University of California Press 19th-Century Music

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
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A Choral Symphony by Brahms?
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS
In meinen Tdnen spreche ich.
-Johannes Brahms to Clara Schumann.

(September 1868)
Until the last few years Brahms theSiegfried musicalKross and Constantin Floros stress the
poet and Brahms the taciturn friend poetic of Claraaspects 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;' 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 Schumann
in with motivic and tonal emphases of
music usually termed "absolute" in orderthe to 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
motivic mottos to represent people, experi-
armed with quotations from Brahms's letters
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 appears in C minor at the beginning
19th-Century Music IX/1 (Summer 1985). ? by the Regents
of the Piano Quartet, op. 60, to one of the few
of the University of California. Notes to this article are on
pp. 24-25. anecdotal references Brahms made to his own
19TH to the
extra-musical associations (see motive x first movement of the First Piano Con-
in ex.
CENTURY
1). By his admission this work was written
certo in D(ca.
Minor, op. 15, specifically to the ap-
MUSIC
parent
1855) by a man driven to the point of extra-musical associations of the first
shooting
himself, "a man in blue and yellow," an allu-
movement. Kalbeck traces the origins of the
sion to the colors worn by Goethe'sfirst
Werther,
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 withprose (see also ex. 2).
programmatic titles, some scholars harbor a lin-
gering disinclination to acknowledge the pres- The magnificent beginning of the D-Minor Con-
ence of mottos and extra-musical allusions in certo, with its pedal points insistently pounded by
the timpani, with its first gesture reaching out in
his music. The disputes over two well-known
fearsome leaps and then receding in a trill which
claims made by Brahms's biographer and ac-
unites the orchestra in an elemental shudder, was all
quaintance, Max Kalbeck, are representative.
born of Schumann's unsuccessful suicidal plunge
Kalbeck is 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
reputedly devised as a complement to the motto Ernest, deems this account improbable. Instead
of Joseph Joachim, namely "F-A-E," for "Frei of such "rather fantastic 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.
therefore questions the veracity of Kalbeck's as- The remains of this sonata-turned-sym-
sertion, citing the lack of corroborating testi- 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 abandoning first 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 Kalbeck pertains rives from the early work, the concerto its first
Allegro non troppo X
Example 1: Brahms, op. 60, I, mm. 3-7.
Maestoso +0' "

:> 5
!o ~ ~~~ . ... ...... -" ' . .....A :

