rfect it must
be." The few of his compositions which show connection with outward
events are the _Deutsches Requiem_, his best-known choral work (in
commemoration of his mother's death) and the _Academic Overture_,
composed in place of the conventional thesis, when--in 1880--the
University of Breslau conferred on him a doctor's degree. This
Overture, based on several convivial student songs, is on the whole
his most genial composition for orchestra and has won a deserved
popularity the world over.[254] For sustained fancy his most beautiful
work for chorus and orchestra is the _Schicksalslied_ (_Song of
Destiny_). Symphonic composition, as has been said, came in the latter
part of Brahms's career, his first work in that form being op. 68.
After that, within a few years, three other symphonies were composed.
His last works include the significant pianoforte pieces called
_Intermezzi_--not all equally inspired, but many representing the
finest flower of Brahms's genius; four serious songs for bass voice,
and one posthumous work, _Eleven Choral Preludes for Organ_. Brahms
died in 1897 and lies buried in Vienna not far from Beethoven and
Schubert.

[Footnote 254: Another very fine work in this class is the _Tragic
Overture_, worthy of the deepest study.]

From Brahms we have beautiful works in every branch of composition
save the opera and symphonic poem. (He once said he would risk neither
an opera nor getting married!) Very few of his works have titles, and
in this respect he stood somewhat aloof from that strong tendency in
modern times--the connection between music and poetic and literary
sources of inspiration. But he had a right to choose his own line of
effort; it is for us to become familiar with his works as they are.
They comprise about two hundred songs, three pianoforte sonatas and
many lesser pieces, two concertos for pianoforte and orchestra, a
wonderfully fine violin concerto, four symphonies--each with a
character of its own--and a large group of chamber compositions:
string quartets, sonatas for violin and pianoforte, trios, and a
number of works for unusual ensemble combinations--the Trio for
Violin, Horn and Pianoforte being the best known.

As to the nature of Brahms's music the following comments are
submitted for consideration. He was not a colorist or a stylist in the
broad sense of those terms, _i.e._, color and style were not the prime
ingredients in his music. There is light and shade in Brahms