Truth Tellers: Johannes Brahms: Finding Answers Deeper Than Beauty

Truth Tellers: Johannes Brahms: Finding Answers Deeper Than Beauty
A photograph of Johannes Brahms in 1866 by Lucien Mazenod. Public Domain
Raymond Beegle
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Johannes Brahms might have been a genius, but he was still a man. He, like the rest of us, had to have his breakfast, make his living, and deal with adversity.

His close friend George Henschel, the English baritone, described Brahms, the man of 41 years as “broad-chested, of somewhat short stature, with a tendency to stoutness, clean shaven; his thick straight hair of brownish color came nearly down to his shoulder. What, however, struck me the most … was the kindliness of his eyes.”

Raymond Beegle
Raymond Beegle
Author
Raymond Beegle has performed as a collaborative pianist in the major concert halls of the United States, Europe, and South America; has written for The Opera Quarterly, Classical Voice, Fanfare Magazine, Classic Record Collector (UK), and The New York Observer. Beegle has served on the faculty of the State University of New York–Stony Brook, the Music Academy of the West, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He taught in the chamber music division of the Manhattan School of Music for 31 years.
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