquaintance of Johannes I also situate these materials within the framework of Brahms’s Brahms, but also began a correspondence with him that was to relationship to Mathilde Wesendonck and contextualize them last for several years (1867–74), during which she attempted with regard to the significance of the year 1874 for the poetry’s to foster their relationship on both personal and artistic levels. highly unconventional subject matter: cremation. Although Brahms maintained a healthy respect for Wagner’s Mathilde’s contact with Brahms began in the mid-1860s, work, the clear ideological differences between the two when the composer, five years her junior, was in his early thirties. composers and the sentiments that Wagner openly expressed Her first exposure to his music, which was just becoming known towards Brahms and his music make the politics of Mathilde’s in Zurich at the time, had occurred there by November 1863, appeals for Brahms’s friendship especially interesting.3 Styra when she attended a well-received concert performance of the Avins has suggested that the apparent deterioration in Wagner’s D-Major Serenade, which inspired in her a sincere admiration for its composer.5 In the autumn of 1865, Brahms visited Zurich Wienerstrasse 14, as part of a solo tour, and a private concert on 26 November Dresden, consisting of his D-Minor Piano Concerto and A-Major Nov[em]b[e]r 24, [18]74 Serenade was organized jointly by Otto Wesendonck, , and the art historian Wilhelm Lübke.6 Brahms returned Highly revered sir! to Switzerland multiple times in the following year, spending the summer on the Zürichberg while working on his German Who would deny that we live in a time of change? Requiem, coming again in October for a series of concerts with We drag along heavily the forms of bygone centuries Joachim, and then returning yet again in November, when his whose substance is lost for us, and the outdated Op. 36 string sextet was played at a chamber-music soirée held garment, not fitted to our limbs, no longer suits us, like by Friedrich Hegar.7 During this period, Brahms came into the younger children of domesticated mothers who were repeated contact with the Wesendoncks, and Mathilde even designated by fate to put on the discarded clothing of invited him to stay in the cottage that had once been Wagner’s their older siblings! If Lessing’s time was concerned Asyl.8 Brahms declined, much to the approval of Clara Schu- with recognizing which of the three rings was the true mann, who wrote, “that you did not accept the Wesendoncks’ ring, and whether there even could be a true ring,15 so offer I found very prudent; that would have imposed on you an have we today the task, along with Georg Forster, of obligation with regard to these people that would often enough admitting openly and honestly “that there are fingers on have been a burden to you.”9 which the ring may not fit, and that the finger for that Following his departure, Mathilde began to write to Brahms, reason can yet be a good and useful finger!”— 16 repeating her invitation in a letter of June 1867: “During the In brief: I would like to win your interest for the old, [Zurich] music festival the Stockhausens are going to be our beautiful custom of cremation, which in any respect, guests; unfortunately I shall be absent. The little green nest better agrees with the views of the 19th century than nearby with its hermit’s gate will remain untouched; before I the nasty, Semitic custom [Unsitte] of burial, or the leave for St. Moritz I am going to see to it that at any time a light- interment of the dead. hearted swallow can find a modest shelter there.”10 Brahms, It is, to begin with, a question of how to consecrate who was preoccupied that summer by a visit from and travels the Aktus [body] in an artistic and ideal way so as with his father, once again failed to accept the invitation, nor to elevate it with a ceremony worthy of a leading did he accept upon its even more insistent reissue in December civilized nation.17 How better could this come about 1868, when Mathilde wrote, “I should not like to have lived than if one invites the muses to the funeral celebration? in this century without at least having begged you in the most You understand that I have in mind a sort of oratorio friendly and urgent way to rest at our fireside. I have done my or requiem, but, to be sure, without biblical text! For part, and now it is up to you to do your part. Enough words your examination I enclose a short poem suitable for have been exchanged, so let us finally see deeds. – And now I the purpose! It is my opinion that as soon as the noble, bid you adieu with the wish that we may very soon greet you on beautiful form is found, all the enlightened and the Swiss soil and at the performance of your [German Requiem]. civilized will avow themselves to cremation. You know, Please let me know when I may come to Basel, as I should like in addition, that I have the weakness of counting you to attend one or two rehearsals. […] Your rooms are ready for among the best and the most unprejudiced people of you at any time.”11 our time, and herein you will surely find the basis for The relationship was not one-sided, however. During his pardoning and forgiving me if I trouble you!– time in Zurich in 1866, Brahms had accepted invitations for Allow me this time, perhaps, to stand at the door visits to the Wesendonck home, where he had enjoyed examining with my plea? The gods be committed to it! Evermore, certain items related to Wagner that were in the couple’s with genuine admiration and earnest esteem, signed possession, including the manuscript score for , which Wagner had given to the Wesendoncks personally.12 Your Brahms had also agreed to attend a performance of that work Mathilde Wesendonck18 in with the Wesendoncks in 1869, but was ultimately dissuaded upon learning that Wagner himself disapproved of Interestingly enough, the poetry she enclosed exhibits the production.13 Furthermore, Brahms permanently retained a certain parallels with the texts of Brahms’s German Requiem, copy of Mathilde’s five-act drama Gudrun, which she had sent which was completed six years earlier in 1868 and in which, at his request in late 1868, when he was in search of a libretto as we have seen, she had clearly taken an interest. Perhaps suitable for an opera.14 most obviously, both Mathilde’s text and that of the Requiem Although Gudrun did not meet Brahms’s needs in that open with the words “Selig sind,” and both make mention of capacity (ultimately, no text did), this was not Mathilde’s only the plowman (“Ackermann” appears in the second movement attempt to have him set her work to music—nor was it her of Brahms’s work and, similarly, in the second stanza of most remarkable one. Indeed, that distinction must surely be Mathilde’s text) and characterize death as a rest from earthly reserved for the effort she made in November 1874, one which labor and suffering. Furthermore, Mathilde explicitly indicates Brahms seems to have found considerably more humorous than that the work she envisions, like the Requiem, includes fugal she intended. At that time, Mathilde introduced her latest poetry material. The full text that Mathilde enclosed with her letter to Brahms with the following letter: reads as follows:

- 2 - Blessed are the dead, Man and leads him to the For they will have eternal peace: eternal homeland. – Closing Chorus. As the plowman, when he tires of arduous daily work, Hail to him! lays his hands in his lap and celebrates, so the person Farewell to him! who truly has borne the burden of life and fulfilled The doors are open to eternity! his duty rests in peace. Neither joy nor blissfulness The barriers have fallen on freedom! will move him, nor sorrow, pain, nor grief stick to his He has overcome heel. He has finished He goes to rest Chorus: He rests in peace! – Lament, 19 Weep, Nov[em]b[e]r 21, [18]74. Bend the palms Much amused, Brahms immediately forwarded the text Down to the shrine, to his good friend (and fellow associate of the Wesendoncks) Which holds the remains of the beloved, Theodor Billroth:20 Of the deceased! Wreath with flowers [Late November 1874] The sorrowful path. Dear friend! Lamentation follows him and heartbreaking misery. Is this not uncommonly interesting? Does it not stimulate you to express gratitude to the inspired Fugue: woman across the way from you? I would like so (During the incineration.) much to follow up with a greeting! Dust you were, Or yet, distinguished surgeon! Do you know a Dust you are, manner of death for the good opinion of an author for Dust must you be! herself?! Symbol is form: At any rate, you and your wife can entertain the It is broken! enclosure for a delightful quarter of an hour. The body is only casing of immortal substance; J. Br.21 Death is only change of the immortal becoming; Consciousness is a stage of ur-eternal development; Billroth replied: In the womb of the elements , 27th November 1874 All existence rests eternally secure, Yes! Yes! If one wants to know what is befitting, Primordial, everlasting. then one should ask only noble women. Oh! Mathilde! But the spirit lives immortal Where have you gotten yourself? You appear to have In the memory of the good! – nobody who will save you from the consequences of such tastelessness. My wife and I laughed heartily. Double Chorus: Best thanks for the note! The flames blaze through the (Or also soloists.) fumes! Out! Out! One suffocates in this smoke!22 Q. Where have you taken him; him whom I loved! A. We bore him there whence he came. Billroth soon spread the word to Wilhelm Lübke, who in turn Q. Tell me where to find him, him for whom Iam reported about the would-be “cremation cantata” to Julius and looking! Clara Stockhausen on 18 January 1875: A. He is where he has ever been, where everything Frau Wesendonck has sent a cremation cantata to was and will be. Brahms with the most earnest request to compose to the Q. Whither shall I turn my eye when it sees him not! selfsame text; because this is now the most important A. From the dead turn your countenance to the living. progressive idea of humanity, for which art must make Q. Woe! Will he never return his love! propaganda (information from Billroth). I say, she A. He will not return his love, but his love follows should set the text to Kirchner’s String Quartet, which him. has just appeared; for with such sounds one would Q. From the arms of love, cruel death wrested him! gladly allow oneself to burn and not regret that one A. With a mother’s arms, universal nature embraces is leaving a world in which good friends write down him lovingly. such music and even publish it.23 Q. Departed from life, then, does not mean departed from love and happiness? It is not insignificant that Mathilde’s ode to cremation was A. In the Kingdom of Peace, he craves not earthly composed in the year 1874, as this was in fact a particularly happiness. important moment in the history of modern cremation. Q. Meager and cold is Death, and hard the encampment Although cremation was practiced in several ancient cultures of the dead! (and instances are recounted in the Bible), its earliest form A. From home [heimatlich], He [i.e., Death] approaches was crude (performed on an open pyre) and, with the rise - 3 - of Christianity, it declined and was eclipsed by burial.24 speculate—such as his having been appalled by her poetry, Although there are isolated instances of cremation, or interest or her having become aware of the amusement that it had in it, in the intervening years, the clearest beginnings of the engendered among Brahms and his friends—there is no further modern “Cremation Movement” in both Europe and North surviving correspondence between the two. This is not to say, America arguably date from about 1873, with the display by however, that they shared no further contact. Although little is one Professor Brunetti from Padua of a cremation chamber known regarding the circumstances of any subsequent meetings and the remains of a cremated body at the Vienna Exposition.25 that may have occurred, isolated reports indicate that Brahms This, along with an article in the December 1873 issue of accompanied some of his Liebeslieder Walzer at a charity The Contemporary Review by Queen Victoria’s surgeon, performance of Mathilde’s play Alkestis in Dresden in April Sir Henry Thompson, on the sanitary benefits of cremation, 1881 (the only public, staged performance of her works during helped to spark a wave of interest in the procedure that was her lifetime), and that, in his last years, he had taken to visiting soon in full force among Europeans and North Americans.26 her at her residence in Gmunden while he was summering at In his book on the history of cremation in the United States, Bad Ischl.33 Stephen Prothero writes that, in 1874, “seizing on the cremation Jacquelyn Sholes debate in the European media, American newspapers and Much of this material was presented at a meeting of the New England magazines began…to cover the topic eagerly.” Among New York Chapter of the American Musicological Society at Mount Holyoke newspapers alone in that year, The World “devoted multiple- College in April 2012 and at the Lyrica Dialogues at Harvard in May column stories (typically on the front page) plus an editorial to 2012. I offer my sincerest thanks to Styra Avins for her careful read- the question” every Sunday for three months, and The New York ing of and very helpful suggestions regarding some of the translations Times “covered the subject thoroughly. After printing only one presented here, as well as to William Horne, Elizabeth Joyce, Benjamin article on cremation in 1873, it published seventeen in 1874.”27 Korstvedt, Peter Laki, and Michael McGrade for their feedback on “Before the year was up,” Prothero writes, numerous news- various aspects of this article in its earlier versions. papers throughout the country had endorsed the practice, the Notes. 1. See Chris Walton, Wagner’s Zurich: The Muse of Massachusetts Board of Health had surveyed physicians on Place (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2007), 203–4. 2. See the issue, the Boston Public Library had begun compiling a : Life and Letters, ed. Styra Avins, trans. bibliography on the topic, and a U.S. patent had been filed for Josef Eisinger and Styra Avins (Oxford: Oxford University a cremation urn. In all, 1874 was “a time of near-millennial Press, 1997), 371. 