Four ballads op.10

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The young Johannes Brahms (around 1855)

The Four Ballads op.10 are early piano compositions by Johannes Brahms , which, according to his own catalog raisonné, were composed in the summer of 1854 based on the variations on a theme by Robert Schumann . He grouped the pieces using the variant keys of D minor and D major as well as B minor and B major and dedicated them to his long-time friend Julius Otto Grimm . After the publisher Bartholf Senff had rejected the collection, it was only published by Breitkopf & Härtel in February 1856 .

As in the slow movements of the previous piano sonatas , the poetic, narrative gesture can also be felt in these compositions. Brahms was inspired by the expressive world of the gloomy Scottish ballad Edward from Herder's collection Voices of the Peoples and noted this with a prefix above the first character piece .

To music and poetry

Ballad No. 1

The comparatively short first piece (Andante, 4/4) , which begins at the beginning, is characterized by chords and has the simple three-part song form ABA. In the first section, it consists of two (eight and five bar) thematic blocks that are repeated once up to the dynamic middle section. While under the theme , the opening line of the ballad text can be inferior to the first bar "Your sword, how's blood so red?" Symbolize the hollow two octave fifths in from terzloser certain harmonic cycles two and three the boring title, with the the mother presses her son: "Edward, Edward!"

Edwards' evasive answer can be placed under the second poco piú moto in B flat major , modulating in the next bar to G minor , whose outer voices are connected to one another in contrapuntal terms: "I have struck my vulture dead". The five bar ends sostenuto in the dominant A major on a fermata , after which the two themes are repeated, slightly varied.

In the moving middle section (Allegro ma non troppo) beginning in D major, there is a dynamic increase up to fortissimo of massive chord repetitions. The rhythmic texture is determined by triplets that are throbbing and repeated and allow the tormented conscience of the son to be heard in dialogue with his mother, while the fortissimo beats paint the confession of parricide at the end of the ballad, a crime that is blamed on the mother ( "The curse of hell should rest on you / For you, you advised me!").

After the climax in B-Dur Brahms passes reprise like directly into the second, five-bar theme from clock 44 over which is increased by fully grip chords by one octave and octave bass triols can feel the trouble of the dramatic events that until the end of Composition has an impact. Bar 59 leads back to the first theme, which now seems to disintegrate due to incomplete triplets in the bass.

Ballad No. 2

The second, much longer piece in D major (Andante, 4/4, expressivo e dolce) is introduced by a syncopated accompaniment with a striking bass that runs through the entire first part. Beginning with the third bar, a two-part cantilena is heard , which in places consists of extremely wide-ranging chords, some of which are arpeggiated from bar 7 . With bar 10 it is darkened to B minor and recorded again from bar 18 with the second part of the motif.

The delightful harmonic contrast between the continuous D major of the simple accompanying figure and the melody already indicates the restless development of the middle section (Allegro non troppo, doppio movimento), which is introduced from bar 24 with staccato quart upbeats, to be played twice as fast is like the first part and with its octave beats, dissonances and the similar throbbing rhythm is reminiscent of the mood of the first ballad. The moving C part (Molto staccato e leggiero) in B major merges into the time signature 6/4 and surprises with a spooky staccato movement of the hands, which is provided with short stops in the treble and counter-rotating.

Ballad No. 3

The third ballad in B minor (Allegro, 6/8) , which was later given the title “Intermezzo”, initially stands out from the previous pieces with its high tempo and the beginning in the forte, but with its simple tripartite division it is also included connected to the first work. It reverses the relationship between the parts, in that the corner movements are now rhythmically moving and dynamic, while the middle section in F sharp major takes a back seat. After a strikingly defiant beginning, swirling eighth and sixteenth figures and a Neapolitan -style cadence follow syncopated up hunting chord structure from bar 9, the F-sharp major reach, after which again the moonstruck and abtaktigen eighth and sixteenth chains scurry past, which consistently in the Piano move and end in pianissimo at the end of the A section. The muted volume also characterizes the bright and beautiful middle section in F sharp major.

Ballad No. 4

The fourth ballad in B major (Andante con moto, 3/4) is one of the deepest inspirations of the young Brahms with its longing , sweeping melody over the painfully sinking, even eighth notes reminiscent of Robert Schumann , with its expressivity and compositional maturity.

It stands out from the previous ballads with its predominantly stable rhythm, consistent volume and flatness, to which it offers a calm antipole that enables a glimpse into the composer's soul. The middle section in 6/8 time to play più lento shows a simple movement pattern and extends from measure 47 to 72. The constant eighth note movement of the left hand is overlaid by a triplet movement of the right and forms a harmoniously changing soundscape. A melody is woven into it, which, according to the performance name col intimissimo sentimento, ma senza troppo marcare la melodia, should not be overly worked out.

Background and contemporary reception

Carl Loewe

The world of the taciturn Nordic legends and the simple tone of many folk songs that can be found in the song collection is reflected in the predominantly simple structure and the reserved, sometimes almost harsh sound of the compositions. The ballad Edward takes on an Oedipal motif with parricide and was also set to music by Carl Loewe .

Julius Allgeyer had pointed out Herder's work to Brahms, which had been one of his favorite books ever since and was always on his desk.

