ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Johannes Brahms by exploring gendered constructions applied to the composer in his lifetime and shortly beyond. It describes gendered language, especially for masculinity, and outlines its meanings for culture, nationalism and musical politics of the late nineteenth century. The chapter explores the gendering of Brahms in early posthumous writings in Germany, Austria and America. It looks at gender and masculinity in Brahms reception. Gendered language in contemporary reviews and writings reveals that Brahms's music was considered 'manly' by his advocates, especially Eduard Hanslick, and impotent or feminine by detractors, including Hugo Wolf and Friedrich Nietzsche. The Jewish-feminine ideological link is suggestive in the present context. It may not be fanciful to think that Hanslick had this link in mind when he repeatedly stressed Brahms's masculinity. Hanslick's polemics on behalf of Brahms – including ascribing masculine qualities to Brahms's music – are as much a rebuttal to Richard Wagner as a paean to Brahms.
