Brahms, Developing Variation, and the Schoenberg Critical Tradition

WALTER FRISCH

In 1946 Robert Maynard Hutchins, Chancellor oristically-in his critical writings, he clearly of the University of Chicago, sought Arnold considered it one of the most important Schoenberg's advice on the creation and or- compositional principles of Western music ganization of a music department. Schoenberg from the common-practice era to his own day. recommended, as one of several possibili- It is thus worthwhile to gather and examine his ties, "a clean-cut Musicological Department," scattered remarks in order to form a clear pic- whose sole function should be research. He ture of the term and the concept. In one essay graciously provided Hutchins with "Some Schoenberg explains: Problems for the Department," a list of "a few ... with which classes could become subjects Music of the melodic of As be in- homophonic style composi- busy." might expected, Schoenberg tion, that is, music with a main theme, accompanied cluded mainly compositional and analytical by and based on , produces its material by, topics, such as "methods of transition" and a as I call it, developing variation. This means that "'systematic cataloguing of features of variation of the features of a basic unit produces all He also a the thematic formulations which provide for ." proposed subject sugges- and called fluency, contrasts, variety, logic unity on the tively "developing variation."' one hand, and character, mood, expression, and Although Schoenberg discussed developing every needed differentiation, on the other hand- variation only sporadically-and often aph- thus elaboratingthe idea of the piece.2

1Arnold Schoenberg, Letters, ed. Erwin Stein, trans. E. Wil- 2Schoenberg, Style and Idea: Selected Writings of Arnold kins and E. Kaiser (New York, 1965), pp. 240-42. Schoenberg, ed. Leonard Stein (New York, 1975), p. 397. All further page references in section I of this article are to 0148-2076/82/010215+18$00.50 O 1982 by The Regents the Stein edition. of the University of California.

215

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH Elsewhere defines the transformation" In CENTURY Schoenberg procedure relating figures by (p. 173). MUSIC more polemically. He offers the blunt pos- one well-known example Schoenberg seeks tulate, "Whatever happens in a piece of music to demonstrate more concretely how "the is nothing but the endless reshaping of a basic method of developing variation" was used by shape," and then elaborates: the preeminent Viennese classicist, Beethoven; the second subject in the first movement of the Or, in other words, there is nothing in a piece of Fifth Symphony is derived "from a rein- music but what comes from the theme, springsfrom of the two main notes the first it and can be traced back to still more se- terpretation [of it; put and as tonic dominant of verely, nothing but the theme itself. Or, all the subject], Eb F, and Eb shapes appearingin a piece of music are foreseen in major" (p. 164). This is, unfortunately, not one the "theme." I say a piece of music is a picture-book of Schoenberg's more persuasive analyses.3 He consisting of a series of shapes, which for all their was more successful at-and clearly more in- variety still (a) cohere with one another, [and] (b)are terested how as variations with the of in--demonstrating developing presented (in keeping idea) variation informs the music of a basic shape, the various charactersand forms aris- Brahms, who, ing from the fact that variation is carried out in a he felt, brought the procedure to its most ad- number of different ways fp. 290). vanced state. In "Criteria for the Evaluation of Music," in It is clear that Schoenberg is not discussing Style and Idea, Schoenberg contrasts Brahms's variation form, as in a theme and a series of compositional techniques with those of Wag- discrete variations, but a more flexible compo- ner. The latter, "in order to make his themes sitional procedure whereby the different ele- suitable for memorability, had to use se- ments of a basic idea or shape-what he called quences and semi-sequences, that is, unvar- a Grundgestalt-are successively modified. ied or only slightly varied repetitions differing Indeed, Schoenberg contrasts traditional varia- in nothing essential from their first appear- tion form with the technique of developing var- ances, except that they are exactly transposed iation. Of the former he notes: ". . . in primor- to other degrees" (p. 129). Schoenberg gives two dial specimens, sets of variations serve rather examples from Tristan, the first seven mea- the virtuoso who wants to be brilliant through sures of the Prelude and the two measures of his technique. In such variations there is sel- Isolde's command to Brangine in Act I, scene 2, dom any other development than velocity and "Befehlen liess dem Eigenholde." In each a no other change than the figuration of the in- brief phrase is repeated sequentially (though strumental style." But "artistically superior not exactly). Dismissing this technique as compositions" (including the more sophisti- "primitive" and "inferior," Schoenberg points cated variation sets) are generated "through admiringly to Brahms, who avoided exact repe- 'developing variations' of basic features of the tition and "repeated phrases, motives, and theme and its motive ... producing thematic other structural ingredients of themes only in material for forms of all sizes: the , varied forms, if possible in the form of ... de- main and subordinate themes, transitions, veloping variation. " codettas, elaborations, etc., with all the neces- sary contrasts" (pp. 165-66). Schoenberg's essays do not spell out the ways in which the theme can be varied-I re- turn to that below-but do to 3Treating only a few measures of music, the analysis is too topic they begin brief and too to us of the evolution superficial persuade significance suggest how he viewed the historical of developing variation in shaping Beethoven's movement of developing variation. He claims that J. S. as a whole. Furthermore, it misconstrues the first theme; as basic musical Bach the which was as Schenker demonstrated, and perception originated procedure, tells us, the "two main notes" are not Eb and F, but the then taken up and refined by the Viennese pitches on the two analogous downbeats, Eb and D. classicists (pp. 115, 118). We are given no Schenker's compelling analysis treats Eb-D as the basic "two-note motive" of the movement. See Der Tonwille 1 specific examples of how Bach employed the (1921), 27-37; trans. Elliot Forbes and F. J. Adams, Jr., in technique, but are told that he created "the art Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, ed. Elliot Forbes, of producing everything from one thing and of Norton Critical Score (New York, 1971), pp. 164-82. 216