wl* I 41f I 1 1i
ff 7r ~Le p?pt -o JLa

Example 2: Brahms, op. 15, I, mm. 1-10.
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,
Choral the
lone source of information for the second move- Symphony
relationships which bear on the previously un-
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.14 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 February 1854). Julius Otto did Brahms make rapid progress 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 Brahms his critique of the first
Diisseldorf for the asylum at Endenich.o0 By 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 Brahms conferred 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: "Johannes has finished his concerto move-
colored glasses," and a vow to improve the ment. We have played it several times on two
movement.11 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 January 1855): "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)."12 Little 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 February he had a dream: "I had Mass, "Benedictus, qui venit, in nomine
changed my unfortunate symphony into a piano Domini!"'7 Kalbeck made the association be-
concerto and played it. [I played] 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. "18 Kalbeck 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's Subsequent
famil- interpretations of the citation
iarity with the first movement. When have, with one exception, accepted Kalbeck's
he speaks
of the origins of the first movement ofequation of Dominus with Schumann, but dif-
the con-
certo in the earlier sonata-symphony, fered
he speaks
on the presumed message. The exception,
5
19TH offered by Siegfried Kross, posits instead the first of Clara's wedding anniversaries (12
an allu-
CENTURY
MUSIC sion to the E. T. A. Hoffmann character Jo-
September) and birthdays (13 September) cele-
hannes Kreisler, Brahms's self-proclaimed
bratedal-without Robert, days that spurred the
ter-ego.19 Others have suggested that the
first exchange of letters between the Schu-
manns
inscription indicates that the Adagio was since Robert had moved to Endenich. On
de-
rived from a lost mass movement, that there the dayisof 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 wish for a letter. She responded with
Robert's
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,"
She
rather than the traditional rendering. It has opened the letter and could hardly mumble to
ap-
me: "from my husband; " For a long time she couldn't
parently gone unnoticed that Brahms builds his
read. But then, what unspeakable joy! She looked like
graceful and gentle Adagio melody on a founda-
the F-major 34 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
moment is well chosen. Leonora's efforts to free
motive (transposed up a major third) by letting
them resound for at least a half note.21 Theher husband Florestan (one of Schumann's per-
rep-
resentation cryptically acknowledged in thefrom his captivity and impending death
sonae)
Benedictus verse therefore equates Robert have prevailed. Over the joyous exclamations of
Schumann with the longer notes from the the reunited couple, Beethoven gives the mel-
first
movement and Clara with the quarter notes. ody to the first oboe, accompanied by sustained
Brahms provides additional evidence forwinds
this 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 an image expressed in words to Joachim,
Clara,
SMaestoso
I)
Adagio
". -espiress.
.i. I I 1e 'lega
I Ito"i
I t P . . . . . .
Example 3: Brahms, op. 15, II, mm. 1-5, with relationship to movt. I.
Sostenuto assai
W- AN
%OV
Example 4: Beethoven, F
6
CHRISTOPHER
Zeimlich langsam ( = 66) REYNOLDS
Fl. A Brahms
Choral
Symphony
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's Adagio 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, oppressed by impending death, is nev-
the Adagio this fourth constitutes the first two ertheless resigned to it. In the deepening intro-
framing notes 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 around him, 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
Brahms alludes 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 hehance the similarity between Brahms's new
sets the oboe solo in Beethoven's key, F majortheme 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 associatedtions. 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 (writ-
ing 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 appears in 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 ownis struck twice one octave apart, thereby span
music. Brahms drew Clara from Beethoven, butning the same minor tenth. Later, when th
his Dominus representation apparently cametheme returns to begin the finale, Schuman
from Schumann. The arpeggiated five-note mo-supports it with a Bb in the low strings and clari-
tive which begins the concerto has specific andnets. This arpeggio also appears in the firs
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 forebodingagain in the first theme of the 1853 Overture to
setting of Friedrich Hebbel's Nachtlied, op. 108 Scenes from Goethe's Faust (ex. 6d). Further-
(1849), for chorus and orchestra (compare exs. 5 more, though they are in C minor rather than D,
and 2). In both the arpeggiated tenth grows outI include in this group the first-movement
of a line begun on Bb, the Bb enters in m. 2 over a themes of Brahms's String Quartet No. 1 and his
19TH Symphony No. 1, which also encompass
seeks toadepict Clara within the confines of a
CENTURY
MUSIC tenth, repeating thirds in adjacent octaves as in portrayal.
Schumann
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.
Lebhaft
of the rejected movement needed reworking.
Although he changed the key from Bb minor to
Jr i i w ,x 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 presence
b. Schumann, Symphony in D Minor, IV, m. 1.
of basic musical connections with the first
Langsam X movement, connections sufficiently strong to
have endured subsequent revisions made to
each. The beginnings of the Maestoso of the
concerto and the second movement of the Re-
c. Schumann, Violin Sonata in Dquiem share the
Minor, I, following
mm. 44-45.succession of events:
Lebhaft
each commences with the tonic sounded in the
lower strings; each has a melodic line that de-
fail], scends from b 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
first modulation is to 6 VI.
ff%, It I
0)
The scherzo and its G6-major trio also carry
extra-musical associations like those of the
Example 6 Benedictus quotation in the Adagio of the con-
certo. 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 instrumentalwell 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 1854undruhe." 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, marschmlissig
Y Y
) legato ma un poco ma
Example 7: Brah
a. Brahms, op. 45, II, mm. 119-23 CHRISTOPHER
REYNOLDS
A Brahms
Choral
Symphony
w S' F- F r F-- r ? ?
So seid ge- dul- dig.
"i j
b. Schumann
) iPP Of I
,-,
0 heil'- ge ThrHi- nen.
A - Al.~4'
-3I
Example 8
a. Brahms, op. 45, II, mm. 74-78.
So seid nun ge- dul- ig, lieben Brii- der,
y'''= .1 r ( I 2A_
b. Schumann, Das Paradies, no. 17, mm. 1-8.

Al kPERL:
Schlaf' nun und ruhe in Traui-men voll Duft, balsam'-scher umrn- weh' dich d
i TI I:
..,, . ~A .4m t - q
Example 9
10a) 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 already failed in part I 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-
19TH a. Brahms, op. 45, II, mm. 100-08.
CENTURY
MUSIC
P dolce A'
3:h IV o O Ao
der Er- de und ist ge- dul- - dig dar- ii- ber,
L P dolce
I..I IIII
I I III II Ivw i w w
k6st- li- che Frucht der Er- de und ist ge- dul- dig dar- ii- ber,
P dolce
kost- li- che Frucht der Er- de und ist ge- dul- - dig dar- ii- ber,
Pdolce
kost- li- che Frucht der Er- de und ist ge- dul- dig dar-
of V
b. Schumann, Das Paradies, no. 17, mm. 27-32.

A'
Schlaf nun und ruhe in
Schlaf nun und ruhe in
Sie sprach's, und
piu 3
dim.
01 O
V7 V7 3 3
of V
Example 10
band. Brahms 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. Unlikelier account-the only one to quote Brahms di-
CHRISTOPHER
REYNOLDS
Leonora, this wife was unable to save her rectly-Ochs
hus- only deduced the identity fromA 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. Yourales 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 placingmade 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. 11a, 11lb, 11c). 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 1c). 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 liisst 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 liisst walten

