A Choral Symphony by Brahms? Author(S): Christopher Reynolds Source: 19Th-Century Music, Vol

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A Choral Symphony by Brahms? Author(s): Christopher Reynolds Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Summer, 1985), pp. 3-25 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746238 Accessed: 05/06/2009 18:00

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http://www.jstor.org A Choral Symphony by Brahms?

CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS

In meinen Tdnen spreche ich.

-Johannes Brahmsto ClaraSchumann. (September1868)

Until the last few years Brahms the musical Siegfried Kross and Constantin Floros stress the poet and Brahms the taciturn friend of Clara poetic aspects of Brahms's compositional aes- were seen as two sides of one musical coin. thetic, by examining the influence of Schu- Post-Romantic commentary was comfortable mann;1 Allen Forte, from a theoretical perspec- with an image of Brahms as a composer whose tive, argues that Brahms portrayed Clara throttled feelings found therapeutic release in Schumann with motivic and tonal emphases of music usually termed "absolute" in order to the pitches C, A, and Eb (Es);2 and investigations distinguish it from works with extra-musical by A. Peter Brown, Michael Musgrave, and Eric and programmatic associations. But lately, Sams, among others, dwell on Brahms's use of armed with quotations from Brahms's letters motivic mottos to represent people, experi- and the recollections of his friends and ac- ences, and ideas.3 Sams attaches particular im- quaintances, scholars from diverse back- portance to his association of the motive C-B- grounds have begun to chip away at the graven A-G#-A with Clara, a motive featured in image of Brahms as a paragon of absolute music. compositions by Schumann, Brahms, and Clara Among those participating in the ongoing re- herself. This, he believes, is the "bodily" repre- valuation, George Bozarth classifies several in- sentation of Clara that Brahms perceived in the strumental Andantes as "songs without words" "trill passage" from the Andante of Schumann's for their dependence on unprinted texts, while C-Major Symphony.4 Sams also links this Clara theme as it in C minor at the ? the appears beginning 19th-CenturyMusic IX/1 (Summer 1985). by Regents of the Piano to one of the few of the University of Califoria. Notes to this article are on Quartet, op. 60, pp. 24-25. anecdotal references Brahms made to his own

3 19TH extra-musical associations (see motive x in ex. to the first movement of the First Piano Con- CENTURY 1). By his admission this work was written (ca. certo in D Minor, op. 15, specifically to the ap- 1855) by a man driven to the point of shooting parent extra-musical associations of the first himself, "a man in blue and yellow," an allu- movement. Kalbeck traces the origins of the sion to the colors worn by Goethe's Werther, first movement to a sonata for two pianos writ- who shot himself because he had fallen in love. ten in response to Schumann's suicide attempt with the wife of a man he admired.5 in 1854. Identifying his source as a personal But because Brahms left so little first-hand communication from Joachim, Kalbeck makes evidence about his working methods, and be- the connection with some of his most energetic cause he decided against publishing works with prose (see also ex. 2). programmatictitles, some scholars harbora lin- gering disinclination to acknowledge the pres- The magnificentbeginning of the D-MinorCon- ence of mottos and extra-musical allusions in certo,with its pedalpoints insistentlypounded by his music. The over two well-known the timpani,with its first gesturereaching out in disputes fearsomeleaps and then recedingin a trill which claims made by Brahms's biographer and ac- unitesthe orchestrain an elementalshudder, was all quaintance, Max Kalbeck, are representative. born of Schumann'sunsuccessful suicidal plunge Kalbeckis our sole source of information on the into the Rhine.8 musical motto "F-A-F," representing "Frei aber Froh" ("free, but happy"), which Brahms Karl Geiringer, following the lead of Gustav reputedlydevised as a complement to the motto Ernest, deems this account improbable.Instead of Joseph Joachim, namely "F-A-E," for "Frei of such "ratherfantastic attempts at interpreta- aber einsam" ("free, but lonely").6 Yet while tion,"9 he prefers to uphold the absolutist line Joachim's motto has ample documentation in and view the movement as inspired by the stud- letters between Joachim, Brahms, and Schu- ies of Bach that Brahms was pursuing at the mann, Brahms's has none. Michael Musgrave time. thereforequestions the veracity of Kalbeck'sas- The remains of this sonata-turned-sym- sertion, citing the lack of corroboratingtesti- phony preserve the clearest indications of mony from Brahms himself or from any mem- Brahms's use of extra-musical allusion. After bers of his inner circle.7 Musgrave bases his abandoningfirst the D-Minor Sonata and then objection on two unstated assumptions: that its symphonic reincarnation, Brahms retained Brahms made a practice of informing his close the original representations of Schumann in the friends about his compositional practices, and musical offspring of the 1854 work-the First that these close friends would divulge all of Piano Concerto and the German Requiem. At what they knew. There is reason to doubt both. least one movement from each composition de- The other disputed claim of Kalbeckpertains rives from the early work, the concerto its first

Allegro non troppo x ,I i I L X 1 11 1 Vt 1i1 - I I I IV II I I I - ,^ '^^.^^^- l x Example 1: Brahms,op. 60, 1, mm. 3-7.

Maestoso . * A -~ I - .

_ "ortt^ _ "Woyo J^^

- ff. 1 Example 2: Brahms, op. 15, I, mm. 1-10. 4 and the Requiem its second. As a result of this with authority. But the letters also indicate no CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS common origin there are distinct relationships such exposure to the other movements until A Brahms between the Requiem and the piano concerto, they were in concerto form. Albert Dietrich, the Choral relationships which bear on the previously un- lone source of information for the second move- Symphony identified third movement of the Ur-sonata, as ment, indicates that he recognized the second well as on Brahms's inability to finish the movement of the Requiem as the "slow scherzo fourth movement of the symphony. in the tempo of a sarabande"from the sonata for two pianos Brahms had written under the in- II fluence of the Schumann tragedy.'4 Even Brahms's two-piano sonata underwent two though he had played through the first three metamorphoses in less than a year. Working movements with Clara, neither Dietrich nor quickly in what was certainly an emotionally anyone else could identify a later arrangement charged atmosphere, Brahms prepared three of the third movement. movements within nine days of Schumann's at- Only after Schumann's death (29 July 1856) tempted suicide (27 February1854). Julius Otto did Brahmsmake rapidprogress toward comple- Grimm praised the new work highly to Joachim tion. December brought a flurry of activity. Af- on 9 March, just five days after Schumann left ter Joachim sent Brahmshis critique of the first Diisseldorf for the asylum at Endenich.10By the movement early in the month, Brahms recipro- end of July the sonata had become a symphony, cated by mailing Joachim the finale in mid- and Brahmsconferred with Grimm and Joachim month and the Adagio in early January,along over problems of orchestrating the first move- with a freshly revised first movement. The Ada- ment. After Joachim wrote back (5 September) gio was new, evidently replacing the original to compliment this movement and to express scherzo once the outer movements had taken his interest in seeing the next two, Brahms's shape. Clara had already noted the completion only response was a chiding "As usual you've of the first movement in her diary on 18 Octo- looked at my symphony movement with rose- ber: "Johanneshas finished his concerto move- colored glasses," and a vow to improve the ment. We have played it several times on two movement." Up to this point Joachim appears pianos."'5 Only after Christmas did Brahms to have seen only the first movement. Brahms write Clara (30 December) of the new slow then stagnated,for the next notice of the work is movement: "I am painting a gentle portrait of a perfunctory reference several months later in you which will then be the Adagio."16 a letter to Schumann (30 January1855): "By the Although written months after Schumann's way, I spent all of last summer trying to write a death and nearly three years after the suicide at- symphony; the first movement was even or- tempt, Brahms's "gentle portrait"nevertheless chestrated, and the second and third composed. provides the surest means of identifying the ex- (In D minor 6 slow)."12Little more than a week tra-musical allusions in the 1854 sonata-sym- elapsed before the second transformation. As phony. In the autograph of the concerto this Brahms announced in a letter to Clara, during Adagio bears the famous citation from the the night of 7 Februaryhe had a dream: "I had Mass, "Benedictus, qui venit, in nomine changedmy unfortunate symphony into a piano Domini!"'7 Kalbeck made the association be- concerto and played it. [Iplayed] the first move- tween Dominus and Schumann, recalling the ment and scherzo and a finale, exceedingly dif- custom of Brahms, Joachim, and other inti- ficult and long. I was completely enraptured."'3 mates, of addressing Schumann as "Mynheer There is no further mention of the symphony or Domine. "18Kalbeck therefore read the Benedic- concerto after this vision until April 1856, tus verse as signaling Brahms's assumption of when Brahms once again turned to Joachim for the Schumann mantle: he, Brahms, came in the advice on the first movement, now of the piano name of Robert to care for all that had been concerto. Schumann's. The letters solidly establish Joachim'sfamil- Subsequent interpretations of the citation iarity with the first movement. When he speaks have, with one exception, accepted Kalbeck's of the origins of the first movement of the con- equation of Dominus with Schumann, but dif- certo in the earlier sonata-symphony, he speaks fered on the presumed message. The exception, 5 19TH offered by Siegfried Kross, posits instead an allu- the first of Clara's wedding anniversaries (12 CENTURY MUSIC sion to the E.T.A. Hoffmann character Jo- September) and birthdays (13 September) cele- hannes Kreisler, Brahms's self-proclaimed al- brated without Robert, days that spurred the ter-ego.19 Others have suggested that the first exchange of letters between the Schu- inscription indicates that the Adagio was de- manns since Robert had moved to Endenich. On rived from a lost mass movement, that there is the day of their wedding anniversary Clara re- Messianic symbolism, and, heeding Brahms's ceived a letter from Robert's doctor conveying "gentle portrait" remark, that the one who Robert's wish for a letter. She responded with comes in nomine Domini is Clara.20 two, one that mentioned the pair of anniversa- My interpretation also accepts the identifica- ries, and one that did not, in case the doctor felt tion of Schumann as Dominus and the designa- Robert should be spared the memories. The doc- tion of Clara as the object of the inscription. tor delivered the first, and the response arrived However, a reading of the verse faithful to on 15 September. Brahms sent Joachim this Brahms's intent must translate in nomine vivid account: Domini as "within the name of the Lord," rather than the traditional It has She opened the letter and could hardly mumble to rendering. ap- " unnoticed that Brahms builds his me: "frommy husband; Fora long time she couldn't parently gone read.But then, what unspeakablejoy! She looked like graceful and gentle Adagio melody on a founda- the F-major3 movement in the finale of Fidelio. I tion of the passionate leaps from the first move- can't describe it any other way.22 ment (ex. 3). He constructs a theme within a theme, underscoring the notes of the Maestoso From the standpoints of drama and music, the motive (transposed up a major third) by letting moment is well chosen. Leonora's efforts to free them resound for at least a half note.21 The rep- her husband Florestan (one of Schumann's per- resentation cryptically acknowledged in the sonae) from his captivity and impending death Benedictus verse therefore equates Robert have prevailed. Over the joyous exclamations of Schumann with the longer notes from the first the reunited couple, Beethoven gives the mel- movement and Clara with the quarter notes. ody to the first oboe, accompanied by sustained Brahms provides additional evidence for this winds and horns (ex. 4). interpretation in another musical depiction of Brahms turned to Beethoven for this image of Clara from the fall of 1854. He was present at Clara, an image expressed in words to Joachim,

