Selected piano works of Eduard Marxsen, Brahms' composition teacher

Many composers achieve considerable fame during their lifetimes but posthumously fade into relative obscurity. As their works significantly influence subsequent generations of musicians and composers, these composers must be rediscovered, and their works shared.

Eduard Marxsen was one such composer from Germany. A respected teacher of piano performance and composition, he was the sole instructor of Johannes Brahms for nine years. Marxsen’s unique compositional qualities feature frequent changing meters, rhythmical experimentation, use of descriptive titles and characters, influence of folk music, and varied orchestral and pianistic textures. All of these attributes lend insight into German romantic music of his time and potentially had a lasting influence on Brahms’ musical style. Marxsen’s music is less known today, however, and recordings of his pieces are limited.

This thesis aims to present two of Marxsen’s unrecorded piano works, and by doing so aspires to bring the composer and his music to greater recognition. The thesis is in two parts: 1) a studio recording of Sechs Etüden für die Linke Hand, Op. 40 (Six Etudes for the Left Hand), and 100 Veränderungen über ein Volkslied (100 Variations on a Folk Song) followed by Kochersberger Bauerntanz: Altdeutsches Volkslied mit Zwolf Characteristischen Veränderungen, Op. 67 no. 1, and Die Kantele Spielerin: Finnisches Volkslied mit fünfzehn Characteristischen Veränderungen, no.2, and 2) an accompanying paper discussing Marxen’s life, music, and his legacy as Brahms’ teacher.