Part 2
It has been pointed out that Brahms's biographers disagree about the reception accorded the violin concerto at the première. Florence May quotes Dörffel, critic of the Leipziger Nachrichten, as follows: "Joachim played with a love and devotion which brought home to us in every measure the direct or indirect share he has had in the work. As to the reception, the first movement was too new to be distinctly appreciated by the audience, the second made considerable way, the last aroused great enthusiasm."
Max Kalbeck, a devotee of Brahms, declares: "The work was heard respectfully, but it did not awaken a particle of enthusiasm. It seemed that Joachim had not sufficiently studied the concerto or he was severely indisposed. Brahms conducted with visible excitement."
J. A. Fuller-Maitland emphasizes Brahms's going back to the tradition of the older concerto form in giving a long exposition of the material of the first movement before the entry of the solo instrument. "When the violin does come in, it is with a kind of breathless passage, on which there was some discussion between the composer and Joachim.
"We cannot fail to trace in the passages for solo the special points in which Joachim was without a rival, such as the handling of several parts and other things. The absence of the slightest trace of passages written for mere effect is as characteristic of the player as of the composer; and, like the other concertos, the work for violin is to be judged first and foremost as a composition, not as a means of display.
"Occasionally it may have happened that in the desire to avoid the meretricious Brahms allowed himself to make the violin part so harsh as almost to repel the general public at first; even in the short time since the death of Joachim, who was, of course, unrivalled in it, the work has come increasingly into favor with violinists, and nowadays even the prodigies are bold enough to attempt it."
The first movement of the concerto (Allegro non troppo, D major, 3-4) has a chief subject of idyllic nature, announced by violas, 'cellos, bassoons, and horns. The peak of the movement comes with the merging of the cadenza into the return of the first subject.
The second movement (Adagio, F major, 2-4) has been compared to a serenade or a romanza. The principal melody is sung first by an oboe, then in altered form by the solo violin,
which also introduces an emotional and highly ornamented second theme. After extended development the original melody comes back in the solo instrument.
The finale (Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace, D major, 2-4) is a rondo on three themes, demanding brilliant execution from the soloist. Compact in its formal body, the movement ends in an elaborate coda. Fuller-Maitland points out the Hungarian flavor of this finale, "as if a dedication to the great Hungarian violinist were conveyed in it."
"Academic Festival Overture," Op. 80
According to a plaque on the outer wall of a house at Ischl in Upper Austria, "the great tone poet Dr. Johannes Brahms" occupied the house for twelve summers. Indeed, Brahms had a marked fondness for Ischl. In spite of the fact that it was one of the most fashionable of spas and that he disliked fashionable life, his attachment to the town persisted, and in the aforesaid house, in the summer of 1880, he composed two overtures, the "Tragic" and the "Academic Festival." Notwithstanding the opus numbers, the "Tragic" was composed first and also performed first.
The origin of the "Academic Festival Overture" is explained by its name. The University of Breslau, on May 11, 1879, conferred on Brahms an honorary doctor's degree. Though not a university man, Brahms had had a taste of university life in 1853 when, with Remenyi, he had paid a visit to Joachim, who was then at Göttingen, the university bitingly satirized by Heine. There, during his stay of several weeks, he became familiar with the songs best liked by the students. Nearly three decades later the songs were present in his memory ready for use in an overture intended as the composer's tribute to the university honoring him.
Brahms himself conducted the first performance of the "Academic Festival Overture" on January 4, 1881, at Breslau, before an audience that included in the front seats the Rector and Senate of the University and members of the Philosophical Faculty. The honorary Doctor of Philosophy, so often mystifying and coy about a new composition, described the overture to Max Kalbeck, in the autumn of 1880, as a "very jolly potpourri on students' songs à la Suppé." When Kalbeck, a bit sarcastic, inquired whether he had used the "Fox Song" (a freshman song), he replied eagerly, "Yes, indeed!" Kalbeck, taken aback, declared that he could not think of such academic homage to the "leathery Herr Rektor." "That is also wholly unnecessary," answered Brahms.