(cited from Bach, Werke [Leipzig, 1851-97], vol. 39, p. 273).
A # B
Wer nur den lieben Gott liisst walten und hof- fet auf ihn alle- zeit.
b. Brahms, op. 45, I, mm. 5-7.
OF . ".. ............
PPeao
c. II, mm. 22-33.
A I . A B
Denn alles Fleischist wie das Gras und alle Her- lich- keit des Men- schen wie des
Gras- des Blu-men
Example 11
11
19TH ing figures. Nowhere in the movementbyisname-thethe G-major setting (no. 4) is entitled
CENTURY
MUSIC
first phrase heard without the second.27 Ein Choral, the F-major (no. 42) Figurirter Cho-
If the second phrase is taken to be part ral-lies
of the behind Brahms's reticence to say more
chorale, rather than merely an extension than
of the
"well-known chorale."
first phrase, then the melody in Brahms's Bothset-Wer nur den lieben Gott and Freu dich
ting bears a much closer resemblance sehr to the
rank among the melodies most often set by
chorale Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele (ex.Bach;
12a).each appears in eight cantatas.30 How-
Both melodies lack a dominant pickup; ever,and
the Bach Gesellschaft did not publish the
they share not only a first phrase rising up first cantatas with Wer nur den lieben Gott un-
to the
third and descending to the dominant, but til also
1855,a a full year after Brahms composed the
second stepping up and down a fourth. The use whereas volume 2 of the Bach Ausgabe
scherzo,
of the minor mode constitutes the biggest dif-
had come out in 1852, with settings of Freu dich
sehr in Cantatas 13 and 19. The version in Can-
ference, and that seems of questionable signifi-
cance, especially since the beginning of the
tatafirst
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
madethe
in the scherzo: a setting in 34 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
ment. of
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. Wer nur 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 and there is also an affinity with Heb-
tears,"
cared to repeat.28 However, the melodic con-
bel's Nachtlied and Peri's lullaby. Hebbel
tours of Freu dich sehr recur throughout writes
the Re-of one oppressed and compares the im-
quiem to an extent one would expect of apending
cho- 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 for children, promises that death will
published
the chorale-related motives. 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 particularly notewor- image in Peri of the phoenix singing his own fu-
thy because its corresponding subject 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). Brahms apparently combines extra-musical ref-
None of the motives has the dominant pickuperences in a way that prefigures the portrait-
of the chorale Wer nur den lieben Gott. In fact, within-a-portrait he made when he replaced the
as in Freu dich sehr, most have no pickup what- scherzo with the Adagio. In the Adagio it is a
ever, the major exception being the tonic antici- matter of motives, Clara within 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.3'
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 arranged as an in- ties and references to compositions by Schu-
dependent piece, and he did so not once butmann in those movements by Brahms that have
twice in the collection he wrote for his eldest a securely established connection to the 1854
daughter, the Album fuir 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 (after Schumann, op. 68, no. 42). CHRISTOPHER
REYNOLDS
A Brahms
A I , , c/ F Choral
Symphony
b. Brahms, op. 45, I, mm. 5-6. c. II, mm. 142-44.
V , LII ,
also in III, m. 20 (Vc.)
d. II, mm. 22-23.

A B
m I I I II
e. VI, mm. 3-7.
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. 82-91.

A B
I i I 1
" , IFI 3 I I I 3
i. VI, mm. 21
A B A B
I 1 I I I I I
j. VI, mm.
A B
285-286 289
k. VII, mm. 6-8.

A B
becomes th
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
CENTURY
MUSIC
Lass dein En- gel mit mir Fah- ren, auf E- li- as Wa-gen rot,
Und mein See- le wohl be- fah- ren, wie Laz'- rum nach sei-nen Tod.
Example 13: Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele, as presented in Bach, Ca
ties to the earlier work are well documented tion, and have an extended pedal at or near their
through letters and musical motives. Brahms'sconclusions. 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
in Gottes Hand"; in the rondo the coda contains
cal associations and for interpreting them. For
the other two movements the process of recog-a 351/2-measure pedal, 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 bars of 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 (compare exs. 14a and 14b with ex. 7), including
Adagio; and the scherzo has Brahms's reference 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's probable musical sources, an inter- Brahms had done at the beginning of the
pretation of what those sources signified forscherzo. In the rondo, motive z enters even
Brahms has benefited from the presence of amore 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, transformed by 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's early compo- jor-mode ascending 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 B6-minor fu-
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 bridge theme from the orchestral exposi-
186632-they have important similarities. Both tion of the Maestoso (ex. 15c). More signi-
begin in D minor, shift to major for 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
o I gig Y Y A Brahms
Choral
Symphony
pzz. ? II I
z z
c. III, mm. 9-11. d. Op. 45, III, mm. 93-94, 106.

z z
Ad I I _ _ _ _
z
e. III, mm. 145-46. f. Op. 15, III, mm. 238-40.

z
z I
nun Herr wes soil ich mich tro-
Example 14
a. Op. 45, III, mm. 105-08.
Ach, wie gar nichts sind alle Men-schen
b. Op. 15, II, mm. 27-28. c. Op. 15, I, mm. 132-35.
coo* __f?
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 phony,
is 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).36 This D mi-
Schumann's Symphony No. 1 incorporates anor-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
seems to commence with a reference to Schu-
finale of the Kreisleriana (see ex. 17b). Brahms's
15
19TH a. Op. 45, III, mm. 173- 74.
CENTURY
MUSIC w x
"do -F
Der Ge- rech- t
b. Op. 15, III, m
b. b. w X' x
Example 16
a. Schumann, Symphony No. 1, IV, mm. 43-45. b. Schumann, Kreisleriana, VIII, mm. 1-3.
W
c. Schumann, Konzert-Allegro, op. 134, mm. 171-72.

w
F -
Example 17
a. Schumann, Symphony No. 1, I, mm. 1-3. b. I, mm. 38-40.

