Heinrich von Herzogenberg

Brahms's personal correspondence, which is an extraordinary testimony to his character, relationships and creative projects, contains letters from the 1880s to Miss Elisabeth, who would later become von Herzogenberg by marriage. She was the link between Brahms and HEINRICH VON HERZOGENBERG. Miss Elisabeth belonged to the German elite, daughter of the Hanoverian ambassador in Vienna. Starting 1863 the young Brahms became her piano tutor, an occupation he would later discontinue for supposed reasons: he is believed to have avoided infatuations and attachments. Five years later, Miss Elisabeth married the young composer Heinrich von Herzogenberg, an ardent admirer of Brahms. He wrote over 150 opuses of instrumental, vocal and chamber music. The publication of his first opuses was definitely assisted by Brahms. Herzogenberg's music passes through various stages of influence: from the modern for his time Wagnerian, to a return to the Brahmsian style, the German Protestant chorale, ideas of Bach, in which he was no stranger to eclecticism. Sacred music and liturgical genres occupy a special place in his work.