Description
Brahms composed these four ballades in his early twenties, the first inspired by the Scottish ballad "Edward" as retold by Herder. Dramatic shifts of mood evoke the folk-tale and legend behind the music, interwoven with more inward, lyrical passages. The set already reveals the rich harmonic language and weighty sonorities that would mark Brahms's later works.
A genre Chopin pioneered — large-scale solo piano works with a narrative, epic quality.
About the Composer
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Johannes Brahms was a composer born in Hamburg who rose to prominence after being championed by Robert and Clara Schumann, later settling in Vienna. He fused classical formal rigor with Romantic expressiveness across symphonies and chamber music, and in his later years wrote many introspective piano miniatures. This site includes 25 of his works, such as intermezzi, waltzes, and ballades.
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