Maestoso y^r T J r r

'- Adagio: ' .N L_ r

_ legato p press.-e ._etc.i

Example 3: Brahms, op. 15, II, mm. 1-5, with relationship to movt. I.

Sostenuto assai

Example 4: Beethoven, Fidelio, finale. 6 CHRISTOPHER Zeimlich langsam ( J = 66) REYNOLDS - A Brahms rU Choral Symphony ' g. b- - r Ez ri/f g f~iFP

Example 5: Schumann, Nachtlied, op. 108, mm. 1-4.

and in music in the first notes of the "gentle por- tonic pedal begun in m. 1, and each line is car- trait" he presented to Clara. As in Beethoven's ried by strings (violas in the Schumann, violins finale, the melody of Brahms'sAdagio leaps up a and cellos in the Brahms). As in the case of fourth and steps downward through a seventh Brahms's Fidelio model for Clara, the spirit of to rest on A before moving on. In both composi- the text is also relevant. Hebbel's poem (see Ap- tions the melody is supported by a pedal and is pendix I) portrays a figure in the final stages of encased by the leap of a descending fourth; in life, who, oppressedby impending death, is nev- the Adagio this fourth constitutes the first two ertheless resigned to it. In the deepening intro- framingnotes of the Maestoso theme (D and A), version of his final years Schumann drew his while in Fidelio the fourth (F-C) is announced "protective circle" tightly aroundhim, until af- by the oboe in the first three bars of the finale as ter the suicidal outburst he required the isola- an introduction to the melody. When this tion of an asylum. theme returns toward the end of the Adagio, The differences between the concerto and Brahmsalludes to his Beethovenian source still Nachtlied themes-Brahms eliminated the more obviously by scoring the melody for solo passing tones and emphasized the F in the de- oboe. He even prefigures the Adagio melody in scent rather than the G-seem designed to en- the first movement of the concerto, when he hance the similarity between B'rahms'snew sets the oboe solo in Beethoven's key, F major theme and one Schumann had used with subtle (mm. 151ff.).23 This interpretation of the Bene- permutations in three other D-minor composi- dictus citation implies that Brahms associated tions. Chronologically the first among the gen- Schumann with the opening motive of the con- eral relationships is with the main theme of certo before he wrote the new Adagio. In so do- Schumann's Symphony No. 4 in D Minor (writing it contributes musical substantiation to Joa- ten 1841, revised 1851), which is presented in chim's recollection that the Maestoso was exs. 6a and 6b as it appearsin the first and last written in connection with Schumann's break- movements. down. It shares with the Maestoso theme an arpeg- The depiction of Schumann, like that of gio emphasizing the pitches D and F; each pitch Clara, also has a source outside Brahms's own is struck twice one octave apart, thereby span- music. Brahms drew Clarafrom Beethoven, but ning the same minor tenth. Later, when the his Dominus representation apparently came theme returns to begin the finale, Schumann from Schumann. The arpeggiatedfive-note mo- supportsit with a Bbin the low strings and clari- tive which begins the concerto has specific and nets. This arpeggio also appears in the first general relationships to several of Schumann's movement of the Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Mi- D-minor themes. The specific thematic rela- nor (1851), as the bridge theme (ex. 6c), and tionship is to Schumann's short and foreboding again in the first theme of the 1853 Overture to setting of FriedrichHebbel's Nachtlied, op. 108 Scenes from Goethe's Faust (ex. 6d). Further- (1849),for chorus and orchestra (compareexs. 5 more, though they are in C minor ratherthan D, and 2). In both the arpeggiatedtenth grows out I include in this group the first-movement of a line begun on Bb,the Bbenters in m. 2 over a themes of Brahms'sString Quartet No. 1 and his 7 19TH Symphony No. 1, which also encompass a seeks to depict Clara within the confines of a CENTURY tenth, repeating thirds in adjacent octaves as in Schumann portrayal. the First Piano Concerto. When Brahms decided to compose a new slow movement for his concerto, not all aspects a. Schumann, Symphony in D Minor, I, m. 29. of the rejected movement needed reworking. Lebhaft Although he changed the key from Bb minor to -ib D major, the meter from 3 to 6, and the mood from funereal to serene, other principles of the scherzo survived. Among these are the b. Schumann, in D m. 1. presence Symphony Minor, IV, of basic musical connections with the first Langsam X movement, connections sufficiently strong to have endured subsequent revisions made to ib J 11^- j each. The beginnings of the Maestoso of the concerto and the second movement of the Re- c. Schumann,Violin Sonatain D Miror, I, mm. 44-45. quiem share the following succession of events: Lebhaft each commences with the tonic sounded in the

-J I ^X t l ^ lower strings; each has a melodic line that descends from VI; the initial ambitus of both first themes is a minor tenth (ex. 7); the first theme d. Schumann,Faust Overture,m. 16. quickly serves as the accompaniment for an- Etwas Bewegter other (in op. 15, m. 25; in op. 45, m. 22); and the e first modulation is to 6VI. $b:.71 C - .,r 7F G The scherzo and its G6 -major trio also carry extra-musical associations like those of the 6 Example Benedictus quotation in the Adagio of the concerto. The trio resembles portions of Schu- III mann's oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri, par- Ever since Kalbeck published his biography, ticularly the B-major finale of part II, "Schlaf' Joachim's recollection of the origin of the Maes- nun und ruhe," and the codetta figure associ- toso and Brahms's Benedictus inscription for ated with falling tears because of its appearance the Adagio have prompted extra-musical asso- with the words "O heil'ge Thrdnen." Example 8 ciations for those movements. The Requiem places the conclusion of the trio alongside the has largely escaped these claims, aside from the last appearance of the codetta in the oratorio. commonplace assertion that the deaths of Schu- This long-sustained tonic triad with its final de- mann (1856) and of Brahms's mother (1865) in- scending third occurs three times in Peri, once spired progressive stages of the work. According to end part I and again to conclude movements to Albert Dietrich's testimony the funeral 13 and 24. Later Brahms placed it throughout the march "Denn alles Fleisch" is the oldest move- Requiem; it closes movements 1, 2, 4, and 7, as ment, originating as the slow instrumental well as the trio. The rest of the trio has much in scherzo in the sonata-symphony. I believe that, common with the solo and chorus "Schlaf' nun like the Maestoso which preceded it in the 1854 undruhe." The triadic main themes enter with- work, this movement also has musical refer- out introduction (ex. 9); and then with every ences to Schumann; and that, like the Adagio repetition, the first note is either suspended that replaced it in the 1856 concerto, it also from the preceding bar (compare exs. 9b and

Langsam, marschmissig Y Y a b IAX V -1T 1 4 V- N-; legato ma in poco marc.

Example 7: Brahms, op. 45, II, mm. 2-8. 8 a. Brahms,op. 45, II, mm. 119-23 CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS A Brahms Choral Symphony So seid ge- dul- dig. y9 6LiXf^H r r r

b. Schumann, Das Paradies und die Peri, no. 24, conclusion.

