2nd Serenade (Brahms)
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The Serenade No. 2 in A major op. 16 is, like its sister work, the Serenade No. 1 , the result of Johannes Brahms' intensive occupation with Mozart's wind serenades and Haydn's symphonies at the end of the 1850s. The orientation of the composer to the harmony music tradition and Mozart's wind serenades is striking . Brahms reinforcement of the bass region by violas and cellos compared to the double bass, which is common in harmony music, is repeatedly incorrectly referred to as "renouncing violins".
Emergence
Johannes Brahms worked from September 1857 to 1859 from September to December at the Fürstenhof in Detmold as a concert pianist, conductor of the court choir and piano teacher of Princess Friederike. There he studied symphonies by Joseph Haydn and had his friend, violinist Joseph Joachim, send him scores of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's serenades. The composition of the second serenade began in autumn 1858 at the latest. Brahms first showed drafts to Julius Otto Grimm and sent Clara Schumann the first movement in December 1858, then also the third and fourth movements in September 1859. Work on the work continued until its premiere in early 1860.
characterization
Cast and duration of performance
The 2nd serenade is set for winds and low strings: piccolo , two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns in E , violas , cellos and double basses . The piccolo is only used in the final rondo. Brahms himself recommended a string line-up with 8 or more violas, 6 cellos and 4 double basses.
The use of the lower strings (Brahms was to repeat this practice later in Part 1 of the German Requiem ) gives the work a somewhat overcast and dark character. At the same time, preference is given to the winds in the melodic-thematic processes and the sound of the 2nd serenade is brought closer to Mozart's wind serenades (such as his Gran Partita , a wind serenade with double bass), while the one composed a little earlier was more extensive and larger 1. Serenade is closer to Haydn's symphony.
The performance of the five-movement work is usually a little over 30 minutes.
sentences
- I. Allegro moderato . The first movement follows the sonata form , but does not repeat the exposition. A chorale-like main theme dominated by sixths dominates the movement. The double-dotted secondary theme, intoned in thirds, is completely absent in the development and only becomes decisive in the softly fading coda.
- II. Scherzo, Vivace . The short movement follows a dacapo form (Scherzo - Trio - Scherzo with Coda). The rhythmic effect of the scherzo is achieved by the hemioli classification of a motif in two-time into a fast three-four time. The soft sixth melody of the trio has a contrasting effect.
- III. Adagio . The three-part movement (A - B - A 'with development between B and A') is opened by a wind cantilena over a bass theme repeated eight times in different keys, the part is thus a free Passacaglia . At the beginning of the middle section there is an expressive horn theme. Clara Schumann judged the Adagio: “ It is wonderfully beautiful! [...]. The whole piece has something ecclesiastical about it, it could be an Eleison . "
- IV. Quasi Menuetto . The fourth movement also follows a dacapo form (minuet and trio, each in two parts) with a short coda. The main theme of the minuet is characterized by its openwork movement.
- V. Rondo, Allegro . The final movement combines elements of the rondo with the sonata form. The simply rhythmic main theme draws its playful vitality from eighth note triplets.
World premiere, versions and reception
The world premiere took place in Hamburg on February 10, 1860, with the Hamburg Philharmonic playing in the Great Wörmschen Concert Hall under the direction of the composer himself. In this concert, Beethoven's violin concerto was performed with the soloist Joseph Joachim , Brahms also took on the solo role in the piano concerto of Schumann.
The 2nd serenade received a divided reception in the press. After the second performance, which took place on November 26, 1860 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus under the direction of the composer, a reviewer wrote:
“The serenade of Herr Brahms, first of all, is a tenacious product, forever wavering between wanting and not being able to, and above all, utterly boring. The invention in it is meager and scanty, and the work makes desperate efforts to appear polyphonic and learned - but unfortunately it only remains with the efforts and attempts. Mr. Brahms must always keep in mind that good will and good disposition alone do not constitute a work of art. "
Among the audience for this performance were Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim .
Another review in 1861, however, highlighted " The delightful simplicity of the whole treatment, which so particularly characterizes the second serenade [...] " and " [...] precision and clarity of expression ". The work was performed for the first time in New York in 1862 with the New York Philharmonic under Karl Bergmann . In 1863 the first performance in Vienna took place under Otto Dessoff . Successes were performances in 1872 in Baden-Baden (conducted by Brahms) or 1875 at London's Crystal Palace .
The 2nd Serenade was printed at the end of 1860 by Verlag N. Simrock, later the main publisher of Brahms, run by Fritz Simrock , as was an arrangement for piano four hands by the composer himself, which was also created in 1860. In 1875 a version revised by Brahms was published, the Includes details of orchestration and phrasing as well as major changes in dynamics in all movements. On the occasion of the first performance of the revised version on December 21, 1875 with the Breslauer Orchesterverein under Bernhard Scholz , Brahms allowed the oboe solo in the trio of the minuet to be performed by a violin.
Brahms himself believed in the 2nd serenade, so on the occasion of the completion of the arrangement for piano four hands in 1860 he wrote to Joachim: “ [...] I felt very happy about it. I have seldom written notes with such enthusiasm […] . In 1875 he wrote - not without a swipe at a fellow composer - Bernhard Scholz, the conductor of the Breslau premiere of the revised version: “ […] When I took the letterhead, I surely had a secret Wagnerian inclination, about my beautiful opus, very beautiful and Extensive to write! [...] ”
The 2nd serenade is available in a series of recordings on phonograms, including those conducted by Kurt Masur , Heinz Bongartz , Jiří Bělohlávek , Arturo Toscanini , Gary Bertini and Bernard Haitink . Nevertheless, even more so than the 1st Serenade, it is one of the orchestral works by Brahms that is seldom heard in the concert hall.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Clara Schumann - Johannes Brahms. Letters from the years 1853 - 1896, Vol. 1, Leipzig 1927, p. 278, September 18, 1859; quoted n. Michael Musgrave: Foreword to the Urtext edition by Henle-Verlag, study edition, 2012
- ↑ Signals for the musical world , vol. 18, no. 49, November 29, 1860, p. 604 ( digitized version )
- ↑ Berthold Litzmann, Clara Schumann. An artist's life , Volume 3, Leipzig 1908, p. 89
- ↑ Carl von Noorden, Deutsche Musik-Zeitung, vol. 2, no. 15, April 13, 1861, p. 117; quoted n. Michael Musgrave: Foreword to the Urtext edition by Henle-Verlag, study edition, 2012
- ^ Max Kalbeck : Johannes Brahms . Volume I, reprint, Breitkopf & Hartel, Tutzing, 1921/1976, ISBN 3-7952-0186-1 , S. 369th
- ^ Max Kalbeck : Johannes Brahms . Volume I, new print, Breitkopf & Härtel, Tutzing, 1921/1976, ISBN 3-7952-0186-1 , p. 370
literature
- Wulf Konold (Ed.): Lexicon Orchestermusik Romantik. A-H . Piper / Schott, Mainz, 1989, ISBN 3-7957-8226-0 (Schott), pp. 94-96.
- Wolfgang Sandberger (Ed.): Brahms Handbook , joint edition JB Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung and Bärenreiter, 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-02233-2 (Bärenr.), Pp. 502–506.
- Hansjürgen Schaefer (Ed.): Concert book orchestral music. AF . VEB Dt. Verlag für Musik Leipzig 1979, pp. 287–290.