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98-407: "The Great Organ" was built by the E.F Walcker Company of Ludwigsburg , Germany. It arrived in the US from Europe in March 1863, with installation completed in November 1863. It was at the time believed to be the largest pipe organ in the United States. Since then the count has gone up to its present 6,088 pipes and 84 registers. It was the first concert organ in the United States and was installed at

196-545: A Nazi propaganda film , Jud Süß , was filmed in Ludwigsburg. The film was based on a historical figure, Joseph Süß Oppenheimer , who was executed in Stuttgart in 1738; Oppenheimer lived in Ludwigsburg. During World War II , the city suffered moderate damage compared to other German cities. There were 1500 deaths. It was the home of the prisoner-of-war camp Stalag V-A from October 1939 till April 1945. After

294-459: A Reichssturmfahne , which had been part of the Duchy of Württemberg 's own coat of arms since 1495. There were some minor changes made to the design, as it had already been associated with the town of Markgröningen . A missive from the office of the mayor of Ludwigsburg in 1759–60 mentions its flag. The town council has 40 members. The last local election was on 25 May 2014. The voter participation

392-839: A Requiem , and many songs, among other music for symphony orchestra, piano, organ, voices, and chamber ensembles. Born to a musical family in Hamburg , he began composing and concertizing locally in his youth. He toured Central Europe as a pianist in his adulthood, premiering many of his own works. He worked with Ede Reményi and Joseph Joachim and met Franz Liszt in Weimar . With Joachim's assistance, Brahms sought Robert Schumann 's approval, receiving both his and Clara Schumann 's vigorous support and guidance. Amid Robert's insanity and institutionalization, Brahms stayed with Clara in Düsseldorf , to whom he became devoted. After Robert's death,

490-507: A concert tour with Reményi, visiting the violinist and composer Joseph Joachim at Hanover in May. Brahms had earlier heard Joachim playing the solo part in Beethoven's violin concerto and been deeply impressed. Brahms played some of his own solo piano pieces for Joachim, who remembered fifty years later: "Never in the course of my artist's life have I been more completely overwhelmed". This

588-554: A fantasy by Sigismund Thalberg . His first full piano recital, in 1848, included a fugue by Bach as well as works by Marxsen and contemporary virtuosi such as Jacob Rosenhain . A second recital in April 1849 included Beethoven's Waldstein sonata and a waltz fantasia of his own composition and garnered favourable newspaper reviews. Persistent stories of the impoverished adolescent Brahms playing in bars and brothels have only anecdotal provenance, and many modern scholars dismiss them;

686-513: A friend that Agathe was his "last love". Brahms had hoped to be given the conductorship of the Hamburg Philharmonic, but in 1862 this post was given to baritone Julius Stockhausen . Brahms continued to hope for the post. But he demurred when he was finally offered the directorship in 1893, as he had "got used to the idea of having to go along other paths". In autumn 1862 Brahms made his first visit to Vienna, staying there over

784-423: A gable with baroque volutes . The walls are over three feet thick with interior air gaps, making the building quite soundproof. The hall is designed in a similar fashion to a church, having a cross shaped floorplan; a long central aisle ends at a stage in front of the pipe organ; including the organ, the hall is approximately 100 feet (30 m) long. Another aisle runs across the front of the stage area and out to

882-775: A growing circle of supporters, friends, and musicians. Eduard Hanslick celebrated them polemically as absolute music , and Hans von Bülow even cast Brahms as Beethoven's musical heir, an idea Richard Wagner mocked. Settling in Vienna , Brahms conducted the Singakademie and Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde , programming the early and often "serious" music of his personal studies. He considered retiring from composition late in life but continued to write chamber music, especially for Richard Mühlfeld . His contributions and craftsmanship were admired by his contemporaries like Antonín Dvořák , whose music he enthusiastically supported, and

980-651: A keen interest in Wagner's music, helping with preparations for Wagner's Vienna concerts in 1862/63, and being rewarded by Tausig with a manuscript of part of Wagner's Tannhäuser (which Wagner demanded back in 1875). The Handel Variations also featured, together with the first Piano Quartet, in his first Viennese recitals, in which his performances were better received by the public and critics than his music. In February 1865 Brahms's mother died, and he began to compose his large choral work A German Requiem , Op. 45, of which six movements were completed by 1866. Premieres of

1078-702: A letter of introduction from Joachim, was welcomed by the Schumanns. Robert, greatly impressed and delighted by the 20-year-old's talent, published an article entitled "Neue Bahnen" ("New Paths") in the 28 October issue of the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik nominating Brahms as one who was "fated to give expression to the times in the highest and most ideal manner". This praise may have aggravated Brahms's self-critical standards of perfection and dented his confidence. He wrote to Schumann in November 1853 that his praise "will arouse such extraordinary expectations by

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1176-535: A music hall in Methuen. In 1899, Searles hired noted church architect Henry Vaughan , an architect he frequently hired for various projects, to design a concert hall for the organ to be located on property he owned adjoining the Spicket River . Probably no other building of this size has been built solely to house a pipe organ. The exterior is brick in an Anglo-Dutch style, with an Italianate campanile and

1274-401: A pearl, a symbol of fertility, from the hand of God. However, people's hopes for another child were not fulfilled as Eberhard Louis died in 1733 and his Catholic cousin, Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg , ascended to the throne. When Charles Alexander immediately moved the capital of Württemberg back to Stuttgart, the population of the Ludwigsburg suddenly dropped by more than half within

1372-418: A performer in a private concert including Beethoven 's quintet for piano and winds Op. 16 and a piano quartet by Mozart . He also played as a solo work an étude of Henri Herz . By 1845 he had written a piano sonata in G minor. His parents disapproved of his early efforts as a composer, feeling that he had better career prospects as a performer. From 1845 to 1848 Brahms studied with Cossel's teacher,

1470-465: A position as musician to the tiny court of Detmold , the capital of the Principality of Lippe , where he spent the winters of 1857 to 1860 and for which he wrote his two Serenades (1858 and 1859, Opp. 11 and 16). In Hamburg he established a women's choir for which he wrote music and conducted. To this period also belong his first two Piano Quartets ( Op. 25 and Op. 26 ) and the first movement of

1568-620: A putative tenth symphony of Beethoven). Brahms was now recognised as a major figure in the world of music. He had been on the jury which awarded the Vienna State Prize to the (then little-known) composer Antonín Dvořák three times, first in February 1875, and later in 1876 and 1877, and had successfully recommended Dvořák to his publisher, Simrock. The two men met for the first time in 1877, and Dvořák dedicated to Brahms his String Quartet, Op. 34 of that year. He also began to be

1666-545: A representative of the American inventor Thomas Edison , visited the composer in Vienna and invited him to make an experimental recording. Brahms played an abbreviated version of his first Hungarian Dance and of Josef Strauss 's Die Libelle on the piano. Although the spoken introduction to the short piece of music is quite clear, the piano playing is largely inaudible due to heavy surface noise . In that same year, Brahms

1764-600: A staple of the concert repertoire, continuing to influence composers into the 21st century. Brahms's father, Johann Jakob Brahms, was from the town of Heide in Holstein. Against his family's will, Johann Jakob pursued a career in music, arriving in Hamburg at age 19. He found work playing double bass for jobs; he also played in a sextet in the Alster-pavilion in Hamburg's Jungfernstieg . In 1830, Johann Jakob

1862-437: A variety of later composers. Max Reger and Alexander Zemlinsky reconciled Brahms's and Wagner's often contrasted styles. So did Arnold Schoenberg , who emphasized Brahms's "progressive" side. He and Anton Webern were inspired by the intricate structural coherence of Brahms's music, including what Schoenberg termed its developing variation . Brahms saw his music became internationally important in his own lifetime. It remains

1960-500: A version of the first movement had been announced by Brahms to Clara and to Albert Dietrich) in the early 1860s. During the decade it evolved very gradually; the finale may not have begun its conception until 1868. Brahms was cautious and typically self-deprecating about the symphony during its creation, writing to his friends that it was "long and difficult", "not exactly charming" and, significantly, "long and in C Minor ", which, as Richard Taruskin points out, made it clear "that Brahms

2058-503: A year. Jewish families began living in Ludwigsburg during the 19th century and in 1884, a synagogue was built on Solitudestraße. The synagogue was later destroyed by storm troopers during Kristallnacht , the pogrom of November 1938. In 1988, the perimeter of the structure was marked out in plaster on the site. A 1959 memorial and newer memorial plaques commemorate the Jewish Holocaust victims and extol human rights. In 1940,

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2156-520: Is a very special town." Ludwigsburg is twinned with: Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms ( / b r ɑː m z / ; German: [joˈhanəs ˈbʁaːms] ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period . His music is rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of his Classical (and earlier) forebears, including Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach . It includes four symphonies , four concertos ,

2254-535: Is currently open from early spring through December, finishing the season with a fan favorite holiday concert. 42°43′29″N 71°11′07″W  /  42.724856°N 71.185158°W  / 42.724856; -71.185158 Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg ( German pronunciation: [ˈluːtvɪçsˌbʊʁk] ; Swabian : Ludisburg ) is a city in Baden-Württemberg , Germany, about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of Stuttgart city centre, near

2352-705: Is named after the Duke Eberhard Louis' middle name, Ludwig being the German name for Louis. Right up until his death, construction workers and craftsmen worked on what was to become one of the largest Baroque palace ensembles in Europe. Under Eberhard Louis and his successor, Charles Eugene, the Palace served as the royal residence of Württemberg for a total of 28 years. With the Palace as their Gesamtkunstwerk (translated literally, "collective work of art") and

