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Julian Garrido-Figueroa

Professor Ryan Shiotsuki

Music History III

15 May 2019

Evidence of Brahms’ Late Compositional Style in His F Minor Clarinet Sonata

Johannes Brahms is often cited as the quintessential example of a composer in the

Romantic period who felt the crushing weight of the shadow of Beethoven throughout his career.

He famously didn't complete his first symphony until the age of 43, admitting it took him 21

years to write. Because of his constant feeling of belatedness in compositional output, many

scholars argue that the works of Brahms can't really be broken up into different style periods, and

could even all be considered "late." In this paper, I will argue that Brahms did indeed develop

characteristics in his writing that can be identified as markers of his late compositional style, all

of which are present and identifiable within his Sonata for Clarinet and Piano Op. 120 No. 1.

Johannes Brahms was born on May 7th, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany. He was raised by a

musical family and took up the piano at the age of 7. The earliest of Brahms' compositions can

be traced back to 1851, at first composing primarily for piano. A few years later, in 1853,

Brahms met Robert and Clara Schumann, who he would go on to develop a close relationship

with, especially Clara. Robert Schumann would later go on to have a mental breakdown and

attempt suicide, resulting in his admittance to an insane asylum where he eventually died in

1856. That year Brahms gave up composing for a few years, not resuming until 1860. In the

1860s Brahms' compositions began to grow larger, producing several chamber pieces, songs, and

a very famous German Requiem dedicated to his mother after her death. In the 1870's Brahms
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was hired as the music director of the Musikverein in Vienna, where he worked for several years,

during which time he finally completed his first symphony, and later his second. Composers

writing symphonies during the Romantic period all had to face the reality of composing in the

shadow of Beethoven. Beethoven was a master of the symphonic medium and was considered by

his contemporaries to have perfected the art form. Many composers didn't see the merit in trying

to follow in his footsteps and instead chose to pursue different genres. Those composers who

bravely decided to attempt furthering the symphonic genre, like Brahms, felt like they had a lot

to live up to. Brahms was born just a few years after Beethoven's death and spent his whole life

living in the great composer's shadow, contributing to the development of late style in his works.

The last seven years of Brahms' life, before his death in 1897, produced several significant

pieces, including four pieces for clarinet. This was in spite of multiple brief periods where

Brahms decided to stop composing. These pieces, a clarinet trio, clarinet quintet, and two clarinet

sonatas, are some of the most beloved clarinet pieces ever written and continue to be standards in

the repertoire to this day. The sudden inspiration to write so many pieces featuring an instrument

not often highlighted in his previous works can be credited in large part to his introduction to the

clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld.

Richard Mühlfeld was born in Salzungen, Germany on February 28th, 1856. Mühlfeld

was trained in both violin and clarinet, holding a post as a violinist at the court of

Saxe-Meiningen for six years before earning the position of principal clarinet, a position he held

for the rest of his life. Mühlfeld was recognized as a superbly talented clarinetist, something

Brahms learned firsthand when he visited Meiningen in 1891 and received a private recital by

Mühlfeld. Brahms was fascinated not only by Mühlfeld's dazzling virtuosity but also by the
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fantastic possibilities of the clarinet itself. Despite having been on a hiatus for a year, Brahms

was so inspired by Mühlfeld's playing that he decided to compose a series of works dedicated to

him, completing his Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 and Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115

that same year. Mühlfeld later encouraged him to continue their work together, and in the

summer of 1894, Brahms completed his Clarinet Sonatas, Op. 120. His first sonata in F Minor

will be the main focus of this paper.

The first movement of the sonata is in F minor and loose sonata-allegro form. The

movement begins with a four-bar piano introduction which provides us with melodic and

rhythmic material that will serve as motives for the rest of the movement. Then the clarinet

enters with the primary theme, which consists mainly of a series of descending thirds. This

central theme is stated three times by the clarinet throughout the movement, the second two

times in a lower octave. The repeated descending thirds lend a sense of sorrow to the melody,

and the melancholy feeling is given more passion and verve by the clarinet's sweeping wide

intervals, extending the thirds into tenths with its flexible range of pitch and dynamics. Brahms

experiments with the form here, opting not to repeat the exposition and instead, going straight

into the development after the secondary and closing themes. Brahms uses a lot of arpeggiations

and triplet polyrhythms to create harmonic and rhythmic instability that contribute to a constant

sense of forward momentum. The whole movement also slowly shifts from F minor and

eventually lands in F major, traveling through Db, the VI of the key, and E minor, a distantly

related key. This gives us the sense that the movement took us on a long journey, one where the

melody, and perhaps the protagonist has undergone significant changes or character growth. The
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final F major resolution gives a sense of arrival, almost like taking a big sigh after reaching the

end of a long hike.

The second movement is in Ab major and ternary ABA form. The primary theme from

the A section is essentially a simple descending diatonic scale, embellished with grace-note and

turn figures. The beginning has a serene feel to it, with a simple texture and not much rhythmic

activity in the piano, all contributing to a sense of calm. All of the motion and direction is

coming from the phrasing of the clarinet melody. The ornamentation on the melody gives it an

almost improvisatory feel, adding to the emotional impact of the movement. As the movement

progresses more and more rhythmic motion is added, especially in the piano, until the end, when

it is reduced again down to its essential elements, without much ornamentation, and the music

fades away into a final Ab major chord.

Like the second movement, the third movement is also in Ab major and ternary ABA

form. However, the similarities end there, as the two are entirely distinct in feel. The melody

evokes a triple meter dance feel. The primary melody is rhythmically based on the piano's motif

in the opening bars of the first movement, transformed here into a jovial, bouncy theme. The

second half of the A section sees the clarinet state an inversion of the melody at a forte instead of

piano. Then the two voices exchange fragments of the original theme until resolving and

cadencing. The contrasting B section begins with a consistent descending syncopated line in the

piano which continues relentlessly through the section as the clarinet plays long flowing lines

over the top. This section is characterized by metric displacement that is so signature to Brahms,

lending to a disorienting feeling for the listener that is righted near the end of the section when

the clarinet takes a more rhythmically active role that complements and contextualizes the
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piano's syncopation. The A section then returns with a restatement of the theme by both the

clarinet and piano and ends quite similarly to the first A section.

The fourth and last movement is in F major in altered rondo (ABACBA) form. The

movement begins with the piano establishing the key with accented F's followed by the clarinet

asserting the dominant pitch in three octaves, then entering with the primary melody.

Interestingly, the clarinet's light staccato eighth notes mark the first time the melody has made a

departure from the slurred legato and marcato phrases that have characterized the piece as a

whole up to this point. The movement does, however, revert to that earlier style of articulation

and long connected phrases in the B section consisting of triplets in both the clarinet and piano.

After the return of the A theme, the C theme is begun in the piano and handed to the clarinet,

based on a dotted quarter note eighth note rhythm. The B theme returns then gives way to the A

theme a final time before the piece ends grandly, with accented block chords in the piano

supporting trills and triplet arpeggios in the clarinet leading to the final tonic chord, repeated

three times in an almost Beethoven-like ending.

Works that are written towards the final stages of a composer's life often have a few

characteristics they hold in common with each other, even between works by different

composers. This common pattern across composer's late compositions has been collectively

named "late style," and the term is used in discussions of pieces by composers like Mozart,

Beethoven, Schumann, and Brahms. The four specific characteristics of late style that will be

focused on in the analysis of this sonata will be simplicity, economy, fragmentation, and

reflectiveness.
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A significant contributing factor to the appeal of this piece is Brahms' ability to weave

beautiful lines and melodies from simple material. An excellent example of this is the primary

theme of the first movement. The four-bar piano intro foreshadows the clarinet melody with its

three-octave unison motif consisting primarily of thirds with some neighbor notes. Brahms then

writes a sweeping, moving melody utilizing only intervals of thirds and seconds extending across

different registers. The secondary marcato theme is more straightforward still, consisting

essentially of a single measure motif which is itself just a turn around the tonic. The idea is

exchanged between the clarinet and piano, developed slightly, but retains its simplicity

throughout the section. The second movement's opening theme is also very simple. If you strip

away all the ornamental turns and thirty-second notes, you're left with an incredibly simple

descending scale that begins and ends on the dominant for a half cadence.