08 8-e 8-'-8 o--ge Th - nen. -- 0 heil'- - ge Thra- - nen. " !:t Q " rr- et"-"? -ML

Example 8

a. Brahms,op. 45, II, mm. 74-78.

ptdolce

So seid nun ge- dul- ig, lieben Brii- der, vbbb X >A r r r r r r f

b. Schumann, Das Paradies, no. 17, mm. 1-8.

Example 9 lOa)or is brought in on the cadential resolution The text and dramatic import of "Schlaf' nun of the previous phrase. Also, the phrases leading und ruhe" provided Brahms with an image of a to the varied repeat of the opening A section loving and faithful wife comparable to the one both feature a hemiola and the same chromatic he was later to describe in the 3 finale of Fidelio. cadential pattern (ex. 10), a V of V chord in In part II of the oratorio, the fallen spirit Peri which the leading tone resolves downward to seeks a gift with which to win her reentry into become the seventh of V7.At the return of the A Paradise.Having alreadyfailed in partI with her section, the previously homophonic accompa- offering of the last drop of a hero's blood, Peri's niment is subdivided, into triplet sixteenths in next gift was the final gasp of a woman who sac- the Schumann, staccato eighths in the Brahms. rificed her own life to be with her dying hus-

9 19TH a. Brahms,op. 45, I, mm. 100-08. CENTURY - MUSIC I I[ I s ------frbS 'F: iI IPfpdolTce^d I _ r- p

der Er- de und ist ge- dul- -- dig dar- i- ber,

kost- li- che Frucht der Er- de und ist ge- dul- dig dar- ii- ber, rb ~ rI dolce r r , IJ- , ;r'r 7 I FI 'ti', kost- li-r_ che Frucht. der Er- de und ist ge- dul- - - dig dar- ii- ber,

b- bbb fC|f IJ s|- . ^w i^rTL ^rrt' r u - rliT--i IfPdolce- ^rnr' k6st- li- che Frucht der Er- de und ist ge- dul- dig dar-

- tbbbJbb" i. AJ J > i IdP j ;t2 t

b. Schumann,Das Paradies, no. 17, mm. 27-32.

-_ I _ I - :t,l;[,1, Ie I i Hr

v~F"37 V7 V7 3 ~~~oofV " ' 9:~nnqtl- I I I I -Ir i J J m---Ii . i l -

band.mayBrahms have been struck by the obvi- sion of part II,Schlaf Pes lullabyru-nun und he in < - crs I liksJ E-di dim. Pa- d ousbetween parallels the doomed addresses t wife as "the truest, the ?f.PP ..?:? '* F irrhusbanun ' U ruhe"und rf he r; rr of V ~~~~~~~~lifec n w aka a ep sprach's, i dSie und Example 10 crachievedthe same end in a river. At the conclu- Clara it has one important difference with

band. Brahms~~~~~~V7107 may have been struck by the obvi- sion of part II, Peri's lullaby "Schlaf' nun und ous parallels between the doomed husband, ruhe" addresses the wife as "the truest, the who had attempted to flee his wife and end his most loving heart." (Text and translation ap- life by a lake, and Schumann, who had nearly pear in Appendix II.) As a potential depiction of achieved the same end in a river. At the conclu- Clara it has one important difference with 10 Brahms's later allusion to Leonora. Unlike lier account-the only one to quote Brahms di- CHRISTOPHER this wife was unable to save her hus- the REYNOLDS Leonora, rectly-Ochs only deduced identity from A Brahms band. Yet because of the difference the associa- Brahms's clue, "It is a well-known chorale." Choral tion fits well with the probable textual refer- Aside from Michael Musgrave no one has ques- Symphony ence in the scherzo. tioned Ochs's recollections; and Musgrave, af- Brahms partially identified the thematic ter a lengthy discussion of the apparent conflict source of the funeral march of the scherzo. In a between the two accounts, ultimately accepts foreword to the Eulenburg score of the Re- the identification of Wer nur den lieben Gott, quiem, written about the turn of the century, reasoning that "of all the chorales which the conductor Siegfried Ochs reported a conver- Brahms might reasonably have regarded as well sation with Brahms about the use of a chorale known, none seems as close to these passages as melody in the first two movements of the Re- the melody in question."26 quiem: "If you can't hear it," he remembered In terms of musical criteria, in terms of cho- Brahms saying, "it doesn't matter much. You rales that Brahms could have called "well- can find it in the first measures and in the sec- known," and in terms of an association with ond movement. It is a well-known chorale."24 Schumann, I would like to propose another cho- Ochs then "solved" the problem of the chorale's rale as a more likely source for Brahms. Ochs identity in his Eulenburg foreword by placing made his deduction on the basis of the first cho- the first phrase of the chorale Wer nur den rale phrase alone, further restricting his atten- lieben Gott liisst walten alongside the passages tion to the first phrase of the scherzo, which, specified by Brahms (compare the first phrases like Wer nur den lieben Gott, is in minor and of exs. lla, lib, llc). However, when Ochs has a final turn up to the supertonic before leap- wrote his memoirs two decades later, his recol- ing down to the dominant (exs. 1 la and 1 c). But lection had changed: "He also called my atten- Brahms treats the second phrase of the scherzo tion to the fact that the chorale 'Wer nur den as if it were also part of the chorale melody. The lieben Gott lasst walten' lay at the root of the orchestration remains the same, with both entire work."25 The discrepancy between the phrases intoned by the full choir in unison, and two is important, because according to the ear- the accompaniment repeats the same descend-

a. Chorale:Wer nun den lieben Gott lasst walten (cited from Bach, Werke[Leipzig, 1851-97], vol. 39, p. 273).

i IIIrJ r -ri r J u I IJ. I Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten und hof- fet auf ihn alle- zeit.

b. Brahms,op. 45, I, mm. 5-7.

P legato

c. II, mm. 22-33.

Af B f 1 i1 ; IJ sf^bib D J I iJ l j j i l-l iJ d s i Denn alles Fleischist wie das Gras und alle Her- lich-keit des Men-schen wie des A

Gras-desGras-des Blu-men Example 11 11 19TH ing figures. Nowhere in the movement is the by name-the G-majorsetting (no. 4) is entitled CENTURY first heard without the second.27 MUSIC phrase Ein Choral, the F-major(no. 42) FigurirterCho- If the second phrase is taken to be part of the ral-lies behind Brahms'sreticence to say more chorale, rather than merely an extension of the than "well-known chorale." first phrase, then the melody in Brahms's set- Both Wernur den lieben Gott and Freu dich ting bears a much closer resemblance to the sehr rank among the melodies most often set by chorale Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele (ex. 12a). Bach; each appears in eight cantatas.30How- Both melodies lack a dominant pickup; and ever, the Bach Gesellschaft did not publish the they share not only a first phraserising up to the first cantatas with Wernur den lieben Gott un- third and descending to the dominant, but also a til 1855, a full year after Brahms composed the second stepping up and down a fourth. The use scherzo, whereas volume 2 of the BachAusgabe of the minor mode constitutes the biggest dif- had come out in 1852, with settings of Freudich ference, and that seems of questionable signifi- sehr in Cantatas 13 and 19. The version in Can- cance, especially since the beginning of the first tata 19, "Es erbub sich ein Streit," even offers movement of the Requiem-the other passage two precedents for the arrangement Brahms expressly named by Brahms-starts with the made in the scherzo: a setting in 3 time (ex. 13) melody in major. According to Ochs, Brahms and the presence of timpani in the accompani- claimed that a chorale melody lay at the root of ment. the entire work. Yet, aside from the two loca- Textual references once again supplement tions Brahms himself disclosed, Ochs named musical associations (see Appendix III). The only one other. Wernur den lieben Gott, he felt, first two phrases comfort someone facing death, also "haunted" the fugue that concludes the summoning the soul to "leave this vale of third movement, an assertion no one since has tears," and there is also an affinity with Heb- cared to repeat.28However, the melodic con- bel's Nachtlied and Peri's lullaby. Hebbel tours of Freu dich sehr recur throughout the Re- writes of one oppressed and compares the im- quiem to an extent one would expect of a cho- pending death to a sleep accepted with a child- rale lying "at the root of the entire work." like obedience; the chorale, which Schumann Example 12 presents the initial statements of published for children, promises that death will the chorale-relatedmotives. Outside the second bring a transition from woe and suffering to joy movement, the juxtaposition of phrases ascend- and peace; and the Peri text effectively com- ing and descending a third and then a fourth oc- pleted the transition, speaking to those who curs primarily in movement 6, where the two sleep at last. By basing the funereal and march- phrases appear in three different elaborations. like scherzo on a chorale Schumann had him- Example 12i, the countersubject of the fugue, self arranged,Brahms in a sense also fulfills the "Herr,du bist wiirdig," is particularlynotewor- image in Peri of the phoenix singing his own fu- thy because its correspondingsubject is derived neral song. With associations of Schumann in from the melody that introduces and accompa- the scherzo and of a loving wife in the trio, nies the chorale in the second movement (ex. 7). Brahmsapparently combines extra-musical ref- None of the motives has the dominant pickup erences in a way that prefigures the portrait- of the chorale Wernur den lieben Gott. In fact, within-a-portraithe made when he replacedthe as in Freu dich sehr, most have no pickup what- scherzo with the Adagio. In the Adagio it is a ever, the majorexception being the tonic antici- matter of motives, Clarawithin Robert's;in the pation of ex. 12d.29 scherzo it is a question of form, scherzo before This chorale easily merits Brahms's descrip- and after trio.31 tion of it as "well-known." Bach featured it in numerous cantatas, and-possibly of greater IV significance-Schumann also set it. It is the Thus far I have pointed out possible similari- only chorale Schumann ever arrangedas an in- ties and references to compositions by Schu- dependent piece, and he did so not once but mann in those movements by Brahmsthat have twice in the collection he wrote for his eldest a securely established connection to the 1854 daughter, the Album fur die Jugend. Perhaps sonata. (Though the Adagio of the concerto was Schumann's decision not to identify the melody not originally part of the sonata-symphony, its 12 a. Chorale (afterSchumann, op. 68, no. 42). CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS A A. ^. B I I . 7 c I I I I F rl I - I I - A Brahms I I I IIIII" Choral ~24~44j'IJL~A4I TIW~I Symphony