2450-527: Is preserved as a museum. In Vienna Brahms became an associate of two close members of Wagner's circle, his earlier friend Peter Cornelius and Karl Tausig , and of Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. and Julius Epstein , respectively the Director and head of violin studies, and the head of piano studies, at the Vienna Conservatoire . Brahms's circle grew to include the notable critic (and opponent of

2548-469: Is regarded as one of the best film schools in the world. Since 2007, there is also the Academy of Performing Arts Baden-Wuerttemberg ( Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Baden-Württemberg ). Ludwigsburg has eight secondary schools of various types and four vocational schools . There ere are also four special schools and seventeen primary schools . An adult high school and the city library are located at

2646-570: Is reported to have responded, "As far as the text is concerned, I confess that I would gladly omit even the word German and instead use Human; also with my best knowledge and will I would dispense with passages like John 3:16 . On the other hand, I have chosen one thing or another because I am a musician, because I needed it, and because with my venerable authors I can't delete or dispute anything. But I had better stop before I say too much." Brahms also experienced at this period popular success with works such as his first set of Hungarian Dances (1869),

2744-496: Is the center piece of the Hall and the 15-week Summer Organ Concert series represents the flagship events of the season in addition to piano, vocal, and instrumental performances. The Hall is frequently rented for weddings , private and public gatherings, corporate events and other performances. As a venue, it offers the unusual characteristic of looking like a traditional church while having no religious symbolism or affiliation. The Hall

2842-639: The Academic Festival Overture (written following the conferring of an honorary degree by the University of Breslau ) and Tragic Overture of 1880. In May 1876, Cambridge University offered to grant honorary degrees of Doctor of Music to both Brahms and Joachim, provided that they composed new pieces as "theses" and were present in Cambridge to receive their degrees. Brahms was averse to traveling to England and requested to receive

2940-588: The Liebeslieder Waltzes , Op. 52 , (1868/69), and his collections of lieder (Opp. 43 and 46–49). Following such successes he finally completed a number of works that he had wrestled with over many years such as the cantata Rinaldo (1863–1868), his first two string quartets Op. 51 nos. 1 and 2 (1865–1873), the third piano quartet (1855–1875), and most notably his first symphony which appeared in 1876, but which had been begun as early as 1855. During 1869, Brahms felt himself falling in love with

3038-718: The Vier ernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs), Op. 121 (1896), which were prompted by the death of Clara Schumann and dedicated to the artist Max Klinger , who was his great admirer. The last of the Eleven Chorale Preludes for organ, Op. 122 (1896) is a setting of "O Welt ich muss dich lassen" ("O world I must leave thee") and the last notes that Brahms wrote. Many of these works were written in his house in Bad Ischl , where Brahms had first visited in 1882 and where he spent every summer from 1889 onwards. In

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3136-425: The csardas , which was later to prove the foundation of his most lucrative and popular compositions, the two sets of Hungarian Dances (1869 and 1880). 1850 also marked Brahms's first contact (albeit a failed one) with Robert Schumann; during Schumann's visit to Hamburg that year, friends persuaded Brahms to send the former some of his compositions, but the package was returned unopened. In 1853 Brahms went on

3234-693: The Boston Music Hall . The organ case was made of American black walnut by the Herter Brothers of New York, for whom Searles had once worked, and is based on a case design by Hammatt Billings . The display pipes were manufactured from burnished Cornish tin . In 1881, the Boston Symphony Orchestra was founded, and the Boston Music Hall was their first home. The orchestra required a lot of space for

3332-533: The German Requiem , the Alto Rhapsody , and the patriotic Triumphlied , Op. 55, which celebrated Prussia's victory in the 1870/71 Franco-Prussian War ). 1873 saw the premiere of his orchestral Variations on a Theme by Haydn , originally conceived for two pianos, which has become one of his most popular works. Brahms's First Symphony , Op. 68, appeared in 1876, though it had been begun (and

3430-675: The Gängeviertel  [ de ] quarter of Hamburg and struggled economically. (Johann Jakob even considered emigrating to the United States when an impresario , recognizing Johannes's talent, promised them fortune there.) Eventually Johann Jakob became a musician in the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg playing double bass , horn, and flute . For enjoyment, he played first violin in string quartets . The family moved over

3528-669: The Karlsschule Stuttgart (an elite military academy he had founded) in 1773, where Schiller eventually studied medicine. The Duke was very demanding of his students, and Schiller's childhood was a lonely and unhappy one, but he was greatly enriched by the excellent education he received. It was there that he wrote his first play, Die Räuber ("The Robbers"), about a group of naïve revolutionaries and their tragic failure. Leopold Mozart visited Württemberg with his son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in July 1763 and said, "Ludwigsburg

3626-654: The Ludwigsburg University of Education ( Pädagogische Hochschule ) a teacher training college, and the Staatliche Sportschule Ludwigsburg (State Sports School) were opened. Further universities based in Ludwigsburg are the Ludwigsburg University of Applied Sciences ( Hochschule für öffentliche Verwaltung und Finanzen Ludwigsburg ), a public institution for the training of higher-level Civil Servants), and