Andante un poco maestoso Allegro mo lto vivace
c. Brahms, op. 45, III, mm. 1-4. d. III, mm. 142-44.

Andante moderato
Herr, lehre doch mich Nun Herr wes soil ich mich tro- 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 ] at "Nun Herr, wes soll ich
lowing Allegro, and in the Requiem's third mich trdsten," 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 apparent references to the burg premiere.42 And 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's rejected finale are most
the catastrophe that Brahms witnessed in fear likely to exist in the third movement of the Re-
and trembling."37 Yet, 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 Siitze") 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 offered Brahms a ready opportu-
finally signalled the end of his project-"Ich nity to fulfill the prophecy Schumann had pub-
hitte meine verunglfickte Sinfonie zu einen lished several months earlier in his famous ar-
Klavierkonzert benutzt"-the Unglfick 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,39 and Clara had described them as By beginning the symphonic finale with a
"quite forceful, quite original, imposing."40 The baritone singing "Herr, lehre doch mich,"
decision to convert the symphony into a con- Brahms would 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 drawn from both idol and mentor si-
symphonic finale. multaneously-on Beethoven for form (intro-
While writing his first symphony, more thanducing a baritone into the fourth movement)
and on Schumann for melody (taking the mo-
in his first attempts in any other genre, Brahms
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
Dominus, "Herr." Aside from a novel expres-
should seek to make something similar."41 The
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 soll ich mich trdsten" would flashback occurring in m. 30, would have been
CENTURY
MUSIC
thus constitute personal addresses to 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-
Brahms may also have attempted to emulate tures, such as the previously mentioned simi-
the other innovative feature of Beethoven's larities of the 3 section "Ach, wie gar nichts 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 earliersubject "Der Gerechten Seelen." For now, this
movements of the sonata-symphony, only mo- suggests that Brahms, while abandoning a 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 prepares mo- finale at the first public performances of the Re-
tive z, the rising third, falling tenth motive dis- quiem. In Vienna he previewed only the first
cussed above (compare exs. 19 and 14d). Leading three movements (1 December 1867). In Bre-
to this inverted phrase the baritone sings the men (Good Friday, 1868), when he premiered all
motive v, which had followed the Dominus mo- but the fifth movement, he split the Requiem
tive in the Maestoso. (Compare mm. 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 chordal pedals present in both Messiah and arias of Bach and Handel, move-
instances emphasize the minor sixth D-B6 be- ments 4, 6, and 7 ended it.46
fore resolving to a first-inversion A-major triad. 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, Brahms would 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's symphonic finale might "Beethoven's Tenth," at least it was not a bla-
have included a quotation from an earlier move- tant reworking of the Ninth. When Brahms
ment now exists in the Bb 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, V7 of IV, IV6, 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
V I I
und mein Le- ben ein Ziel hat. und ich davon muss, und ich da- von__ muss.
Example 19: Brahms, op. 45, III, mm. 9-16.

18
a. Brahms, op. 15, III, mm. 238-47. CHRISTOPHER
REYNOLDS
A Brahms
r- o Choral
Symphony
P sempre
b. Op. 45, II, mm. 4-8.
s T
I i i I
c. II, mm. 17-24
S T
~E?
- z=-Ap
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.
There is one essential difference between
likely to have been present. One possible moti-
vic connection between the rondo and theBrahms's fugato and either the Beethoven or
Maestoso or scherzo has already been singled
Schumann examples. While Beethoven simply
writes a fugato on the rondo theme and Schu-
out in the Bb-minor fugato subject. Shown with
its countersubject in ex. 20a, the fugato mann
also bases his contrapuntal subject on the
echoes the scherzo with the y motive and a main
line theme of the Adagio (he rearranges the
first several notes), Brahms makes no effort to
that steps down into an upward-resolving lead-
relate his fugato subject to the rondo theme. In-
ing-tone suspension. As in the related passages
in the scherzo (exs. 20b and 20c), the suspension
stead, he derives his subject from the Bb-major
precedes another descent from G1b. theme of the middle section of the rondo,
mainly by changing the mode to minor (ex. 21):
For this section of the rondo, Charles Rosen's
comparison with Beethoven's Third Piano Con-
certo can be amended to include the influence
espress.
of the third movement of Schumann's Sym-
phony No. 2 in C Major. Brahms wrote Clara of
his particular esteem for this Adagio (8 Decem- P
i l e
l .I i !" ,
ber 1855): "I certainly would like to have been

