With the publication of the two Clarinet Sonatas, our master's career is all but closed, and closed as we would have it. The more familiar they become, the more firmly will they root themselves, as we believe, in the affection of the lovers of his music. The fresh, bounding imagination of youth is, indeed, not in them, nor would we wish it to be there; but both works are pervaded by a warmth and glow as of sunset radiance, which, reflecting the spirit of the composer as he was when he wrote them, fill the mind of the listener with a sense of the mellow beauty, the rich pathos, the unwavering sincerity of his art. To compare the two sonatas one with the other is unnecessary. We prefer simply to commend them to the study of those of our readers to whom they are not entirely familiar, holding them, as we do, to be amongst the especially lovable examples of the late period of Brahms' art. [73] _Neue Freie Presse_, June, 1897. [74] Spengel's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 8. [75] _Neue Freie Presse_, June 29, 1897. [76] Billroth's Briefe. [77] _Neue Freie Presse_, July 1, 1897. [78] Published in Steiner's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 29. [79] Published in Reimann's 'Johannes Brahms,' p. 117. [80] The theme is the one alluded to on p. 156 of our first volume. N.B. On the occasion of Schumann's opera 'Genoveva' being put into rehearsal at the Hanover court theatre in 1874, Brahms, with Frau Schumann's approval, added a few bars to the close of Siegfried's song in the third act. These do not appear, however, in the pianoforte score of the work included in the complete edition. [81] See Appendix No. I. [82] Widmann's 'Recollections.' [83] Steiner, p. 33. CHAPTER XXII 1895-1897 The Meiningen Festival--Visit to Frau Schumann--Festival at Zürich--Brahms in Berlin--The 'Four Serious Songs'--Geheimrath Engelmann's visit to Ischl--Frau Schumann's death--Brahms' illness--He goes to Carlsbad--The Joachim Quartet in Vienna--Brahms' last Christmas--Brahms and Joachim together for the last time--The Vienna Philharmonic concert of March 7--Last visits to old friends--Brahms' death.