3724-495: The Seeschloss (castle on the lake) Monrepos (1764–1768). A settlement began near the palace in 1709 and a town charter was granted on 3 April 1718. That same year, Ludwigsburg became a bailiff's seat, which eventually became the rural district of Ludwigsburg in 1938. In the years between 1730 and 1800, the royal seat of residence changed back and forth several times between Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg. In 1800, Württemberg

3822-588: The Variations on a Theme of Schumann . Clara continued to support Brahms's career by programming his music in her recitals. After the publication of his Op. 10 Ballades for piano, Brahms published no further works until 1860. His major project of this period was the Piano Concerto in D minor , which he had begun as a work for two pianos in 1854 but soon realized needed a larger-scale format. Based in Hamburg at this time, he gained, with Clara's support,

3920-686: The cultural center behind the city hall. Ludwigsburg has seven teams in the top level of professional sports. They are MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (Basketball), both formations A and B of the dance team (1. Tanzclub Ludwigsburg), the Latin formation (TSC Ludwigsburg), the Hockey-Club Ludwigsburg 1912 e.V., Svl08 (water polo) and the Ludwigsburg riflery team. Additionally, there are numerous amateur clubs for various sports. Ludwigsburg consists of following districts: The following towns are neighbouring towns of Ludwigsburg, starting north of

4018-504: The third Piano Quartet , which eventually appeared in 1875. The end of the decade brought professional setbacks for Brahms. The premiere of the First Piano Concerto in Hamburg on 22 January 1859, with the composer as soloist, was poorly received. Brahms wrote to Joachim that the performance was "a brilliant and decisive – failure ... [I]t forces one to concentrate one's thoughts and increases one's courage ... But

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4116-433: The ' Three Bs '; in a letter to his wife he wrote: "You know what I think of Brahms: after Bach and Beethoven the greatest, the most sublime of all composers." The following years saw the premieres of his Third Symphony , Op. 90 (1883) and his Fourth Symphony , Op. 98 (1885). Richard Strauss , who had been appointed assistant to von Bülow at Meiningen, and had been uncertain about Brahms's music, found himself converted by

4214-492: The 'New German School') Eduard Hanslick , the conductor Hermann Levi and the surgeon Theodor Billroth , who were to become among his greatest advocates. In January 1863 Brahms met Richard Wagner for the first time, for whom he played his Handel Variations Op. 24, which he had completed the previous year. The meeting was cordial, although Wagner was in later years to make critical, and even insulting, comments on Brahms's music. Brahms however retained at this time and later

4312-491: The Brahms family was relatively prosperous, and Hamburg legislation very strictly forbade music in, or the admittance of minors to, brothels. Brahms's juvenilia comprised piano music, chamber music and works for male voice choir. Under the pseudonym 'G. W. Marks', some piano arrangements and fantasies were published by the Hamburg firm of Cranz in 1849. The earliest of Brahms's works which he acknowledged (his Scherzo Op. 4 and

4410-638: The Ceramic Museum in the Residenzschloss . The area around Ludwigsburg had been a favored hunting grounds by the royal Württemberg family for generations before the founding of Ludwigsburg. Although the region was wilderness, it was easily accessible by boat using the Neckar River. In 1704 the founder of Ludwigsburg, Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg , arranged for the laying of the foundation stone for Ludwigsburg Palace. Ludwigsburg

4508-619: The Duchess Johanna Elisabeth (1680–1757) remained in Stuttgart. The clever, ambitious mistress made the best of her time, influencing politics in Württemberg and advancing her status in society. When it became clear that the seriously ill heir to the throne would not come to power, Eberhard Louis had a change of heart, split with his lover and reconciled with his wife in the hope that he would have another son. This

4606-494: The Ludwigsburg Evangelical University for Social Works, Church Social Works and Religious Teaching ( Evangelische Hochschule Ludwigsburg (Hochschule für Soziale Arbeit, Religionspädagogik und Diakonie) ). In 1991, a national film school, Film Academy Baden-Württemberg ( Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg ) was established in Ludwigsburg, which has won several national and international awards and

4704-655: The Methuen Organ Company factory building which was attached to the music hall by a covered walkway. This business initially prospered, building several notable pipe organs including the one for the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The National Cathedral was designed by Henry Vaughan, who designed the music hall. The Second World War caused the failure of the company, and in August 1942

4802-400: The Schumanns' daughter Julie (then aged 24 to his 36). He did not declare himself. When later that year Julie's engagement to Count Marmorito was announced, he wrote and gave to Clara the manuscript of his Alto Rhapsody (Op. 53). Clara wrote in her diary that "he called it his wedding song" and noted "the profound pain in the text and the music". From 1872 to 1875, Brahms was director of