Another common aspect of late style composition is the economical handling of small

amounts of musical material. Brahms demonstrates this trait throughout the sonata in his ability

to take the same minimal musical material and consistently transform it into new sounds to work

with. For example, the whole clarinet line in the first movement exposition is based on the

interval of a third established in the opening statement of the theme. Long descending third lines

lead to ascending arpeggios and so forth. Even across movements, Brahms handles material

economically. The rhythmic motif found in the second measure of the piano part in the first

movement and used extensively throughout the rest of the movement is brought back in the third

movement, altered in pitch and feel resulting in a character distinct from the original.

Fragmentation is one of the most common signifiers of late compositional style. The first

movement has several moments where fragments of older melodies are revisited later in the
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piece. Brahms takes these fragments from a larger musical idea and restates them without their

original context, creating a sense of non-resolution and at times fading away into other ideas, like

at the end of the recapitulation when a fragment of the opening theme is restated in a lower

octave only to give way into the coda and the end of the piece. Brahms also uses fragments in a

completely different manner in the fourth movement. Instead of using old fragments out of

context, he begins with fragments of an idea that he later puts together to form a more cohesive

musical thought. The first example is the entrance of the clarinet melody. The clarinet has a

motif consisting of two slurred eighth notes followed by a long-held note. This is repeated twice,

and it isn't until the third repetition that we realize these three notes aren't a melody or motif by

themselves but rather are fragments of a fuller melody that is stated after the third repetition.

Brahms uses fragments in a similar matter later in the B section of the movement when the

clarinet and piano exchange three-note ascending triplet figures for four measures. At first, these

seem to be disjunct ideas until a few bars later when they are combined to form a cohesive

melody and phrase.

The final characteristic of late style I wanted to address was reflectiveness. However, this

characteristic seemed the most difficult of the four to justify given the subjective nature of music

and the possibility for multiple interpretations of the same ideas. Some other related ideas that

may help in identifying reflectiveness in the music are introversion, isolation, introspection, and

nostalgia. Of the four movements, the first and second are the ones more reflective in nature,

given that the last two have such a bright and cheerful character. In the first movement, the

clarinet's opening theme is full of passion and expressiveness, allowing for more contrast when

the piece reaches its first reflective moment, the statement of the exposition's secondary theme in
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measure 40, later marked dolce at measure 46. The line then climbs down from a high Bb down

to a low F in descending eighth notes that are reminiscent of the descending triplet line in

measure 33. This evolution into a serene, soft idea from a previously purposeful and robust

statement is what gives the impression of reflectiveness. The final restatement of the theme in the

first movement is also a moment of extreme reflection. The restatement lasts only four measures,

yet it is utterly different in tone and mood from the other two times the theme was stated. It is

marked piano and is in the lower chalumeau register of the clarinet, as well as the only time the

idea is stated in the major mode. This final restatement of the theme allows the listener to reflect

one last time on a motif that has been transformed from an impassioned lamentation to a

contemplative rumination. This same technique is used in the second movement, where each

time the theme is stated, it is done so with a different mood notated by the expression markings.

The first statement is marked poco forte, the second is marked piano dolce, and the final

statement is marked piano espressivo. Like the first movement's theme, it is also stated an octave

lower the last time it returns, allowing the same idea to impact the audience differently, adding to

the nostalgic feel of the movement.

Despite not producing as many works as composers like Mozart and Beethoven, Brahms

is still considered to be one of the greatest composers to have ever lived. His contributions to the

clarinet literature alone have been incredibly impactful. Brahms wrote many of his greatest

works later in life, and many of his later pieces displayed traits and characteristics of a late

compositional style that has been considered common to many composers over history. His F

Minor Clarinet Sonata contains elements of simplicity, economy, fragmentation, and

reflectiveness, all of which characterize Brahms' late style. The piece is one that is personally
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significant to me, as it was my audition piece that I performed for my audition at Chapman

University. To this day it is one of my favorite pieces of all time, and truly deserves its place in

the canon of clarinet solo literature.

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Bibliography

Bozarth, George S., and Walter Frisch. "Brahms, Johannes." Grove Music Online. January 01,

2001. Oxford University Press,. Date of access 15 May. 2019,

<https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.0

01.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051879>

Brahms, Johannes. Sonata in F minor for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120 no. 1. Prepared by Egon

Voss and Johannes Behr. München: Henle Verlag, 2014.

Weston, Pamela. "Mühlfeld, Richard." Grove Music Online. January 01, 2001. Oxford

University Press,. Date of access 15 May. 2019,

<https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.0

01.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000019300>