along to hear the C-Major Symphony! That
symphony is my favorite of the five, and among Example 21:
19
19TH However, if this section, or some form of it, VI
CENTURY
once comprised the beginning of the Like the themes of the first two movements
missing
MUSIC
third movement, then the fugato would have
of the symphony, the theme that Brahms pre-
been a contrapuntal elaboration of served
the main
in the concerto rondo and the Requiem
theme of the movement, and Brahms's fugue
debt has
toextra-musical allusions, though not
his predecessors all the greater. because of associations with Schumann's cho-
ral works.
For other reasons this possibility makes mu- And despite their melodic similari-
ties to
sical sense. Most of all, the major and the theme Schumann had first used in
minor
the Kreisleriana
forms of the B6 theme complement motives of finale, the principal allusion
does
the other movements, providing yet not appear to be to Schumann. It is more
another
probable
permutation of the third-plus-tenth motive that Brahms adopted this lively mo-
tive as aRe-
seen at the beginning of each movement. representation of his alter-ego, "Jo-
hannes Kreisler, Junior."'49 The allusion in the
markably, Brahms would thus have considered
rondo and fugue themes appears to be involved
initiating the four movements of his symphony
with four different transformations of motive
with andz revealing of Brahms's personal aspira-
tions at the
(ex. 22): the original form in the Maestoso; the time. In each theme the Kreisler
motive (the
retrograde in the melody and accompaniment of ascending eleventh in exs. 16a and
the scherzo; the retrograde-inversion 16b)
in the
leadsB6to a form of the five-note motive x
third movement and its fugato; and in that
the others
finalehave associated with Clara (compare
ex. 1 with exs. 16a and 16b),50 and that Schu-
the inversion in D minor, the retrograde-inver-
sion in D major, and the retrograde inmann
the used
basswith an ascending tenth as the main
line of the opening bars.48 Also, in theme
terms of of
his Symphony in D Minor (exs. 6a and
6b).15 Brahms's
large-scale harmonic planning, a movement in juxtaposition of motives repre-
Bb major between the scherzo and thesenting
D minor- himself and Clara may therefore be a
major finale accords with what Brahmssymbolic
later did representation of the future with
Clara hecon-
in the Requiem, when he added a B6-major wished for himself. It is this future that
clusion to the scherzo. In this light then
Brahms's
looms in the Requiem as the answer of the
method of converting his symphony into D-major
a con-fugue to the preceding question, "In
certo was less one of excision than whom shall I find comfort?" And in the con-
compres-
sion. Rather than eliminating a movement, certo the combination
he of the two motives into
seems to have combined them, taking the one theme
rondo provides a vision of life after Schu-
theme from the ill-fated finale and the middle mann's death, which rounds out the tryptich
section from the third movement. In other Brahms began in the Maestoso, with presenti-
words, while formal structures could change, ments of death, and continued first in the
themes were to be retained, not from consider- scherzo and later in the Adagio, with Clara
ations of aesthetic merit, but for the allusiveshown as the devoted wife of Robert.
content the themes preserved in their constitu- An interpretation of motive z as a reference
ent motives. to Robert further suggests that Brahms designed
Movt. I Movt. 2
Movt. 3 RI Movt. 4 RI
_ -,-AI - w_
Ar I*I -U
Example 22
20
the concerto finale as a portrait-within-a-por- this list may be added the first themes of the CHRISTOPHER
REYNOLDS
trait to complement that heard in the preceding First String Quartet, op. 51, no. 1; the First 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, Brahms im- 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-
Brahms wrote 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 Clara would 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 r l
Such a personal interpretation gains credibil-

ity from Brahms's lifelong use of these same ) espress, e dolce
motives in a variety of melodic and contrapun-

