- Brahms composed this symphony between 1884-5. It was first heard in a performance by the Meiningen Court Orchestra on October 25, 1885.
- Brahms had a close collegial relationship with this orchestra, which was directed by his friend and supporter Hans von Bülow.
- Brahms’s 4th Symphony offers an example of his love of early music. The last movement is a passacaglia, a ground bass form favored by Bach and other Baroque composers.
- A performance of Brahms’s 4th Symphony on March 7, 1897 by the Vienna Philharmonic, was the occasion of one of Brahms’s very last public appearances before his death (April 3, 1897). The audience gave the composer a round of applause after each movement of the symphony.1
Sources
- George S. Bozarth and Walter Frisch, “Brahms, Johannes,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed February 18, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051879.
Cut IDs
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