John Braham

“ In private life Braham was much admired, and was always received in the most conservative and fastidious circles. As a man of culture, a humorist, and a raconteur, he was the life of society; and he will be remembered as the composer who has left more popular songs, duets, etc., than almost any other English musician. He died in 1856, after living to see his daughter Lady Walde-grave, and one of the most brilliant leaders of London high life. ”

“ To confess the extent of our insensibility, or our prejudice, we do not admire Mr. Braham’s ‘Mild as the moonbeams,’ which is in his most lisping and languishing, nor his ‘Wallace,’ which is in his most heroic manner. What we like best, is his Oratorio style of singing, and that is the most manly, the most direct, and the least an abuse of the great powers which both Nature and Art have given to him. Having said so much of Mr. Braham, we will say nothing of Mr. Incledon. Miss Carew, as Mandane, warbled like a nightingale, and held her head on one side like a peacock ”

“ By a volition, an act of the will, Brahm imagines a universe, and it exists, not in fact, be it remembered, but in the imagination of Brahm. This imagination is the universe. Brahm, by the power of his will, realizes his idea; yet it is not real: it is ideal, illusory, non-existent. The individuals of this illusory universe, unconscious of the truth that they are ideal creations of this volition, suppose themselves to be separate existences. This is folly, darkness, and deception. To discover that all separate and material existence is maya—illusion—is true wisdom. ”

“ His last public appearance was at a concert in March 1852. He died on the 17th of February 1856. There is, perhaps, no other case upon record in which a singer of the first rank enjoyed the use of his voice so long; between Braham’s first and last public appearances considerably more than sixty years intervened, during forty of which he held the undisputed supremacy alike in opera, oratorio and the concert-room. ”

“ Braham, are struck with a noble simplicity and fervour in his manner of expressing certain emotions, in the eagerness with which he seems to fling himself into his subject, disdaining the rules of art, like the combatant who rushes without his armour to the battle: the sounds he utters, appear to rend his own bosom, or at other times, linger in fluttering accents on his lips. The communication between the voice and the feelings is immediate, instantaneous, irresistible; and the language of music seems the language of nature and passion. ”

“ Hirsch, of the Wiener Zeitung, wrote apropos of the sextet:
'We are always seized with a kind of oppression when the new John in the wilderness, Herr Johannes Brahms, announces himself. This prophet, proclaimed by Robert Schumann in his darkening hours, who, for the rest, has his energetic admirers in Vienna—we mention this in our position, from pure love of truth—makes us quite disconsolate with his impalpable, dizzy tone-vexations that have neither body nor soul and can only be products of the most desperate effort. Such manifest, glaring, artificiality is quite peculiar to this gentleman. ”

“ Owing to the insidious creeping of the disease, Schumann's affairs had got into bad shape; and it was now left to Brahms, more than all others, to smooth the way of life for the stricken wife and her fatherless brood.
The versatility and sturdy commonsense of Brahms were now in evidence. In business affairs he was ready, decisive and systematic. And the delicacy, tact and charming good-nature he ever showed, reveal the man as a most extraordinary figure. Great talent is often bought at a price—how well we know this, especially with musicians! But Brahms was sane on all subjects. ”

“ Our Brahms, however, who, in spite of his increasing weight, his shaggy beard, his frequently rough manners, his unsatisfied affections, his impenetrable reserve, remained at fifty, in his heart of hearts, the very same being whom we have watched as the loving child of seven, the simple-minded boy of fourteen, the broken-hearted man of thirty, sobbing by the death-bed of his mother, cannot leave the dread gloom of his subject unrelieved by a single ray. ”

“ It was not till his old age that Braham took lessons in acting; some three times a week has he of late wended his way down, to the comedian of Chapel-street, to learn energy and counterfeit warmth; and the best of it is, that the spectators will have it that an actor feels all he acts; as if human nature, wicked as it is, could feel Richard the Third every other night. I remember, Mrs. Siddons had a majestic manner of extending her arm as she left the stage. 'What grace!' said the world, with tears in its eyes, 'what dignity! what a wonderful way of extending an arm! ”