b. Brahms, op. 45,1I, mm. 5-6. C. II, mm. 142-44.

A/C F Ai . I fi I I I I I I w Md

also in III, m. 20 (Vc.)

d. IIi,mm. 22-23. A B A . I I I -1 - w I I i 7 1r 7 1r 171 r 4rI J FIF I lr 7ir -lr lr rlr47

e. VI, mm. 3 -7. B (AL

4-6f -0.

f. VI, mm. 9 -10. g. VI, mm. 38-39.

also in VI, m. 270 (Bsn.);, VII, m. 66 (Sop.) also in VI, m. 267 (Fl.)

h.VI,mm. 82-9 1. AB

i. VI, mm. 213-18.

ABAB

j. VI, mm. 285-94.

A B

0 0I~ ~ 0 0 0

k. VII, mm. 6-8.

A B V~~~~~~~~~

becomes the melody at m. 18 (Sop.); m. 20 (Teni.)

Example 12 Chorale, Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele, and motivic resemblances in the German Requiem. Only the first appearances of a motive in each section of a movement are cited. Correspondences are indicated by the letter assigned to the chorale phrase. 13 19TH No. 7. Choral ri TJ CENTURY MUSIC F Ii rIJ rl IJ. I r' r Fr rI r I r 11 Lass dein En- gel mit mir Fa ren, auf E- li- as Wa-gen rot, UndLassd mein See-En- le wohl be- fah- ren, wie Laz'- rum nach sei-nen Tod. Example 13: Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele, as presented in Bach, Cantata 19.

ties to the earlier work are well documented tion, and have an extended pedal at or near their through letters and musical motives. Brahms's conclusions. In the Requiem this is the notori- inscription for this movement provides the key ous thirty-six measure pedal on D, the founda- both for recognizing the presence of extra-musi- tion for the fugue "Der Gerechten Seelen sind cal associations and for interpreting them. For in Gottes Hand"; in the rondo the coda contains the other two movements the process of recog- a 351/2-measurepedal, or more accurately, a se- nizing and interpreting allusions is more in- ries of pedals beginning at m. 442: eight mea- volved. Each movement has some indication sures on D, seven on E, six on A, and then 141/2 from Brahms that the musical motives had on D. other associations: the Maestoso has the third- Additionally, both movements acknowledge hand testimony from Brahms to Joachim to a common motivic link to the scherzo at the Kalbeck about the significance of Schumann's very outset. The first barsof the bass line restate collapse, as well as the link between its opening the motive y from the opening of the scherzo motive and the Dominus representation in the (compareexs. 14a and 14b with ex. 7), including Adagio; and the scherzo has Brahms'sreference it twice in the course of a line that descends a to a "well-known chorale." After identification tenth and ascends a third (motive z), just as of Brahms'sprobable musical sources, an inter- Brahms had done at the beginning of the pretation of what those sources signified for scherzo. In the rondo, motive z enters even Brahms has benefited from the presence of a more plainly in m. 9; the double basses play the text in each. line pizzicato as they do in the Requiem (exs. A discussion of the third movement of the so- 14a and 14c). Motive z returns in various guises nata-symphony demands a different procedure, in both third movements, transformedby inver- because none of those who had played it in the sion or retrograde.In the Requiem it punctuates two-piano version ever described any of its fea- the C and 3 sections of the baritone solo as the tures. In order to formulate a hypothesis about minor-mode ascending third and descending what this movement was like, I will therefore tenth (ex. 14d)that eventually yields to the ma- assume: (1) that because Brahms'searly compo- jor-modeascending tenth and descending third sitions contain apparently conscious motivic (ex. 14e).And taking this last form in the rondo, and thematic interrelations, knowledge of the it comes back as the subject of the B1-minorfu- first two movements of the 1854 work should gato (ex. 14f). assist in identifying material from its third While these parallels may perhaps be ex- movement; and (2) that if the Maestoso, Ada- plained as the product of the influence of the gio, and scherzo contain extra-musical allu- scherzo over the movements written to follow sions to Schumann's compositions, then the it,33 other parallels suggest deeper ties. A pas- missing third and unfinished fourth move- sage in the third movement of the Requiem has ments would have had them also. less in common with the scherzo (or any other We know of two of the three movements movement of the Requiem) than it does with Brahms composed to follow the scherzo, the first two movements of the concerto. At the namely the third movements of the piano con- start of the 3 section, the baritone solo "Ach, certo and the Requiem. Although these move- wie gar nichts sind alle Menschen" resembles a ments were evidently written eleven years transitional phrase in the Adagio (exs. 15a and apart-the rondo finale of the concerto in 1855 15b).Each is a bass line, and each seems related and the third movement of the Requiem in to the bridgetheme from the orchestral exposi- 186632-they have important similarities. Both tion of the Maestoso (ex. 15c). More signi- begin in D minor, shift to majorfor the final sec- ficantly, Brahms built the main theme of the

14 a. Brahms, op. 45, III, mm. 1-6. b. Op. 15, III, mm. 1-3. CHRISTOPHER Y y REYNOLDS I I lI Il Y A Brahms l l ' A A " 1 1 = I Choral Symphony I plZZ. z z c. III, mm. 9-11. d. Op. 45, III, mm. 93-94, 106. z z f izz. Il n lI

i $b KFKT LLL mfirFUr hr '--JI iff z f

e. III, mm. 145-46. f. Op. 15, III, mm. 238-40. z z - _.0,. lb\ . I I I I t1~'t X,-,, rII I i 7dbli^^rn?~~~~~~I v Fta^ ^- V vI III nun Herr wes soil ichmich tro-

Example 14

a. Op. 45, III,mm. 105-08. 4 I ffF IIr r Ir, IrI #-J Ach, wie gar nichts sind alle Men-schen b. Op. 15, II, mm. 27-28. c. Op. 15, I, mm. 132-35.

A - r- P- - + I *""r^ IW l .

Example 15 rondo and the subject of the fugue "Der Gerech- usage even follows Schumann's alteration of ten Seelen" out of the same melodic material the theme: the concerto, like Schumann's sym- (ex. 16). The one is in major and c (4), the other is phony, begins with the leap of a fourth, and the in minor (though its final statements change to fugue, as in Kreisleriana, inserts a major third major) and 2; but they both begin with a vigor- into the lower fourth.35 Elsewhere Schumann ous ascent up an eleventh, followed by the same resurrected the Kreisleriana theme in one of his five-note figure (motive x), the one a retrograde last works, the Konzert-Allegro mit Introduk- of the other.34 tion for Piano and Orchestra (op. 134, 1853), Brahms's source for this ascending motive where it begins with a descending fifth rather appears to have been Schumann. The finale of than an ascending fourth (ex. 17c).36This D mi- Schumann's Symphony No. 1 incorporates a nor-major work was the first of Schumann's theme (ex. 17a) which, as many biographers compositions to be dedicated to Brahms. have noted, he had earlier written for the rondo The third movement of the Requiem also finale of the Kreisleriana (see ex. 17b). Brahms's seems to commence with a reference to Schu- 15 19TH a. Op. 45, III,mm. 173- 74. CENTURY MUSIC w x $"': J; r lE Der Ge- rech- ten See- len sind- in- gottes Hand

b. Op. 15, III,mm. 1-4.

W X' X' b iJ * Iur I r! PJ ffJ

Example 16

a. Schumann, Symphony No. 1, IV, mm. 43-45. b. Schumann, Kreisleriana,VIII, mm. 1-3.

w w i

y j : i nl Iamit I i8' ? t - I7 I l ! I= -_ 79 : r ' '

c. Schumann, Konzert-Allegro,op. 134, mm. 171-72.

w I

I .,= t 1 ,. 1i _ 1 .

