Severy symphony orchestra in the world plays one of these works, and even today children are lulled to sleep with his song “Guten Abend, gut’ Nacht”. When Johannes Brahms died in Vienna on April 3, 1897, he left a will with an unusual instruction: “I also wish that everything that I leave behind in writing (unprinted) will be burned. I now take care of this as much as possible myself, especially as far as grades are concerned; You will find little to grant my wish.”
In fact, even when he was young, Brahms had burned compositions with which he was dissatisfied. As an artist he remained extraordinarily self-critical throughout his life and was only satisfied when his work met the highest standards. Brahms’ estate contains 4,401 letters, including 119 from his mother and 78 from his father, 192 from his sister Elise, 298 from his publisher Fritz Simrock and 229 from Clara Schumann. Brahms in particular wanted to keep his correspondence with Clara Schumann secret: after Robert Schumann’s death, Brahms lived with his widow for two years and at times looked after the couple’s seven children. The intense correspondence between Brahms and Clara Schumann suggests that the much older widow was the composer’s great but unfulfilled love.
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