Brahms Symphony No. 4
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
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Brahms's Death Returns to the Second Movement
Brahms was a rare composer who always had the audience deeply in his heart when he wrote his pieces. Despite symphonic convention demanding it, brahms would write only the third symphonic ending that ends in a minor key up to that point in time. The question, of course, is why? In 18 85 vienna and austria in general was in the midst of a long decline in its power. Once the centre of european life, both artistically and politically, austria had grown progressively weaker while the german states grew to be the dominant power in europe.
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