“ Leave me, and try some younger, less disillusionised man."
"There is no other man who will serve my purpose." Sir John stared hard, as well he might: others had not been in the habit of appealing to him to serve their purposes. "You are the natural leader of our classes. You alone can inspire them; you alone have the authority to call them to any effort."
"I have been invited to lead a hundred forlorn hopes," replied Sir John. "A dozen years—nine years—aye, perhaps even six years ago any one of them might have been sufficient. Now—I have my earwigs. Good night, Mr Salt." ”

“ He determined to find in Italy that finishing culture which then as now made that country the Mecca of artists anxious to perfect their education. He visited Florence, Genoa, Milan, Naples, and Rome, studying under the most famous masters. Not content with his training in executive music, Braham studied composition and counterpoint under Isola, and laid the foundation for the knowledge which afterward gave him a place among notable English composers as well as singers. ”

“ George, Braham decided to go to Italy to study singing. Accordingly, he left England with Nancy Storace, with whom he lived for several years, and arrived in Paris on 17 Fructidor. Here the two singers gave a series of concerts, under the patronage of Josephine Beauharnais. These were so successful, that they remained eight months in Paris, and did not reach Italy until 1798. At Florence, which they first visited, Braham sang at the Pergola as Ulysses in an opera by Basili, and as Orestes in Moneta's 'Le Furie d'Oreste.' At Milan he met Mrs. ”

“ Thus, ceasing to have a separate existence, they can exclaim, “I am Brahm—the supreme, eternal, omnipotent God!” To attain to this knowledge, however, is not the work of a day; it is only to be gained by the most intense effort, the most self-denying austerities, the most protracted meditations, and the most painful penances. To learn to regard cold and heat, pleasure and pain, hunger and fulness, love and hate, as all equally deceptive and unreal, existing only in the imagination by reason of maya, or illusion, is no light matter. ”

“ Salt allowed the moment to pass on a note of indecision.
"Perhaps I am speaking prematurely," he qualified. "Things are only evolving at the moment, and I don't suppose that there will be anything at all doing during the next few weeks. I have even sent Miss Lisle off on a holiday."
"Noticed the fair Irene's empty chair," said Freddy. "For long?"
"I told her to take a fortnight. She can have longer if she wants."
"Wish Sir John could spare me; but simply won't hear of it. Don't fancy you find girl much good, though." ”

“ If you ask the Christian missionary, "What is a Brahmin?” he might answer, “He is what you would expect a man to be who held such opinions as to his nature, rights, and offices.” The proud belief of his own purity, wisdom, and exaltation, the supreme contempt of all other men that dwells in the breast and appears in the speech and mien of the Brahmin, cannot, I think, be paralleled in the world. From his birth he is followed by a succession of ceremonies, each one tending to enhance his self-sufficiency. ”

“ In the summer she sang with Braham for six nights in Brighton. Back at Drury Lane, where she remained until her retirement, she played on 12 Nov. Floretta in the ‘Cabinet’ to Braham's Orlando. On 22 Jan. 1806, as the Marchioness Merida, she supported Braham as Koyan in Cherry's ‘Travellers, or Music's Fascination.’ On 12 Jan. 1807 she was the first Susan in ‘False Alarms, or My Cousin,’ by Kenney, music by Braham and King; on 13 April was, for her benefit, Wowski in ‘Inkle and Yarico;’ on 11 Feb. 1808 was the first Rozella in Brandon's ‘Kais, or Love in the Deserts,’ music by Braham ”

“ He saw Liston in the hundred and second representation of Paul Pry, and at Drury Lane found, to his amazement that Braham, whom he remembered as an elderly man in 1814, was still first favourite. 'He is the genuine representative of the English style of singing,' writes our critic, 'and in popular songs is the adored idol of the public. One cannot deny him great power of voice and rapidity of execution, but a more abominable style it is difficult to conceive.... The most striking feature to a foreigner in English theatres is the natural coarseness and brutality of the audiences. ”

“ But the man who had been a sailor and spoke few words had an air that carried where fluency and self-assurance failed. Even then, almost at his first words, Sir John would have closed the subject, definitely and without discussion.
"Politics do not concern me, Mr Salt," he said, rising, with an angry flash in the eyes whose fighting light gave the lie to the story of abandoned hope. ”

