Introduction
German composer Johannes Brahms was well-known for his mercurial attitude to praise. Up to a point he accepted it happily enough, but if ever it became oppressive he would do almost anything to escape it. Charles Villiers Stanford, professor of music at the Royal College of Music and at Cambridge University, was present on one of these occasions.
OUR next and last meeting was in Berlin, the Christmas of the famous Jameson Raid.* He came to conduct his two Piano Concertos and the Academic Festival Overture at a concert given by D’Albert, and was much fêted and in high good humour.*
At an interesting dinner-party given by Joachim,* at which were present also his friends Professor Dohrn of Naples, and von Herzogenberg the composer,* an amusingly characteristic scene occurred.* Joachim in a few well-chosen words was asking us not to lose the opportunity of drinking the health of the greatest composer, when, before he could finish the sentence, Brahms bounded to his feet, glass in hand, and called out, “Quite right! Here’s Mozart’s health!” and walked round, clinking glasses with us all. His old hatred of personal eulogy was never more prettily expressed.
A curious method of dating, which reflected Stanford’s interest in the politics of the British Empire. On December 29th, 1895, a force of 470 men led by Storr Jameson of the British South Africa Company tried to overthrow the bankrupt Dutch Boer government of the Transvaal. The raid failed, handing the rapidly expanding German Empire a propaganda field day. However, when the outraged Boers launched a counter-offensive, precipitating the 1899-1902 Boer War, the Germans abandoned them. See The Boer Wars.
Eugen (originally Eugène) Francois Charles d’Albert (1864-1932), born in Scotland to an English mother and German father of French and Italian descent. At seventeen, he helped Sullivan orchestrate the Overture to Patience, but his childhood in Britain had been unhappy and soon after he emigrated to Germany, where he studied piano with Liszt. He later said that his bitter memories of Britain had vanished long ago.
Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) was a Hungarian violinist, the greatest of his day, possibly the greatest ever.
Not Georg Dohrn (1867-1942) the pianist and composer whom Brahms encouraged into music, but Anton Dohrn (1840-1909), a Darwinist who founded the world’s first zoological research station, the Stazione Zoologica in Naples.
Heinrich Picot de Peccaduc, Freiherr von Herzogenberg (1843-1900), an Austrian composer and conductor. While he was living in Leipzig, he taught English composer Ethel Smyth.
Précis
Johannes Brahms’s characteristic dislike of flattery showed itself after a concert in Berlin in 1895, when his old friend Joseph Joachim proposed a toast to the greatest composer. Before Joachim could name him, Brahms leapt up and drank to the health of Mozart, a self-deprecating gesture which deeply impressed the watching Charles Villiers Stanford. (54 / 60 words)
Johannes Brahms’s characteristic dislike of flattery showed itself after a concert in Berlin in 1895, when his old friend Joseph Joachim proposed a toast to the greatest composer. Before Joachim could name him, Brahms leapt up and drank to the health of Mozart, a self-deprecating gesture which deeply impressed the watching Charles Villiers Stanford.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, besides, despite, may, or, ought, until.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Clink. Composer. We.
2 Characteristic. Famous. Overture.
3 Concerto. Interest. Opportunity.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
shts (5+1)
sheets. shoots. shots. shouts. shuts.
shiatsu.
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