Johannes Brahms: A Biography
by Jan Swafford
List Price:
Our Price: $12.88
You Save: $8.12 (39%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.49 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jan SwaffordEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-12-07
ISBN: 0679745823
Number of pages: 752
Publisher: Vintage
Summary of Johannes Brahms: A Biography
A New York Times Notable Book"This brilliant and magisterial book is a very good bet to...become the definitive study of Johannes Brahms."--The Plain Dealer
Judicious, compassionate, and full of insight into Brahms's human complexity as well as his music, Johannes Brahms is an indispensable biography.
Proclaimed the new messiah of Romanticism by Robert Schumann when he was only twenty, Johannes Brahms dedicated himself to a long and extraordinarily productive career. In this book, Jan Swafford sets out to reveal the little-known Brahms, the boy who grew up in mercantile Hamburg and played piano in beer halls among prostitutes and drunken sailors, the fiercely self-protective man who thwarted future biographers by burning papers, scores and notebooks late in his life. Making unprecedented use of the remaining archival material, Swafford offers richly expanded perspectives on Brahms's youth, on his difficult romantic life--particularly his longstanding relationship with Clara Schumann--and on his professional rivalry with Lizst and Wagner.
"[Johannes Brahms] will no doubt stand as the definitive work on Brahms, one of the monumental biographies in the entire musical library."--London Weekly Standard
"It is a measure of the accomplishment of Jan Swafford's biography that Brahms's sadness becomes palpable.... [Swafford] manages to construct a full-bodied human being."--The New York Times Book Review
The brilliant biographer of a quintessentially American, prototypically modern musician (Charles Ives) proves just as masterful in probing the life and art of a 19th-century German composer. Writing with passionate clarity that perfectly matches the genius of Brahms (1833-97), Jan Swafford traces the emotional wellsprings of this secretive man's music without trivializing art into mere autobiography. A composer himself, Swafford understands and lucidly conveys Brahms's unique position in musical history: beloved by many, emulated by few, the triumphant yet melancholy heir of a tradition coming to an end in his lifetime.
Music Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Music Books
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brainby Oliver Sacks
Knopf Publishing Group; Published: 2008; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.17
Listenby Joseph Kerman, Gary Tomlinson
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2007-02-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.00
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Centuryby Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.88
Price in other shops:
Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylanby Douglas R. Gilbert, Dave Marsh
Da Capo Press; Published: 2006-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops:
Heroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boysby Steven Gaines
Da Capo Press; Published: 1995-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops:
Handbook for Sound Engineers, Third Editionby Glen Ballou
Focal Press; Published: 2002-01-21; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Jazz Anecdotesby Bill Crow
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-05-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.18
Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williamsby Paul Hemphill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
How to Train Singers/ Book and Tapeby Larra Browning Henderson
Parker; Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.95
Price in other shops:
I, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t)by Tina Turner, Kurt Loder
It Books; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Charles Ives: A Life with Musicby Jan Swafford
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1998-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetryby Harold Bloom
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1997-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
Brahms: The Four Symphoniesby Professor Walter Frisch
Yale University Press; Published: 2003-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.00
Price in other shops:
Gustav Mahlerby Jens Malte Fischer
Yale University Press; Published: 2011-08-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $31.50
Price in other shops:
Johannes Brahms Complete Symphonies in Full Score (Vienna Gesellschaft Der Musikfreunde Edition)by Johannes Brahms
Alfred; Dover Publications; Published: 1974-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.26
Price in other shops:
Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musicianby Professor John Worthen
Yale University Press; Published: 2010-05-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.07
Price in other shops:
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musicianby Christoph Wolff
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2001-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.97
Price in other shops:
Johannes Brahms: Life and Lettersby Johannes Brahms
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-09-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $79.68
Price in other shops:
Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Womanby Nancy B. Reich
Cornell University Press; Published: 2001-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.71
Price in other shops:
Brahms: His Life And Work (Da Capo Paperback)by Karl Geiringer
Da Capo Press; Published: 1984-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.75
Price in other shops: