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"Do you like Brahms..." (Aimez-vous Brahms... It is the name of a novel by the French writer Françoise Sagan that has left the name Brahms in popular culture ever since: historian Peter Guy once discussed Brahms and modernism on this topic, and Haruki Murakami wrote a tribute to "Do You Like Bart Bachalac?" "The New Yorker" uses this title to draw readers' attention to musician Agridge's Brahms records, and even a Korean drama titled "Do You Like Brahms" in 2020.
Brahms, along with Bach and Beethoven, is known as the "3B" in German music history, and despite his profound artistic achievements, Brahms is only a chubby, bearded middle-aged and elderly man who seems to have nothing to do with popular culture. How "Do you like Brahms" becomes an allusion begins with Sagan's novel.
"Do You Like Brahms..."
[French] Françoise Sagan by Li Yumin, translated
People's Literature Publishing House 2019-11
The novel tells the story of a love triangle. "Do you like Brahms?" is a quote from the book's 25-year-old Simon's letter to 39-year-old Burr. Bao Er read this sentence and laughed: this is the question that the boys asked her when she was 17 years old. This question also triggered Bao'er's thinking: Does she love anything other than herself and her own survival? She thinks she loves her prodigal boyfriend, Roger. So she called Simon and wanted to say to him, "I don't know if I like Brahms, I think I don't like it." ”
Since Simon was not contacted by phone, Bao'er had to go to the appointment. At the concert, Simon told Paul: "Believe me, it doesn't matter to me if you like Brahms or not. "At this point, we understand that for Simon, Brahms is just an excuse to talk, and even he himself doesn't like Brahms so much. For Pryor, whether brahms likes or dislikes brahms depends on who is asking the question, but this is not the case for the reader. Try to change it to "Do you like Mozart", which sounds too pure and does not match the ambiguous atmosphere; "Do you like Beethoven", the story suddenly becomes a little inspirational; "Do you like Rachmaninoff", although it is good, but it is a bit cheesy. Brahms doesn't feel that way.
Brahms doesn't really matter to the protagonist of the love story, because what they care about is not Brahms at all. However, which composer the writer chooses to write about is very important to the reader's feelings.
Image source: Figureworm
Brahms's story isn't ordinary—clara, the wife of his crush on friend Schumann, has been for more than forty years, and like the characters in the novel, the woman is 14 years older than the man. However, Brahms did not take advantage of Schumann's death, but remained unmarried for life. This story is so famous that later generations invented the term "Brahms love."
In Sagan's pen and in the Korean drama "Do You Like Brahms", the creators used the theme of triangular relationships to echo the title. In addition, Brahms as a symbol also contains a restrained romance that other composers rarely have—Simon's confession that he did not ask directly, the use of the title "you" (vous), the refusal that Bao'er did not explicitly say, and the feelings hidden by the triangle relationship in the Korean drama "Do You Like Brahms", all of which make the love story itself also have the implicit color of the symbol itself.
Korean drama "Do you like Brahms" poster Image source: Douban
The question arises: How much is the connection between the personal life of a musician and his work? We read biographies through words, but we have to understand the works through sound, and the two are not directly related to each other. In the case of Mozart, anyone who has read Mozart's writings may be amazed at how keen he was about talking about and, and how tragic his life, especially in the last years, was, but even when he was on the verge of collapse, the music he wrote was still humorous and optimistic. So, do we misunderstand Brahms' music because of his life story?
Brahms was appointed by Schumann as Beethoven's successor, and he did follow Beethoven in his early years – his first symphony was considered "Beethoven's Tenth Symphony", while his piano work was considered by Schumann to be a "veiled symphony". The classicist style of symmetry, rigor and elegance was passed down by Brahms. From the aspects of melody, melody, theme, etc., his works have a full classical element. He even found inspiration in earlier music, such as those of the late Renaissance and early Baroques, and his research can be said to be a treatise on musicology. In the Fourth Symphony, he used the Phrygian motif, which was common in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the final chapter of the play used the Musical Genre of Passacaglia, which prevailed during the Baroque period. It can be said that Brahms's works always shine with the afterglow of the past era.
In Brahms's time, Romantic composers began to inject more emotion into the music. In "Do You Like Brahms...", Bao'er's boyfriend Roger likes Wagner, and he often says, "How nice, how loud, that's what music is." Bao Er found a concerto by Brahms on the back of the Wagner record. This story, of course, goes straight to the so-called "Brahms and Wagners" (classical and futuristic in German music).
The composer, who grew up with a hard, lifelong celibacy and introverted solitude, did not subscribe to many of the romantic ideas of composition, and in the era when title music was prevalent, he wrote untitled pure music. But in many of his works, especially his late works, he also combined the Harmonic techniques of the Romantic School within the classical framework. In an interview with music critic Jiao Yuanpu, pianist Stephen Kovačević said: Although Wagner probably does not like Brahms, Brahms should be able to appreciate Wagner. Even some of Brahms's works have Wagner-style harmonies and transpositions. Brahms is said to have said, "Wagner's imitators are just a bunch of monkeys, but he himself is worth mentioning." In his later years, when he listened to Mahler's Second Symphony, he also praised it as a "work of genius." Music critic Xin Fengnian described Brahms as "classical and romantic", which explains the complex attributes of Brahms's music, and his works often express emotions in restraint and introspection, just like his life.
Sagan, queen of popular fiction, didn't just randomly choose Brahms among a bunch of composers. There are many works in popular culture that show classical music, but a closer look reveals that these works are usually selected when selecting songs, which are works that are not so profound in ideological connotations or are familiar to everyone and have preconceived interpretations. Relatively thoughtful, heavier works are rarely popular with the general public. Tchaikovsky may have been talked about too much, and Mahler and Bruckner were talked about too little in popular culture. Brahms has both world-famous songs such as "Lullaby" and "Hungarian Dance", as well as masterpieces in the eyes of researchers that are worth pondering over and over again in each section.
Almost everyone has heard of Brahms, but it's not easy to really explain. You may remember Yuji Sakamoto's "Bouquet of Love", the two talked about Yang Dechang's "Juvenile Murder Incident on Muling Street" when they came home from work! If it becomes "Harry Potter", the feeling of destiny will not be so strong; and replacing it with an overly academic film history masterpiece will make the audience confused. It's for similar reasons that "Do you like Brahms" has a long meaning.