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BRAHMS, Johannes (1833-1897)
Autograph letter signed ('J. Br.') to 'S' [his publisher, Fritz Simrock], Vienna, 4 December 1878.
In German. Four pages, 146 x 113mm, bifolium.
A flurry of requests to his publisher, including for copies of the newly published Motet No.1 and Four Ballads and Romances, op.75. Brahms begins by asking Simrock to send him money, at the address of his stepmother, Karoline Brahms, in Hamburg: 'I hope that in the New Year you will receive some interest and get more revenue'. He thanks him for sending some symphonies by Haydn, and asks for the 13th and 14th symphonies, as well as a work dedicated to him by the Swiss pianist and composer Johann Carl Eschmann ('it seems that he forgets or neglects to do so himself which, after all, has its positive side because it would be awkward to write a thank you letter to him'). Brahms also asks for some copies of his choral work, the Motet No.1 (op.74): 'If Motet No.1 is completed, please send a few copies, because Kremser has the only extant one in his capacity as conductor, and sometimes I wish I had a second one. And I would also appreciate receiving a copy of the duets. Really, such a pile of requests! It is fortunate that I don't send things very often and that I don't bother you with piano pieces etc...'.
The Four Ballads and Romances for Two Voices, op. 75, published by Simrock in November/December 1878, are arguably Brahms's greatest set of duets. In spite of Brahms's claim not to 'bother' Simrock with piano works, his long-suffering publisher was to print his op.76 Clavierstücke in the following year.
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