Example 17

a. Schumann, Symphony No. 1, I, mm. 1-3. b. I, mm. 38-40. Allegro molto vivace Andante un poco maestoso n , > > > 7 -r r r r X "- f

c. Brahms,op. 45, II, mm. 1-4. d. III,mm. 142-44. Andante moderato bHn. -. I - . _

f v I I I I I I I , v.=:- I I I r I ' I I I

Herr, lehre doch mich Nun Herr wes soll ich mich tr6- sten?

Example 18

mann, once again to his First Symphony. Above movement (see ex. 18), this three-pitch motive the bass line shown in ex. 14a, the baritone solo- appears in three different time values, but in ist intones "Herr, lehre doch mich" to the mo- each the first note is reiterated for five times the tive with which Schumann begins his "Spring" integer valor-quarter notes, eighth notes, and Symphony. In the opening fanfare of the An- half notes respectively. When Brahms brings dante introduction, in the main idea of the fol- the motive back in 3 at "Nun Herr, wes soil ich lowing Allegro, and in the Requiem's third mich trosten," the five half-note pulse remains 16 despite the resultant shift in the metric place- a beginning, as was immediately observed by a CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS ment of the motive within the measure (ex. critic who lauded the "gigantischen (derneunte A Brahms 18d).This movement of the Requiem therefore Beethovens wiirdigen) Motive" after the Ham- Choral begins and ends with apparentreferences to the burg premiere.42And in the finale of the con- Symphony beginning and ending of Schumann's First Sym- certo Brahms whole-heartedly embraced phony. Beethovenian precedent. Here, as Charles Ro- sen recently demonstrated, Brahms modelled V his minor-major rondo on the finale of All of the preceding evidence suggests that Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, the material Brahms originally developed for at times emulating the structural details of the the sonata-symphony survives in the third movement bar-by-bar.43 By the late 1850s movements of the Requiem and First Piano Brahms eschewed a similar solution for a sym- Concerto. Moreover, these movements proba- phonic finale: "Oh god, if one dares to write bly contain material not only from the third symphonies after Beethoven they must look movement of the 1854 work, but also from its very different."44 This conviction may stem finale. According to Kalbeck "the Allegro from his failure to complete a symphonic finale [finale] of the projected grand four-movement that looked very much like Beethoven indeed. symphony should have been a soulful picture of Remains of Brahms'srejected finale are most the catastrophe that Brahms witnessed in fear likely to exist in the third movement of the Re- and trembling."37Yet, while three of Brahms's quiem, a movement that begins in D minor friends-Clara, J. O. Grimm, and Albert Die- with a baritone solo and concludes in major trich-had played or heard the first three move- with choir singing over the long D pedal. Musi- ments, there is no indication of anyone even cally and textually it sustains many elements seeing the finale. A fourth movement is clearly present in the first movement of the concerto, implied in Brahms's letter to Joachim (19 June while suggesting the surprising possibility that 1854) which refers to playing the first three the model Brahms had attempted to follow for movements ("drei ersten Sitze") with Clara, his symphonic fourth movement was quite lit- and also in Clara's earlier diary entry (24 May erally the choral finale to Beethoven's Ninth. 1854) about playing with Brahms "three move- Incidentally, a choral conclusion to his own ments of a sonata by him."38 When Brahms symphony also offeredBrahms a ready opportu- finally signalled the end of his project-"Ich nity to fulfill the prophecy Schumann had pub- hitte meine verungliickte Sinfonie zu einen lished several months earlier in his famous ar- Klavierkonzertbenutzt"-the Ungliick clearly ticle "Neue Bahnen": "If he should point his lay with the fourth movement. Grimm after all magic wand to where the masses of choir and or- had praised the first three movements as send- chestra will lend him their powers, we antici- ing him to "even more heavenly heights" than pate wonderful views of the world of spirits."45 the op. 8 Trio,39and Clarahad describedthem as By beginning the symphonic finale with a "quite forceful, quite original, imposing."40The baritone singing "Herr, lehre doch mich," decision to convert the symphony into a con- Brahmswould have created a threefold allusion. certo provided an expedient solution to a per- As he later did in the concerto finale, Brahms sistent problem: how to write a satisfactory would have drawnfrom both idol and mentor si- symphonic finale. multaneously-on Beethoven for form (intro- While writing his first symphony, more than ducing a baritone into the fourth movement) in his first attempts in any other genre, Brahms and on Schumann for melody (taking the mo- contended with the spectral example of tive from the "Spring" Symphony). But with Beethoven. Brahms acknowledged this, no less this reference both to Beethoven's last sym- than his friends, and Schumann encouraged it: phony and Schumann's first, there is also an "He [Brahms]should always have in mind the overt textual association between the Schu- beginnings of Beethoven's symphonies; he mann motive and the German word for should seek to make something similar."41The Dominus, "Herr."Aside from a novel expres- D-minor Maestoso, even though it ultimately sion of the Maestoso Dominus idea, the textual- began a concerto and not a symphony, has such motivic linkage of "Herr,lehre doch mich" and 17 19TH "Nun Herr, wes soil ich mich trosten" would flashback occurring in m. 30, would have been CENTURY thus constitute addresses to MUSIC personal Schu- unmistakable. mann: "Teach me," and "in whom shall I find This movement's inception as the finale of comfort?" the symphony would also explain other fea- Brahmsmay also have attempted to emulate tures, such as the previously mentioned simi- the other innovative feature of Beethoven's larities of the3 section "Ach, wie garnichts sind finale, namely the introduction's explicit alle Menschen" to the Maestoso, and, for rea- flashbacks to the previous movements. In its sons given more fully below, the resemblance of present form, the third movement of the Re- the rondo theme of the concerto to the fugue quiem contains no quotations from earlier subject "Der Gerechten Seelen." For now, this movements of the sonata-symphony, only mo- suggests that Brahms, while abandoninga four- tivic recollections. After the initial reminis- movement symphony in favor of a three-move- cence of the scherzo in the bass line there is an ment concerto, wanted to retain some version inversion of the leaping D-minor tenth of the of the Kreisleriana theme originally destined Maestoso at the conclusion of the first sixteen for the finale. These symphonic origins also pro- measures, set to the words "und ich davon vide insights on why Brahms felt comfortable muss" ("and I must leave it" [i.e., "life"]). As letting the third movement function as a quasi- shown in ex. 19 this inversion also preparesmo- finale at the first public performancesof the Re- tive z, the rising third, falling tenth motive dis- quiem. In Vienna he previewed only the first cussed above (compareexs. 19 and 14d).Leading three movements (1 December 1867). In Bre- to this inverted phrase the baritone sings the men (GoodFriday, 1868), when he premieredall motive v, which had followed the Dominus mo- but the fifth movement, he split the Requiem tive in the Maestoso. (Comparemm. 1-3 of ex. into two parts:movements 1, 2, and 3 began the 19 with mm. 3-5 of ex. 2.) In addition to the bar- concert, and after two choruses from Handel's itone motive, the chordalpedals present in both Messiah and arias of Bach and Handel, move- instances emphasize the minor sixth D-Bb be- ments 4, 6, and 7 ended it.46 fore resolving to a first-inversion A-majortriad. The likelihood that Brahms once contem- Had there once been sections repeating the plated using an earlier version of this move- incipits of the symphony's preceding movement as the finale to his first symphony would ments, Brahmswould have excised them when also explain why he eventually rejected it; for he subsequently reworked the movement for while the symphonic finale he composed the Requiem in 1866. But one residual indica- twenty years later attracted the sobriquet tion of where Brahms'ssymphonic finale might "Beethoven's Tenth," at least it was not a bla- have included a quotation from an earliermove- tant reworking of the Ninth. When Brahms ment now exists in the B6 section starting at m. then turned to Beethoven for the structural 33. There the woodwinds and brass play in scheme of his concerto finale, he found in the block chords the distinctive harmonic progres- finale of the Third Piano Concerto a less distinc- sion from the beginning of the first movement tive, more anonymous model based on a more of the Requiem: I, V7of IV, IV66,I-each for one traditional formal plan. The form would there- bar. If Brahms had applied this principle in the fore betray neither Brahms's method of compo- symphonic finale and inserted at m. 33 four bars sition from a Beethovenian model nor the iden- from the beginning of the Maestoso, then the in- tity of the model itself. fluence of Beethoven's finale, with its first The search for portions of the missing third

v z

r I 1 I M. brr r r r r r I und mein Le- - ben ein Ziel hat. und ich davon muss, und ich davon.. muss. Example 19: Brahms, op. 45, III,mm. 9-16. 18 a. Brahms,op. 15, III,mm. 238-47. CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS T z Y l Y Y I A Brahms I I 1 m I i I I IP mm* PM . Om In L.. Choral 7gbLUt;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i r/ d --. Symphony . , * I. * * _ ,1 ::::: pl)sempresempre

b. Op. 45, II, mm. 4-8.

S T A ,. ,I .

c. II, mm. 17-24.