4900-755: The Six Songs Op. 3, and the Scherzo Op. 4), whilst Bartholf Senff published the Third Piano Sonata Op. 5 and the Six Songs Op. 6. In Leipzig, he gave recitals including his own first two piano sonatas, and met with Ferdinand David , Ignaz Moscheles , and Hector Berlioz , among others. After Schumann's attempted suicide and subsequent confinement in a mental sanatorium near Bonn in February 1854 (where he died of pneumonia in 1856), Brahms based himself in Düsseldorf, where he supported

4998-610: The Third Symphony and was enthusiastic about the Fourth: "a giant work, great in concept and invention". Another, but more cautious, supporter from the younger generation was Gustav Mahler , who first met Brahms in 1884 and remained a close acquaintance. He considered Brahms a conservative master who was more turned toward the past than the future. He rated Brahms as technically superior to Anton Bruckner , but more earth-bound than Wagner and Beethoven. In 1889, Theo Wangemann ,

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5096-511: The art of serious music in Germany today" led to a bilious comment from Wagner in his essay "On Poetry and Composition": "I know of some famous composers who in their concert masquerades don the disguise of a street-singer one day, the hallelujah periwig of Handel the next, the dress of a Jewish Czardas -fiddler another time, and then again the guise of a highly respectable symphony dressed up as Number Ten" (referring to Brahms's First Symphony as

5194-839: The ceiling. There is also a catwalk where the vault of the ceiling meets the top of the walls. The total enclosed volume is over 300,000 cubic feet (8,500 m), which gives a reverberation time of 4 seconds when the hall is empty. The interior is designed in an English baroque style. It draws particularly from Christopher Wren 's design for the Church of Saint Stephen, Walbrook , in London . The lower 10 feet (3.0 m) of wall surface are finished with dark oak paneling . The walls above that are plaster with brocade panels which in addition to their decorative appearance are placed to absorb excess reverberation . The floors are marble in an alternating color scheme of reddish-brown and gray. After

5292-411: The city and going clockwise: Freiberg am Neckar , Benningen am Neckar , Marbach am Neckar , Erdmannhausen , Affalterbach , Remseck am Neckar , Kornwestheim , Möglingen , Asperg und Tamm . Ludwigsburg's climate is temperate oceanic ( Köppen : Cfb ) with warm and rainy summers and cold winters with less precipitation. Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, enrolled the young Friedrich Schiller in

5390-691: The city and surrounding area. Towards the end of the 1st century, the area was occupied by the Romans . They pushed the Limes further to the east around 150 and controlled the region until 260, when the Alamanni occupied the Neckarland. Evidence of the Alamanni settlement can be found in grave sites in the city today. The origins of Ludwigsburg date from the beginning of the 18th century (1718–1723) when

5488-408: The city with a series of incentives: first he promised free plots of land and free building materials as well as fifteen years tax-free status, and later on he added freedom to practice one's profession and religion to the list. However, the town only began to grow when it was granted city status in 1718 and then in that year became the royal residence and capital city of the country of Württemberg. By

5586-554: The company assets, including the music hall, were transferred to trustees Arthur T. Wasserman and Matthew Brown as protection from creditors. In 1943, a court decree allowed the Essex Savings Bank of Lawrence to sell the property in order to pay mortgages held by the Andrews and Skinner's son, Richmond H. Skinner. In June 1943, a fire destroyed the organ factory building, but the music hall was largely undamaged. In July,

5684-647: The concerts of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde , where he ensured that the orchestra was staffed only by professionals. He conducted a repertoire noted and criticized for its emphasis on early and often "serious" music, running from Isaac , Bach, Handel, and Cherubini to the nineteenth century composers who were not of the New German School. Among these were Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Joachim, Ferdinand Hiller , Max Bruch and himself (notably his large scale choral works,

5782-412: The conductor Bernhard Scholz : "I am coming with a large beard! Prepare your wife for a most awful sight." The singer George Henschel recalled that after a concert "I saw a man unknown to me, rather stout, of middle height, with long hair and a full beard. In a very deep and hoarse voice he introduced himself as 'Musikdirektor Müller' ... an instant later, we all found ourselves laughing heartily at

5880-489: The debate on the future of German music which seriously misfired. Together with Joachim and others, he prepared an attack on Liszt's followers, the so-called " New German School " (although Brahms himself was sympathetic to the music of Richard Wagner , the School's leading light). In particular they objected to the rejection of traditional musical forms and to the "rank, miserable weeds growing from Liszt-like fantasias". A draft

5978-412: The degree 'in absentia', offering as his thesis the previously performed (November 1876) symphony. But of the two, only Joachim went to England and was granted a degree. Brahms "acknowledged the invitation" by giving the manuscript score and parts of his First Symphony to Joachim, who led the performance at Cambridge 8 March 1877 (English premiere). The commendation of Brahms by Breslau as "the leader in

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6076-537: The effort, three weeks before his death, to attend the premiere of Johann Strauss's operetta Die Göttin der Vernunft (The Goddess of Reason) in March 1897. After the successful Vienna premiere of his Second String Quintet , Op. 111 in 1890, the 57-year-old Brahms came to think that he might retire from composition, telling a friend that he "had achieved enough; here I had before me a carefree old age and could enjoy it in peace." He also began to find solace in escorting

6174-489: The first 12 Stolpersteine were laid in Ludwigsburg. They are part of a project by artist Gunter Demnig to memorialize individuals who perished under Nazi persecution. Demnig was back in Ludwigsburg on 7 October 2009 to install more Stolpersteine. The coat of arms of Ludwigsburg depicts a black eagle on a golden banner flying on an oblique red lance, on a blue background. Duke Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg awarded Ludwigsburg its coat of arms on 3 September 1718 as

6272-527: The first three movements were given in Vienna, but the complete work was first given in Bremen in 1868 to great acclaim. A seventh movement (the soprano solo "Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit") was added for the equally successful Leipzig premiere (February 1869). The work went on to receive concert and critical acclaim throughout Germany and also in England, Switzerland and Russia, marking effectively Brahms's arrival on

6370-407: The hall was purchased by noted organbuilder Ernest M. Skinner for a mere $ 10,000. Under Skinner's ownership, there were public choral and organ performances which included works by Brahms , Bach , and Handel , with recitals by organists including Marcel Dupré and E. Power Biggs . In 1936, Skinner incorporated an organ building company on the property, "Ernest M. Skinner and Son Company", using

6468-473: The hall's completion, it was used privately by Searles until his death in 1920. It then passed to Searles' secretary, Arthur Thomas Walker, as residuary legatee . Walker died in 1927, leaving the hall to his niece, Ina Cecil McEachran of Detroit . In 1930, part of the property including the hall was purchased by Lillian Wightman Andrew (1882-1961), wife of local banker Francis Martin Andrew (1880–1967). In 1931,

6566-484: The hissing was too much of a good thing ..." At a second performance, audience reaction was so hostile that Brahms had to be restrained from leaving the stage after the first movement. As a consequence of these reactions Breitkopf and Härtel declined to take on his new compositions. Brahms consequently established a relationship with other publishers, including Simrock , who eventually became his major publishing partner. Brahms further made an intervention in 1860 in

6664-562: The household and dealt with business matters on Clara's behalf. Clara was not allowed to visit Robert until two days before his death, but Brahms was able to visit him and acted as a go-between. Brahms began to feel deeply for Clara, who to him represented an ideal of womanhood. But he was conflicted about their romantic association and resisted it, choosing the life of a bachelor in an apparent effort to focus on his craft. Nonetheless, their intensely emotional relationship lasted until Clara's death. In June 1854 Brahms dedicated to Clara his Op. 9,

6762-512: The largest baroque castle in Germany, Ludwigsburg Palace was built by Duke Eberhard Ludwig von Württemberg . Originally, the Duke planned to just build one country home (albeit a palace ), which he began building in 1704. However, the examples of other princes fostered a desire to project his absolutist power by establishing a city. To the baroque palace, he added a hunting lodge and country seat, called Schloss Favorite (1713–1728), and

6860-561: The mezzo-soprano Alice Barbi and may have proposed to her (she was only 28). His admiration for Richard Mühlfeld , clarinettist with the Meiningen orchestra, revived his interest in composing and led him to write the Clarinet Trio , Op. 114 (1891); Clarinet Quintet , Op. 115 (1891); and the two Clarinet Sonatas , Op. 120 (1894). Brahms also wrote at this time his final cycles of piano pieces, Opp. 116–119 and

6958-421: The mortgage sale was completed, with Essex Savings Bank buying the property at auction for $ 55,000. In May 1946, eight local residents founded a charitable organization to buy and maintain the music hall, operating it as a cultural center. In 1947 the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company was engaged to rebuild the organ. The tonal structure of the organ was changed and a new detached console was added. The Great Organ

7056-603: The next few years included "dance pieces, preludes and fugues for organ, and neo- Renaissance and neo- Baroque choral works". After meeting Joachim, Brahms and Reményi visited Weimar , where Brahms met Franz Liszt , Peter Cornelius , and Joachim Raff , and where Liszt performed Brahms's Op. 4 Scherzo at sight . Reményi claimed that Brahms then slept during Liszt's performance of his own Sonata in B minor ; this and other disagreements led Reményi and Brahms to part company. Brahms visited Düsseldorf in October 1853, and, with

7154-503: The opulent festivals they organized, the Dukes put their unbounded power on display with no consideration for the finances of Württemberg. To them, their most important task was to bring fame and renown to the court of Württemberg and to compete with and outdo other European rulers in this regard. Duke Eberhard Louis planned to found an ideal Baroque city right beside Ludwigsburg Palace. From 1709 onwards, he tried to attract new residents to