Minus an introduction, the overture (Allegro, C minor, 2-2) begins immediately with the principal subject given out softly by the first violins. A quieter section follows, the melody in the violas. The first of the students' songs, "Wir hatten gebauet ein stättliches Haus" ("We had built a stately house, and trusted in God therein through bad weather, storm, and horror"), is impressively intoned by the three trumpets (C major, 4-4).
The second students' song, "Der Landesvater" ("The Father of the Country"), appears in E major in the second violins. The mood changes now to one of frank jollity with the ragging of the freshman. The "Fox Song," "Was kommt dort von der Höh" ("What Comes There From On High"), is introduced in G major by the two bassoons to an accompaniment of violas and 'cellos. The fourth and last students' song, "Gaudeamus Igitur," famous wherever there are students the world over, (Maestoso, C major, 3-4), is proclaimed by all the wind against rushing scales in the upper strings, ending the overture brilliantly.
"Tragic Overture," Op. 81
Although the "Tragic Overture" had a place on the program of the concert in Breslau at which Brahms, conducting, brought out the "Academic Festival Overture", the "Tragic" had already been played in Vienna at a Philharmonic Concert on December 20, 1880, under the direction of Hans Richter.
There has long been discussion as to what tragedy this overture sets forth. It has been called "a tragedy not of actual happenings but of soul life. No hero, no event, suggested program music or any specific musical portrayal, although Hanslick says that if it be necessary to associate the overture with a particular tragedy, that tragedy is 'Hamlet'." The Hamletians identify the second theme, in F, with Ophelia and the episode in B-flat with Fortinbras.
It has also been said that though the composer denied that in writing this work he had any specific tragedy in mind, he may have received the impulse from a production of Goethe's "Faust" given by Franz von Dingelstedt in 1876 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, especially since Dingelstedt had asked Brahms to consider supplying incidental music and Brahms, it is said, had consented. To some, then, this is a Faust overture.
Perhaps it is best to allow the overture to stand by itself untroubled by the hazards of literary identification. Heinrich Reimann finds in it the grandeur, the loftiness, the deep earnestness of tragic character, "Calamities, which an inexorable fate had imposed on him, leave the hero guilty; the tragic downfall atones for the guilt; this downfall, which by purifying the passions and awakening fear and pity works on the race at large, brings expiation and redemption to the hero himself."
Another biographer of Brahms, Dr. Hermann Deiters, sums up the essence as follows: "In this work we see a strong hero battling with an iron and relentless fate; passing hopes of victory cannot alter an impending destiny. We do not care to inquire whether the composer has a special tragedy in his mind, or if so, which one; those who remain musically unconvinced by the unsurpassably powerful theme would not be assisted by a particular suggestion."
The overture opens (Allegro ma non troppo, D minor, 2-2) with two fortissimo chords, after which the strings give out the first theme. The quieter second theme is uttered by the violins. A more moderate section, in part new and in part derived from earlier material, suggested to Grove a funeral march.
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in B-flat Major, No.2, Op. 83
It took Brahms some time to complete his second piano concerto. The first sketches were made on May 6, 1878, at Pörtschach on the Wörthersee in southern Austria, but the work was not finished till the summer of 1881, when he gave it the finishing touches at Pressbaum, near Vienna.
On the day of completion he wrote to his friends the Herzogenbergs with his customary misleading humor: "I don't mind telling you that l have written a tiny, tiny piano concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo." A few days later he sent the four movements of the work to another friend, Dr. Theodor Billroth, telling him, "I am sending you some small piano pieces."
In October Hans von Bülow, then director of the Meiningen Orchestra, conducted at Brahms's request a rehearsal of the concerto with Brahms as pianist. The first public performance took place in Budapest at the Redoutensaal on November 9, 1881. Alexander Erkel was the conductor.
