The musical style of Johannes Brahms has long been known as influenced by music of the earlier epochs. His references to techniques, forms and genres of the Renaissance and Baroque music and the elaborate use of the counterpoint were frequently analysed by musicologists. Less often, however, the potential relationship between word and music shaped by the Baroque music rhetoric was studied, something which was somewhat forgotten in the Romanticism. Brahms’ fascination with the past, which led the composer to study the 18th-century musical literature and treatises, enabled him to recognise many interesting aspects of the Baroque music. Like Bach and his contemporaries, Brahms used rhetorical figures in his early sacred works, e.g. Psalm XIII Op. 27.
The musical style of Johannes Brahms has long been known as influenced by music of the earlier epochs. Its references to techniques, forms and genres of the Renaissance and Baroque music and the elaborate use of the counterpoint were frequently analysed by musicologists. Less often, however, the potential relationship between word and music shaped by the rhetoric in the Baroque music was studied, something which was somewhat forgotten in the Romanticism. Brahms’ fascination with the past, which led the composer to study the 18th-century musical literature and treatises, enabled him to recognise many interesting aspects of the Baroque music. Like Bach and his contemporaries, Brahms used rhetorical figures in his early sacred works, e.g. Psalm XIII Op. 27.
The second half of the nineteenth century was a time of great changes of organ music, par-ticularly the work associated with the development of a concert performance in a great form of fantasy, or sonatas. However, one should not forget that as well as a small form of choral prelude, composed for liturgical usage, underwent transformation and sublimation under the influence of the great symphonic orchestra of that period, as well as aesthetic changes resulting from the new organ sounds and constructions. The two sets of preludes are chosen from several underlying causes. One by Markull is a collection of little known composer, but it gives a full overview of ob-jectively different types of preludes for organ characteristically in the second half of the nineteenth century on the one hand, on the other hand, however it gives an insight into the subjective percep-tion of these forms by composer, showing his most personal style. In this collection, we also have a number of descriptions of registrations, which on one hand is closely associated with a particular instruments in the St. Mary’s church in Gdańsk and on the other hand are mostly emblematic for the style of organ music in Central Europe at that time. The set of Brahms is one of the most famous collections of choral preludes in organ literature, some of the songs have became even symbols of German organ romantic music style, though by no means their form seems to have no counterpart in the work of other composers of his time. You can treat the organ preludes of Brahms as the end of a stage of the development of this form and impetus for subsequent changes. This collection is quite hermetic, enigmatic, ”strangely intimate” buckle, which somehow in the extract, a condensed synthesis closes the great symphonic heritage of one of the most important German composers. Both collections and composers different from each other so much: Markull — the forgotten composer, but organ virtuoso of his time, Brahms – one of the renowned German composer, but the — only theoretical — organist, preludes by Markull – written for liturgical use, it can be called usable, very organ: preludes by Brahms — written primarily on their own needs, as an descrip-tion of some ideas, which sometimes makes it difficult to interpret on the organ. But there are also some elements in common: the two sets were created in the last period of activity of composers, both of them are deeply connected with the big German organ tradition, in musical terms having also sometimes surprisingly much in common, what the author wants to demonstrate in its analysis.
В статье научно обоснованы особенности музыкального мышления И. Брамса. Выявлены стилевые координаты творчества И. Брамса. Обоснованы основные факторы, которые оказали суще-ственное влияние на становление творческой личности композитора. Доказано воздействие эстетики классицизма и романтизма на творчество И. Брамса. В музыкальном языке И. Брамса преобладают романтические мотивы и узнаваемые интонации автора. Психологизм и лиризм музыки И. Брамса актуальны для современной культуры. Это объясняет частое обращение современных исполнителей и слушателей к творческому наследию композитора.
EN
The article scientifically substantiates the peculiarities of Brahms’s musical thinking. Stylistic coordinates of I. Brahms’s creativity are revealed. The main factors that had a significant impact on the formation of the creative personality of the composer have been substantiated. The impact of the aesthetics of classicism and romanticism on the works of J. Brahms have been proven. Romantic motifs and recognizable intonation of the author dominated in Brahms’s musical language. Psychology and lyricism of Brahms’s music are relevant to contemporary culture. This explains the frequent use of the creative heritage of the composer by modern performers and listeners.