7252-505: The perfect success of Brahms's disguise." The incident also displays Brahms's love of practical jokes. In 1882 Brahms completed his Piano Concerto No. 2 , Op. 83, dedicated to his teacher Marxsen. Brahms was invited by Hans von Bülow to undertake a premiere of the work with the Meiningen Court Orchestra . This was the beginning of his collaboration with Meiningen and with von Bülow, who was to rank Brahms as one of

7350-497: The performers. With the rise in popularity of orchestral concerts, interest in organ recitals declined. The organ was removed to storage in 1884 and then sold for $ 5,000 to William O. Grover. Grover probably intended to donate the organ to the New England Conservatory of Music , but after his death circa 1897, it was auctioned to settle his estate. Searles purchased it at auction for $ 1,500 and began construction of

7448-426: The pianist and composer Eduard Marxsen . Marxsen had been a personal acquaintance of Beethoven and Schubert , admired the works of Mozart and Haydn , and was a devotee of the music of J. S. Bach . Marxsen conveyed to Brahms the tradition of these composers and ensured that Brahms's own compositions were grounded in that tradition. In 1847 Brahms made his first public appearance as a solo pianist in Hamburg, playing

7546-614: The public that I don't know how I can begin to fulfil them". While in Düsseldorf, Brahms participated with Schumann and Schumann's pupil Albert Dietrich in writing a movement each of a violin sonata for Joachim, the " F-A-E Sonata ", the letters representing the initials of Joachim's personal motto Frei aber einsam ("Free but lonely"). Schumann's accolade led to the first publication of Brahms's works under his own name. Brahms went to Leipzig where Breitkopf & Härtel published his Opp. 1–4 (the Piano Sonatas nos. 1 and 2 ,

7644-704: The recipient of a variety of honours: Ludwig II of Bavaria awarded him the Maximilian Order for Science and Art in 1874, and the music-loving Duke George of Meiningen awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Order of the House of Meiningen in 1881. At this time Brahms also chose to change his image. Having been always clean-shaven, in 1878 he surprised his friends by growing a beard, writing in September to

7742-652: The river Neckar . It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 94,000 inhabitants. It is situated within the Stuttgart Region , and the district is part of the administrative region ( Regierungsbezirk ) of Stuttgart . The middle of Neckarland, where Ludwigsburg lies, was settled in the Stone and Bronze Ages . Numerous archaeological sites from the Hallstatt period remain in

7840-403: The sides; this is 70 feet (21 m) wide. In the terminology of Christian church architecture, the nave is 40 feet (12 m) wide while the transepts extend to 70 feet (21 m), and the pipe organ is in the chancel . There is a vaulted ceiling 65 feet (20 m) high. Beneath the vault is an entablature whose cornice hides indirect lighting which illuminates and reflects off

7938-499: The song Heimkehr Op. 7 no. 6) date from 1851. However, Brahms was later assiduous in eliminating all his juvenilia. Even as late as 1880, he wrote to his friend Elise Giesemann to send him his manuscripts of choral music so that they could be destroyed. In 1850 Brahms met the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi and accompanied him in a number of recitals over the next few years. This was his introduction to "gypsy-style" music such as

8036-432: The summer of 1896 Brahms was diagnosed with jaundice and pancreatic cancer , and later in the year his Viennese doctor diagnosed him with liver cancer , from which his father Jakob had died. His last public appearance was on 7 March 1897, when he saw Hans Richter conduct his Symphony No. 4 ; there was an ovation after each of the four movements. His condition gradually worsened and he died on 3 April 1897, in Vienna at

8134-438: The time of Eberhard Louis' death in 1733, the population had risen to around 6,000 people, which was more than half as big as the former capital city Stuttgart. Nevertheless, the new capital city Ludwigsburg was still a major construction site with many unpaved streets and half-finished buildings. For over two decades, Eberhard Louis (1676–1733) held court in Ludwigsburg with his mistress Wilhilmine von Grävenitz (1684–1744) while

8232-548: The two remained close, lifelong friends. Brahms never married, perhaps in an effort to focus on his work as a musician and scholar. He was a self-conscious, sometimes severely self-critical composer. Though innovative, his music was considered relatively conservative within the polarized context of the War of the Romantics , an affair in which Brahms regretted his public involvement. His compositions were largely successful, attracting

8330-499: The war, there was a large displaced persons camp which housed several thousand mainly Polish displaced persons until about 1948. After 1945 until the middle of 1946, there was also an allied internment camp for war criminals in Ludwigsburg and the U.S. Army maintained the Pattonville barracks on the edge of town, large enough to have its own American high school. The land was returned to Germany in 1994. On 27 September 2008,

8428-488: The winter. Although Brahms entertained the idea of taking up conducting posts elsewhere, he based himself increasingly in Vienna and soon made it his home. In 1863, he was appointed conductor of the Wiener Singakademie . He surprised his audiences by programming many works by the early German masters such as Heinrich Schütz and J. S. Bach, and other early composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli ; more recent music

8526-546: The world stage. Baptised into the Lutheran church as an infant and confirmed at age fifteen in St. Michael's Church , Brahms has been described as an agnostic and a humanist. The devout Catholic Antonín Dvořák wrote in a letter: "Such a man, such a fine soul – and he believes in nothing! He believes in nothing!" When asked by conductor Karl Reinthaler to add additional explicitly religious text to his German Requiem , Brahms

8624-412: The years to ever better accommodation in Hamburg. Johann Jakob gave his son his first musical training; Johannes also learnt to play the violin and the basics of playing the cello. From 1840 he studied piano with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel. Cossel complained in 1842 that Brahms "could be such a good player, but he will not stop his never-ending composing." At the age of 10, Brahms made his debut as

8722-414: Was 44.62%. The results of the election were: The North-South Powerline , includes a large transformer station Ludwigsburg-Hoheneck, built in 1926, which still exists today. It is a central junction in the power lines of Baden-Württemberg to this day. On 5 October 1957, the first 380kV-powerline in Germany between the transformer station Ludwigsburg-Hoheneck and Rommerskirchen went into service. In 1966,

8820-436: Was appointed as a horn player in the Hamburg militia. He married Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen the same year. A middle-class seamstress 17 years his senior, she enjoyed writing letters and reading despite an apparently limited education. Johannes Brahms was born in 1833. His sister Elisabeth (Elise) had been born in 1831 and a younger brother Fritz Friedrich was born in 1835. The family then lived in poor apartments in

8918-520: Was cause for great joy for many people in Württemberg, as the Protestant population feared that power would fall into the hands of the Catholic side of the royal house. To mark reconciliation, the Ludwigsburg citizenry published a leaflet with a copper etching that made reference to the general wish for a new heir to the throne. The etching depicts the personification of Ludwigsburg who is receiving

9016-704: Was leaked to the press, and the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik published a parody which ridiculed Brahms and his associates as backward-looking. Brahms never again ventured into public musical polemics. Brahms's personal life was also troubled. In 1859 he became engaged to Agathe von Siebold. The engagement was soon broken off, but even after this Brahms wrote to her: "I love you! I must see you again, but I am incapable of bearing fetters. Please write me ... whether ... I may come again to clasp you in my arms, to kiss you, and tell you that I love you." They never saw one another again, and Brahms later confirmed to

9114-597: Was made a "Kreisstadt" (urban district), and later, when the Baden-Württemberg municipal code took effect on 1 April 1956, the city was named a major urban district. In 1956 the tradition of the German garrison town was taken up again by the Bundeswehr , Germany's federal armed forces. 2004 was the 300th birthday of Residenzschloss Ludwigsburg, celebrated by the opening of the Baroque Gallery and

9212-449: Was named an honorary citizen of Hamburg . Brahms and Johann Strauss II were acquainted in the 1870s, but their close friendship belongs to the years 1889 and after. Brahms admired much of Strauss's music and encouraged the composer to sign with his publisher Simrock. In autographing a fan for Strauss's wife Adele, Brahms wrote the opening notes of The Blue Danube waltz, adding the words "unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms". He made

9310-557: Was occupied by France under Napoleon Bonaparte and was forced into an alliance. In 1806, the Kurfürst (Prince-Elector) Friedrich was made king of Württemberg by Napoleon. In 1812, the Württembergish army was raised in Ludwigsburg for Napoleon's Russian campaign. Of the 15,800 Württemberg soldiers who served, just a few hundred returned. In 1921, Ludwigsburg became the largest garrison in southwest Germany. In 1945, Ludwigsburg

9408-685: Was represented by works of Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn . Brahms also wrote works for the choir, including his Motet, Op. 29. Finding however that the post encroached too much of the time he needed for composing, he left the choir in June 1864. From 1864 to 1876 he spent many of his summers in Lichtental , where Clara Schumann and her family also spent some time. His house in Lichtental, where he worked on many of his major compositions including A German Requiem and his middle-period chamber works,

9506-649: Was taking on the model of models [for a symphony]: Beethoven's Fifth ." Despite the warm reception the First Symphony received, Brahms remained dissatisfied and extensively revised the second movement before the work was published. There followed a succession of well-received orchestral works: the Second Symphony Op. 73 (1877), the Violin Concerto Op. 77 (1878; dedicated to Joachim, who was consulted closely during its composition), and

9604-465: Was the beginning of a friendship which was lifelong, albeit temporarily derailed when Brahms took the side of Joachim's wife in their divorce proceedings of 1883. Brahms admired Joachim as a composer, and in 1856 they were to embark on a mutual training exercise to improve their skills in (in Brahms's words) "double counterpoint , canons , fugues , preludes or whatever". Bozarth notes that "products of Brahms's study of counterpoint and early music over

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