This "tiny, tiny piano concerto" or group of "some small piano pieces," as you prefer, is really a concerto of exceptional dimensions. Not only has it the three usual movements of the classical concerto, each large in plan, but a highly developed scherzo (though it does not bear that name).
The first movement (Allegro non troppo, B-flat major, 4-4) begins with the initial statement of the first subject in dialogue for horn, piano, and woodwind.
A cadenza for the piano leads to a tutti, in which both the first and the second subjects are given full play. The development section is long and elaborate.
The fiery scherzo (Allegro appassionato, F major, 3-4) Max Kalbeck believed had been written for the violin concerto and then discarded. The piano gives out the first theme fortissimo. The strings sing the second theme tranquillo e dolce.
After a trio in D major, the first part is repeated, but much altered.
The third movement (Andante, B-flat major, 6-4) opens with an expressive melody, given first to a solo 'cello (an instrument that has a particularly important part in this movement), which resembles Brahms's song "Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer," not written, however, till 1886. A second melody, introduced by piano and clarinet in F sharp, recalls another song by Brahms, "Todessehnen," written in 1878. The first melody comes back in the 'cello and dominates the coda, against trills and arpeggios in the piano.
The finale (Allegretto grazioso, B flat major, 2-4) is a rondo on a grand scale, the first of whose three themes follows:
Symphony in F Major, No. 3, Op. 90
Brahms finished the third of his symphonies at Wiesbaden in the summer of 1883. In October he returned to Vienna with the completed score, which he immediately took to Hans Richter, by that time the conductor of nearly everything in Vienna. Richter brought it out at a Philharmonic Concert on December 2. The reception was mixed. Though Brahms's adherents applauded fervently, groups of Wagnerian followers of Anton Bruckner and Hugo Wolf were there to hiss, and hiss they did! It remains for Berlin, where Joachim conducted the second performance of it anywhere at an Academy Concert on January 4, 1884, to bestow the "unqualified approval" that Brahms had written Hans von Bülow he desired.
Such was the enthusiasm in Berlin that Brahms himself conducted two more performances of the symphony there later in the month, and he also conducted it successfully at Wiesbaden on January 18. The triumph of triumphs, however, came at Meiningen on February 4, when Bülow actually led the work twice through at the same concert, and the repetition won an even greater ovation than the first performance. Before the year 1884 was out the Third Symphony had been performed in many places on the Continent, in England, and in the United States, and always with acclaim. Yet it annoyed Brahms that many critics should pronounce this symphony by far the best of his compositions. Expectations that he feared would not be fulfilled were thus aroused, for Brahms, with all his background of achievement, had in his nature a streak of incorrigible modesty.
The adjective "heroic" has often been associated with the Third Symphony of Brahms, as in its Italian form "eroica," it is attached to the Third Symphony of Beethoven. Indeed, Richter, in a toast, christened this symphony, while it was still in manuscript, Brahms's "Eroica." Hanslick, though concurring with Richter, points out that the heroic quality is limited to the first and the last movements. This "heroic" element, however, "is without any warlike flavor; it leads to no tragic action, such as the Funeral March in Beethoven's 'Eroica.' It recalls in its musical character the healthy and full vigor of Beethoven's second period, and nowhere the singularities of his last period; and every now and then in passages quivers the romantic twilight of Schumann and Mendelssohn."
So much for Richter and Hanslick. Joachim discovered a different heroism in the finale--nothing less than the valiant fable of those antique lovers, Hero and Leander! The second subject, in C major, with its rhythmic conflict between four quarter notes to the measure and two groups of triplets, he identified with the ardent swimmer battling victoriously against the waves of the Hellespont.
Another view of the work is taken by Clara Schumann. She called it a "forest idyl," saying specifically of the second movement: "I feel as though I were watching the worshippers round a little woodland chapel, the rippling of the brooklet, the play of beetles and gnats--there is such a swarming and whispering round about that one feels all surrounded with the joys of nature."
