The Life & Legacy of Johannes Brahms. Florence May
an independent footing. It took place in the familiar room of the 'Old Raven,' 'Herr Honnef's Hall,' with the assistance of Marxsen's friends, Madame and Fräulein Cornet, and some instrumentalists of Hamburg. The price of tickets was one mark (about a shilling), and the programme, as printed in the Hamburger Nachrichten of the 20th, was as follows:
| First Part. | ||
| 1. Adagio and rondo from Rosenhain's Concerto in A major for Piano, performed by the concert-giver. | ||
| 2. Duet from Mozart's 'Figaro,' sung by Mad. and Fräul. Cornet. | ||
| 3. Variations for Violin, by Artôt, performed by Herr Risch. | ||
| 4. 'Das Schwabenmädchen,' Lied, sung by Mad. Cornet. | ||
| 5. Fantasia on Themes from Rossini's 'Tell,' for Piano, by Döhler, performed by the concert-giver. | ||
| Second Part. | ||
| 6. Introduction and Variations for Clarinet, by Herzog, performed by Herr Glade. | ||
| 7. Aria from Mozart's 'Figaro,' sung by Frl. Cornet. | ||
| 8. Fantasia for Violoncello, composed and performed by Herr d'Arien. | ||
| 9. a) 'Der Tanz' | } | Lieder, sung by Mad. Cornet. |
| b) 'Der Fischer auf dem Meer' | ||
| 10. a) Fugue by Sebastian Bach b) Serenade for left hand only, by E. Marxsen c) Étude by Herz, performed by the concert-giver. | ||
Unattractive as it now seems, this selection of pieces was no doubt made with a view to the taste of the day, and the inclusion of a single Bach fugue was probably a rather daring concession to that of the concert-giver and his teacher. The two vocal numbers from 'Figaro' may be accepted as echoes of the boy's delight on the evening of his recent first visit to the opera. No record remains of the result of the concert, but its success may fairly be inferred from the fact that it was followed, in the spring of 1849, by a second, for which the price of the tickets was increased to two marks. This was announced twice in the Nachrichten as follows:
'The undersigned will have the honour of giving a musical soirée on April 14 in the concert-room of the Jenisch'schen Haus (Katharine Street, 17), for which he ventures herewith to issue his invitation. Several of the first resident artists have kindly promised their assistance to the programme, which will be published in this journal.
'J. Brahms, Pianist.'
The programme was appended to the third and last advertisement of April 10:
| First Part. |
| 1. Grand Sonata in C major, Op. 53, by Beethoven. (The concert-giver.) |
| 2. Romance from Donizetti's 'Liebestrank.' (Th. Wachtel.) |
| 4. 'O geh' nicht fort,' Lied, by E. Marxsen, sung by Frl. Cornet. |
| 5. Fantasia for Piano on a favourite Waltz, composed and performed by the concert-giver. |
| Second Part. |
| 6. Concerto for Violin, by Fr. Mollenhauer, performed by Herr Ed. Mollenhauer. |
| 7. Songs. Me. Cornet. |
| 8. Fantasia on Themes from 'Don Juan,' by Thalberg, performed by the concert-giver. |
| 9. Duet, sung by Me. and Frl. Cornet. |
| 10. Variations for Flute, by Fräsch, performed by Herr Koppelhöfer. |
| 11. Air Italien, by C. Meyer, performed by the concert-giver. |
The performance of Beethoven's 'Waldstein' sonata, Op. 53, was regarded long after the close of the forties, as a great technical feat, and, taken together with the execution of the 'Don Juan' fantasia, would represent something near the height of the pianistic virtuosity of the time, whilst with the Fantasia on a favourite waltz the concert-giver made his first public entrée as a composer. This work must be identified with the variations on a favourite waltz mentioned by La Mara as having been played at his concert by the young Brahms, of which one variation took the form of a 'very good canon.' Marxsen's notice of the concert in the Freischütz of April 17 was the only one that appeared:
'In the concert given by J. Brahms, the youthful virtuoso gave most satisfactory proofs of advancement in his artistic career. His performance of Beethoven's sonata showed that he is already able to devote himself successfully to the study of the classics, and redounded in every respect to his honour. The example of his own composition also indicated unusual talent.'
Although the report adds that the room was so full as to oblige many listeners to be content with seats in the ante-room, it is probable that the young musician found concert-giving more vexatious and expensive than useful or profitable. Though he appeared from time to time at the benefit-concerts of other artists, and repeated his own fantasia at one given on December 6 by Rudolph Lohfeldt, his third soirée in Hamburg, given under conditions of which he could not at this time have dared to dream, did not take place till after the lapse of another decade. The four or five years immediately succeeding his formal entry into life were, perhaps, the darkest of Brahms' career. Money had to be earned, and the young Bach-Mozart-Beethoven enthusiast earned it by giving wretchedly-paid lessons to pupils who lacked both talent and wish to learn, and by his night drudgery amid the sordid surroundings of the Hamburg dancing-saloons.
It was an amelioration in his life and a step forward in his career, when he was engaged by the publisher, August Cranz, as one of several contributors to a series of popular arrangements of light music, published under the name 'G. W. Marks.' We have read in Widmann's pages of the spirit in which the great composer, a few years before his death, recalled these passages of his struggling youth:
'He could not, he said, wish that it had been less rough and austere. He had certainly earned his first money by arranging marches and dances for garden orchestras, or orchestral music for the piano, but it gave him pleasure even now, when he came across one of these anonymously circulating pieces, to think that he had devoted faithful labour and all the knowledge at his command, to such hireling's work. He did not even regard as useless experience that he had often had to accompany wretched singers or to play dance music in Lokals, whilst he was longing for the quiet morning hours during which he should be able to write down his own thoughts. "The prettiest songs came to me as I blacked my boots before daybreak."'
And if the master could so speak and think of his early trials, must not we, who are, perhaps, the richer through them, treasure the remembrance of the nights of uncongenial toil through which he passed to become, even on the threshold of life, its conqueror and true possessor? The iron entered his soul, however, and the impression derived from his night work remained with him till death. He was accustomed to read steadily through the hours of his slavery. Placing a volume of history, poetry, or romance on the music-desk before him, his thoughts were away in a world of imagination, whilst his fingers were mechanically busy with the tinkling keys. He did not lift his eyes to the scene before him after his first entrance, though there were times when he felt it with shuddering dismay. It is, however, right to repeat that, as we have hinted in a previous chapter, this kind of industry was a more or less recognised means by which struggling musicians of the class to which Jakob Brahms belonged, were enabled to help their needy circumstances, and it would not be difficult to name more than one executant afterwards well known who fulfilled similar