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions In this essay Schoenberg does not analyze and the unusual intervals, the ninths contained in WALTER FRISCH music but he does so on several this phrase [m. 5], made it difficult to grasp. I felt all Brahms and any by Brahms, Developing other occasions. In a radio talk of 1931 he this myself, so I know how seriously it must be Variation ap- taken! to the of a late Brahms theme in peals example To make matters worse, the theme develops too order to defend the theme of his own Orches- quickly, and its motivic evolution is very difficult tral Variations, op. 31, against charges of in- for the ear to trace, without the help of the written comprehensibility. "New music is never beau- page. It is only there that one sees that the opening fourth is inverted into a tiful on first acquaintance," Schoenberg fifth; claims. "The reason is simply this: one can only like what one remembers; and with all new music that is very difficult."4 The great popular composers constructed their melodies by "repeating every little phrase often enough ~e~jii~ii~~ for it to impress itself on the listener." After quoting the first part of Strauss's Blue but this is hard for Danube from one to seven the ear to grasp, if only because Waltz-numbering the initial in two-note then the phrasing groups parallel repetitions of the simple four- switches to groups of three: measure phrase-Schoenberg observes: But a stricter style of composition must do with- out such convenient resources. It demands that 2 6 APE*. , a-. • I r 1 I. I1I • d I V nothing be repeated without promoting the de- ..,P,•r I- I I1 ' F velopment of the music, and that can only happen by way of far-reachingvariations. Here is a theme that develops rapidly. You are certainly expecting me to quote something modem and extreme, but you are wrong: It is the opening of So those who did not understand at the time Brahms's F-majorCello Sonata [op. 99]: were right (pp. 28-30). In its penultimate paragraph Schoenberg's Allegro vivace analysis develops almost as elliptically as the ." theme itself. We do not learn precisely where 4. , or how the opening fourth is inverted to a fifth: 10 the D-G never in the , figure actually appears - " -- initial rhythm, as Schoenberg notates it; nor is it easy to discern among his parentheses and grace-notes. Young listeners will probablybe unaware that at At any rate, the actual intervallic develop- the time of Brahms'sdeath this sonata was still very ment of the motive seems less significant (and unpopular and was considered indigestible.... At harder for the ear to grasp) than its rhythmic that time the unusual within this the rhythm 3, syn- evolution, as displayed in Schoenberg's last copations which give the impression that the third musical example, where we see how Brahms phrase is in 4"4: progressively transforms the two-note figure. In m. 4 the "upbeat" and the longer note 1)4 equalize into two quarter notes (or we might hear m. 4 as an extension, by two quarter notes, of the initial figure); then in m. 5 the original motive sprouts an afterbeat. The develop- 4Schoenberg, "The Orchestral Variations, Op. 31: A Radio mental process reaches its climax in mm. 8-9 Talk," given over the Frankfurt Radio in 1931, printed in when this figure too is extended. The Score 27 (1960), 28. The original German is "Vortrag Schoenberg might have noted that this fiber op. 31," Stil und Gedanke: Aufsdtze zur Musik, ed. Ivan Vojtech (Frankfurt, 1976), 256-57. This talk does not rapid, explosive motivic growth is contained appear in the English Style and Idea. within an outwardly regular nine-measure 217

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH divided into a four-measure an- second" ex. The staves in CENTURY phrase, cleanly (see 2). multiple tecedent and a five an do not MUSIC (four, plus extension)- Schoenberg's example represent any measure consequent. The metric "stretch" of hierarchy of structural levels; they serve only Schoenberg's proposed 4 measure at the end of to display the numerous motive forms which the antecedent is perfectly complemented by Brahms develops from the basic second, what we could interpret as a measure across labelled a. As Schoenberg explains: mm. 7-8 (ex. 1): 4 b then is the inversion upward [sic] of a; c is a + b; ' d is of - - part c; 0,1 e is b + b, descending seconds, comprising a Example 1 fourth; f is the interval of a fourth, abstracted from e, in inversion By slightly refining Schoenberg's analysis, (p. 431). then, we can begin to see just how he under- Schoenberg anticipates criticism of this kind of stood developing variation in Brahms: the motivic analysis, noting that skeptics "might of a theme by rapid development of a building reason that steps of a second or even fractions brief motive, with the concomitant creation of of a scale are present in every theme without metrical fluidity or ambiguity-the whole pro- constituting the thematic material." But he de- cess reined in by a phrase structure that on the fends himself by pointing out that his second level is essentially symmetrical. higher example, "O Tod," displays "a similar secret" In "Brahms the Progressive," perhaps his based on another single interval, a third, and most famous essay, Schoenberg reveals the that the metrical-rhythmic development of a same procedures at work in other Brahms motive is (as we saw in op. 99) just as impor- themes. Like the radio talk, this essay (also tant as the purely intervallic processes-in- first as a radio talk, in 1933) has a polem- given deed, that cannot be ical intent: to that so often they separated. prove Brahms, As Carl Dahlhaus has in his as "the the suggested branded pejoratively classicist, on the two in commentary Schoenberg's analysis, academician," was, fact, "a great innovator halves of Brahms's theme 1-5 and in the realm of musical Much of (mm. 5-8) language."5 function much like an antecedent and con- the demonstration involves brief examples of sequent, although in fact they have little Brahms's asymmetrical phrase structures- overt correspondence besides their Dreiglied- combinations of phrases of differing lengths rigkeit, their division into three phrases each.7 and numbers of measures not divisible by Schoenberg attempts to show how these six four, or two. But Schoenberg gives a eight, phrases evolve independently of the notated 4 more extended, and more persuasive, account meter. The first three phrases, and the last, of how two Brahms themes are generated by each one and a half measures, the the of variation: those from occupy process developing fourth and fifth a measure. After the first the single the Andante of A-Minor String Quartet, op. this wreaks havoc with the Four Serious phrase, design 51, no. 2, and from the third of the written bar line: Songs, "O Tod."6 The quartet theme, Schoenberg notes, The first phrase ends practically on the first beat of "contains exclusively motive forms which can measure 2. In order to appreciate fully the artistic value of the second metrical one must be explained as derivatives of the interval of a phrase's shift, realize that even some of the great composers, Brahms's predecessors, might have continued as in [example 3], placing the second phrase in the third measure (p. 435). sSchoenberg, "Brahms the Progressive," Style and Idea, p. 401. 6For a discussion and expansion of Schoenberg's analysis of the song, see pp. 270-82 of my Ph.D. dissertation, 7Carl Dahlhaus, "Musikalische Prosa," Schinberg und Brahms's Sonata Structures and the Principle of Develop- Andere: Gesammelte Aufsdtze zur Neuen Musik (Mainz, ing Variation (University of California, Berkeley, 1981). 1978), p. 137. 218

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Example 2: Schoenberg's analysis of Brahms's String Quartet, op. 51, no. 2 (Examples 2-8 and 10 are reproduced by permission of St. Martin's Press, Inc., Macmillan & Co. Ltd.)

Example 3: Schoenberg's rewriting of the Brahms theme

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Example 4: Schoenberg's rebarring of the Brahms theme 219