Example 23: Brahms, op. 10, II, mm. 1-
tal combinations. A preliminary listing of these
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 (or in 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. (In op. 15, III, a double pedal Edward from Herder's Stimmen der Vilker 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 finales
the second duet and his motto (F-A-F) the of the sonata-symphony and also the
third.
CENTURY
MUSIC concerto.
As far as I have determined, this is the first asso- The latter emerged only in mid-De-
cember
ciation of Brahms's Frei aber froh with Clara's1856, months after Robert Schumann's
death. In
motive; always before Brahms linked F-A-F tocontrast, the allusions in the Balladen
Leonora-a non-threatening pairing of werethe
his own, and he freely and quickly showed
this work
happy bachelor with the loyal wife-or to Clara
else and Robert. The motto F-A-
Clara's motive to the more impetuous Kreisler. F doubtless would have been known and recog-
The change between the earlier and later nized, but this is less certain for the Fidelio cita-
Balla-
den may well betoken Brahms's acceptance tion. Either
of a 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 tion between
with Leonora pleasing.53
Brahms and Clara provide one type of documen- By focusing on the motives of a few early and
tation for the changes in their relationship; interrelated
an- 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, development
26, 45, of the 1854 sonata-symphony.
and 75. The resultant picture of Brahms's methods has
There remains the question of how much not only for interpreting his life-
implications
Brahms's friends knew of his extra-musical al- long use of certain motives, and for the way we
lusions. Clara, who probably knew 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.54 Recent 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
studying how Brahms manipulates cells of this
of praise for the concerto rondo may betray dis-
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
approval of 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 Frau Schumann 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's prefer-
other last movement, as alterations are often red means of expressing his non-musical hopes
more troublesome than fresh creations."52 And and of acknowledging changes in his personal
it is curious that while Brahms had shown Clara relationships. As more of his motivic allusions
the other movements of the sonata-symphony are understood, Brahms's musical speech Ir
shortly after they were written, he withheld the should become less and less elusive.
22
APPENDIX I APPENDIX III CHRISTOPHER
REYNOLDS
A Brahms
Friedrich Hebbel, Nachtlied Chorale, Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele Choral
Symphony
Quellende, schwellende Nacht, Freu' dich sehr, O meine Seele
Voll von Lichtern 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 fithle ich's weben, In Ewigkeit triumphiren.
Welches das meine verdraingt.
Schlaf, da nahst du dich leis',

Wie dem Kinde die Amme, Lass' dein Engel mit mir fahren
Und um die diirftige Flamme Auf Elias Wagen roth,
Ziehst du den schiitzenden Kreis. Und mein' Seele wohl bewahren,
Wie Laz'rum nach 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 approach it quietly, as a child would a
nanny, and around the weak flame you draw the pro-
(O my soul, be thou rejoicing,
tective circle.)
Cast aside all cares and fears;
Christ the Lord for you is calling,
APPENDIX II Bids you leave this vale of tears.
Out from woe and sore distress,
Forth to joy and blessedness,
Das Paradies und die Peri: "Schlaf' nun und ruhe" Joy abounding, joy transcending,
Everlasting, never ending.
Schlaf' nun und ruhe in Traiimen voll Duft,
balsam'scher umweh' dich die Luft,
als dem magischen Brand des Ph6nix entsteigt, Let thine angels not forsake me,
wenn er sein eigenes Grablied singt,
But to Thee, when life shall cease,
Schlaf' nun und ruh' in Traiimen voll Lust, May Elijah's chariot take me
der, die treueste, liebendste Brust!
There, like Lazarus, in peace.
Let me rest in Thine embrace,
(Sleep now and rest in fragrant dreams, may you be Fill my heart with joy and grace.
encircled by breezes more fragrant than 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-

