Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters

This book is the first comprehensive collection of the letters of Johannes Brahms ever to appear in English. Over 550 are included, virtually all uncut, and there are over a dozen published here for the first time in any language. Although he corresponded throughout his life with some of the great performers, composers, musicologists, writers, scientists, and artists of the day, and although thousands of his letters have survived, English readers have until now had scant opportunity to meet Brahms in person, through his words, and in his own voice. `I am aware of my bad habit of writing briefly but obscurely', Brahms once wrote to a friend. He was needlessly hard on himself, for his letters describe many significant events in his life, throw light on his friendships and music, and reveal his wit, idealism, intelligence, generosity, sarcasm, and above all his powerful sense of integrity. The letters in this volume range from 1848 to just before his death. They include all Brahms's letters to Robert Schumann, over a hundred letters to Clara Schumann, and the complete Brahms-Wagner correspondence. They are joined by a running commentary to form an absorbing narrative, documented with scholarly care, provided with comprehensive notes, but written for the general music lover. The result is a lively biography. The book is generously illustrated, and contains several detailed appendices and an index.

About the Author :
Styra Avins is Adjunct Professor of Music History at Drew University, New Jersey. Josef Eisinger is Professor Emeritus of Physics and Biophysics at Mount Sinai Medical School, New York.

Review :
`without Avins' judicious commentary, this book would not cohere. Her translations on the whole feel admirably authentic.' Michael Church, Financial Times (weekend) `Rich in detail, bringing this reputedly dour man vividly to life, this is a useful addition to the bookshelves' Christopher Morley, Birmingham Post `Avins has not only made good a glaring omission in Brahms studies - this is the first extensive selection of the letters in English - she has also transcended her narrower academic remit to create a virtual biography by stealth ... Invaluable reference tool that this is, Avins has conjured up something rather better. The book is not cheap but it is contains some rare photographs and is notably well produced.' David Gutman, Classic CD `a rich compilation of Brahms correspondence ... she supplies fascinating illustrations, a helpful chronological table and other tools' International Herald Tribune `Occasionally a book comes along which changes perceptions of its subject. This is such a book. Her annotations are not only scholarly but often witty and always full of common sense. The translation is lively, if once or twice unconvincingly slangy of today. Wherever you read in these 858 pages, you will feel you are in Brahms's world and that he is speaking to you.' Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph `Until I read this long, richly informative book - the first substantial edition of his letters to be published in English - I never felt much curiosity about Brahms.' David Cairns, The Sunday Times `contains 550 letters, some of them never published before in any language, many appearing for the first time ... They are annotated in such painstaking detail that the book can be read as a biography ... a book in which this composer has seldom seemed more lovable, more vulnerable, more honourable.' Michael Oliver, Gramophone `the publication of Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters fills what has for too long been a void in our knowledge ... The selection is chronological and comprehensively annotated, so that the book can be read as a biographical narrative illuminated by Brahms himself. This is one of the most important music books published in recent years.' Fritz Spiegl, The Oldie `The translators have taken the decision to retain, as far as possible, the idioms and sentence constructions of the originals, and, for those who can't read German, here is an irrestistible opportunity to meet Brahms in person.' rosemary Williamson, Newsletter of the Royal Northern College of Music `this is the first comprehensive selection to appear in English ... Avins's labours have bestowed an unusual fund of experience. Perhaps no other editor, in any language, has reviewed the entire Brahms correspondence and much of the supporting literature in one intense burst ... delightful and absorbing book. It is going to become an absolutely central work of reference: I expect to be using it for the rest of my life.' Calum MacDonald, BBC Music Magazine, Sept 99