T I 1 Ai I f a O -L

Example 20 movement of the sonata-symphony leads to the the four movements the Adagio most defini- finale of the concerto. Albert Dietrich, who had tely."47 At the mid-point of the Adagio Schu- played the three movements with Clara in mann included a section in free canon that has 1854, later identified the first two movements several of the contrapuntal features present in of the sonata in the concerto and Requiem, but Brahms's fugato. Schumann begins sempre pp failed to recall the third. This failure is signi- and staccato with the second violins, as does ficant, for if Brahms had simply altered the form Brahms (p sempre); and in both the imitation and tempo of the original, an expert musician ceases when the movement's principal theme like Dietrich would have certainly recognized returns, accompanied by the contrapuntal sub- the source behind the alterations. Conse- ject (augmented in Brahms), supported by a quently the main theme of the rondo is not seven-measure dominant pedal. likely to have been present. One possible moti- There is one essential difference between vic connection between the rondo and the Brahms's fugato and either the Beethoven or Maestoso or scherzo has already been singled Schumann examples. While Beethoven simply out in the Bb-minor fugato subject. Shown with writes a fugato on the rondo theme and Schu- its countersubject in ex. 20a, the fugato also mann bases his contrapuntal subject on the echoes the scherzo with the y motive and a line main theme of the Adagio (he rearranges the that steps down into an upward-resolving lead- first several notes), Brahms makes no effort to ing-tone suspension. As in the related passages relate his fugato subject to the rondo theme. In- in the scherzo (exs. 20b and 20c), the suspension stead, he derives his subject from the Bb-major precedes another descent from G1. theme of the middle section of the rondo, For this section of the rondo, Charles Rosen's mainly by changing the mode to minor (ex. 21): comparison with Beethoven's Third Piano Con- certo can be amended to include the influence of the third movement of Schumann's Sym- espress. phony No. 2 in C Major. Brahms wrote Clara of I his particular esteem for this Adagio (8 Decem- Example21 Brahms,~ op.~~ 15, . 181-84. ber 1855): "I certainly would like to have been p along to hear the C-Major Symphony! That symphony is my favorite of the five, and among Example 21: Brahms, op. 15, III,mm. 181-84.

19 19TH However, if this section, or some form of itt, VI CENTURY once comprised the beginning of the missin,g Like the themes of the first two movements third movement, then the fugato would havye of the symphony, the theme that Brahms pre- been a contrapuntal elaboration of the mailn served in the concerto rondo and the Requiem theme of the movement, and Brahms's debt tio fugue has extra-musical allusions, though not his predecessorsall the greater. because of associations with Schumann's cho- For other reasons this possibility makes muL- ral works. And despite their melodic similari- sical sense. Most of all, the major and mino r ties to the theme Schumann had first used in forms of the B, theme complement motives cif the Kreisleriana finale, the principal allusion the other movements, providing yet another does not appear to be to Schumann. It is more permutation of the third-plus-tenth motiv e probable that Brahms adopted this lively mo- seen at the beginning of each movement. Re - tive as a representation of his alter-ego, "Jo- markably,Brahms would thus have considere'd hannes Kreisler, Junior."49The allusion in the initiating the four movements of his symphon y rondo and fugue themes appearsto be involved with four different transformations of motive z with and revealing of Brahms'spersonal aspira- (ex. 22): the original form in the Maestoso; th e tions at the time. In each theme the Kreisler retrogradein the melody and accompaniment c)f motive (the ascending eleventh in exs. 16a and the scherzo; the retrograde-inversionin the B, 16b) leads to a form of the five-note motive x third movement and its fugato; and in the finale that others have associated with Clara(compare the inversion in D minor, the retrograde-inverr- ex. 1 with exs. 16a and 16b),50and that Schu- sion in D major, and the retrogradein the basIs mann used with an ascending tenth as the main line of the opening bars.48Also, in terms c f theme of his Symphony in D Minor (exs. 6a and large-scale harmonic planning, a movement i n 6b).5'Brahms's juxtaposition of motives repre- B6 majorbetween the scherzo and the D minoJr- senting himself and Clara may therefore be a majorfinale accords with what Brahmslater did symbolic representation of the future with in the Requiem, when he added a BV-majorcor i- Clarahe wished for himself. It is this future that clusion to the scherzo. In this light Brahms''s then looms in the Requiem as the answer of the method of converting his symphony into a cor1- D-major fugue to the preceding question, "In certo was less one of excision than compre,s- whom shall I find comfort?" And in the con- sion. Rather than eliminating a movement, hLe certo the combination of the two motives into seems to have combined them, taking the rondlo one theme provides a vision of life after Schu- theme from the ill-fated finale and the middl.e mann's death, which rounds out the tryptich section from the third movement. In othe rr Brahms began in the Maestoso, with presenti- words, while formal structures could changle, ments of death, and continued first in the themes were to be retained, not from conside:r- scherzo and later in the Adagio, with Clara ations of aesthetic merit, but for the allusivre shown as the devoted wife of Robert. content the themes preservedin their constiti 1- An interpretation of motive z as a reference ent motives. to Robertfurther suggests that Brahmsdesigned

Movt. I 0o Movt.2 R A A +--_L X i_ a tV

Movt.3 RI Movt.4 1 Rl A I I A A I I b6bt) _--N'

Example22: Transformationsof motive z.

20 the concerto finale as a portrait-within-a-por- this list may be added the first themes of the CHRISTOPHER trait to that heard in the First no. the First REYNOLDS complement preceding String Quartet, op. 51, 1; Sym- A Brahms Adagio. By constructing the Bb interior of the phony, op. 68; and the First Clarinet Sonata, op. Choral rondo on various forms of motive z, Brahmsim- 120, no. 1. Each of these begins with a motive Symphony plants a representation of Robert into a move- that sweeps up a tenth, emphasizing the thirds ment that begins and ends by thematically in adjacent octaves. This pattern suggests that binding Kreisler to Clara. If read in their musi- Brahms wanted to crown some of his inaugural cal sequence the Adagio and rondo successively efforts with a private tribute to Schumann. portray Clara within Robert and then Robert Two of the motivic combinations in table 1 within Brahms and Clara; but if considered in offer corroboration for the sort of interpretive the chronological sequence of their composi- readings suggested above. The second of tion, a more complex reading ensues: in 1855 Brahms's Balladen, op. 10, written during the and early 1856, while waiting for Robert to die, summer of 1854, is a D-major Andante that be- Brahmswrote a finale for a symphony and then gins with the earliest known citation of the F- a concerto with a motivic anticipation of the A-F motto. It then leads directly to the Leonora day when Clarawould be his. When months af- motive he subsequently used in his Adagio por- ter Robert's death this vision remained unat- trait of Clara (ex. 23): tainable, Brahms rewrote the slow movement to depict Clara as the Fidelio heroine, Flores- F-A-F Fidelio tan's faithful Leonora. Andante[ I I I Such a personal interpretation gains credibil- - IjIrJ UF.. I .J j. i _I- I I ity from Brahms's lifelong use of these same P espress. e dolce motives in a variety of melodic and contrapun- 23: mm. 1-4. tal combinations. A preliminary listing of these Example Brahms, op. 10, II, combinations is given in table 1. Two features occur repeatedly: the examples listed are begin- In his later set of Balladen, (op. 75, 1877) nings of movements (orin op. 45, III,the start of Brahms retained elements from the earlier col- a major subsection), and the motives are pre- lection, such as the depiction of patricidal sented over a pedal. (Inop. 15, III,a double pedal Edward from Herder's Stimmen der Volker in accompanies the motives at their first appear- the first piece. Again there is a reference to ance in D major.) All of these works that con- Clara and Brahms, but in the later opus their tain a reference to Robert (i.e., ops. 9, 15, 33, 45, motives are not so much joined as placed in and 77) are the first works in a new genre. To proximity; that is, her motive (motive x) begins

