Inspired by Bach

Brahms’s Fourth Symphony sees him draw heavily on his fascination with Bach and the Baroque era. He weaves rhythms, harmonies and variation patterns straight from Bach into a work that is, somehow, entirely Brahmsian in character. And we meet in Schoenberg a composer who loved both Bach and Brahms (he dubbed the latter ‘the Progressive’ in a famous essay); Verklärte Nacht is partly inspired by Brahms, partly by Wagner, and is full of lush and passionate melody.