Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) was a German composer,
pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born
in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his
professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped
with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as
one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally
made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von
Bülow. He composed for symphony orchestra, chamber
ensembles, piano, organ, voice, and chorus. A virtuoso
pianist, he pre...(+)
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) was a German composer,
pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born
in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his
professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped
with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as
one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally
made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von
Bülow. He composed for symphony orchestra, chamber
ensembles, piano, organ, voice, and chorus. A virtuoso
pianist, he premiered many of his own works. He worked
with leading performers of his time, including the
pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim
(the three were close friends). Many of his works have
become staples of the modern concert repertoire.
Brahms has been considered both a traditionalist and an
innovator, by his contemporaries and by later writers.
His music is rooted in the structures and compositional
techniques of the Classical masters. Embedded within
those structures are deeply Romantic motifs. While some
contemporaries found his music to be overly academic,
his contribution and craftsmanship were admired by
subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and
Edward Elgar. The detailed construction of Brahms's
works was a starting point and an inspiration for a
generation of composers.
Sixteen Waltzes (German; Sechzehn Walzer), Op. 39, is a
set of 16 short waltzes for piano written by Johannes
Brahms. They were composed in 1865, and published in
1866, dedicated to the music critic Eduard Hanslick.
These waltzes were written for piano four hands, and
were also arranged for piano solo by the composer, in
two different versions – difficult and simplified.
The three versions were published at the same time, and
sold well, contrary to the composer's expectations. The
waltzes were written while the composer lived in
Vienna, a city where he would permanently settle in
1872. They were intended as a tribute to the waltz
dance form which had become especially fashionable in
his adopted city.
In the solo versions, some of the keys were altered
from the original duet version (the last four in the
difficult version and No. 6 in the easy version). Waltz
Number 15 in A major (or A?) has acquired a life of its
own, as likely the most popular piece in the
collection. An arrangement of five of the waltzes (Nos.
1, 2, 11, 14, and 15) for two pianos, four hands was
published after the composer's death. Almost all of the
waltzes are in a recapitulating binary form. For each
waltz, the first half moves to the dominant, the
relative major, or a substitute key. Then, the second
half begins with a developmental passage that leads
back to the main theme and the tonic.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Waltzes,_Op._39_
(Brahms)).
Although originally written for Piano 4-Hands, I
created this Arrangement of the Waltz in G? Minor from
Sixteen Waltzes (Opus 39 No. 3) simplified and
transposed to A Minor for Solo Piano.
SHEET MUSIC