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH But Brahms eschews such is "a direct and CENTURY any symmetry, pre- prose, however, straightforward MUSIC ferring to let his theme expand more freely. presentation of ideas, without any patchwork, In his next example (ex. 4), Schoenbergpre- without mere padding and empty repetitions" serves Brahms'sphrases intact, but rebarsthem (p. 415). Developing variation and musical in order to have analogous accents appear in prose are, in a sense, two different ways of de- the same part of a measure. The result is that scribing the same process. Developing the first three phrases fall into 3, the fourth variation-the principle according to which and fifth in 4. But, as Schoenberg indicates with ideas are continuously varied-provides the the asterisk above m. 6, the last phrase is not means, the grammar by which the musical adequately represented by this plan, "if all the prose is created. preceding phrases had their main accents I have quoted at length from both the radio placed on first beats." talk and "Brahms the Progressive" in part be- Dahlhaus correctly observes that Schoen- cause Schoenberg's ideas seem intimately berg's rebarringobscures the manner in which linked with his crusty prose style-and thus Brahms shifts the metrical weight within resist paraphrase-but also because the two phrases, a process which is partly the result of analyses reveal the nature and the true impor- the harmonic Stufen.8 The first phrase begins tance of developing variation in Brahms. To on a downbeat with a note of the tonic A-major summarize: by developing variation Schoen- chord; the D on the third beat, part of a di- berg means the construction of a theme by the minished ii chord, is appropriatelyon a weak continuous modification of one or more fea- part of the measure. But the E in the second tures (intervals, ) of a basic idea, ac- phrase, analogous to the earlier D, returns us to cording to certain recognized procedures, such the tonic and (in Brahms's notation) is thus in as inversion, fragmentation, extension, and its proper place on the downbeat of m. 3. displacement. Schoenberg values developing Schoenberg ultimately agrees that Brahms's variation as a compositional principle because notation is the most sensible, since it contains it can prevent obvious and hence monotonous the motivic development within a rational repetition. And in his view Brahms's music eight measures: "In Brahms's notation these stands as its most advanced manifestation in subcutaneous beauties are accommodated the common-practice era, for Brahms "de- within eight measures; and if eight measures velops" his motives almost at once and dis- constitute an aesthetic principle, it is preserved penses with small-scale rhythmic or metrical here in spite of the great freedom of construc- symmetry, thereby creating genuine musical tion" (pp. 435-36). prose. Schoenberg himself adopted these pro- As in the op. 99 theme, then, Brahms re- cedures in his early compositions, thus carry- tains here an outwardly regular structure ing developing variation into the twentieth within which motives expand and develop century.10 quite freely. The manipulation of a theme's internal rhythm and meter is one of Brahms's II most powerful tools of developing variation.9 Schoenberg's analyses generally serve a Schoenbergcharacterized themes like those polemical function and are thus highly of opp. 51 and 99 as "musical prose," that is, idiosyncratic and selective. He concentrates music which does not fall into regular, pre- only on the more progressive aspects of defined or predictable patterns. The Blue motivic development in Brahms (and other) Danube theme, with its repeated symmetrical themes. But fortunately Schoenbergdid leave a phrases, would be "musical verse." Musical more systematic, even-handed account of de-

8Dahlhaus, "Musikalische Prosa," p. 137. 10See Frisch, Brahms's Sonata Structures, Chapter 7 (pp. 9Metrical and rhythmic aspects of developing variation in 283-310). I have not been able to consult the recent Ph.D. Brahms's music are treated in Frisch, Brahms's Sonata dissertation by Michael Musgrave, Brahms and Schoen- Structures, especially with regard to the Piano Quintet in F berg: A Study of Schoenberg's Response to Brahms's Music Minor, op. 34 (pp. 144-60), and the Third Symphony, op. 90 As Revealed in his Didactic Writings and Selected Early (pp. 239-53). Compositions (University of London, 1980), which touches on this topic and on others relevant to the present study. 220

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Rhythmic changes WALTER FRISCH A1a) b) ) d) e) I Brahms and Developing Variation

Addition of ancillary notes a) b) _ c) d)) e)

Reduction,omission, condensation -b) 1 c) d) e)

Addition of upbeats, repetition of features b) C) bAd)a) Af Man

Shift to other beats

C a) ee) b) C) d) C) ) e) -A I ) :;Ms

Example 5: Developing variations of a motive based on a broken chord

veloping variation, of the basic premises be- ence of a composition, our "final impression," hind what often seem to be impulsive critical depends not on the motive's initial form, but or analytical judgements. This discussion is on its "treatment and development." The found not in essays or radio talks, but (logically composition grows by the continuous repeti- enough) in a textbook. In Fundamentals of tion of a motive, a repetition which can be , written during the years exact or modified (and thus developed): 1937-48, Schoenberg wears a very different hat than in and that of the di- Exact repetitions preserve all features and rela- Style Idea, practical to a different in- dact the of de- tionships. Transpositions degree, explaining carefully procedures versions, retrogrades, diminutions and augmenta- veloping variation to the student composer. tions are exact repetitions.... The composer is not the sole beneficiary of the Modified repetitions are created through varia- meticulous instruction, however, for it proves tion.... useful to the at the other end of Some variations, however, are merely local "var- equally analyst iants," and have little or no influence on the con- the creative process (although it has rarely, if tinuation. ever, been employed in this way). Variation, it must be remembered, is repetition The composer's basic tool is the motive, in which some features are changed and the rest pre- whose features are "intervals and rhythms, served. All the features of interval, combined to produce a memorable shape or rhythm, harmony and contour are subject to various alterations . . but stresses that the coher- contour.""11Schoenberg such changes must not produce a motive-form too foreign to the basic motive (p. 9).12

11Schoenberg, Fundamentals of Musical Composition, ed. In a set of made-up musical examples entitled Gerald Strang and Leonard Stein (New York, 1967), p. 8. "Developing variations of a motive based on a Further page references in section II are to this edition. For broken chord" demonstrates a helpful summary and synthesis of Schoenberg's theories (ex. 5) Schoenberg of motivic development, see David Epstein, Beyond Or- pheus: Studies in Musical Structure (Cambridge, Mass., 1979), Appendix A ("Schoenberg's Studies of Motives, 12It is significant that despite their mutual disagreement Motive-Forms, and Developing Variations"), pp. 207-10. on most theoretical issues, Schoenberg and (the early) 221

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH re a b CENTURY a MUSIC iA 24 . tonic form dominant form .

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i 1 C Ii t-11 51061 I m 4 reduction . melodic residues iV f

Example 6: Schoenberg'sanalysis of Beethoven's Sonata, op. 2, no. 1

just how these features (rhythm, meter, inter- the musical sentence, which "not only makes a val, contour, etc.) can be modified. These mo- statement of an idea, but at once starts a kind tive forms do not "develop" successively from of development." He explains: one another, of course, but simply constitute different individual alternatives of The practice form will consist, in simpler cases, develop- of of which the first four a soon advances to eight measures, comprise ment.13 However, Schoenberg phrase and its repetition. The technique to be a higher structural level at which continuous applied in the continuation is a kind of develop- elaboration does take place. ment, comparablein some respects to the condens- After demonstrating how to build single ing technique of "liquidation." Development im- the varied motive forms plies not only growth, augmentation, extension and phrases by connecting but also condensation and intensification his moves on to expansion, (see Chapter IV), Schoenberg (p. 58).

The locus classicus for such an eight- measure sentence is perhaps the opening theme of Beethoven's F-Minor , Schenker concur on the importance of repetition in generating . In his Harmonielehre (1906) op. 2, no. 1, which Schoenberg parses as in Schenker claims that a motive is actually defined or cre- example 6. The first two-measure phrase is re- ated by repetition: "Only by repetition can a series of tones on the the con- be characterized as definite is peated sequentially dominant; something .... Repetition an indivisible unit thus the basis of music as an art." (Harmony, ed. Oswald tinuation, four-measure Jonas, trans. E. M. Borghese [Cambridge, 1973], p. 4). (mm. 5-8), "reduces" the initial phrase by Schoenberg underlined this very passage with red crayon in separating off and developing motives b and c. his own copy of Schenker's book and in the margin added some comments of approval. See Jonathan M. Dunsby, Beethoven also intensifies the harmonic "Schoenberg and the Writings of Schenker," Journal of the rhythm, which accelerates from one harmony Institute 2 (1977), 28. two measures mm. to one should be clear now that uses the terms per (in 1-4), per 13It by Schoenberg mm. "developing" and "development" (and "variation") not as measure (in 5-6), finally to two har- formal designations-as in a development section--but in monies in m. 7. a more general sense. Schoenberg feels "development" is a includes numerous other misnomer for the central of a : "It Schoenberg segment from the classical and romantic liter- suggests elaboration and growth which rarely occur. The examples thematic elaboration and modulatory 'working out' ature, but his own "model" sentences prove (Durchfzihrung) produce some variation, and place the the most He no clue as musical elements in different but seldom lead to illuminating. provides contexts, to their nor to the 'development' of anything new." (Fundamentals, p. musical idiom; has anyone, my 200). knowledge, commented on their stylistic pro- 222