3. Mathilde was certainly not the first of excitement” for supporters of cremation.28 That year also saw Wagner’s circle to transfer her loyalties to Brahms; Hans the founding of such organizations as the Cremation Society of von Bülow, whose wife Wagner “stole,” is perhaps the most England and the New York Cremation Society. famous example, but others included Johann Carl Eschmann, In short, the modern “Cremation Movement” was just , , and Hans Richter. See beginning at the time of Mathilde’s writing, and, in composing Walton, Wagner’s Zurich, 159–60. 4. Johannes Brahms: Life this text that she hoped Brahms would set to music, she and Letters, 370–71. Another factor may have been Brahms’s aimed to encourage this movement’s growth. The practice of refusal in 1865 to surrender to Wagner the autograph copy of cremation was still new, controversial, and unavailable to the the “Venusberg” music from Tannhäuser, which had been given general public. Indeed, it was not until later in the decade that to Brahms by Carl Tausig. Brahms returned the manuscript the first practical crematories were established—in Milan and to its creator ten years later. Wagner’s first public attack on in Pennsylvania (both in 1876) and in Woking, England, and Brahms appeared in the essay “Über das Dirigiren,” published Gotha, (both in 1878). In the meantime, Mathilde was in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 65 (1869): 405–8, 417–19, not the only one to think of using the arts as a vehicle for this 425–27, 437–39, 445–47, and 66 (1870): 4–8, 13–16, 25–27, cause in 1874; a Broadway minstrel show entitled Cremation: An and 33–36, and concurrently in the New-Yorker Musik-Zeitung, Ethiopian Sketch is another striking example of “cremationist” and which appeared immediately thereafter as a book by the propaganda from that year.29 (Notably, 1874 was also the year same title (: C. F. Kahnt, 1869–70). 5. See Johannes in which Wagner completed Götterdämmerung, which ends Brahms: Life and Letters, 371, and Renate and Kurt Hofmann, with the consumption of the gods in a massive conflagration. “Zu den Beziehungen zwischen Johannes Brahms und This is probably coincidental, however, because Wagner had Mathilde Wesendonck,” in Minne, Muse und Mäzen: Otto und originally conceived of the fiery conclusion to his Ring cycle Mathilde Wesendonck und ihr Züricher Künstlerzirkel, ed. more than two decades earlier.30) Axel Langer, Chris Walton, and Astrid Näff (Zurich: Museum Whatever Brahms may have thought of cremation in 1874, Reitberg, 2002), 131. 6. See Hofmann and Hofmann, “Zu by May 1891 he had apparently embraced the idea. At that time, den Beziehungen,” 131–32. 7. Ibid., 133–34, and Johannes he wrote to his publisher, Fritz Simrock, that, upon his own Brahms und Mathilde Wesendonck: Ein Briefwechsel, ed. Erich death, he wished his body to be cremated (a wish that ultimately Hermann Müller von Asow (Wien: I. Luckmann, 1943), 58. was not fulfilled).31 (Brahms intended that this letter to Simrock 8. Hofmann and Hofmann, “Zu den Beziehungen,” 133–34. serve as his will, but it was not a legally valid document. Dr. 9. to Johannes Brahms, 8 July 1866, in Clara Josef Reitzes, the executor of Brahms’s estate, treated the letter Schumann–Johannes Brahms: Briefe aus den Jahren 1853– as a product of haste and felt justified in taking it less than 1896, ed. Berthold Litzmann (Leipzig: Breifkopf & Härtel, literally.32) 1927), I:539. See also Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters, 371, Brahms is not known to have responded to Mathilde n. 26. Translation from Karl Geiringer, “Correspondence with regarding her texts for a would-be oratorio or cantata on the Brahms: ,” in On Brahms and His Circle: The subject of cremation, and for reasons as to which we can only Collected Essays and Studies of Karl Geiringer, ed. George - 4 - S. Bozarth (Sterling, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 2006), 370, Op. 20 (Leipzig: Friedrich Hofmeister, 1874). 24. Stephen R. n. 27. 10. Mathilde Wesendonk to Johannes Brahms, 12 June Prothero, Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America 1867, in Johannes Brahms und Mathilde Wesendonck, 59–61. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 6–7. 25. On Translation from Karl Geiringer (in collaboration with Irene interest in the intervening period, see Prothero, Purified by Geiringer), Brahms: His Life and Work, 3rd enlarged ed. (New Fire, 8–9. 26. Henry Thompson, “The Treatment of the Body York: Da Capo Press, 1982), 86. 11. Mathilde Wesendonck to after Death,” The Contemporary Review 23 (December 1873): Johannes Brahms, 30 December 1868, in Johannes Brahms und 319–28. In the same volume of the journal appears another Mathilde Wesendonck, 82–83. Translation adapted from Karl article by Thompson entitled “Cremation: A Reply to Critics Geiringer, “Correspondence with Brahms: Richard Wagner,” and an Exposition of the Process” (pp. 553–71), as well as one 371–72. See also Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters, 372–73. by P. Holland entitled “Burial or Cremation?” (pp. 477–84). 12. See Hofmann and Hofmann, “Zu den Beziehungen,” 133, 27. Prothero, Purified by Fire, 15–16. 28. Ibid., 16. 29. Ibid., and Jan Swafford, Johannes Brahms: A Biography (New York: 22–23. 30. Thanks to Alain Frogley and Styra Avins for pointing Alfred A. Knopf, 1997), 303. 13. Geiringer, “Correspondence out to me the coinciding completion year of the Ring. Although with Brahms: Richard Wagner,” 372. 14. See Johannes Wagner revised the ending of Götterdämmerung several times, Brahms: Life and Letters, 372. 15. Mathilde refers here to the consumption by fire had been included in what is known as the Ring Parable from Gotthold Lessing’s 1779 play, Nathan der Cycle’s “Feuerbach ending” of 1852. See Philip Kitcher and Weise, in which Nathan, a wise Jewish merchant, is asked what Richard Schacht, Finding an Ending: Reflections on Wagner’s he considers the “true” religion. He responds metaphorically, Ring (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 194. 31. See by telling this parable. The story involves a man who has three Max Kalbeck, Johannes Brahms (: Deutsche Brahms- sons and an opal ring that, when worn, is supposed to render its Gesellschaft, 1914), IV:229. 32. See Johannes Brahms: The possessor beloved by God and mankind. The man is unable to Herzogenberg Correspondence, ed. Max Kalbeck, trans. and decide which son should inherit the ring, so he has two copies preface by Hannah Bryant (London: John Murray, 1909), xi. made and gives a ring to each son, allowing each to believe that 33. See Walton, Wagner’s Zurich, 219; Hofmann and Hofmann, he has received the “true” ring. Following the father’s death, “Zu den Beziehungen,” 139–40; and Johannes Brahms und disharmony ensues, as each son believes that his ring entitles Mathilde Wesendonck, 118–20. him to sovereignty over his father’s estate. The case ultimately comes before a judge, who pronounces that, as the “true” ring renders its bearer beloved by God and mankind, and the three brothers by contrast are embroiled in argument, either all three Geiringer Scholarship rings are counterfeits, or the father had made duplicates to avoid The Karl Geiringer Scholarship in Brahms Studies is open to bestowing the ring’s benefits upon only one son. The solution, students from any country who are in the final stages of prepar- the judge advises, is for each son to live his life as though assured ing an English-language dissertation related to Brahms, mem- that his ring is the “true” one and so as actually to deserve the bers of his circle, or his cultural millieu. Applications should be love of God and mankind. 16. Georg Forster (1754–94) was a sent in electronic format to the chair of the Geiringer Commit- German travel writer, ethnologist, and naturalist, as well as an tee, Dr. Ryan Minor, at [email protected] by 1 May active supporter of the French Revolution. Mathilde quotes here 2013. Guidelines for applications and a list of past recipients are (with minor discrepancies) from Forster’s letter of 7 December posted at http://brahms.unh.edu/activities.html#scholarship. 1784 to Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, which had been published in Johann Georg Forster’s Briefwechsel, ed. Th[erese] H[uber] nee H[eyne] (Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1829), vol. 1. The passage Brahms News quoted by Mathilde appears on pp. 468–69. Her point seems to be that accepted practices (such as burial of the dead) are not The ABS Board of Directors met on 2 November in New Or- always fitting—that sometimes there are more practical options. leans, during the joint meeting of the American Musicological 17. Thanks to Styra Avins for her assistance in translating Society, Society for Ethnomusicology, and Society for Music this paragraph and to Benjamin Korstvedt for aiding with the Theory. Walter Frisch, Valerie Goertzen, and Ryan Minor were interpretation of the word “Aktus.” 18. Johannes Brahms und reelected to the Board. Kevin Karnes was elected Treasurer for Mathilde Wesendonck, 109–11. 19. For the original German, an additional year, to align his term with those of other officers. see Johannes Brahms and Mathilde Wesendonck, 111–14. A subvention from the Society has covered the cost of music 20. Aside from co-sponsoring with Otto Wesendonck the afore- examples in Expressive Intersections in Brahms: Essays in mentioned private concert of Brahms’s music in 1865, Billroth Analysis and Meaning, edited by Heather Platt and Peter Smith had also been entertained in the Wesendonck home and engaged and published this year by Indiana University Press (contents in his own correspondence with Mathilde; she had at least a listed on page 10 of this Newsletter). dozen of his letters in her possession at the time of her death. Bass-baritone Johnathan Mendes, senior Music Education See, e.g., Walton, Wagner’s Zurich, 212, and Johannes Brahms major from Canal Winchester, Ohio, received this year’s Brahms and Theodor Billroth: Letters from a Musical Friendship, ed. Award at The Ohio State University for his performances of the and trans. Hans Barkan (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma music of Brahms, Poulenc, and Wolf, and his contributions to Press, 1957), 31, n. 1. 21. Translated from Johannes Brahms numerous choral and operatic groups. The Brahms Fund was und Mathilde Wesendonck, 115. 22. Translated from ibid., 116. established by longtime ABS member and emeritus Professor 23. Translated from ibid., 116–17. Lübke refers here to Theodor of Philosophy Tony Pasquarello, in memory of his son, A. Jo- Kirchner’s Quartett für 2 Violinen, Viola und Violoncell, seph Pasquarello, and in honor of Johannes Brahms. - 5 - since, as Example 1 shows, the work contains not a single lit- Brahms and Karl Grädener’s eral repetition of the initial bass statement, and in a number Harmonielehre of places the bass line is freely composed. The bass can bet- ter be understood as a tiny ritornello that is divided into two Karl Georg Peter Grädener was born on 14 January 1812, parts, shown in Example 1 as a and b. The a part follows the in the north-German port city of Rostock. His two-hundredth shape of the first chorale phrase, its chromatic inflections- il anniversary has scarcely been noticed, yet a century ago Wal- lustrating the text: “O God, how many sorrows befall me at ter Niemann could write that, before Brahms’s emergence, this time! The narrow path that I must travel to heaven is full Grädener was the most important composer in .1 Dur- of afflictions.” Theb part leads into a cadence. The ritornello is ing the 1850s Brahms and Grädener were relatively close and stated at the beginning and relaunched after each of the first two supported each other’s ambitions. Grädener facilitated the first cantus firmus phrases, with its cadential b part preparing the public performances of several of Brahms’s works and defend- subsequent entrances of the chorale. Then, beginning in m. 12, ed his music as a critic, while Brahms once considered perform- the ritornello begins to overlap with the cantus firmus, increas- ing Grädener’s Piano Concerto. Both Grädener and Brahms ing the contrapuntal complexity of the piece. The bass is also moved from Hamburg to Vienna in 1862, but Grädener failed ritornello-like in that it appears initially in the tonic key and to achieve success there and returned to Hamburg in 1865. In then in various subsidiary keys, before regaining the tonic key Vienna his relationship with Brahms became more distant, and at the end. So the little cantata movement is actually organized the two never regained the closeness they had earlier enjoyed, much like many larger ones. but in the 1870s they briefly collaborated once again. Perhaps because it has remained inconspicuously in the While serving on the faculty of the Hamburg Conservatory, Anhang of Grädener’s book, Brahms’s realization has not re- Grädener wrote a Harmonielehre oriented toward the practices ceived much attention.4 It is listed in Margit McCorkle’s Brahms of J.S. Bach.2 In an appendix to this study, he printed four con- thematic catalogue, but to my knowledge it has never been pub- trapuntal realizations of Bach’s bass for the chorale “Ach Gott, lished outside its original source.5 I suspect that Brahms did not wie manches Herzeleid,” from the cantata Sie werden euch in proofread the score before publication, as it contains an obvious den Bann tun, BWV 44. Two realizations were contributed by clef error in m. 15 and several questionable notes that are indi- Grädener, one by his son Hermann, a composer of some impor- cated with parenthetical accidentals in Example 2. But Brahms tance in his own right, and one by Brahms, more than likely at knew the little piece would be published under his name, and Grädener’s invitation. he took care to make it worthy of both study and performance. In his survey of the Bach cantatas, Alfred Dürr refers to Brahms’s new line of counterpoint mirrors the small-scale but Bach’s bass line as an ostinato,3 yet one cannot quite agree, sophisticated ritornello design of Bach’s cantata movement.

Example 1. J. S. Bach, “Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid,” from Cantata 44, Sie werden euch in den Bann tun, BWV 44, redrawn from the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Bd. 10 (Kirchencantaten, Bd. 5), edited by Wilhelm Rust (Leipzig: Breikopf & Härtel, 1860)

- 6 - Example 2. J. S. Bach-Johannes Brahms, “Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid,” redrawn and corrected by the author from Carl G. P. Grädener, System der Harmonielehre (Hamburg: Verlag von Karl Grädener, Boyes & Geisler Nachfolger, 1877), Appendix IX

- 7 - Example 2, continued

He began the first four statements of Bach’s ritornello with a Notes. 1. “Carl Gradener was the most important contrapun- beautiful, gently chromatic head-motive that permeates the tally oriented, late-Romantic, north-German composer, indeed piece much like the short motives that dominate the chorale the most important composer in general, that Hamburg preludes in Bach’s Orgelbüchlein. The motive’s wistful aug- possessed at that time.” See Walter Niemann, “Karl Georg Pe- mented triads repeatedly turn the music from the major mode ter Grädener: zum hundertsten Geburtstage des Meisters am to the relative minor, reflecting the melancholy sentiment of 14. Januar,” Die Musik 2 (1912): 67‒78: “Der Komponist Karl the text. Brahms did not specify an instrumentation, but his in- Grädener war der bedeutendste norddeutsche Nachromantiker dication that the bass should be doubled at the lower octave kontrapunktischer Richtung, zugleich der bedeutendste Kom- hints at the 16-foot stops of organ registration. At two points ponist, den Hamburg in jener Zeit besaß” (p. 72). 2. Carl G.P. his counterpoint passes briefly below the bass, so it may be Grädener, System der Harmonielehre (Hamburg: Verlag von that the octave doubling was motivated by these fleeting mo- Karl Grädener, Boyes & Geisler Nachfolger, 1877). 3. Alfred ments. But it is also notable that even when Brahms’s newly Dürr, The Cantatas of J.S. Bach, revised and translated by Rich- composed line divides into two parts it is still easily play- ard D.P. Jones (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005; orig. able by one hand on the keyboard, suggesting yet again that publ. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1992), 343. 4. Bernhard Stockmann he fashioned this music for the organ, since in such a setting mentions the piece briefly in “Brahms und der Generalbaß,” the other hand would be employed playing the chorale melody. in Johannes Brahms: Quellen–Text–Rezeption–Interpretation: This little piece, then, might plausibly be counted as an Internationaler Brahms-Kongreß Hamburg 1997, edited by Anhang to Brahms’s chorale preludes for organ. Certainly its Friedhelm Krummacher and Michael Struck in cooperation with inherent interest as a piece of music written by the hands of Constantin Floros and Peter Petersen (Munich: G. Henle Ver- both Bach and Brahms makes it worthy of our attention, and the lag, 1999): 305‒13. 5. Margit L. McCorkle, Johannes Brahms. two-hundredth anniversary of Karl Grädener, who apparently Thematisch-Bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (Munich: G. invited Brahms to write it, is a fine occasion to see it neatly and Henle Verlag, 1984), 631. The score is now available in several correctly in print. online sheet music sites, but merely in the form of scans from William Horne Grädener’s Harmonielehre. - 8 - Eshbach, Robert W. “Joachim’s Youth—Joachim’s Jewishness.” Recent Publications Musical Quarterly 94, no. 4 (Winter 2011): 548–92. Books and Articles Gellen, Adam. Brahms und Ungarn. Biographische, Behr, Johannes. “Franz Schuberts 20 Ländler D 366 / D 814 – rezeptionsgeschichtliche, quellenkritische und analytische n i c h t bearbeitet von Johannes Brahms.” Die Musikforschung Studien. Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 2011. ISBN 978–3–86296– 64, no. 4 (2011): 358–67. 019–4 Birkin, Kenneth. Hans von Bülow: A Life for Music. Cambridge: Goltz, Maren. Bach, Bülow, Brahms, Wagner und Reger in Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN 978–1–107–00586–0 Meiningen: Katalog zur Ausstellung Meiningen – Musenhof Bonds, Mark Evan. “Aesthetic Amputations: Absolute Music zwischen Weimar und Bayreuth. Meiningen: Sammlung and the Deleted Endings of Hanslick’s Vom Musikalisch- Musikgeschichte der Meininger Museen, 2011. Schönen.” 19th Century Music 36, no. 1 (Summer 2012): Gülke, Peter. “Verspätete Monologe: Brahms’ Klavierstücke 3–23. op. 116, 117, 118 und 119.” In Essays on Renaissance Music in Brahms-Studien Band 16. Edited by Beatrix Borchard and Honour of David Fallows: Bon jour, bon mois, et bonne estrenne, Kerstin Schüssler-Bach. Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 2011. ISBN edited by Jacobijn Kiel and Fabrice Fitch. Woodbridge, United 978–3–86296–026–2 Kingdom: Boydell and Brewer, 2011. ISBN 978–1–84383– Peter Gülke, “‘Humanität trumpft nicht auf’ – Lesarten zu Brahms’ 619–3 Erster Symphonie,” 9–29 Jan Brachmann, “Technik des Tröstens. Ein deutsches Requiem in Haas, Frithjof. Herman Levi: From Brahms to Wagner. Trans. hörenden Interpretationsvergleich,” 31–45 Cynthia Klohr. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012. ISBN Christoph Flamm, “Hölderlin, Brahms, Klinger: Individuelles Leid 9780810884182. und ästhetischer Trost im ,” 47–65 Hinrichsen, Hans-Joachim, ed. Hans von Bülow’s Letters to Miriam-Alexandra Wigbers, “Johannes Brahms und Pauline Viardot – der Sommer 1869. Begegnungen / Das verschollene Morgenständchen/ Johannes Brahms: A Research Edition. Trans. Cynthia Klohr. Die Alt-Rhapsodie,” 67–89 Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012. ISBN 978–0–8108– Joachim Dorfmüller, “‘…dass ich so glücklich war, ihn kennen– zu 8215–7 lernen!’ Johannes Brahms und Edward Grieg – Kollegen und Freunde,” Hinrichsen, Hans-Joachim. “Interpretation als Intertextualität. 91–100 Friedrich Schiller’s ‘Nänie’ in den Vertonungen von Hermann Helmut Lauterwasser, “‘Von seinen Jugendstreichen bewahrt man nicht gern die sichtbaren Zeichnen.’ Johannes Brahms’ früheste erhaltene Goetz und Johannes Brahms.” In Ereignis und Exegese. Kompositionen im Stadtarchiv Celle entdeckt,” 101–12 Musikalische Interpretation–Interpretation der Musik. Fest- Kerstin Schüssler-Bach, “‘Einigermaßen zeitgemäß’–Brahms’ Männer- schrift für Hermann Danuser zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by chöre op. 41 im politischen Kontext der 1860er-Jahre,” 113–26 Camilla Bork et al, 420–32. Schliengen: Edition Argus, 2011. Peter Schmitz, “‘Verstoßen Sie mich nicht, denken Sie meiner.’ ISBN 978–3–931264–77–2 Bittbriefe an Johannes Brahms,” 127–60 Hoag, Melissa E. “Brahms’s Great Tragic Opera: Melodic Marcus Stäbler, “Maximale Schönheit durch Kontraste. Zum Festival Hamburger Ostertöne,” 161–65 Drama in Ach, wende diesen Blick (Op. 57, No. 4). Music Anne do Paço, “Ein Tanzen in den Zwischenräumen – Martin Theory Online 17, no. 1 (2011). Schläpfer choreografiert in Düsseldorf Ein deutsches Requiem op. 45 Hoag, Melissa E. “Register and Remembrance in Brahms’s von Johannes Brahms,” 167–80 Frühlingslied, Op. 85, No. 5.” Dutch Journal of Music Theory/ Constantin Floros, “Gedanken über Brahms heute. Eröffnungsvortrag Tijdschrift voor muziektheorie 16, no. 3 (November 2011): zum Internationalen Brahmsfest Mürzzuschlag, 16. September 2009,” 167–79. 181–86 Beatrix Borchard, “Nachruf auf eine ‘Brahms-Enkelin’: Renate Wirth Hofmann, Renate, and Kurt Hofmann. Brahms Museum, (8.10.1920 – 24.2.2011),” 187–88 Exhibition Guide. Hamburg: Johannes-Brahms-Gesellschaft, [various authors], “CD- und Buchhinweise,” 189–94 2010. Johannes Behr, Katrin Eich, Michael Struck, “Neues aus der Kieler Brahms-Forschungsstelle,” 195–207: includes Johannes Behr, Hofmann, Renate, and Kurt Hofmann. Johannes Brahms auf “‘Leider nicht von Brahms’: Die Brahms zugeschriebenen Klavier- Schloss Altenstein und am Meininger Hof: amtlicher Führer bearbeitungen von Franz Schuberts 20 Ländlern D 366 / D 814 (Anh. special. Berlin and Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2012. Ia Nr. 6),” 198–99; Katrin Eich, “‘Zum Glück von Brahms – aber ISBN 9783422023475 leider keine Skizzen’: Brahms’ eigenhändige Korrekturblätter zur 1. Serenade und zum 1. Klavierkonzert aus dem Nachlass Theodor Horne, William. “Recycling Uhland: Brahms and the Avé-Lallemants,” 199–201; Michael Struck, “‘Leider nicht von Clara Wanderlieder.” Notes 69, no. 2 (December 2012): 217–59.

