Brahms Beautiful Waltz and Intermezzo

Music Appreciation
Written By Edward Wolfe

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) sometimes is considered one of the “three B’s” of art music: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. His exquisitely crafted music nonetheless was considered by some critics “old-fashioned,” especially as compared with the “New German School” music of Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz. He became embroiled in the “War of the Romantics,” which was a bitter, philosophical, aesthetic dispute between the aforementioned progressives and the conservatives. He was friends with the Robert and Clara Schumann.

While his piano music tends not to be particularly difficult technically (with notable exceptions), it also tends to be emotionally profound.

His beautiful little waltz, Opus 39, No. 15, is simple enough to be played by intermediate piano students, and yet lovely enough to be included on many professional recital programs.

His exuberant intermezzo, Opus 119, No. 3, is C Major at its best.

Subscribe to receive an email notice when I post a new blog article.

Please leave a comment on the original post.

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com
Next

The wonders of the St. Matthew