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions A a) b) c) WALTER FRISCH Brahms and Imi ~ l i .mm? •. Developing varied further varied Variation

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Example 7: Schoenberg's"classical" sentence gression. But when studied in sequence ment of this example clearly point to a late Schoenberg's examples 54 and 55 (given as exx. classical idiom, perhaps to that of Hummel, 7 and 8) comprise-better than any possible Weber, or Schubert. verbal description-an extraordinary capsule After offering two alternative continuation history of developing variation from the sections (new versions of mm. 5-8), Schoen- classical composers to Brahms. berg recomposes the entire sentence with the On the first staff of ex. 7 Schoenberg shows same motives, but in a different meter. (This is the three-stage process (a, b, c) of constructing a given as example 8. The proportions of the orig- theme from a broken-chord motive similar to inal are doubled, so that the whole sentence is the one examined above. From this (d) he com- now 16 measures long instead of 8. The initial poses a full eight-measure sentence according phrase has 4 measures, the repetition 4, and to the "practice form," that is, a two-measure the continuation or development 8.) Again phrase, its varied repetition, and a four- Schoenberg fails to indicate the style, but our measure continuation or "development" (ex. eyes and ears could, I think, take it for none 7). The repetition (mm. 2-4) is essentially a se- other than Brahms's. The piano writing is quential reiteration, on the dominant, of the perhaps the most obviously Brahmsian ele- original phrase: the pattern ment-in particular the broken-chord figu- and the succession of motive forms (a, b, c) re- ration of the right hand in mm. 3 and 7-13. main constant. In the continuation (mm. 5-8), (See, for example, the piano part from the Vi- as Schoenberg remarks, the motive forms still vace of the A-Major Violin Sonata, op. 100, retain their original order but are now "re- which Schoenberg has quoted earlier in his duced" or "condensed": the cadential c is book, p. 57.) But more revealing are the struc- eliminated, and at each occurrence b is heard tural features on which Schoenberg himself only once, not twice as it was in mm. 1 and 3. comments. Schoenberg's procedure thus closely follows The continuation phrase (mm. 9-16) "be- that of Beethoven's F-Minor Sonata. Indeed, al- gins with a transposition [c2] of that feature does not though Schoenberg specify any musi- which ended the preceding phrase (c1, m. 8) and cal style, the clearly articulated phrase struc- associates it with b in the form used in m. 3 ture and relatively simple motivic develop- and 7 [i.e., the broken-chord figuration]" (p. 223

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I I I ,• - Example 8: Schoenberg's Brahmsin" sentence

Example 9: Brahms, Second Symphony, op. 73

60).14 In Schoenberg's earlier, "classical" sen- One well-known example is the theme tence c served only as a cadential figure to close from the Allegretto of the Second Symphony off the first two phrases. But here the cadential (ex. 9), in which the two-note cadential figure, cl generates the first motive form of the next E-D, of mm. 8-10, is taken over to initiate the phrase, c2 (m. 9). This technique, by which a next phrase in m. 11. The pitches remain the "new" idea evolves spontaneously from a pre- same, but the harmonic support is altered. In ceding one, is a distinctly Brahmsian finger- "Brahms the Progressive" Schoenberg provides print, which Schenker called Kndpftechnik, or an exquisite example of Brahms's Krnipf- linkage technique.15 technik on a smaller scale. In the Andante from

14As printed on p. 65 of Fundamentals, the "Brahmsian" ther discussion and examples of Schenker's concept, see example has no motive c1. The motives of m. 8 are labeled Sylvan Kalib, Thirteen Essays from the Three Yearbooks c2, that of m. 9 c3, and that of m. 11 c4. This is undoubtedly Das Meisterwerk in der Musik (Ph.D. diss., Northwestern, an error and has been corrected in ex. 8, where I have low- 1973), I, 89-92. See also Oswald Jonas, Einfdihrung in die ered the c superscripts by one to bring them into accord Lehre Heinrich Schenkers: Das Wesen des musikalischen with Schoenberg's discussion of the example. Kunstwerkes, rev. edn. (Vienna, 1972), pp. 6-9. Jonas re- 15Schenker, Harmony, pp. 9-10 and fn. 10 (p. 10). For fur- marks on Brahms's predilection for the Kndipftechnik. 224

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions r &6 C9 WALTER FRISCH ~-1C5 t-- C6 r7 a b Brahms and s13 - -- I iT ' g•g 17 j Developing 1"" Variation extension

Example 10: Schoenberg's continuation of Example 8

the String Quartet (see ex. 2, p. 219) the tail of tonic arrives only on the third beat of the each "phrase" immediately generates the suc- measure. ceeding phrase. Observe, for example, how mo- The motivic nature of Schoenberg's accom- tive form b ends the first and initiates the sec- paniment in ex. 8 also evokes Brahms. In the ond. Or, as Schoenberg indicates on the third "classical" example (ex. 7) the left-hand part stave, motive form d overlaps-literally consists mostly of conventional figuration, two phrases. Its third note, D, which attracts little attention (except in mm. "knuipfs"-the serves both as conclusion and beginning. 2, 5, and 6 where the bass imitates motive a). To return to Schoenberg's "Brahmsian" But in the "Brahmsian" sentence the rhythmic sentence in Fundamentals (ex. 8): the juncture patterns-to which Schoenberg gives labels of between phrases displays not only the their own, d and e-undergo a developmental Knripftechnik but also a typically Brahmsian process. Schoenberg comments, "Observe also moment of ambiguity. When in m. 8 the left the treatment of the motive of the accompa- hand breaks in upon the right hand's cadential niment, e, which ... is shifted from the weak c1 with a statement of the same motive, we be- to the strong measures in mm. 9-10" (p. 60). come uncertain of where the phrase ends. The That is, e moves from its initial position across ambiguity is then compounded in m. 9 as the mm. 2-3 of a four-measure phrase to a new po- right hand gives out c2, which we initially take sition within the first two measures (e2, mm. for a further echo of c', although it in fact be- 9-10 of the example).16 gins the next phrase. The subdominant har- Schoenberg goes on to provide two alterna- mony at m. 9 enhances the ambiguity, for tive continuations for the "Brahmsian" sen- it is not the conventional starting point of a tence. The second (see ex. 10) betrays a fur- continuation phrase: neither Schoenberg's ther characteristic device-Brahms's beloved "classical" sentence (ex. 7) nor any of his other hemiola, which here serves to develop and vary examples begins its "development" on IV. motives c (mm. 13-14) and b (mm. 19-20). The Allegretto from Brahms's Second Sym- In these examples, then, Schoenberg has phony (ex. 9) contains a very similar ambiguity demonstrated how Brahms's style of develop- at the juncture between phrases. An E-D ca- ing variation evolves from and extends the dential motive appears first in m. 8 and is practices of classical composers. In Brahms echoed an octave higher in m. 9. It returns in motivic development becomes more intense m. 10 to the original register, and appears to be and pervasive. It permeates all parts of the tex- echoed once again in m. 11; but this last echo in fact initiates the new as in phrase. Precisely 160ne could the the successive take the opposite point of view from Schoen- Schoenberg example, berg and claim that e is shifted from a strong to a weak motivic repetitions make us uncertain where measure. Initially, the stress of e-that is, its coincidence one phrase ends and the other begins. Here, with a downbeat, and not its first note-falls on a strong the obscures the measure (m. 3). At m. 10, then, that stress falls on the weak too, harmony phrase juncture. measures of a four-measure phrase. The weak-strong deci- The first phrase concludes on a dominant sion is complicated, however, because the first phrase be- seventh (D7, mm. 8-10); the first bar of the gins on a weak harmony, V, which resolves to the tonic in second then resolves that chord to m. 2, normally the weak measure of a four-measure phrase. phrase All these ambiguities could be considered eminently another dominant seventh (G7, or V7/IV). The Brahmsian in spirit. 225