WORK TITLE MOTIVES op. 9,X Variations on a Theme by Schumann Robert and Clara* op. 10, II Balladen (piano) Brahms (F-A-F) and Clara (Leonora) op. 15, II Piano Concerto No. 1 Robert (Dominus) and Clara (Leonora)** op. 15, III Piano Concerto No. 1 Brahms (Kreisler) and Clara (motive x retrograde) op. 26, II Piano Quartet in A Clara (Leonora) and Brahms (Kreisler) op. 33, I Magelonelieder Robert (Dominus) and Brahms (Kreisler)** op. 45, I German Requiem Clara (motive x) and Robert (chorale)* op. 45, III German Requiem Brahms (Kreisler) and Clara (motive x) op. 75, II, III Balladen (duets) Clara (motive x) and Brahms (F-A-F) op. 77, I Violin Concerto Robert (Dominus) and Joachim (F-A-E) op. 90, I Symphony No. 3 Brahms (F-A-F) and Brahms (Kreisler retrograde) *simultaneously in two parts **intertwined in one part Table 1: Motivic Allusions in Brahms (Preliminary List). 21 19TH the second duet and his motto (F-A-F) the third. finales of the sonata-symphony and also the CENTURY As far as I have determined, this is the first asso- concerto. The latter emerged only in mid-De- ciation of Brahms's Frei aber froh with Clara's cember 1856, months after Robert Schumann's motive; always before Brahms linked F-A-F to death. In contrast, the allusions in the Balladen Leonora-a non-threatening pairing of the were his own, and he freely and quickly showed happy bachelor with the loyal wife-or else this work to Claraand Robert. The motto F-A- Clara'smotive to the more impetuous Kreisler. F doubtless would have been known and recog- The change between the earlier and later Balla- nized, but this is less certain for the Fidelio cita- den may well betoken Brahms'sacceptance of a tion. Either Clara did not know of this one, or more distant relationship with Clara than more probably, she did and found the associa- young Kreisler had desired. Letters between tion with Leonorapleasing.53 Brahmsand Claraprovide one type of documen- By focusing on the motives of a few early and tation for the changes in their relationship; an- interrelated compositions, I have attempted to other exists in the shifting motivic combina- relate probable extra-musical allusions to the tions used to build themes in ops. 10, 15, 26, 45, development of the 1854 sonata-symphony. and 75. The resultant picture of Brahms's methods has There remains the question of how much implications not only for interpreting his life- Brahms's friends knew of his extra-musical al- long use of certain motives, and for the way we lusions. Clara,who probablyknew the most, di- view the construction of themes from combina- vulged nothing. She is most likely to have un- tions of motives, but also for how a motive is to derstood the references drawn from Schu- be defined in the first place.54Recent studies mann's works, such as the five-note motive have tended to focus on the smallest possible she had also used in her own compositions, units, two or three notes spanning as little as a and the Kreisleriana motive. Her singular lack third or fourth. Without denying the merits of of praise for the concerto rondo may betray dis- studying how Brahms manipulates cells of this comfort over the motivic allusions. Once en- size, it also seems worthwhile to expand moti- thusiastic about the three movements of the so- vic boundaries to include seven or eight notes nata-symphony, she had also expressed her spread over a tenth or eleventh. But motives approvalof the Maestoso in its reworked form that recur from work to work warrant inter- and of the new Adagio as well. On the rondo she pretation as well as analysis. While the distinc- is silent, except for an opinion relayed by Joa- tive manner in which he combines familiar mo- chim; "A conversation with FrauSchumann led tives certainly led to the creation of new me to the conclusion that you should write an- themes, it may also have been Brahms'sprefer- other last movement, as alterations are often red means of expressing his non-musical hopes more troublesome than fresh creations."52And and of acknowledging changes in his personal it is curious that while Brahmshad shown Clara relationships. As more of his motivic allusions the other movements of the sonata-symphony are understood, Brahms'smusical speech ,.r.'. shortly after they were written, he withheld the should become less and less elusive. ;")i

22 APPENDIXI APPENDIX III CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS A Brahms FriedrichHebbel, Nachtlied Chorale,Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele Choral Symphony Quellende, schwellende Nacht, Freu'dich sehr, O meine Seele Voll von Lichtem und Sternen: Und vergiss all' Noth und Qual, In den ewigen Fernen Weil dich nun Christus, dein Herre, Sage,was ist da erwacht? Ruft aus diesem Jammerthal. Seine Freud'und Herrlichkeit Herz in der Brust wird beengt, Sollst du sehn in Ewigkeit, Steigendes, neigendes Leben, Mit den Engeln jubiliren, Riesenhaft fiihle ich's weben, In Ewigkeit triumphiren. Welches das meine verdrangt. Schlaf, da nahst du dich leis', Wie dem Kinde die Lass'dein Engel mit mir fahren Amme, Auf Elias Und um die diirftige Flamme Wagenroth, Ziehst du den schiitzenden Kreis. Und mein' Seele wohl bewahren, Wie Laz'rumnach seinem Tod. Lass'sie ruhn in deinem Schoos, (Surging,swelling night, full of lights and stars: in Erfiill'sie mit Freud'und Trost, the eternal distance, say, what has awoken there? bis der Leib kommt aus der Erde, Heart being constrained in the breast, advancing, Und mit ihr vereinigt werde. declining life, tremendous I feel it move, squeezing mine out. Sleep, you approachit quietly, as a child would a nanny, and aroundthe weak flame you draw the protective (0 my soul, be thou rejoicing, circle.) Cast aside all cares and fears; Christ the Lordfor you is calling, APPENDIXII Bids you leave this vale of tears. Out from woe and sore distress, Forthto joy and blessedness, Das Paradies und die Peri: "Schlaf'nun und ruhe" Joyabounding, joy transcending, Everlasting,never ending. Schlaf'nun und ruhe in Traumen voll Duft, balsam'scherumweh' dich die Luft, als dem magischen Branddes Phonix entsteigt, Let thine not forsake wenn er sein Grablied angels me, eigenes singt, But to Thee, when life shall cease, Schlaf'nun und ruh' in Traiimen voll Lust, chariot take me die liebendste Brust! May Elijah's der, treueste, There, like Lazarus,in peace. Let me rest in Thine embrace, (Sleep now and rest in fragrantdreams, may you be Fill my heart with joy and grace. encircled by breezes more fragrantthan those from When my days on earth are ended, the magical fire of the Phoenix as he sings his own fu- May my soul with thine be blended. neral song. Sleep now and rest in joyful dreams, you, the truest, most loving heart.) -Henry S. Drinker)

23 19TH NOTES CENTURY MUSIC

'Bozarth,"Brahms's Lieder ohne Worte: The 'Poetic' An- '2Schumann-BrahmsBriefe I, 69. dantesof the Piano Sonatas,"in BrahmsStudies: PapersDe- '3Ibid.,76. With this transformation,Brahms unknowingly livered at the International Brahms Conference, The Li- retraced steps taken by Beethoven, who had converted brary of Congress, Washington, D.C., 5-8 May 1983, ed. sketches for a piano concerto into his Eighth Symphony. Bozarth (forthcoming); Kross, "Brahms und Schumann," '4SeeKalbeck, Brahms I, 166; and Dietrich, Erinnerungen Brahms-Studien4 (1981), 7-44; and Floros, Brahms und an JohannesBrahms (Leipzig,1898), p. 45. Bruckner:Studien zurmusikalischen Exegetik(Wiesbaden, 'SBertholdLitzmann, Clara Schumann: Ein Kiinstlerleben 1980),esp. pp.84-151; and idem, "Studienzu Brahms'Kla- nach Tagebiichernund Briefen,rev. edn. (Leipzig,1920), III, viermusik,"Brahms-Studien 5 (1983). I am gratefulto Pro- 15. fessorBozarth for providing me with his article beforepubli- '6Schumann-BrahmsBriefe I, 198. cation. '7Brahmswrote the inscription between the two staves of 2"MotivicDesign and StructuralLevels in the First Move- the piano part. Floros includes a reproductionof the Ada- ment of Brahms's String Quartet in C Minor," Musical gio's first page at the end of the brief chapterhe devotes to Quarterly69 (1983),471 - 502. the inscription in Brahmsund Bruckner,p. 147. 3Brown,"Brahms' Third Symphony and the New German 'Kalbeck, BrahmsI, 166. School," Journal of Musicology 2 (1983), 434-52; Sams, 19"Brahmsand E. T. A. Hoffmann," this joural 5 (1982), BrahmsSongs (London, 1972); idem, "Brahmsand his Musi- 193-200. cal LoveLetters," Musical Times 112(1971),329-30. These 20See respectively, Wilhelm Altmann, foreword to the follow several of Sams's Schumann studies, including The EulenburgEdition (No. 713) of the First Piano Concerto; Songsof RobertSchumann, 2nd edn. (London,1975); "Poli- Floros, in both Brahms und Bruckner, pp. 144-46, and tics, Literature,People in Schumann's op. 136," Musical "Brahms-der 'Messias' und 'Apostel': Sur Rezeptionsge- Times 109 (1968), 25-27; and "The Schumann Ciphers," schichte des Artikels 'Neue Bahnen',"Die Musikforschung Musical Times 107 (1966),392-400. See also Michael Mus- 36 (1983), 24-29; and Geiringer, Brahms, pp. 248-49; as grave,"Brahms's First Symphony: Thematic Coherenceand well as Robert Schauffler, The Unknown Brahms (New its SecretOrigin," Music Analysis 2 (1983), 117-33. York, 1933), p. 438. The discovery of Brahms'searly Mass, 4"Ichsehe Sie doch oft, so gut wie korperlich;z. B. bei der purchasedin 1981 by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreundein Trillerstelleim Andanteder C dur-Sinfoniebei den Schluss- Vienna,lays to rest the speculation about this melody com- stellen, den Orgelpunktenin den grossen Fugen,wo Sie mir ing from a lost Mass; see the recent edn. by Otto Biba (Vi- mit einem Male wie die heilige Cacilie erscheinen." Clara enna: VerlagDoblinger [no. 45 301], 1984). Schumann-JohannesBrahms: Briefe aus den Jahren1853- 21Forte("Motivic Design of Brahms's Quartet," p. 501) 1896, ed. BertholdLitzmann (Leipzig,1927), I, 50 (letter of 8 terms examples of one motive contining another "particu- December 1854). Eric Sams, in his "Brahmsand his Clara larly striking"in Brahms. Themes," Musical Times 112 (1971), 433, quotes the 22Brahms,Briefwechsel V, 64 (letter of 17 September1854). slightly differentversion given in BertholdLitzmann, Clara 2This Adagio is not the first time Brahms had combined Schumann, 3rd edn. (London, 1906), II, 344, which leads motives representing Clara and Robert. Two years earlier him to the translation "in the concluding passages, the Brahmshad quotedthemes by both in his op. 9, variation 10. pedalpoint in the greatfugue..." and thus a discussion of a The intertwining of her theme with Robert'spleased Clara motive in Beethoven'sop. 133. Both the grammarof the pas- greatly;see Litzmann, Clara Schumann II,30. sage (the second phrase functions as an appositive modify- 24EulenburgEdition (no. 969), iv. The translationappears in ing the first phrase)and the context (discussingSchumann's Michael Musgrave,"Historical Influences in the Growth of works)make his readingthe less likely. Brahmswas proba- Brahms'sRequiem'," Music and Letters53 (1972),5. bly referringto the pedals "in the concluding passages"of 25Geschehenes,Gesehenes (Leipzig,1922), 302; Floros also Schumann'sSix Fugues on the Name BACH,op. 60. quotes the passage fully in Brahms und Bruckner,42, n. 3. 5"Brahmsand his ClaraThemes," 432-33. Two of Sams'sex- See also below, n. 28. amples of this Claratheme appearbelow, in exs. 6a and 6b. 26"HistoricalInfluences," pp. 6-7. 6MaxKalbeck, Johannes Brahms, 4th edn. (Berlin,1921), I, 27As Musgrave notes ("Historical Influences," p. 16), 98. Brahms later echoed both phrases at the beginning of 7"Freiaber Froh:A Reconsideration,"this journal3 (1980), "Deathcometh to both man and beast," the first of the Vier 251-58. On musical grounds A. Peter Brown ("Brahms' ernste Gesinge, op. 121. ThirdSymphony") defends the motive's validity. 28"Auchdie bermuhmte Stelle: 'Denn alles Fleisch, es ist 8"Dergrandiose Anfang des d-moll Konzertes mit seinen, wie Gras'stammt von dem Choralab und in der Fuge:'Der von den Pauken festgehaltenen wirbelnden Orgelpunkten, Gerechten Seelen' spukt er motivisch umher." Gesche- mit seinem zum furchtbaremSprunge ausholenden ersten henes, Gesehenes, p. 302. Gedanken, dem sich die ruckweise einsetzenden Trillen 29Whilethe choral entrances of movements II and VI begin gleich einem das ganze Orchesterdurchschauemden mach- with motives outlining a third then a fourth, so also do the tigen Schiittelfrost angliedem, ist aus der Vorstellung von beginningsof movements IIIand V, though less obviously. Schumanns Selbstmordversuch(Sturz in den Rhein) her- The sopranosolo (movementV) has a doublebeginning, that vorgegangen."Brahms I, 166. is, Brahmsincludes a si placet part in the soprano'ssecond 9Brahms:His Life and Work,2nd rev. edn. (London,1948), bar,ostensibly to providean alternativeto the high A. How- p.248. ever, since the sopranois requiredto sing this pitch twice '?JohannesBrahms, Briefwechsel, vol. V (Berlin,1921), p. 31. later, tessitura is less a justification for the lower line than See the succinct account in Carl Dahlhaus, Johannes melodic contour: D-E-FF-E-D-G creates another third- Brahms: Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 d-moll, op. 15 (Munich, plus-fourth succession. The baritone solo (movement III) 1965),pp. 3-6. also beginning with a third plus fourth, although, for rea- "Brahms,Briefwechsel V, 58 (letter of 12 September1854). sons given below, the third is inverted.

