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[Illustration: _Brahms at the age of 20._

LONDON. EDWARD ARNOLD: 1905]




     THE LIFE
     OF
     JOHANNES BRAHMS

     BY
     FLORENCE MAY

     IN TWO VOLUMES
     VOL. I.

     _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_

     LONDON
     EDWARD ARNOLD
     41 & 43 MADDOX STREET, BOND STREET, W.
     1905

     (_All rights reserved_)




     TO
     THE MANY KIND FRIENDS
     WHOSE SYMPATHY
     HAS HELPED ME DURING THE WRITING OF THESE VOLUMES,
     THEY ARE GRATEFULLY DEDICATED




                              PREFACE


The biographical materials from which I have written the following Life
of Brahms have, excepting in the few instances indicated in footnotes,
been gathered by me, at first hand, chiefly in the course of several
Continental journeys, the first of which was undertaken in the summer of
1902. Dates of concerts throughout the volumes have been authenticated
by reference to original programmes or contemporary journals.

My aim in giving some account of Brahms' compositions has not been a
technical one. So far as I have exceeded purely biographical limits my
object has been to assist the general music-lover in his enjoyment of
the noble achievements of a beautiful life.

I feel it impossible to ignore numerous requests made to me to include
in my book some particulars of my own acquaintance with Brahms--begun
when I was a young student of the pianoforte. I have not wished,
however, to interrupt the main narrative of the Life by the introduction
of slight personal details, and therefore place together in an
intro