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH Allegro CENTURY ,-. -- MUSIC

pespress. --1 - - vn.topft.8 8r- P------I p p F

Example 11: Brahms, Piano Quartet, op. 25

ture and even begins to break down or obscure After Beethoven, Dahlhaus claims, "form the phrase structure, as in the ambiguity cre- fell into a state of one-sided dependence on the ated at the juncture between the halves of the musical idea," that is, on the initial motive or sentence. Motivic development can also affect theme. "Musical form now presented itself the metrical framework, as in the hemiola, primarily (though by no means exclusively) as where a3 pattern is superimposed over the no- a consequence drawn from thematic ideas, not tated 3. Thus, although Schoenberg's intention as a system of formal relations" (p. 42). And be- in Fundamentals is ostensibly to give the stu- cause composers felt a strong pressure to be dent composer several ways of developing mo- "original," they tended to do away with con- tive forms, he has in fact provided a perceptive ventional material or mere filler. As a result, account-in purely musical terms-of how the actual thematic ideas became very concise. different would be the results were Brahms to Building on the distinction Schoenberg handle the same formal structure and the makes in "Criteria for the Evaluation of same motivic material as one of his classical Music" (see above, p. 216), Dahlhaus suggests forbears. that composers in the later nineteenth century devised two different methods of generating III large structures from such drastically reduced Although one can, as I have tried to do, thematic material. Liszt and Wagner adopted extract an historical (or style-historical) ac- the technique of real, or literal, sequence, by count of developing variation from Schoen- which ideas are not "developed," not pulled berg's writings, his approach is clearly more apart and reshaped (as in the Schoenberg model theoretical than chronological. Indeed, his un- sentences), but are repeated more or less substantiated suggestion that developing varia- exactly at different pitch levels. Real sequence tion originated with Bach and then "made pos- is "a means of elaborating a musical idea which sible the style of the Viennese classicists" in itself-like the Yearning motive from must strike us as inadequate and simplistic. Tristan-needs no continuation and would not But by expanding on Schoenberg's concepts tolerate conventional 'rounding-off' in a closed Carl Dahlhaus has recently advanced a more period" (p. 46). sophisticated and compelling view. In his essay The alternative principle was provided by "Issues in Composition," Dahlhaus argues that Brahms, who, "faced like them [Wagner and developing variation emerged in the later Liszt] with the difficulties caused by the conci- nineteenth century as one response to the cen- sion of the basic thematic substance under the tral "problem" composers faced-how to cre- pressure of the all-pervading insistence on orig- ate large forms from very concise thematic inality, sought a different solution in the pro- material. 17 cedure that Schoenberg was to call 'developing variation' " (pp. 47-48). In the opening of Brahms's Piano Quartet in 17Carl Dahlhaus, "Issues in Composition," Between G Minor, op. 25, developing variation is used, Romanticism and Modernism: Four Studies in the Music Dahlhaus suggests, as "an expositional proce- of the Later Nineteenth Century, trans. Mary Whittall, . . California Studies in 19th-Century Music, no. 1 (Berkeley dure . in a formal function similar to that and Los Angeles, 1980). of modulatory sequence in Wagner and 226

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Liszt." form into its traditional sections WALTER FRISCH Dahlhaus adopts Schoenberg's analyti- component Brahms and cal methods to show how Brahms builds his and subsections-the exposition, for example, Developing first group from the continuous reinterpreta- with a first group, transition, second group and Variation tion of two very brief motives, the D-Bb-F#-G codetta. But instead of specific compositional figure of m. 1 and the descending second of m. techniques Schoenberg provides us only with 11 (see ex. 11), which are developed by such the information that the sonata form's procedures as inversion, augmentation and greatest merit . .. is its extraordinaryflexibility in diminution. 18 accommodating the widest variety of musical ideas, As is often the case in his writing, Dahl- long or short, many or few, active or passive, in al- haus's dialectic (here between real sequences most any combination. The internal details may be and developing variation) is provocative and il- subjected to almost any mutation without disturb- It cannot be taken ing the aesthetic validity of the structure as a luminating. quite literally: whole.20 Liszt and Wagner (especially the latter) cer- tainly use thematic development, and not just A number of critics have, however, attempted exact repetition, to build large structures. As to account for the whole structure, or at least Anthony Newcomb has recently shown, Act for the crucial expositional part of it. I shall III, scene 1 of Siegfried unfolds in part as a pro- now examine how four of these writers relate gressive transformation and development of a developing variation to the larger dimension of brief motive.19 And even the later Brahms Brahms's sonata forms. employs literal sequence on a large scale, as for example in the transition to the second subject IV in the first movement of the Third Symphony In an important early (1965) monograph on (mm. 15-31). But although the distinction Brahms's D-Minor Piano Concerto, op. 15, Dahlhaus draws is too simple, there is no doubt Dahlhaus himself has shown how developing that the kind of intense motivic processes he variation--defined somewhat differently- finds in op. 25, and that Schoenberg discovered profoundly affects Brahms's treatment of in opp. 51 and 99, are more fundamental to sonata form. He observes that the themes of Brahms's musical language than to Wagner's or the first movement are arranged in distinct Liszt's. clusters, six in the double exposition, one in Like Schoenberg, Dahlhaus focuses on the the development section, and four in the re- construction of individual themes but does capitulation and coda.21 Reaching across the not, in his analyses, address broader formal is- "groups," Dahlhaus says, is a process of de- sues. He boldly claims that for Brahms de- velopment, a high-level developing variation, veloping variation becomes the primary formal by which Brahms constantly alters his theme. or "expositional" principle but fails to show This process tends to supersede-or at least to just how such procedures might shape a large overshadow-the traditional functions and sonata-form movement (or even an entire ex- divisions of sonata form. The technique of de- position). Schoenberg too becomes less cogent veloping variation is not restricted to the on this subject. Indeed, his discussion of the development section, but extends into the standard instrumental forms, which occupies exposition and recapitulation as well. "Brahms the last half of Fundamentals, lacks the imagi- continually presents the main theme in differ- nation and conviction of the preceding chap- ent shapes, without ever going back to an ear- ters on theme construction. He divides sonata

