A Choral Symphony by Brahms?

Abstract

Until the last few years Brahms the musical poet and Brahms the taciturn friend of Clara were seen as two sides of one musical coin.Post-Romantic commentary was comfortable with an image of Brahms as a composer whose throttled feelings found therapeutic release in music usually termed "absolute" in order to distinguish it from works with extra-musical and programmatic associations.But lately, armed with quotations from Brahms's letters and the recollections of his friends and acquaintances, scholars from diverse backgrounds have begun to chip away at the graven image of Brahms as a paragon of absolute music.Among those participating in the ongoing revaluation, George Bozarth classifies several instrumental Andantes as "songs without words" for their dependence on unprinted texts, while