Though I am not 100th the composer that Brahms is, or any of the other great composers that are quoted in the book I mentioned to try to help the person who started the thread, I, too feel closest to God when I have been most inspired. The best music I have written I don't feel I can take all of the credit for. I only wish I had devoted my life to composition, so I could reach that state more often and could write truly great music. If you don't feel the same way when you write, then it is hard for me to imagine what composition is for you. that's all.
Actually, for anyone who cares to actually READ the book before categorically rejecting what Brahms and the others have to say based on a few small excerpts, that person will find that Brahms' theology is quite unusual (one conservative Christian musician friend of mine called Brahms a heretic after reading it ). He or she will also find much to inspire and amuse, particularly in the touching interview with Puccini.
Darcy James Argue wrote:
Come now, in the quoted comment, Brahms was full of shit, and since Raymond Horton nonetheless quoted him approvingly, David was quite right to call him out on that.
If Brahms had said "No Jew has ever been or will be a great composer" or "No African has ever been or will be a great composer" or "No woman has ever been or will be a great composer" I would sincerely hope that it would be relatively uncontroversial to point out that he was completely full of shit.
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