Schumann’: Zwei ‘Clara Wieck’ zugeschriebene Kompositionen aus th dem Nachlass Theodor Avé-Lallemants,” 201–7 Kim, David Hyun-Su. “The Brahmsian Hairpin.” 19 Century Wolfgang Sandberger, “Neues aus dem Brahms-Institut an der Musik- Music 36, no. 1 (Summer 2012): 46–57. hochschule Lübeck. Bericht aus den Jahren 2008–2011,” 209–20 Kuzma, Marika. “Johannes Brahms opus 62: Sieben Lieder Chrissochoidis, Ilias. “The Master Stands: Rare Brahms Photos für gemischten Chor/Seven Unaccompanied Songs for Mixed in the Library of Congress.” Fontes Artis Musicae 59, no. 1 Chorus—A Detailed Exploration.” Choral Journal 53, no. 2 (Jan.–March 2012): 39–44. (September 2012): 8–16, and no. 3 (October 2012): 8–25. Cohn, Richard. Audacious Euphony: Chromatic Harmony Loges, Natasha. “How to Make a ‘Volkslied’: Early Models in and the Triad’s Second Nature. Oxford and New York: Oxford the Songs of Johannes Brahms.” Music and Letters 93, no. 3 University Press, 2012. ISBN 978–0–19–977269–8 (August 2012): 316–49. - 9 - Minor, Ryan. Choral Fantasies: Music, Festivity, and Works of Great Composers, edited by Richard Paul Anderson, Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Germany. New York: 118–31. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2012. Cambridge University Press, 2012. ISBN 9780521760713 Thym, Jurgen, ed. Of Poetry and Song. Approaches to the Chapter 4: “Songs and States in Brahms’s and Wagner’s ” Nineteenth-Century Lied. Rochester: University of Rochester Chapter 5: “Occasions and Nations in Brahms’s Fest- und Gedenk- Press, 2010. ISBN 978–1–58046–055–2 spruche” Critical Editions Musgrave, Michael. The Life of Schumann. Cambridge: Brahms, Johannes. Albumblatt für Klavier. Ed. Christopher Cambridge University Press, 2011. ISBN 978–0–521– Hogwood. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2012. ISMN 9790006542284 80248–2 Brahms, Johannes. Arrangements von Werken anderer Peres da Costa, Neal. Off the Record: Performing Practices Komponisten für ein Klavier oder zwei Klaviere zu vier in Romantic Piano Playing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Händen. Ed. Valerie Woodring Goertzen. Johannes Brahms, 2012. ISBN 9780195386912 neue Ausgabe sämtliche Werke Serie IX, Bd. 1. Munich: G. Platt, Heather. “‘Brahms in the New Century’: A Conference Henle, 2012. Report.” Music Theory Online 18, no. 2 (July 2012). Brahms, Johannes. Klavierstücke. Ed. Katrin Eich. Johannes Platt, Heather Anne, and Peter Smith, eds. Expressive Inter- Brahms, neue Ausgabe sämtliche Werke Serie III, Bd. 6. sections in Brahms: Essays in Analysis and Meaning. Munich: G. Henle, 2011. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012. ISBN Brahms, Johannes. Serenaden Nr. 1 D-Dur op. 11 und Nr. 2 9780253357052 Heather Platt and Peter H. Smith, “‘The Wondrous Transformation A-Dur op. 16 sowie Akademische Festouvertüre c-Moll op. 80 of Thought into Sound’: Some Preliminary Reflections on Musical und Tragische Ouvertüre d-Moll op. 81 im Arrangement für Meaning in Brahms,” 3–18 ein Klavier zu vier Händen. Ed. Michael Musgrave. Johannes Steven Rings, “The Learned Self: Artifice in Brahms’s Late Intermezzi,” Brahms, neue Ausgabe sämtliche Werke Serie Ia, Bd. 4. 19–50 Munich: G. Henle, 2012. Yonatan Malin, “‘Alte Liebe’ and the Birds of Spring: Text, Music, and Brahms, Johannes. Sextett für 2 Violinen, 2 Violen und 2 Image in Max Klinger’s Brahms Fantasy,” 53–79 Heather Platt, “Brahms’s Mädchenlieder and Their Cultural Context,” Violoncelli B-Dur op. 18, and Sextett für 2 Violinen, 2 Violen 80–110 und 2 Violoncelli G-Dur op. 36. Studienpartitur, Urtext- Margaret Notley, “Ancient Tragedy and Anachronism: Form as ausgaben. Ed. Christopher Hogwood. Kassel: Bärenreiter, Expression in Brahms’s ,” 111–43 2011. ISMN 9790006205219 and 9790006205226 Ryan McClelland, “Sequence as Expressive Culmination in the Brahms, Johannes. Symphonie Nr. 3 F-dur op. 90. Ed. Robert of Brahms,” 147–85 Pascall. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2006. Frank Samarotto, “‘Phantasia subitanea’: Temporal Caprice in This edition comprises a conductor’s score and parts based on the new Brahms’s Op. 116, Nos. 1 and 7,” 186–216 complete edition (Johannes Brahms. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, James Hepokoski, “Monumentality and Formal Processes in the First Serie I, Bd. 3 [Munich: G. Henle, 2005]). The conductor’s score Movement of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in , Op. 15,” includes a concise history of the composition and early reception of the 217–51 work, in German and English, written by editor Robert Pascall. A short Peter H. Smith, “The Drama of Tonal Pairing in Chamber Music of list of items selected from the critical report in the Gesamtausgabe is Schumann and Brahms,” 252–90 appended in German. Score: HN 9855. Parts: OB 16102. Reynolds, Christopher. “Brahms Rhapsodizing: The Alto Brahms, Johannes. Symphonie Nr. 4 e moll op. 98. Ed. Robert Rhapsody and Its Expressive Double.” The Journal of Pascall. Johannes Brahms, neue Ausgabe sämtliche Werke Serie Musicology 29, no. 2 (Spring 2012): 191–235. I, Bd. 4. Munich: G. Henle, 2011. Sandberger, Wolfgang. “Bekenntnis zur Tradition? Zur 4. Brahms, Johannes. Symphonie Nr. 4 e-Moll op. 98, vierhändige Sinfonie e-Moll op. 98 von Johannes Brahms.” In Sinfonie Arrangements für ein und zwei Klaviere. Ed. Robert Pascall. als Bekenntnis: Zürcher Festspiel-Symposium 2010, edited Johannes Brahms, neue Ausgabe sämtliche Werke Serie Ia, Bd. by Laurenz Lütteken, 75–92. Kassel: Barenreiter, 2011. ISBN 3. Munich, G. Henle, 2012. 