24 30Freudich sehris in Cantatas 13, 19, 25, 30, 32, 39, 70, 194; 44See Siegfried Kross, "Brahms the Symphonist," in CHRISTOPHER and Wernur den lieben Gott in Cantatas 21, 27, 84, 88, 93, Brahms:Biographical, Documentary and Analytical Stud- REYNOLDS 166, 197. ies, ed. RobertPascall (Cambridge, 130. A Brahms 179, 1983),p. Choral 3'ThatBrahms would derive inspiration for his instrumen- 45Thetranslation is from Kross, "Brahmsthe Symphonist," tal compositions from poetic sources is, of course, entirely p. 125. Symphony in keeping with his practice in other works from this early 46Onthe first performancesof the Requiem, see KlausBlum, period, especially the three piano sonatas, ops. 1, 2, and 5, Hundert lahre Ein Deutsches Requiem von fohannes and the Balladen, op. 10. See in particular the section Brahms (Tutzing, 1971), pp. 36-73. His view of the Requi- " 'Poetisches' bei Brahms,"in Floros, "Studien zu Brahms' em's evolution is an uncritical elaboration of Kalbeck's Klaviermusik,"pp. 47-58, and also his Brahms und Bruck- ideas. ner, pp. 73-83; and Bozarth,"The 'Poetic' Andantes." 47Schumann-BrahmsBriefe I, 160. The total of five sym- 32SeeKalbeck, Brahms II, 220. The best account of the Re- phonies includes the Overture,Scherzo, and Finale, op. 52, quiem's genesis is by SiegfriedKross, in Die Chorwerkevon from 1841. JohannesBrahms, 2nd edn. (Berlin,1963), pp. 208-12. 48Further,the motives in movements I, III,and IV actually 33Thereare also similarities between movements written to include a sixth in one direction plus a tenth in the other, or precede the scherzo, i.e., between the first movements of vice versa. These transformationscomprise the fourth of the concerto and the Requiem.After each begins with a ten- Forte'sgeneral analytic guidelines: "A motive may be trans- bar tonic pedal, the first modulation is to VI at nearly the formed without losing its basic identity. The transforma- same juncture (m. 46 in op. 15, m. 47 in the Requiem);and tions which Brahmsuses are retrograde,inversion, and ret- fromb VI the returnto the tonic key comes in m. 67 in op. 15 rogradeinversion" ("MotivicDesign of Brahms'sQuartet," and m. 65 in the Requiem. p. 474). In retrograde-inversionthis motive is particularly 34FromBrahms's later works Musgravehas found a melody close to the four Schumannmotives given in ex. 6. with musical and textual similarities to the fugue subjectin 4Brahms'sidentification with the E. T. A. Hoffmann char- the last of the Vier ernste Gesinge. See "Historical In- acter, the Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler,is well known fluences," p. 16. andwell documented,both in letters with friendsand in au- 35Brahmsonce even programmedand performedhis piano tographs of early compositions. See Kross, "Brahms and concerto with three of Schumann's Kreislerianafantasies E. T. A. Hoffmann";and Floros, Brahms und Bruckner,es- (20 April 1860); see Kalbeck, Brahms I, 410. Kalbeck does pecially chapter 12, pp. 84-98. not specify which three Brahmsperformed. 50RogerFiske has arguedthat motive x, as it appearsin the 36Inthe finale of Symphony No. 1, the penultimate state- rondotheme, is a motive Schumannused to representClara ment of ex. 17a also begins with a descending fifth in the in the Davidsbindlertinze, op. 6. See "A Schumann Mys- strings;see mm. 214-15. This also falls within one of Forte's tery,"Musical Times 105 (1964),574-78. See also the refer- analytic guidelines: "The boundary interval [of a motive] ence in fn. 5 above. may undergo octave inversion" ("Motivic Design of 5"Thisfigure is also the theme of the first of Schumann's Brahms'sQuartet," p. 474). Bunten Blattern, op. 99, which Brahms then used as the 37Kalbeck,Brahms I, 166. theme he varied in his own op. 9, written to raise Schu- 38Grimmalso uses this last phrase in his letter of 9 April mann's spirits. Clarahad written her own variationson this 1854 to Joachim. All three citations appearin Dahlhaus, theme a year earlier. BrahmsKlavierkonzert Nr. 1, p. 3. 52Joachimthen conveyed his belief that "es ware doch 39Ibid. schade um vieles bedeutende in dem Rondo, und vielleicht 40Litzmann,Clara Schumann II,316-17. gewinnst Du's doch iiberDich, mit ersten Ungestiim wieder 4'Letterto Joachimof 6 January1854, in RobertSchumann's hinein zu arbeiten um die einigen Stellen neu zu schaffen; Briefe, Neue Folge, ed. F. Gustav Jansen (Leipzig, 1886), p. das ware mir lieb." Brahms,Briefwechsel V, 172 (letter of 12 338. January1857). 42Brahmsfirst heard Beethoven's Ninth in March 1854 in 53In1837 Roberthad even written to Claraurging her to em- Cologne; see Kalbeck, Brahms I, 164. Dahlhaus includes ulate Leonora:"Adieu mein Fidelio ... und bleib so treu wie severalearly reviews of the concerto in BrahmsKlavierkon- LeonoreIhrem Florestan Deinem Robert."Litzmann, Clara zert Nr. 1. This one is from 29 June 1859 (p.31). SchumannI, 154. 43""Influence:Plagiarism and Inspiration," this journal 4 54Thisstudy also has implications for the evolution and or- (1980),87-100. ganizationof the Requiem, which I will examine elsewhere.