Brahms laid to rest

Synopsis

If you had been in Vienna on today’s date in 1897, you could have witnessed a civic outpouring of affection and respect as the coffin bearing the remains of Johannes Brahms processed to that city’s Central Cemetery. One eye-witness was the German-born British musician Sir George Henschel, who was a friend of the late composer.

He tells us the funeral procession was led by black-garbed riders on horseback, followed by the bier bearing Brahms’s coffin surrounded by many other carts overflowing with floral bouquets, including two immense floral wreaths, one from the city of Hamburg, where Brahms was born, another from the city of Vienna, where he died.

Let’s let Henschel himself describe what happened next:

“The sun, which had come out gloriously by that time, shone, as it were on a gigantic, moving garden… Before the building of the Society of the Friends of Music, the procession halted. The doors and pillars were draped in black cloth. On either side of the portal, from metal bowls, candelabras were flickering with a subdued, mystical light. From underneath a canopy the SingVerein [Chorale], which had often sung under the inspiring direction of the master, now sang his own beautiful part-song, ‘Farewell,’ Op. 93a, no. 4.

“As the lovely strains rang out into the vernal air, there could be heard from the neighboring trees the merry twittering of birds, whose song seemed to have been kindled by the approach of spring.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) “Fahr Wohl,” Op. 93a, no. 4 Chamber Choir of Europe; Nicol Matt, cond. Brilliant Classics CD 92179

On This Day

Births

• 1660 - German composer and organist Johann Kuhnau, in Geising Erzgebirge; He was Bach's predecessor as cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig;

• 1672 - Baptismal date of French composer André Cardinal Destouches, in Paris;

• 1815 - German composer Friedrich Robert Volkman, in Lommatzsch, near Dresden;

• 1885 - French-born American composer and harpist Carlos Salzedo, in Arcachon;

• 1887 - Rumanian opera composer Nicolas Bretan, in Nasaud;

• 1921 - American composer Andrew Imbrie, in New York City;

• 1929 - Soviet composer Edison Denisov, in Tomak; His engineer father named him after Thomas Edison;

• 1929 - German-born American composer, pianist and conductor, André Previn, in Berlin;

Deaths

• 1971 - Russian-born American composer Igor Stravinsky, age 88, in New York City;

Premieres

• 1731 - Handel: opera "Rindalo" (2nd version), in London at the King's Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: April 17);

• 1735 - Handel: Organ Concerto Op. 4, no. 5 (Julian date: March 26);

• 1797 - Beethoven: possible public premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Winds, Op. 16, at a Schuppanzig concert in Vienna;

• 1892 - Dvorak: Symphony No. 4 in d, in Prague;

• 1900 - Amy Beach: Piano Concerto in c#, by the Boston Symphony with Wilhelm Gericke conducting and the composer as soloist;

• 1945 - Randall Thompson: "The Testament of Freedom" (to texts by Thomas Jefferson) for men's chorus and orchestra, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting; This was the first performance with orchestra; The world premiere (with piano accompaniment) had taken place at the University of Virginia on April 13, 1943;

• 1964 - Stravinsky: "Elegy for J.F.K.," in Los Angeles, conducted by Robert Craft;

• 1967 - Miklós Rózsa: Piano Concerto, by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with Leonard Pennario as soloist.