“Four Serious Songs” by I. Brahms in the context of the German mystical tradition
St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for the Humanities
For citation: Khondzinskii, Pavel V. “Four Serious Songs” by I. Brahms in the context of the German mystical tradition // Drevneishie gosudarstva Vostochnoi Evropy (The Earliest States of Eastern Europe). 2024: In memoriam Alexandr V. Nazarenko / Editors of the volume Т.V. Guimon, P.V. Lukin, Е.А. Мelnikova, А.V. Podossinov. Мoscow: GAUGN-Press, 2024. S. 378–387.
DOI: 10.32608/1560-1382-2024-45-378-387
Abstract: The article examines the connection of J. Brahms' Four Serious Songs, written on biblical texts, with the German mystical tradition, dating back to the Rhenish mystics of the 14th century. It was they who formulated the doctrine of the love for God, strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6), which is similar to death, since it deprives a person not only of what binds him to earthly life, but also of the very hope of salvation, thus gaining the perfection of its selflessness. The article shows that if the first three Songs are written on texts about the death, and the fourth is about the love, then the musical themes of the ‘death’ and ‘love’ can be combined in simultaneous sound, thus creating a single musical death-love complex that expresses the main idea of the cycle.
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