One Titanic spirit, Johannes Brahms, (1833-1897) who
succeeded in striking the dominant note of musical sublimity amid modern
unrest, is reserved for our final consideration. Of him Schumann said,
"This John is a prophet who will also write revelations," and he has
revealed to those who can read that high art is the abiding-place of
reason, that it is moreover compounded of profundity of feeling yoked
with profundity of intellectual mastery. Dr. Riemann writes of him,
"From Bach he inherited the depth, from Haydn, the humor, from Mozart,
the charm, from Beethoven, the strength, from Schubert, the intimateness
of his art. Truly a wonderfully gifted nature that was able to absorb
such a fulness of great gifts and still not lose the best of gifts--the
strong individuality which makes the master."
Wonderful is the power of instrumental music, absolute music without
words, that may convey impressions, deep and lasting, no words could
give. All hail to the memory of Johannes Brahms, who has reminded us of
its true mission and delivered a message that will ring through the
twentieth century.
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