The importance of Czech patriotism for Dvořák and of the “Czech element” in his music has always been exaggerated; in reality he took a very cosmopolitan approach to music, as much as any other composer. Nevertheless a patriot he was, and when he composed a patriotic work he always infused it with deep conviction. In 1883 František Adolf Šubert asked him to write an overture to a trilogy of plays he envisioned based on the story of the Czech religious reformer Jan Hus – burnt at the stake as a heretic in 1415 – and on the armed battles between his followers and representatives of the Catholic Church, after which the Pope granted the Czechs the right to implement part of Hus’s reforms. Šubert never got beyond the first act in writing his trilogy, but Dvořák completed the overture, published as Husitská and known in English as the Hussite Overture. It employs two Czech religious songs from the Middle Ages: a plainchant appealing to St. Wenceslas, patron saint of the Czechs, and the Hussite battle hymn Ktož jsú boží bojovníci [Ye Who Are Warriors of God]. Throughout the overture passages from these two melodies intermingle, the battle hymn coming in waves of ever-greater terror in the middle section but in the end ushering in great rejoicing at the victory. A conspicuous precedent for Dvořák was the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky. But Dvořák is unlikely to have known that work at the time. By contrast he certainly knew and was inspired by the Academic Festival Overture of Brahms, not only in general plan, utilizing pre-existing melodies, but in some specific details. And, as usual with Dvořák, his method of developing motives is similar to that of Brahms. Some Germans, including Brahms, rejected the Hussite Overture, evidently opposed to what they felt were excessive displays of Czech nationalism in an era of tensions between the two nationalities. Nevertheless the overture took a firm place in international concert repertoire, championed for instance by conductor Hans von Bülow.
CS
Význam českého vlastenectví pro Dvořáka a „českého živlu“ v jeho hudbě byl vždy přeceňován a bývá to tak dodnes; ve skutečnosti měl k hudbě velmi kosmopolitní přístup, přinejmenším stejně jako kterýkoli jiný skladatel. Přesto vlastencem byl, a když komponoval vlasteneckou skladbu, vždy ji naplnil hlubokým přesvědčením. V roce 1883 ho František Adolf Šubert požádal, aby napsal předehru k zamýšlené trilogii divadelních her na motivy příběhu českého náboženského reformátora Jana Husa – upáleného pro údajné kacířství v roce 1415 – a ozbrojených bojů mezi jeho stoupenci a představiteli katolické církve, po nichž papež udělil Čechům právo provést část Husových reforem. Šubert se ve psaní své trilogie nedostal dál než asi do konce prvního dějství, ale Dvořák svou předehru dokončil a vydal pod názvem Husitská. Jsou v ní použity dvě české náboženské písně ze středověku: chorál k svatému Václavovi, patronu Čechů, a husitská bojová hymna Ktož jsú boží bojovníci. V průběhu předehry se prolínají úryvky z těchto dvou melodií, přičemž bitevní hymnus přichází v prostřední části ve vlnách stále většího děsu, ale v závěru přivádí velkou radost z vítězství. Nápadným precedentem byla pro Dvořáka Čajkovského Předehra 1812. Je však nepravděpodobné, že by Dvořák toto dílo v té době znal. Naproti tomu Brahmsovu Akademickou slavnostní předehru znal zcela jistě a inspiroval se jí, a to nejen v celkovém plánu s využitím již existujících melodií, ale i v některých konkrétních detailech. A jak je u Dvořáka obvyklé, jeho metoda rozvíjení motivů je podobná Brahmsově. Někteří Němci, včetně Brahmse, Husitskou odmítali, zřejmě se jim příčilo to, co považovali za přílišné projevy českého nacionalismu v době napětí mezi oběma národnostmi. Přesto si předehra získala pevné místo v mezinárodním koncertním repertoáru, prosazoval ji například dirigent Hans von Bülow.
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