Special presentation of the Brahms Institute
Although Brahms never visited France - neither as an as a performer or conductor of his own works, nor as an interested tourist - French publishers showed an early interest in the piano and chamber music works of the renowned of the renowned composer. Between 1864 and 1866, the Parisian music publisher Jaques Maho published the four-hand arrangement of the 1st Piano Concerto op. 15, the Variations op. 23, the Piano Quintet op. Piano Quintet op. 34, the Paganini Variations op. 35 and the Waltzes op. 39. The corresponding rights for France from the Brahms publisher Rieter-Biedermann in Winterthur.

Maho also corresponds with Brahms himself in order to win him for his publishing house. A contract signed in May 1870 by the composer and his main publisher Fritz Simrock Fritz Simrock fixed the French publication rights for the string sextets. for the string sextets op. 18 and 36, the piano quartets op. piano quartets op. 25 and 26, the violoncello sonata op. 38 and the horn trio op. 40. however, was no longer prepared to make concessions on and, in the summer of 1873, asks Brahms emphatically to Brahms to "always sell him France inclusive [...], i.e. France included [...], so let the Frenchman go and stay and stay [...] with me". For the first version of the Piano Trio op. 8 Maho obtained the rights from the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, which in 1875 acquired the licenses for the Piano Sonata op. 2 to Durand in 1875. The four-hand waltzes op. 39 are published by several Parisian publishers: After Maho (1866), Langlois (1868), Heugel and Prillip published the popular opus under the title "Germania valses".

Around 1920 - two years after the German capitulation - the Parisian publisher Heugel brought out Brahms' waltz op. 39 under the title Germania Valses (see illustration). The title page comments on the changed political situation from a French French perspective by dismantling the symbols of former German national pride. dismantled. Not to be overlooked is the allusion to the Germania near Rüdesheim - the monument monument created by Johannes Schilling, which was erected the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian the 'Watch on the Rhine' after the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. The Gothic architecture that has been a national symbol since Goethe Gothic architecture is fragmented and ruinous - a hedge of roses threatens to overgrow the ornate turret overgrown. Staggering between the ruins a female figure reminiscent of the Loreley, singing to the moon with a harp. singing to the moon with a harp.

On the occasion of the Brahms Festival, the Brahms Institute is showing some of the French editions of of Brahms' works in its exhibition.

Johannes Brahms - Signs, Images Fantasies.
February 01 to December 13 

Opening hours during the Brahms Festival
May 04 to 11, daily 2 to 6 p.m. 

Regular opening hours
Wed and Sat, 2 to 6 pm 

Free admission 

www.brahms-institut.de

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Brahms-Institut an der MHL
Villa Brahms
Jerusalemsberg 4
23568 Lübeck