Classical Hour
Simone Young Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms (1833−1897) created his Symphony No. 3 during an intense working holiday in the summer of 1883. The four movements have many connections, and Brahms' close friend Clara Schumann wrote to him that they appeared as one piece, "which one heartbeat, each one a jewel." About the third movement, she noted that "it appears like a pearl, but it is gray, surrounded by a tear of melancholy..." The symphony's introduction has features in common with the third symphony of her late husband and Brahms' mentor, Robert Schumann.