The composer was all of 20 years old when he first tried his hand at the genre: he committed his first outlines for a symphony to parchment in 1854, but swiftly stalled with the work. The continuation came in 1862, when he nearly managed to complete the entire first movement, only to put it aside again afterwards.

His career - at least as far as writing symphonies was concerned - went into another long hiatus. It took another decade and a half until the Symphony No. 1 was completed. What made the creative process such a long one? Brahms was afraid that it would be difficult to escape from under Beethoven's shadow, and his work would be considered to be "Beethoven's tenth". (In any case, this is what was said to him on more than one occasion...) The work was premièred in Leipzig in November 1876.

Even despite the modest success of its predecessor, the Symphony No. 2 was not long in coming: Brahms - vanquishing his inhibitions regarding the genre - started to compose nearly immediately.

"The new symphony is so melancholy that you will not be able to bear it... and the score must come out in mourning," he wrote to his publisher, Fritz Simrock, shortly before the work's première on 30 December 1877. Simrock, however, had no reason to worry, as the composer was only joking.

He had composed one of the sunniest pieces of his life at the idyllic spa of Pörtschach on the banks of the Wörthersee.

With its light musical touch, at least by the standards of Brahms, the work immediately became enormously successful.
The composer's friend, Viennese surgeon Theodor Billroth, wrote of the symphony's pastoral sound that it was "full of blue skies, babbling brooks, sunshine, and cool shade".

Presented by: Budapest Festival Orchestra

Date and time: 15 May 2015, Friday 7:45 pm — 10 pm
Venue: Béla Bartók National Concert Hall

Ticket prices:

2500 HUF
4600 HUF
5900 HUF
8400 HUF
13600 HUF

Source: Palace of Arts
Address: Budapest, IX district, Komor Marcell utca 1.
Phone: +36-1/555-3001, 555-3002, 555-3005, 555-3006