“ The Brahmin must eat no meat, nor any thing that has had life; he must drink no spirituous liquors. He must use no vessel for cooking or eating that has been used by any one of a lower caste; if a Sudra but look upon the pot in which his rice is boiling, it must be broken. He cannot receive water or cooked food from any but Brahmins; nor can he have a Sudra as a servant in his house. A man of any other caste, even though a king, is too impure to hand food to a Brahmin beggar. ”

“ My father, writing to my mother, says:
'Brahms is recognised in Germany as the greatest musician living. It is said to be most difficult to get him to play; however, after every lesson he plays piece after piece. He is a delightful man—so simple, so kind and quiet. He lives in a beautiful situation amongst the hills, and cares only for seclusion, and time to devote himself to composition. He was pleased the other day by F.'s asking him about a passage in Goethe that she could not comprehend, and went into it in a way which delighted her. With all his genius he is thoroughly practical. ”

“ Brahm, in short, is an infinite nothing. To the Hindu, he is no more an object of worship or of regard than space is to us. He receives no homage, has no temple, hears no prayer. He is to them an unknown god; nay, no god at all.
The human mind, especially when endowed with the activity and subtlety characteristic of the Hindus, cannot rest here; it must have something more tangible than this emotionless, voiceless, thoughtless, actless being. ”

“ But the rude inhabitants of the hilly ranges, the aborigines of the country, in many places know nothing of the gods or the religion of the Brahmins. In feature, the Brahmins are more handsome, as well as more intelligent in expression, and in complexion lighter, than the Tamil and other races of Southern India. In mental power, also, they are their superiors, while, from their station, they derive elegance and self-possession in manners. ”

“ A dealer in old clo', of the singer's nationality, crowned with triple hats, and carrying the professional bag, is introduced beneath a feudal castle. Below the portrait is a sonorous parody of one of Wordsworth's sonnets, attributing to Braham the 'majesty and loveliness' by which he originally captivated the world and the ears 131 of Sovereign Anne, in whose benign reign, according to a footnote, this 'Lion of Judah' 'made his first appearance in England.' The jew's-harp, circled with blooming wreath, is seen of verdant bays ”

“ By combining our forces all may be well with you yet. Assist me to dispose of the entirely superfluous Yung Chang and to marry the elegant and symmetrical Ning, and in return I will allot to you a portion of my not inconsiderable income.’
“‘However high the tree, the leaves fall to the ground, and your hour has come at last, O detestable Li Ting!’ said Yung, who had heard the speakers and crept upon them unperceived. ‘As for my distinguished and immaculate father-in-law, doubtless the heat has affected his indefatigable brains, or he would not have listened to your contemptible suggestion. ”

“ The naturalness, simplicity, unity, and pervading grace of his pieces, do not so much constitute their characteristic, as the exquisite music of their cadences, justifying the praise of Braham, that they sing themselves. The new edition will surpass any other in completeness, and in artistic execution will not be inferior to any volume ever published in the United States.
Mr. C. L. Brace, who has tasted in person the sweets of Austrian rule, by his imprisonment in Hungary, has in press a book of Hungarian travels, and observations upon the political situation and prospects of that country. ”

“ He begged, later on, for photographs of his girls' quartet and of the two houses, and said that he neither remembered nor saw before him a happier time than that he had passed in Hamm. The sisters met their fate in due time. Each married a distinguished violinist, and Concertmeister Otto von Königslow of Cologne and Professor John Böie of Altona were amongst the most active admirers of Brahms' art. ”

“ A stormy atmosphere prevailed during the day in the house of the hospitable ladies, who were not only unused to visits from men, but could never have imagined that the ideal artist would commit himself to such extravagances. I was severely censured by grandmother and aunts as the harebrained youth who had led the honoured guest astray. Brahms left the next day, not having been very warmly pressed to prolong his visit! He had, however, given such satisfaction in high quarters that his return in the autumn for a long stay in Detmold was definitely arranged. ”