20Schoenberg, Fundamentals, p. 200. The editor of Funda- mentals, Gerald Strang, notes in his Preface that Schoen- 18For further thematic-formal analysis of the Piano Quar- berg's chapter on Sonata-Allegro Form (XX)-the last in the tet, op. 25, see below, p. 230. See also Frisch, Brahms's book-"was incomplete and required reorganization" Sonata Structures, pp. 102-18, and James Webster, for publication (p. xiii). It is perhaps not surprising, then, "Schubert's Sonata Form and Brahms's First Maturity," that this chapter is one of the least successful in the book. this journal 3 (1979), 62-65. 21Carl Dahlhaus, : Klavierkonzert nr. 1, 19See Anthony Newcomb, "The Birth of Music out of the d-moll, op. 15. Meisterwerke der Musik 3 (Munich, 1965), Spirit of Drama," this journal 5 (1981), 58-64. 9-10. 227

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH version to the scheme of recalls that of whom he CENTURY lier where, according strikingly Schoenberg, MUSIC sonata form, we would expect him to-in the had in fact known personally in Europe during solo-exposition or in the . The 'plastic' the earlier part of this century.22 element of the grouping and the 'logical' ele- "Thematic transformation"is Reti's equiv- ment of continuing [fortschreitenden] varia- alent for Schoenberg's developing variation tion support each other mutually" (p. 15). (and an equally unfortunate term, since it is too Dahlhaus demonstrates how Brahms con- easily confused with specific romantic proce- tinually refashions his main theme by "sin- dures of Schubert, Berlioz, Liszt, and the young gling out" and elaborating "its individual Brahms).Reti devotes an entire chapter (Chap- elements [Teilmomente]." At its second ap- ter 4) to detailing how the elements of a theme pearance (m. 66) the theme is abbreviated and may be transformed.Among his classifications treated in canon-a device suggested by the are not only the common devices of inversion imitation in its original statement (mm. 15- and retrograde,and change of tempo or rhythm, 18). In the solo exposition (m. 110) Brahms but also more elaborate procedures such as exploits another element, the chromatically "thematic compression" and the "thinning" descending bass-line first heard on a large scale and "filling" of thematic shapes. Several of in mm. 1-25. The recapitulation (m. 310) con- these categories correspond quite closely to stitutes perhaps the most astonishing de- Schoenberg's "developing variations" of the velopment: here the Hauptthema returns broken-chordmotive (see above, ex. 5). above the initial D pedal but outlines a com- Reti gives a persuasive demonstration of pletely different harmony, an E dominant- how the first movement of Mozart's G-Minor seventh rather than the original Bb6. Symphony unfolds by a continuous kind of The kind of developing variation that Dahl- thematic transformation, by which the two haus adumbrates here differs from the proce- basic motives of the main theme evolve dure outlined by Schoenberg, or by Dahlhaus throughout the exposition (pp. 137-39). But himself in the "Issues" essay. For he finds in Brahms's art eludes Reti, because he seems ob- the D-Minor Concerto not the continuous sessed to relate every theme of a piece to every modification of small motive forms but the other. For example, Brahms is said to derive higher-level reinterpretationof a theme at each each idea in the first movement of his Second of its appearances in the sonata form. This is Symphony from the motive forms of the open- indeed one of Brahms'smost characteristic and ing theme (p. 81). Such a procedure is not un- powerful techniques (although one that does likely in a mature Brahms work, and has, in not differ greatly from the procedures of the fact, been sensitively demonstrated in that Viennese classicists, Haydn, Mozart, Beetho- very piece, by David Epstein.23 But Reti iso- ven, and Schubert, who also altered thematic lates pitches with an alarming arbitrari- returns in their sonata structures). There is ness-with little regardfor their rhythmic po- much to be learned about Brahms's treatment sition in the measure, structural status, or of sonata form by examining especially the dif- harmonic importance. "If we single out certain ferent ways he approaches the most critical notes of the new theme [m. 44], the first theme moment of reinterpretation,the recapitulation. comes to the fore," he writes. "If we single out One of the first writers to demonstrate a others, the second theme [m. 102] appears"(p. more continuous kind of developing variation 81). R6ti's examples simply relegate to small at work on a higher level of the sonata struc- ture was Rudolph R6ti, in his important book see H. H. The Thematic Process in Music (New York, 22For the contacts between Reti and Schoenberg, Stuckenschmidt, Schoenberg: His Life and Work, trans. 1951). Although Riti does not acknowledge Humphrey Searle (London, 1977), pp. 179, 183, 263. As a any debt to the Schoenberg theoretical tradi- pianist and writer, Reti was an early and ardent champion For of a letter of tion (in fact he eschews altogether a biblio- of Schoenberg's atonal works. the text ap- preciation Schoenberg wrote to Reti in 1911, see R6ti, To- graphy or any reference to other theorists), his nality, , Pantonality (London, 1958), pp. 48-49. analytical approach to common-practice music 23See Epstein, Beyond Orpheus, pp. 162-77. 228

