Nationalism And Brahms

In 1833, in Germany, Johannes Brahms was born. A late Romantic composer, he took the forms from the past, such as from Beethoven’s time, and added to them complex harmonies and his own individual Romantic style. Another composer born around the same time was Antonin Dvorak, a Bohemian composer who lived from 1841 to 1904. Dvorak, born a peasant, infused his compositions with his country’s music. During the lifetimes of both of these composers Nationalism, a movement which stresses the importance of independent and unified nations and their own cultures, was very widespread. Since this movement was the atmosphere in which these two composers produced there music, it had an effect on them. Although not as influential in the works of Brahms, Nationalism
First of all, Brahms was born not only during this movement, in 1833, but he was born in Germany, one of the Central European nations where this idea was widespread at the time. Although Brahms is known as a later Romantic composer, some of his works reflect the influence of Nationalism. The first examples of this are his Hungarian Dances. According to The Gift of Music, “He was interested in Hungarian music and used many folk song tunes in his compositions” (Smith and Carlson 140). This shows that Nationalism and its emphasis on culture had affected Brahms. In addition, his German Requiem does not use the traditional Latin Catholic text, but instead is very Protestant, and uses Luther’s translation of the Bible. According to The Encyclopedia of Music, “…during the Franco-Prussian War he was hailed as a ‘patriot’, having used material from the Lutheran Bible rather than the traditional Latin text of the Catholic liturgy. He responded by composing the Triumphlied (Song of Triumph) in the summer of 1871 to celebrate Germany’s victory” (Wade-Matthews and Thomas 404). This second piece and the Requiem show that Nationalism affected his music. Thus, although not necessarily known as a Nationalistic composer, Brahms was affected by his circumstances which included a very Nationalistic
And this became the Nationalistic movement in music, affected by the Nationalism in politics and culture. Although this circumstance did affect the German composer, Brahms, it is very evident in the works of Dvorak, a Bohemian Czechoslovakian. His music is filled with the influence of the folk art of his county. It is evident that he took pride in his traditions and country. This idea of Nationalism should be translated to the Christian life, but in a different way. Philippians 3:20-21 says this, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body” (NIV Phil. 3:20-21). As Christians, we must remember that no matter where we live, our true citizenship is not there but is in Heaven. As we remember this, we can infuse our music and our lives with this truth, so that others will see where our loyalties