978–3–7618–2153–4 Brahms, Johannes. Walzer, Op. 39. Ed. Christian Köhn. Kassel: Sandberger, Wolfgang. “Denkmäler, Bilder, Phantasien: Bärenreiter, 2011. Also leichte Ausgabe (vom Komponisten Johannes Brahms als Figur des öffentlichen Gedächtnisses.” In eingerichtet). ISMN 9790006541140 and 9790006541157 Imago Musicae. International Yearbook of Music Iconography Dissertations 24, edited by Tilman Seebass. Lucca: Libreria Musicale Ital- iana, 2011. ISBN 9788870966336 DiClemente, Ann Riesback. “Brahms Performance Practice in a New Context: The Bruce Hungerford Recorded Lessons with Sandberger, Wolfgang, ed. “Ich will euch trösten. . .”: Johannes Carl Friedberg.” Ph.D. diss., University of Maryland, 2009. Brahms – ein deutsches Requiem. Symposion-Ausstellung- Katalog. Brahms-Institut an der Musikhochschule Lübeck 6. Schmitz, Peter. “Johannes Brahms und der Leipziger Musik- Munich: Richard Boorbert, 2012. verlag Breitkopf & Härtel.” Ph.D. diss., Westfälische Wilhelms- Universität Münster. Abhandlungen zur Musikgeschichte 20. Thomas, Stephen R. “Interpreting Brahms: Practical and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. Historical Perspectives.” In The ’s Craft: Mastering the (Continued on page 12) - 10 - BOARD OF DIRECTORS President, Peter H. Smith (University of Notre Dame) Vice-President, Ryan McClelland (University of Toronto) Secretary, Virginia Hancock (Reed College) Treasurer, Kevin Karnes (Emory University) Styra Avins (Drew University) Daniel Beller-McKenna (University of New Hampshire) George S. Bozarth (University of Washington) David Brodbeck (University of California, Irvine) Camilla Cai (Kenyon College) Richard Cohn (Yale University) Walter M. Frisch (Columbia University) Valerie Goertzen (Loyola University New Orleans) William P. Horne (Loyola University New Orleans) Ryan Minor (SUNY Stony Brook) Heather Platt (Ball State University) Corresponding Directors Otto Biba (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien) Ludwig Finscher (University of Heidelberg) Kurt Hofmann (Lübeck) Otmar Zwiebelhofer (ex offico; President, Brahmsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden) Robert Pascall (University of Nottingham) Cord Garben (ex officio; President, Johannes Brahms-Gesellschaft, Hamburg) Oechsle (ex officio; Johannes-Brahms Gesamtausgabe) Wolfgang Sandberger (ex officio; Brahms-Institut an der Musikhochschule Lübeck) Minoru Nishihara (ex officio; Japan Brahms Society) Advisory Board Christoph Wolff (Harvard University), Margaret Notley (University of North Texas) James Webster (Cornell University) Honorary Members Bernice Geiringer † Renate and Kurt Hofmann Margaret McCorkle Thomas Quigley Officials of the Society George S. Bozarth Daniel Beller-McKenna Ryan Minor, Chair William Horne and Valerie Goertzen Executive Director Webmaster Geiringer Scholarship Committee Newsletter Editors School of Music, Box 353450 Department of Music Department of Music College of Music and Fine Arts University of Washington University of New 3304 Staller Center Loyola University New Orleans Seattle, WA 98195-3450 Hampshire SUNY Stony Brook New Orleans, LA 70118 (206) 543-0400; 284-0111 (fax) Durham, NH 03824 Stony Brook, NY 11794 (504) 865-2105 ([email protected]) ([email protected]) ([email protected]) ([email protected]) (504) 865-2207 ([email protected])

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honor/memory of ______. Email:  I would like to make a contribution of $______towards Institutional Affiliation: the Society’s operating expenses. NEW: Dues and contributions may be submitted online, using PayPal or credit card, at http://courses.washington.edu/brahms/membership/. Please send information on the ABS and a sample Newsletter to the following people: The American Brahms Society is a non-profit organization. The IRS has determined that donations in excess of dues may be considered as charitable contributions. - 11 - (Recent Publications, continued from page 10) ers in his social circle. Her most recent work has addressed Papers Presented at Conferences Brahms’s B-Major Piano Trio, , Fourth , and other works, as well as his correspondence with figures Paper read at the meeting of the Northeast Chapter of the such as Hans von Bülow and Mathilde Wesendonck. Her recent American Musicological Society, 14 April 2012, Mount and forthcoming publications include articles and reviews in Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA: 19th Century Music, Notes, The Journal of Musicological Re- Jacquelyn Sholes (Boston University), “A ‘Cremation Cantata’?: search, and Ars Lyrica. She is a past recipient of the Society’s Contextualizing the Dramatic Conclusion of the Brahms-Wesendonck Correspondence” Geiringer Scholarship.William Horne teaches music theory and composition at Loyola University New Orleans. His research Paper read at the meeting of the Pacific Southwest Chapter of the has centered mostly on Brahms’s early piano music, though his American Musicological Society, 6 October 2012, Occidental most recent article, “Recycling Uhland: Brahms and the Wan- College, Los Angeles, CA: derlieder,” which appears in the current issue of Notes, explores Nicole Grimes (University of California, Irvine), “Brahms’s Ascending narrative and autobiographical elements in Brahms’s Op. 7 and Circle: Hölderlin, Schicksalslied, and the Process of Recollection” Op. 19 Lieder collections. He is co-Editor of this Newsletter. Paper read at the meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the The sketch of Mathilde Wesendonck on the cover is from American Musicological Society, 6 October 2012, University Johannes Brahms und Mathilde Wesendonck: Ein Briefwech- of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA: sel, ed. Erich Hermann Müller von Asow (Wien: I. Luckmann, Jacquelyn Sholes (Boston University), “Tragic Antiquarianism in the 1943), facing p. 16; it is identified on page 125 as belonging to Finale of Brahms’s Fourth Symphony” Prof. Dr. F[riedrich] W[ilhelm] Frhr. v. Bissing (Wesendonck’s grandson). The Freiherr’s library was sold at auction after his death in 1956 (Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett Kunst-Auktion 26). Editors’ Notes We are grateful to George Bozarth of the University of The Editors would like to thank the contributors to this is- Washington at Seattle for his editorial assistance, and to Doug- sue. Jacquelyn Sholes is a member of the musicology faculty las Niemela, who distributes the Newsletter from the Society’s at Boston University. Her research, including a recently com- office there. Correspondence, ideas, and submissions for the pleted book manuscript, focuses on the intersections of form, Newsletter are always welcome, and email communication narrative, and historical reference in the music of Brahms and is especially encouraged. Materials for the Spring 2013 issue on musical relationships between Brahms and other compos- should be sent to the Editors by 1 February.

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