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the notes which do not fit the he is The tension (Dahlhaus's dialec- WALTER FRISCH print shape logical-plastic Brahms and trying to construe. tic) is manifest in one of Brahms's most impor- Developing Besides distorting the themes, Reti tends to tant compositional principles, Ausdrd'ckskon- Variation view them in relative isolation. His discon- trast, or the juxtaposition of passages of widely nected view of "thematic transformation" fails divergent mood and character (pp. 30 ff). to account for the fluid continuity of Brahms's How is Brahms able to avoid the closure movement. His approach is thus less dynam- that such themes can imply? According to ic than Schoenberg's (or Epstein's); compari- Mitschka, "In the systematic development and sons between the characteristics of individual concentration of expressive contrast from one themes treat the compositional procedure from part of the movement to another there is a fur- above, rather than from within.24 ther means of limiting the inclusion of lyri- At about the same time that R&tipublished cism in the sonata form: in several movements his book in the United States, Arno Mitschka Brahms employs varying development" (p. at Mainz completed an Inaugural-Dissertation 315). Ironically, Mitschka has coined a term, that uncovers similar motivic evolution in variierenden Entwicklung, that is the exact in- Brahms. Mitschka's study of Brahms's sonata verse of Schoenberg's developing variation. forms is undoubtedly the most perceptive Mitschka demonstrates how variierenden large-scale treatment of the subject to date.25 Entwicklung shapes the sonata structures of His chapter headings (Hauptthema, Seitensatz, three Brahms works-the F-Minor Sonata, op. etc.) suggest a rather schematic approach, but 5, the F-Minor Piano Quintet, op. 34, and the in fact one of Mitschka's chief concerns is to E-Minor Cello Sonata, op. 38. In the Piano show how Brahms creates thematic continuity Sonata all the themes of the first movement across broad segments of the sonata structure. take shape through a "progressive transforma- To describe this process he actually reinvents tion of the head motive" (p. 31). Similarly, all Schoenberg's concept of developing variation. themes of the Cello Sonata are "expressive var- Like R&ti, Mitschka was apparently unfamiliar iants" of the main theme's head motive: "from with Schoenberg's theories but came inde- the material of this widely oscillating theme pendently to the same view of compositional different elements are developed one after procedure. another" (pp. 98-99). And in the Piano Quin- Mitschka finds that Brahms's sonata forms tet, Mitschka observes, cohere by a careful balance, a Gleichgewicht, between "striving and restraining forces" (p. The basic elements of the main theme continually The result is a "static architecture" appearin altered form and with different expressive 321). the of a fourth followed which maintains a tension between "the rush content; they comprise leap by an upward second and a triadic figure..... All the of development" and "the risk of disintegrating motivic-thematic shapes are part of a developmental into small, lyrically rounded units" (p. 316). chain [Entwicklungskette] that leads first away from the head motive and then back again. This de- velopmental process, however, condenses into indi- molded thematic which 24R6ti's analyses have drawn fire from a number of promi- vidually shapes, contrast nent commentators, including Charles Rosen, The with each other in character and affective content Classical Style (New York, 1971), p. 41; Leonard Meyer, (pp. 97-98). Explaining Music (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1973), pp. and 59-67; Epstein, Beyond Orpheus, p. 10. Thus for Mitschka, as for Reti, developing var- 25Der Sonatensatz in den Werken Johannes Brahms (Giitersloh, 1961). For other valuable studies of Brahms's iation becomes a dynamic process which sonata forms, see Viktor Urbantschitsch, "Die Ent- shapes the outer form of a sonata structure. wicklung der Sonatenform bei Brahms," Studien zur Mu- Given Mitschka's evident sensitivity and sikwissenschaft 14 (1927), 265-85; Edwin von der Niill, "Strukturelle Grundbedingungen der Brahmsschen articulateness, it seems odd that he intention- Sonatenexposition im Vergleich zur Klassik," Die Musik ally restricts his commentary to these three 22 (1939), 32-37; Robert Pascall, "Some Special Uses of relatively early works, claiming that after them Sonata Form by Brahms," Soundings 4 (1974), 58-63; and James Webster, "Schubert's Sonata Form and Brahms's Brahms virtually abandons the procedure of First Maturity (II)" (see fn. 18). variierenden Entwicklung. "Brahms never 229

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH used the variation as form rather than a as Dahlhaus CENTURY again principle clearly," separate idea, MUSIC he remarks. "The expositions of opp. 5, 34, and has it.) Velten also suggests that the prevailing 38 must be viewed as shapes unfolding sui direction of the basic interval in a theme generis according to the principle of varying gives the exposition an ebb and flow of tension, development" (pp. 99-100). Unique they may an alternation between "rising" and "falling be-just as any work by a great composer has powers." its own character-but they constitute just The second group of op. 25 comprises a vir- three of many pieces Brahms constructed by tual parade of large, well-profiled themes (four developing variation. Mitschka defines (or in all). Velten argues that this succession ap- applies) the principle too narrowly; for as we pears as "the goal of the preceding develop- have seen, it is a highly flexible structural tool ment," thereby fulfilling the motive's implica- that can operate on different levels (the phrase, tions. The relation of developing variation to the theme, the "group," the exposition) and in the formal structure thus becomes clear: different dimensions (pitch, meter). Fur- it seems that a Since the second group is developed from the main thermore, unlikely composer we understandthat Brahmsis the would refine a to as a as theme, using prin- technique high degree ciple of developing variation ... in the service of Brahms had developing variation in the Piano creating the form. The transformationalprocess of Quintet, and then renounce it entirely. At any the basic motive and its derivations finds its goal in rate, the history of music includes few such in- the arrangementof the second group. The series of constructed themes the striv- stances (with the notable exception of Richard periodically expresses ing for a clear syntax.... In the different themes Strauss). Brahmsrepeatedly confirms the attained goal (p. 74). In fact, Klaus Velten has recently (1976) shown how the very same kind of developing Like Reti (whose work he does not seem to variation that Mitschka discusses-the "pro- know) Velten regards the sonata exposition as a gressive transformation of the head largely thematic process in which motives motive"-shapes the entire exposition of evolve toward a goal; the "form" represents the Brahms's G-Minor Piano Quartet, op. 25.26 Un- outward expression of that process. But Velten like Reti and Mitschka, Velten comes directly also shares an unfortunate Retian tendency to from the Schoenberg-Dahlhaus theoretical distort the music to fit his theory: he seems ob- tradition. Indeed, the principal topic of his sessed with tracing every available Sekund- book is what Schoenberg's orchestration of op. schritt back to the basic motive. 25 reveals about the music and about his rela- Velten's analyses seem less considered, less tionship to Brahms. Velten precedes that dis- sensitive to genuine compositional issues, than cussion with a close analysis of how Brahms Schoenberg's in "Brahms the Progressive." He builds the massive exposition of op. 25 from tends to leave rhythm and meter out of ac- continuous variation of one tiny motivic ker- count. And to Velten's claim that the pervasive nel, the interval of a minor second. half-steps provide musical coherence, one is Velten parses the main theme differently tempted to object (like Schoenberg's imagined from Dahlhaus, finding the basic motive pre- skeptic): minor seconds can be found in almost sented twice in the opening measures-in as- any theme. cending (F#-G, m. 1) and descending (Eb-D, m. 2) forms. Velten then charts an elaborate Ab- V leitungsreihe, a chain of derivations in which Whatever their differences, the writers ex- every successive theme or transitional idea amined here share a belief that Brahms's music grows from one of these two motive forms (pp. unfolds by a unique and characteristic process 66-74). (To Velten, then, the Bb theme at m. 11 of continuous motivic/thematic development. constitutes a development of the downward Although several fail to acknowledge Schoen- berg's authority, they all present analytical viewpoints or methodologies that have found 26Klaus Velten, Schonbergs Instrumentation Bachscher und Brahmsscher Werke als Dokumente seines their most powerful expression in Schoenberg's Traditionsverstdndnisses (Regensburg, 1976). concept of developing variation. But what of 230