12Schumann-Brahms Briefe I, 69.
dantes of the Piano Sonatas," in Brahms Studies: Papers
'3Ibid.,De-
76. With this transformation, Brahms unknowingly
livered at the International Brahms Conference, The Li-steps taken by Beethoven, who had converted
retraced
brary of Congress, Washington, D.C., 5-8 May 1983, ed.for a piano concerto into his Eighth Symphony.
sketches
Bozarth (forthcoming); Kross, "Brahms und Schumann,"
'4See Kalbeck, Brahms I, 166; and Dietrich, Erinnerungen
Brahms-Studien 4 (1981), 7-44; and Floros, Brahms und Brahms (Leipzig, 1898), p. 45.
an Johannes
Bruckner: Studien zurmusikalischen Exegetik (Wiesbaden,
'SBerthold Litzmann, Clara Schumann: Ein Kiinstlerleben
1980), esp. pp. 84-151; and idem, "Studien zu Brahms' Kla-
nach Tagebiichern und Briefen, rev. edn. (Leipzig, 1920), III,
viermusik," Brahms-Studien 5 (1983). I am grateful 15.
to Pro-
'6Schumann-Brahms
fessor Bozarth for providing me with his article before publi- Briefe I, 198.
cation. '7Brahms wrote the inscription between the two staves of
2"Motivic Design and Structural Levels in the First Move- the piano part. Floros includes a reproduction of the Ada-
ment of Brahms's String Quartet in C Minor," Musicalgio's first page at the end of the brief chapter he devotes to
Quarterly 69 (1983), 471-502. the inscription in Brahms und Bruckner, p. 147.
3Brown, "Brahms' Third Symphony and the New German 'sKalbeck, Brahms I, 166.
School," Journal of Musicology 2 (1983), 434-52; Sams, 19g"Brahms and E. T. A. Hoffmann," this journal 5 (1982),
Brahms Songs (London, 1972); idem, "Brahms and his Musi- 193-200.
cal Love Letters," Musical Times 112 (1971), 329-30. These20See respectively, Wilhelm Altmann, foreword to the
follow several of Sams's Schumann studies, including The Eulenburg Edition (No. 713) of the First Piano Concerto;
Songs of Robert Schumann, 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 Coherence and well as Robert Schauffler, The Unknown Brahms (New
its Secret Origin," Music Analysis 2 (1983), 117-33. York, 1933), p. 438. The discovery of Brahms's early Mass,
4"Ich sehe Sie doch oft, so gut wie k6rperlich; z. B. bei der purchased in 1981 by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in
Trillerstelle im Andante der C dur-Sinfonie bei den Schluss- Vienna, lays to rest the speculation about this melody com-
stellen, den Orgelpunkten in 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 Cicilie erscheinen." Clara enna: Verlag Doblinger [no. 45 301], 1984).
Schumann-Johannes Brahms: Briefe atis den Jahren 1853- 21Forte ("Motivic Design of Brahms's Quartet," p. 501)
1896, ed. Berthold Litzmann (Leipzig, 1927), I, 50 (letter of 8 terms examples of one motive contining another "particu-
December 1854). Eric Sams, in his "Brahms and his Clara larly striking" in Brahms.
Themes," Musical Times 112 (1971), 433, quotes the 22Brahms, Briefwechsel V, 64 (letter of 17 September 1854).
slightly different version given in Berthold Litzmann, Clara 3This 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 Brahms had quoted themes by both in his op. 9, variation 10.
pedal point in the great fugue .. ." and thus a discussion of a The intertwining of her theme with Robert's pleased Clara
motive in Beethoven's op. 133. Both the grammar of the pas- greatly; see Litzmann, Clara Schumann II, 30.
sage (the second phrase functions as an appositive modify- 24Eulenburg Edition (no. 969), iv. The translation appears in
ing the first phrase) and the context (discussing Schumann's Michael Musgrave, "Historical Influences in the Growth of
works) make his reading the less likely. Brahms was proba- Brahms's Requiem'," Music and Letters 53 (1972), 5.
bly referring to the pedals "in the concluding passages" of 25Geschehenes, Gesehenes (Leipzig, 1922), 302; Floros also
Schumann's Six Fugues on the Name BACH, op. 60. quotes the passage fully in Brahms und Bruckner, 42, n. 3.
5"Brahms and his Clara Themes," 432-33. Two of Sams's ex- See also below, n. 28.
amples of this Clara theme appear below, in exs. 6a and 6b. 26"Historical Influences," pp. 6-7.
6Max Kalbeck, 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"Frei aber Froh: A Reconsideration," this journal 3 (1980), "Death cometh to both man and beast," the first of the Vier
251-58. On musical grounds A. Peter Brown ("Brahms' ernste Gesiinge, op. 121.
Third Symphony") defends the motive's validity. 28"Auch die bermiihmte Stelle: 'Denn alles Fleisch, es ist
s"Der grandiose Anfang des d-moll Konzertes mit seinen, wie Gras' stammt von dem Choral ab und in der Fuge: 'Der
von den Pauken festgehaltenen wirbelnden Orgelpunkten, Gerechten Seelen' spukt er motivisch umher." Gesche-
mit seinem zum furchtbarem Sprunge ausholenden ersten henes, Gesehenes, p. 302.
Gedanken, dem sich die ruckweise einsetzenden Trillen 29While the choral entrances of movements II and VI begin
gleich einem das ganze Orchester durchschauernden mach- with motives outlining a third then a fourth, so also do the
tigen Schfittelfrost angliedern, ist aus der Vorstellung von beginnings of movements III and V, though less obviously.
Schumanns Selbstmordversuch (Sturz in den Rhein) her- The soprano solo (movement V) has a double beginning, that
vorgegangen." Brahms I, 166. is, Brahms includes a si placet part in the soprano's second
9Brahms: His Life and Work, 2nd rev. edn. (London, 1948), bar, ostensibly to provide an alternative to the high A. How-
p. 248. ever, since the soprano is required to sing this pitch twice
l'oJohannes Brahms, 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-F#-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 September 1854). sons given below, the third is inverted.
24
30Freu dich sehr is in Cantatas 13, 19, 25, 30, 32, 39, 70, 194; 44See Siegfried Kross, "Brahms the Symphonist," in CHRISTOPHER
and Wer nur den lieben Gott in Cantatas 21, 27, 84, 88, 93, Brahms: Biographical, Documentary and Analytical Stud- REYNOLDS
A Brahms
166, 179, 197. ies, ed. Robert Pascall (Cambridge, 1983), p. 130.
Choral
31That Brahms would derive inspiration for his instrumen- 45The translation is from Kross, "Brahms the Symphonist,"
Symphony
tal compositions from poetic sources is, of course, entirely p. 125.
in keeping with his practice in other works from this early 460On the first performances of the Requiem, see Klaus Blum,
period, especially the three piano sonatas, ops. 1, 2, and 5, Hun2dert Jahre Ein Deutsches Requiem von Johannes
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-Brahms Briefe I, 160. The total of five sym-
32See Kalbeck, Brahms II, 220. The best account of the Re- phonies includes the Overture, Scherzo, and Finale, op. 52,
quiem's genesis is by Siegfried Kross, in Die Chorwerke von from 1841.
Johannes Brahms, 2nd edn. (Berlin, 1963), pp. 208-12. 48Further, the motives in movements I, III, and IV actually
33There are 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 transformations comprise the fourth of
the concerto and the Requiem. After each begins with a ten- Forte's general analytic guidelines: "A motive may be trans-
bar tonic pedal, the first modulation is to 6VI 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 Brahms uses are retrograde, inversion, and ret-
from 6VI the return to the tonic key comes in m. 67 in op. 15 rograde inversion" ("Motivic Design of Brahms's Quartet,"
and m. 65 in the Requiem. p. 474). In retrograde-inversion this motive is particularly
34From Brahms's later works Musgrave has found a melody close to the four Schumann motives given in ex. 6.
with musical and textual similarities to the fugue subject in 49Brahms's identification with the E. T. A. Hoffmann char-
the last of the Vier ernste Gesiinge. See "Historical In- acter, the Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler, is well known
fluences," p. 16. and well documented, both in letters with friends and in au-
35Brahms once even programmed and performed his piano tographs of early compositions. See Kross, "Brahms and
concerto with three of Schumann's Kreisleriana fantasies 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 Brahms performed. -SRoger Fiske has argued that motive x, as it appears in the
36In the finale of Symphony No. 1, the penultimate state- rondo theme, is a motive Schumann used to represent Clara
ment of ex. 17a also begins with a descending fifth in thein the Davidsbiindlertiinze, 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 S1This figure is also the theme of the first of Schumann's
Brahms's Quartet," p. 474). Bunten Bliittern, op. 99, which Brahms then used as the
37Kalbeck, Brahms I, 166. theme he varied in his own op. 9, written to raise Schu-
38Grimm also uses this last phrase in his letter of 9 Aprilmann's spirits. Clara had written her own variations on this
1854 to Joachim. All three citations appear in Dahlhaus, theme a year earlier.
Brahms Klavierkonzert Nr. 1, p. 3. 52Joachim then conveyed his belief that "es wire doch
39Ibid. schade um vieles bedeutende in dem Rondo, und vielleicht
4?Litzmann, Clara Schumann II, 316-17. gewinnst Du's doch iiber Dich, mit ersten Ungestiim wieder
41Letter to Joachim of 6 January 1854, in Robert Schumann'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. January 1857).
42Brahms first heard Beethoven's Ninth in March 1854 in 53In 1837 Robert had even written to Clara urging her to em-
Cologne; see Kalbeck, Brahms I, 164. Dahlhaus includes ulate Leonora: "Adieu mein Fidelio ... und bleib so treu wie
several early reviews of the concerto in Brahms Klavierkon- Leonore Ihrem Florestan Deinem Robert." Litzmann, Clara
zert Nr. 1. This one is from 29 June 1859 (p. 31). Schumann I, 154.
43"Influence: Plagiarism and Inspiration," this journal 4 54This study also has implications for the evolution and or-
(1980), 87-100. ganization of the Requiem, which I will examine elsewhere.
25

