Composer Topics (346-0-1)

Topic

Johannes Brahms

Instructors

Andrew J. Talle
847/491-7228
RCMA 4-133
Office Hours: by appointment
Coordinator, musicology program. Andrew Talle '95 studied at Northwestern from 1990-1995, earning a bachelor’s degree in cello performance as a student of Hans Jørgen Jensen, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in linguistics. From 1995-2003, he was a PhD student at Harvard University, earning master’s and doctoral degrees in musicology. Dr. Talle spent one year lecturing at Harvard before moving to Baltimore in 2004 to join the musicology faculty at the Peabody Conservatory. In 2011, he was named a Gilman Scholar of the Johns Hopkins University, a distinction reserved for fewer than 20 faculty members across all nine divisions. He joined the Northwestern faculty in 2017.

Meeting Info

RCMA 1-164: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

This course surveys the life and work of Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), a composer whose music is among the most frequently performed in schools of music and concert halls all over the world. We will proceed chronologically through Brahms' biography, from his humble beginnings as a pianist in Hamburg, to his discovery and promotion by Robert Schumann, to his decades-long career as the most revered musician in Vienna. Particular emphasis will be placed upon Brahms' instrumental music, and the ways in which the composer and others sought to invest it with meaning.