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Ruminations
on Brahms's
chamber
music
RobertPascall
It is too simplea viewto maintainthatBrahms,in
thelatterhalfof thelastcentury,
upheldalone the
genreof chambermusicas a stillvital mode of
Chambermusicwas partofhisenvironexpression.
ment;he was surrounded
by chambermusicians,
and by lessercomposers
amateurand professional,
chamberworks.It is merely
enthusiastically
writing
the variousconcernsof the othergreatGermanic
composersthattendto givehimtheappearanceof
isolation;and possiblyBrahmsfelthimselfa missionaryforchambermusicin theearly1860s,that
period which immediatelyfollows his ill-fated
and whichis so richin chamberworks.
manifestol
If he did,thenhismissionwas nottheresultofa
he had beeninvolvedin chamPaulineconversion;
bermusicfromhis earliestyears.He playedchamconcertarranged
bermusicin a privatesubscription
by his fatherin 1843; the programmeincluded
Beethoven'sop.16 and one of Mozart's piano
quartets.2He also wrotechambermusicearlyin
his career.In 1851twoof his chamberworkswere
playedat a privateconcert;3these,a duo forcello
and piano and a piano trio,are probablylost,
alongwithotherearlychamberworksof whichwe
knowfromSchumann'swritings(especiallyNeue
Bahnen). His early interestin chamber music
and comremainedwith him, and performance
positionin the genreformeda centralfeatureof
his life. It was as a chambermusic playerand
himselfin Viennain
composerthathe introduced
1862 withthe piano quartetsopp.25-6; and he
of his lastchamber
performances
playedin thefirst
works,thetwoclarinetsonatas.
It mightbe thoughtthat in what by context
mediumBrahmswould
provedto be a traditional
be at his most traditional.That view cannotbe
convincingly
supported.In fact,in some chamber
pieceshe showedwellhispeculiarbrandofmodernity:in themelodyat the openingof the G major
stringsextet,in the harmonicnuanceof the third
movementof the C minorstringquartet,in the
of the
of the thirdmovement
formaloriginalities
C major piano trioor the secondof the F major
stringquintet.
Besides being a vehiclefor newness,chamber
for
music was also a vehiclefor autobiography
Brahms.Some of the musicalmaterialin thisintimategenreflowed,suitablyenough,fromhis
circleof intimates.The firstmovementof the C
minorpianoquartetand thesecondoftheG minor
pianoquartetcontainClara themes;4theG major
to Agathe;the
is his farewell
sextetfirstmovement
movement
usesJoachim's
A minorstring
first
quartet
in the A major
motto;and his song correlations
1M. Kalbeck: Johannes Brahms, i (Berlin, 3/1912), 404f
2F. May: The Life of Johannes Brahms (London, 1905), i, 59
3J. A. Fuller-Maitland: Brahms (London, 2/1911), 4
4E. Sams: 'Brahms and his Clara Themes', MT, cxii (1971), 432
697
concernsin his
Two of Brahms'schiefstylistic
workinthesonata-symphony
tradition
(ofwhichthe
chambermusicformsthe most substantialpart)
of formand
maybe seenin termsof complication
of texture.In commonwithlate
resourcefulness
Classicaland earlyRomanticcomposers,he had
of multiambitionsfor the greaterunification
forsuchunification
movement
Pressures
structures.
worksby Brahms,
occurin mostmulti-movement
and manifestthemselvesin thematicquotation
across movements(as in the thirdand fourth
thirdand
of the horntrio,or thefirst,
movements
thematic
of theclarinetquintet),
fourthmovements
and thirdmovements
metamorphosis
(as in thefirst
of thepianoquintetand theE minorcellosonata),
of the
or motivicsimilarities
(as in all movements
C minorstring
ortheG majorviolinsonata).
quartet,
thereseemsa speciallystrongthematic
Sometimes
relationshipbetweenfirstand last movements:
theC major
quartet,
examplesaretheC minorstring
piano trioand theclarinettrio(wherethethemes
of the last movement
may be seen as parodiesof
concomitant
onesin thefirst
movement).
ofClassicalformtakeplacewithin
Complications
as wellas acrossthem.Brahms'scommovements
of sonata formhas been fullydisplex treatment
cussed elsewhere;6it must sufficehere to draw
features
attention
to one ofthemainand consistent
called the
of thistreatment-what
Urbantschitsch
6V. Urbantschitsch: Die Sonatenform bei Brahms (diss., U. of
Vienna, 1925); A. Mitschka: Der Sonatensatz in den Werken
1972)
combination
of sonataand variationforms.SometimesBrahmsused smallvariationsetsas subjects
withinsonata forms(as in thefirstmovements
of
theC minorpianoquartetand theF minorclarinet
ratherto thestrong
sonata);buthereI am referring
motiviccohesionof otherwise
contrasted
material.
This is moreobviousin some cases thanothers;
a particularly
good exampleis thefirstmovement
of theC minorpianotrio,whereall theexposition
materialis containedin bar 1. Such motifsare
morecomplexand distinctive
thanthose
generally
foundin Beethoven
of
by Reti.This concentration
material,memorablydescribedby Spitta,7must
of Brahms'sworkthat
surelybe one of thefeatures
appealedto Schoenberg.Brahmsas a handlerof
sonata formmay be seen as standingmidway
betweentheearlyClassicalcomposers
(basingtheir
on tonal power)and Schoenberg
formprimarily
(basing his primarilyon motivicand thematic
Thetonalandmotivic
ofBrahms's
elements
rhetoric).
sonata formsare co-equal,and indeedare manione oftheother.He usedsonataformfor
festations
of all but one of his chamber
thefirstmovements
works(thehorntrio)and forthelastmovements
of
it is usedin middlemoveall buteight.Sometimes
mentstoo (as in theD minorviolinsonataand the
of theclarinetquintet),
thirdmovement
and it is of
in a miniature
formin mostsections
coursepresent
of scherzo-and-trio
typemovements.
The contrast-based
formsof ternary
and rondo
also receivedcomplex treatmentfrom Brahms.
und untrennbar
7'Sein Strebengehtauf Concentrirung
festes
mitall den Mitteln,welcheder Tonkunstals
Zusammenfugen
solchereigensind' (P. Spitta:Zur Musik,Berlin,1892,417)
GreaterLondon Council
Musicand
SouthBankSummer
MasterClasses
withNevilleMarriner
collaboration
bytheGreaterLondonCouncilin artistic
presented
3-17 August1975
* NeilBlack* Alfred
WilliamBennett
Brendel* MichaelChapman* Gervasede Peyer*
RichardGoode* LynnHarrell* CarmelKaine* TheKing'sSingers* MichaelLaird*
* GerardSouzay*
* Tess Miller* JackRothstein
JaimeLaredo* NevilleMarriner
* Wilbraham
BrassSoloists* FestivalSingers
TokyoStringQuartet* JohnWilbraham
SOUTH BANK SUMMER MUSIC
TicketsavailablefromRoyalFestivalHall
Leafletwithfullprogramme
Box Office.
detailsavailablefromRoyalFestivalHall
The chambermusicofBrahmsfeatures
in thisyear'sFestival.
predominantly
Amongtheworksselectedare therarelySonatain D forcelloand piano
performed
of
(whichis thecomposer'sowntranscription
theViolinSonatain G), thewell-known
ClarinetTrio,theA minorStringQuartet,the
F minorPiano Quintetand theG majorSextet.
Neville
SpeakersincludeSir MichaelTippett,
Gervasede PeyerandHumphrey
Burton
Marriner,
698
Each afternoon
fromAugust11-15
AlfredBrendelwillgivea seriesoffiveMaster
Classesforsixyoungprofessional
pianistsin
theQueenElizabethHall.
The repertory
willconsistofsolo and/or
concertoworksbyHaydn,Mozart,Beethoven
and Schubert.
Membersofthegeneralpublic
willbe able to attendtheclassesas observers.
699