The first movement (Allegro con brio, F major, 6-4) begins with a motto theme which at once suggests its heroic character and recurs frequently. It consists of three great ascending chords for horns, trumpets, and woodwind, the top voice of which, F, A-flat, F, is said to be emblematic of the "Frei aber froh" ("Free but happy") that Brahms had chosen as his personal motto. These three notes are then used immediately as the bass against which the real first subject comes streaming downwards in the violins.
The second subject, in A major, is of a gracefully lyric quality. Just before it enters there is an apparent allusion to the Venusberg scene in "Tannhäuser"--"Naht euch dem Strande, naht euch dem Lande"--which Hugo Riemann insists is an intentional tribute to Wagner, who died while the symphony was taking shape in Brahms's mind.
The second movement (Andante, C major, 4-4) opens with a hymnlike theme, giving out by clarinets and bassoons, which hints at a prayer heard in the overture and again in the finale of Herold's opera "Zampa."
A second theme, in G major, with its typical Brahmsian octaves and its air of hushed mystery, sustains Mme. Schumann's woodland comparison.
The third movement (Poco allegretto, C minor, 3-8) is not a scherzo, but a romanza touched with melancholy. The first section is followed by a trio of similar mood, after which the first section is repeated with changed orchestration.
The finale (Allegro, F minor, 4-4) starts softly but menacingly in the strings and bassoons. Subsidiary material is employed before we hear the subject that caused Joachim to think of Leander conquering the Grecian waters. Whether or not Brahms had such an idea in mind, this finale is a colossal struggle between titanic powers, culminating in a tremendous climax. Then peace and the major mode. With respect to this tranquil coda Hanslick remarks: "The raging ocean waves calm down to a mysterious whisper. In an enigmatic strangeness, in marvellous beauty, the whole thing dies away...."
Symphony in E-Minor, No. 4, Op. 98
When this symphony was brought out at Meiningen, under the direction of Hans von Bülow, on October 25, 1885, there was a great deal of discussion about the choice of key and actually some dismay. E minor as the key for a symphony was looked at askance, even though Haydn and Raff had both used it. The suggestion has been made that Brahms picked out E minor because of its "pale, wan character, to express the deepest melancholy." This key has also been described as "dull in color, shadowy, suggestive of solitude and desolation."
Haydn perhaps felt strongly the key's doleful implications, for his E minor symphony is the "Symphony of Mourning." Raff's E minor symphony, on the other hand, is by no means the autumnal affair that Brahms's has been called. Its title, "In Summer," tells us that!
Whatever the motives may have been that determined Brahms's choice, it fell on E minor, and he proceeded to compose. The work was written at Mürz-zu-Schlag in Styria in the summers of 1884 and 1885. And at Mürz-zu-Schlag in the latter year the manuscript was endangered by fire. Brahms had gone out for a walk. On his return he found that the house where he lodged was burning. Fortunately he had devoted friends there who were rushing his papers out of the building. Brahms pitched in with the rest and helped get the fire under control. The precious manuscript was saved.
Brahms, in spite of his mature years and all the important work that he had put to his credit, was again somewhat timid about a new symphony. In a letter to Hans von Bülow he described it, oddly enough, as "a couple of entr'actes"; he also termed it "a choral work without text." Yet he was eager for opinions from such valued friends as Elisabeth von Herzogenberg and Clara Schumann. He felt that the symphony had failed to please a group of men, including Hanslick, Billroth, Richter, Kalbeck, to whom he had played a four-hand piano version with Ignaz Brüll. To Kalbeck he said: "If persons like Billroth, Hanslick, and you do not like my music, whom _will_ it please?" Had he forgotten Elisabeth and Clara?
The audience that heard the Meiningen première liked the symphony. Indeed, a vain effort was made to have the scherzo repeated. Nevertheless, the symphony was slow in winning general favor. In Vienna, where Brahms resided, it disappointed his friends and delighted his enemies. Hugo Wolf, an arch-enemy, was then writing musical criticism. He devoted a bitter article to the work, in particular poking fun at the key--at last a symphony in E minor! Brahms's friends, on the contrary, celebrated the key, in order, it is said, to help cover up their disappointment in the music. It was usual to hear the symphony called grim, austere, forbidding, granitic. However, eventually it made its way, and now there are those who would rank it first among its author's four.
The initial theme of the first movement (Allegro non troppo, E minor, 4-4), given out by the violins answered by flutes, clarinets, and bassoons, is of a thoughtful and somewhat mournful character, but it could hardly be termed forbidding. Rather it invites to meditation. The second theme, introduced by the wind instruments, is harmonically and rhythmically one of Brahms's most fascinating inspirations. Some undiscourageable seekers after resemblances have discovered a likeness in the thirteenth and fourteenth measures to a passage in the second act of Puccini's opera "Tosca," which followed the symphony after fifteen years. Such resemblances are often mere coincidences.
The second movement (Andante moderato, E major, 6-8), with its unearthly melody announced in the Phrygian mode by the horns, to be taken up immediately by oboes, bassoons, and flutes,
has been called the most hauntingly beautiful page in all of Brahms. Of this section Elisabeth von Herzogenberg wrote to the composer: "The Andante has the freshness and distinction of character with which only you could endow it, and even you have had recourse for the first time to certain locked chambers of your soul."
Kalbeck, who finds that the whole symphony pictures the tragedy of human life, compares the Andante to a waste and ruined field, like the Campagna (as it then was) near Rome. But in the ensuing scherzo (Allegro giocoso, C major, 4-4) he sees the Carnival at Milan. The finale reminds him of a passage in the "Oedipus Coloneus" of Sophocles: "Not to have been born at all is superior to every other view of the question." Yet there are those who deny the pessimistic interpretation; who find a rugged, full-blooded vigor in the finale as well as in the scherzo, and who attribute the more specifically thoughtful portions of the work to the reactions inevitable to any sensitive and meditative spirit.
Be all that as it may, the finale (Allegro energico e passionato, E minor, 3-4) is of special interest because it is cast in the classic form of the passacaglia or chaconne. It is built up on a majestic theme eight measures long, a noble progression of chords, which recurs thirty-one times, appearing in the high, middle, and low voices alternately.
As to the distinction between those old, patrician dance forms, passacaglia and chaconne, the doctors remain in absolute contradiction, some maintaining a chaconne to be what the others define as a passacaglia, and vice versa.
The curious may be interested to know that Simrock, the music publisher, is said to have paid Brahms 40,000 marks for the symphony--the equivalent in 1885 of $10,000.
Incidentally, the E minor symphony was the last of Brahms's compositions that their author heard performed in public. It was played at a Philharmonic Concert in Vienna on March 7, 1897, less than a month before his death. This was the last concert that Brahms, already fatally ill, ever attended. Miss Florence May in her "Life of Brahms" gives an affecting account of the occasion:
"The fourth symphony had never become a favorite work in Vienna. Received with reserve on its first performance, it had not since gained much more from the general public of the city than the respect sure to be accorded there to an important work by Brahms. Today, however, a storm of applause broke out at the end of the first movement, not to be quieted until the composer, coming to the front of the artists' box in which he was seated, showed himself to the audience. The demonstration was renewed after the second and third movements, and an extraordinary scene followed the conclusion of the work.
"The applauding, shouting house, its gaze riveted on the figure standing in the balcony, so familiar and yet in present aspect so strange, seemed unable to let him go. Tears ran down his cheeks as he stood there, shrunken in form, with lined countenance, strained expression, white hair hanging lank: and through the audience there was a feeling as of a stifled sob, for each knew that they were saying farewell. Another outburst of applause and yet another; one more acknowledgment from the master; and Brahms and his Vienna had parted forever." He died on April 3, 1897.
Concerto for Violin, Violoncello, and Orchestra in A Minor, Op. 102
After the Fourth Symphony Brahms wrote only one more work in which he employed the orchestra, the double concerto for violin and 'cello. Thenceforth until his death his creative activity was devoted to chamber music, piano compositions, and songs for chorus or for solo voice.