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions the one figure whose authority has not been music. Theme I evidently refers to mm. 3-4, WALTER FRISCH invoked at all? Brahms and and Theme II to m. 105, although in the score Developing In conclusion we might do well to let the the ascending part appears (in flutes and oboes) Variation composer himself speak. Of course, the inten- above the descending figure. Theme III seems tional fallacy bids us beware of an artist's ex- to be just a different representation (and con- planation of his own work: such testimony is tinuation) of the same measure; it appears not necessarily relevant or illuminating. With nowhere in the movement as Schubring quotes Brahms we need not worry too much, for he it. Schubring's example displays, of course, no was notoriously unforthcoming about most "triple ," only combinations of personal subjects, including his own creative two themes. processes.27 On one or two occasions, however, Brahms did not pick apart Schubring's anal- he let slip utterances that are both revealing ysis in this way. Rather he found fault with its and directly relevant to our investigation. basic premise. He wrote to his friend: Once Brahms responded to a rather super- ficial Reti-like thematic analysis of the Ger- I disagree that in the third movement the themes of the different man In 1869 the critic Adolf Schu- sections have something in common. Requiem. (Except for the small motive If it is a friend of wrote an J. A: .) bring, good Brahms, article nevertheless so-I deliberately call back nothing in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung that from my memory-I want no praise for it, but do sought to demonstrate thematic unity in the confess that when I am working, my thoughts do not third movement, "Herr, lehre doch mich." "All fly far enough away, and thus unintentionally come back, often with the same ideas.29 the melodies," Schubring claimed, are derivedby inversion, diminution, by the addition Brahms thus admits that in spite of himself, in of and prefixes suffixes, from the following three spite of his conscious compositional process, main which are themselves conceived in themes, the different thematic ideas in the end triple counterpoint: might be closely related. But he goe, on to add that if he does want a relationship to be heard, he will ensure it: "Yet if I want to retain the same idea, then it should be clearly recognized in each transformation, augmentation, inversion. The other would be a trivial and Eventhe fugue theme way game always a dcr Gc - rcchtcn Seclcn sign of the most impoverished invention."30 Neither nor clearly originates in Theme III.28 Schubring's analysis Brahms's response has ever been commented on before, to my knowledge (although Brahms's succeed- Schubring's fragmentary example is neither ing remarks in the same letter on the art of easy to decipher, nor to locate in the actual writing variations on a theme have often been cited). But together they offer what is surely one of the most penetrating glimpses available 27For two good accounts in English of Brahms's inscrutable into Brahms's workshop. Even so meticulous character and of his attitudes about the creative process, see Karl Geiringer, Brahms, 2nd edn. (New York, 1961), Chapter 22; and Hans Gal, Johannes Brahms: His Work and Personality, trans. Joseph Stein (New York, 1963), 29"Ich streite, dass in Nr. 3 die Themen der verschiedenen especially "Secrets of the Workshop." See also Donald M. Sitze etwas miteinander gemein haben sollen. (Aus- McCorkle, "Five Fundamental Obstacles in Brahms Source genommen das kleine Motive ...) Ist es doch so (ich rufe Research," Acta Musicologica 48 (1976), especially pp. mir absichtlich nichts ins Geddichtnis zurtick): So will ich 256-58. kein Lob daffir, sondern bekennen, dass meine Gedanken 281"Sammtliche Melodien ... sind aus folgenden im beim Arbeiten nich weit genug fliegen, also unabsichtlich dreifachen Contrapunkte erfundenen Hauptthemen durch 6fter mit demselben zuriickkommen." Johannes Brahms Umkehrung, Diminution, Vor- und Nach-Zusditze, u.s.w. Briefe an ... Adolf Schubring (Brahms Briefwechsel VIII), entstanden.... Sogar das Fugen-Thema lasst deutlich ed. Max Kalbeck (Berlin, 1915), p. 216. aus III erkennen." seinen Ursprung Thema Adolf Schu- 30"1Will ich jedoch dieselbe Idee beibehalten, so soll man sie "Schumanniana Nr. bring, 12: Ein Deutsches Requiem ... schon in jeder Verwandlung, Vergrosserung, Umkehrung, von Johannes Brahms," [Leipziger] Allgemeine deutlich erkennen. Das andere ware schlimme Spielerei Musikalische 4 Zeitung (1869), 10. und immer ein Zeichen armseligster Erfindung." 231

This content downloaded from 128.59.222.12 on Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:43:18 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 19TH and a as he acknow- sibilities out of that idea: is CENTURY disciplined composer single "nothing MUSIC ledges that the unconscious can play a large lost.,"32 role in the creative process. He grants, in effect, And what of the outward form that such a that the procedures of developing variation- process creates? It is a pity that Brahms left be- the continuous reinterpretation of basic hind no specific accounts of how he ap- material-can operate without his awareness proached his beloved sonata form. We do, how- to create valid thematic relationships. Indeed, ever, have the valuable testimony of Gustav Schubring's analysis, although shallow, is es- Jenner, who studied composition with Brahms sentially accurate: the different themes of the in 1888. Brahms told Jenner to study the sonata German Requiem movement do seem closely forms of Beethoven, paying particular attention related. Certainly there is more coherence than to the influence of Beethoven's themes on the that provided by the J. 5 J figure, the only design of the movements; he also encouraged common denominator which Brahms says he Jenner to compare Beethoven's music with intended. Schubert's in this regard.33 From Brahms Jen- On another occasion Brahms spoke again ner learned that a sonata structure must grow about the roles of the conscious and uncon- logically from a theme: "One has not written a scious in his creative process. And here he sonata if he holds together a few ideas merely seems to say that both forces operate by a pro- with the outward form of a sonata; on the con- cedure very much like developing variation, trary, the sonata form must of necessity result generating a work from a single thematic ker- from the idea."34 What mattered to Brahms, nel. In a journal kept during his acquaintance Jenner reports, was the spirit, not the schema, with Brahms, George Henschel notes that the of sonata form. composer said to him one day: As in the Henschel quotation, Brahms em- phasizes the importance of the basic "idea" as There is no real creating without hard work. of the outward form. With such That which would call that is to progenitor you invention, say, statements as these we seem to have come full a thought, an idea, is simply an inspiration from above, for which I am not responsible, which is no circle, back to Schoenberg's polemical (and or- merit of mine. Yea, it is a present, a gift, which I ganic) formulation of developing variation as ought even to despise until I have made it my own the basis of real composition, in which there by right of hard work. And there need be no hurry "is but the endless of a basic about either. It is as with the it nothing reshaping that, seed-corn; ger- We also see Brahms a minates unconsciously and in spite of ourselves. shape." openly espousing When I, for instance, have found the first phrase of a compositional aesthetic that Dahlhaus claims song, say, A' as characteristic of the later nineteenth cen- tury: musical form becomes dependent on, and Wann der sil - berne Mond consequent to, the initial idea. But Brahms's is I might shut the book there and then go for a walk, no weak dependence. For in his best music the do some other work, and perhaps not think of it form becomes a luminous expression of the If af- again for months. Nothing, however, is lost. flexible, procedures of terward I the it is sure to powerful approach subject again, variation. have taken shape: I can now begin to really work at developing it.31

For Brahms, then, composition begins with the "gift" of a musical idea, which proceeds to and almost of its own accord. 32There are striking resemblances to the Henschel quota- grow expand tion in three other reported statements by Brahms on his Then, in a separate and conscious process, the creative process. They use either the seedcorn metaphor or composer draws all the implications and pos- the idea of going out for a walk (a very Beethovenian one), or both. See the comment to Simrock cited in Max Kal- beck, Johannes Brahms, rev. edn. (Berlin, 1921), II, 182; the remark quoted by Gustav Jenner, Johannes Brahms als 31George Henschel, Personal Recollections of Johannes Mensch, Lehrer und Kainstler (Marburg, 1905), p. 42; and Brahms (Boston, 1907), pp. 22-23. The song quoted is, of the conversation between Brahms and Arthur Abell, given course, "Die Mainacht," op. 43, no. 2. For an analysis of in Robert H. Schauffler, The Unknown Brahms (New how the procedures of developing variation shape this York, 1933), pp. 177-79. song, see Frisch, Brahms's Sonata Structures, pp. 179-87. 33Jenner, p. 60. 34Ibid., p. 6. 232

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