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A Choral Symphony by Brahms?

Author(s): Christopher Reynolds

In meinen Tdnen spreche ich.

-Johannes Brahms to Clara Schumann.

Allegro non troppo X

Example 1: Brahms, op. 60, I, mm. 3-7.

Maestoso +0' "

!o ~ ~~~ . ... ...... -" ' . .....A :

ff 7r ~Le p?pt -o JLa

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

0 heil'- ge ThrHi- nen.

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

So seid nun ge- dul- ig, lie- ben Brii- der,

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

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

Schlaf nun und ru- he in

Schlaf nun und ru- he in

Sie sprach's, und

a. Chorale: Wer nun den lieben Gott liisst walten

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

c. II, mm. 22-33.

Gras- des Blu-men

the entire work. Yet, aside from the two loca-

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

d. II, mm. 22-23.

e. VI, mm. 3-7.

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

h. VI, mm. 82-91.

k. VII, mm. 6-8.

Example 13: Freu dich sehr, 0 meine Seele, as presented in Bach, Ca

c. III, mm. 9-11. d. Op. 45, III, mm. 93-94, 106.

e. III, mm. 145-46. f. Op. 15, III, mm. 238-40.

nun Herr wes soil ich mich tro-

a. Op. 45, III, mm. 105-08.

Ach, wie gar nichts sind al- le Men-schen

b. Op. 15, II, mm. 27-28. c. Op. 15, I, mm. 132-35.

b. Op. 15, III, m

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

a. Schumann, Symphony No. 1, I, mm. 1-3. b. I, mm. 38-40.

c. Brahms, op. 45, III, mm. 1-4. d. III, mm. 142-44.

Example 19: Brahms, op. 45, III, mm. 9-16.

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

c. II, mm. 17-24

ber 1855): "I certainly would like to have been

tan's faithful Leonora. Andante r l

Such a personal interpretation gains credibil-

motives in a variety of melodic and contrapun-

WORK TITLE MOTIVES

op. 9, X Variations on a Theme by Schumann Robert and Clara*

Schlaf, da nahst du dich leis',

'Bozarth, "Brahms's Lieder ohne Worte: The 'Poetic' An-

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