The Organ Music of Johannes Brahms

by Barbara Owen

Overview

Influenced by Robert and Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim, Johannes Brahms not only learned to play the organ at the beginning of his career, but also wrote significant compositions for the instrument as a result of his early counterpoint study. He composed for the organ only sporadically or as part of larger choral and instrumental works in his subsequent career. During the final year of his life, however, he returned to pure organ composition with a set of chorale preludes—though many of these are thought to have been revisions of earlier works. Today, the organ works of Johannes Brahms are recognized as beautifully-crafted compositions by church and concert organists across the world and have become a much-cherished component of the repertoire. Until now, however, most scholarly accounts of Brahms's life and work treat his works for the organ as a minor footnote in his development as a composer.

Precisely because the collection of organ works is not extensive, the pieces—composed at different times during Brahms's lifetime—help to map his path as a composer, pinpointing various stages in his artistic development. In this volume, Barbara Owen offers the first in-depth study of this corpus, considering Brahms's organ works in relation to his background, methods, and overall artistic development, his contacts with organs and organists, the influence of his predecessors and contemporaries, and analyses of each specific work and its place in Brahms's career. Her expert history and analysis of Brahms's individual organ works and their interpretation also investigates contemporary practices relative to the performance of these pieces. The book's three valuable appendices present a guide to editions of Brahms's organ works, a discussion of the organ in Brahms's world that highlights some organs the composer would have heard, and a listing of the organ transcriptions of Brahms's work.

Blending unique insights into composition and performance practice, this book will be read eagerly by performers, students, and scholars of the organ, Brahms, and the music of the Nineteenth Century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190295103
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/25/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	880 KB

About the Author

In addition to her duties as Librarian of the American Guild of Organists's Organ Library at Boston University, Barbara Owen is active as an organist, historian, lecturer, consultant, and writer. Having twice served as President of the Organ Historical Society, she is author of several books and many articles on the organ, its history, and its music.

Table of Contents

Background
The Organ in the Life of Brahms     3
Bach, Counterpoint, and Chorales     33
Brahms as Revisor     41
The Music
The Early Works     53
The Eleven Chorale Preludes     77
Interpretation     121
Editions     139
The Organs in Brahms's World     142
Organ Transcriptions of Works by Brahms     151
Notes     155
Bibliography     167
Discography     177
Index     179

Editorial Reviews

"This is the most thorough account of Brahm's organ music in English. Barbara Owen has done a superb job of synthesizing virtually all accounts by other authors, from the composer's own day to 2005. The Organ Music of Johannes Brahms should be required reading for all organists, especially those who play this music. Any devotee of Brahms and his compositions will gain from reading this book."-The American Organist Magazine

"Barbara Owen's scholarly and thoroughly detailed study gives the reader everything there is to know about the organ works of Brahms. Every organist who loves and plays Brahms must have—and will enjoy—this book."—Dr. Marilyn Mason, University of Michigan

"Like the many strands of counterpoint which Brahms loved to weave together, Barbara Owen has woven a comprehensive fabric of all aspects of Brahms' involvement with the organ, placing them against the changing backdrops from which they may be viewed: biographical, counterpoint studies, revision habits; then the works themselves: manuscript variations, analyses, interpretation. Definitely a definitive work!"— Dr. Max (Uncle Max) Miller, Professor of Organ Emeritus, Boston University

"Johannes Brahms wrote but little for the organ, but that small legacy is universally recognized as one of the greatest contributions to the corpus of nineteenth century organ literature. Although it has long attracted critical commentary, Barbara Owen presents here the first full-length monograph to focus on this important oeuvre. Meticulously researched and thoughtfully written, Owen explores the many enigmas of Brahms' organ music with keen insight and from a variety of perspectives. A work of exemplary erudition, Ms. Owen's book will surely prove to be mandatory reading for anyone seriously interested in the organ music of Johannes Brahms."—Wm. A. Little, Professor of German and Music, Emeritus, University of Virginia

"Owen's book includes a lot of useful information on the period. Its focus on Brahm's organ music is refreshingly down-to-earth and revealing about his modest but creative interest in organs and organ music."—Peter Williams, Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher