Did you know it took Brahms nearly 10 years to write his first symphony? Did you know most of that time was spent agonizing about what to write that wouldn’t cause a career collapse? Yes, even great artists (especially great artists?) suffer from crippling self-doubt.
Brahms was in the spotlight as a great composer in the vein of Beethoven. In fact, many were calling him the successor to Beethoven. And since Beethoven transformed the symphony into something entirely new and different, there was a tremendous amount of pressure on Brahms to write a perfect symphony, which is why it took him nine years to put anything to paper and to perform it. As it turns out, many of the critics in his day said that his Symphony No. 1 (when it was finally premiered) was just a copy of Beethoven Symphony 5 (the famous
“duh-duh-duh-DUUUUH” one). And, sure enough, a close analysis of the symphony reveals it quite nearly is.
Painters engage in the practice of a “master copy” – taking a work by a master and copying it as closely as possible to learn techniques from a long-gone-master, but seldom are these seen by the public. With Brahm’s debut symphony, he shows us that he wrote his symphony in the same key, with the same structure, with the same oboe and horn solos in the same places, with the same rhythmic motif even repeated, and the same gleam of C Major right before the same return of C Minor.
While playing it safe with his reputation and career, Brahms shows us that even great artists have to start somewhere, to take risks, to submit to greater masters, and – sometimes – not to be original! This was a great encouragement to my sixth graders who often wonder what to do next, where to begin, where to end, and when to ask for help. Perhaps the answer for those who long to be creative is learning from a master, learning from a master!
The Classical Classroom 