11 Chorale Preludes

Brahms is often portrayed as a relatively conservative composer, yet his keen interest in the music of the past, unusual for his time, actually makes him a very modern figure. The long-neglected music of J. S. Bach experienced a steady revival in the second half of the 19th century, but there was a lot to rediscover, and Brahms was ahead of the game in his admiration for Bach’s chorale preludes: intricate contrapuntal fantasies on Lutheran hymn tunes, for organ, played as musical meditations before or during church services. Brahms described himself as an agnostic, yet he was repeatedly drawn to religious texts and music, and in these beautiful chorale preludes, written near the end of his life (1896), he was clearly using them to help come to terms with mortality. The words of the final hymn in this collection are surely significant: "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" (“Oh world, I must leave you”). It was to be the last music Brahms ever wrote.