Brahms asked Joseph Joachim to examine some of his early piano works and, in addition to the Schumann Variations , sent him four other pieces “for pianoforte minuet or? in A flat minor, Scherzino or? in B minor, piece in D minor and memory of MB in B minor ”. At first he wanted them under the title “Leaves from a musician's diary. Published by the young Kreisler ”. Joachim, who protested violently against this designation, praised not only the variations, but also the Scherzino , which he preferred to the “imitation of Mendelssohn”. It is "extraordinarily delicate, finely ironic, almost so smooth that you cannot answer anything ..." Research has shown that this piece is the third ballad in B minor. In the engraving model of the copyist Peter Fuchs, which was revised by Brahms , the work later referred to as “Intermezzo” still bore the title “Scherzino”, while it is still unclear whether the other three pieces were the remaining ballads.

Since Brahms delighted his Hamburg teacher Eduard Marxsen in October 1854 with the "Ballads ...", it is assumed that the works were available at that time in the form known today. At the end of January 1855 he wrote to Joachim that his “ Variations and Ballads” were extremely valuable to him, as they reminded him “so much of the twilight hours with Clara”.

At Christmas 1854 he sent it to Robert Schumann in Endenich and soon afterwards presented it to him personally. The sick Schumann later wrote an enthusiastic letter to his wife Clara - the first ballad was “wonderful” and novel for him, the “doppio movimento” of the second, however, incomprehensible and too fast. He praised the “magical”, imaginative movement of the piece, whose “final bass F sharp” introduces the third ballad, which is “demonic” and has a “completely transfigured trio”. In the last ballad he noticed “the strange first melody note at the end” which “vacillates between minor and major and remains melancholy in major”. He regarded the D major ballad as an Adagio , the B minor ballad, however, as a demonic Scherzo of a piano sonata , while Clara thought she heard an angelic song in the F sharp major middle movement of the third piece .

Max Kalbeck compared the compositions with the slow internal movements of the early piano sonatas. Is the Andante the fis minor Sonata op. 2 from Winterlied of minnesinger carried Graf force of Toggenburg and that of the C-major Sonata from folk song surreptitiously goes to the moon , which is found on the second set f minor Sonata a Verse by C. O Sternau : "The evening is dawning, the moonlight is shining ..."

Poetic elements

Johann Gottfried Herder, painting by Anton Graff , 1785, Gleimhaus Halberstadt

All four ballads may also be poetically inspired, only the first piece has an explicitly mentioned and emphasized literary background, which however influenced the “ballad-like tone” of the collection as a whole.

Many years after his ballad cycle, Brahms set Carl von Lemcke's poem Verrat to music in Five Songs for a Deep Voice Op. 105 . With the song in B minor, which closes the group, he again chose a bloodthirsty subject, which, with the murder of jealousy in a triangular constellation, not only refers to his older song, Murray's Murder , also found in Herder ( op.14 no.3 ), but also reminds of the first ballad. With the middle section increasing to fortissimo and two calm outer movements, the song is built according to her model and also comparable to her in tone.

While poetic elements in Brahms' music seem to play less of a role than Robert Schumann's and he was often revered as a representative of absolute music , some of his contemporaries did not judge this question so categorically. With one exception, Brahms dispensed with titles or mottos in his later piano works, as we know them from many of Schumann's works; nevertheless, literary references or connections with one's own songs can be found in them again and again.

The late, contemplative E major intermezzo op.116 no.4 is linked to the song op.57 no.3 , published in 1871, based on a poem by Georg Friedrich Daumer , and shows similarities in character, tone and tempo as in the opening theme itself on.

The cozy Intermezzo op. 117 No. 1 in E flat major is reminiscent of a lullaby with its rocking rhythm and 6/8 time of the Berceuse Chopin . Brahms added the verses of another Scottish folk song, which is also in Herder's collection and is titled Lullaby of an Unhappy Mother - “Sleep gently, my child, sleep gently and beautifully! It takes me a lot to see you cry. "

literature

  • Katrin Eich: The piano works, ballads op. 10. In: Brahms-Handbuch, ed. Wolfgang Sandberger, Metzler, Weimar 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-02233-2 , pp. 341–344
  • Constantin Floros : Studies on Brahms' Piano Music - Poetic with Brahms. In: Brahms Studies, Volume 5, Johannes Brahms Society, Hamburg 1983, pp. 47–52

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Katrin Eich: The piano works, ballads op. 10. In: Wolfgang Sandberger (Ed.): Brahms-Handbuch. Metzler, Weimar 2009, pp. 341–342.
  2. ↑ a b c d Johannes Brahms, 4 ballads op. 10. In: Harenberg piano music guide, 600 works from the baroque to the present. Meyers, Mannheim 2004, p. 204.
  3. ^ So Detlef Kraus : De mortuis nihil nisi bene. Notes on Glenn Gould's recordings of the piano music by Johannes Brahms. In: Brahms Studies. Volume 9, Johannes Brahms Society, Hamburg 1992, p. 24.
  4. ↑ a b Otto Schumann : Johannes Brahms, the smaller piano works. In: Handbook of Piano Music. 4th edition. Wilhelmshaven 1979, p. 496.
  5. ↑ a b Katrin Eich: The piano works, ballads op. 10. In: Wolfgang Sandberger (Ed.): Brahms-Handbuch. Metzler, Weimar 2009, p. 343.
  6. ↑ Johannes Brahms, 3 Intermezzi op. 117. In: Harenberg piano music guide, 600 works from the baroque to the present, Meyers, Mannheim 2004, p. 211.
  7. ↑ a b c Katrin Eich: The piano works, ballads op. 10. In: Wolfgang Sandberger (Hrsg.): Brahms manual. Metzler, Weimar 2009, p. 341.
  8. ↑ Katrin Eich: Piano Sonatas. In: Brahms-Handbuch, ed. Wolfgang Sandberger, Metzler, Stuttgart 2009, pp. 335-340.
  9. ^ Katrin Eich: Die Klavierwerke, Balladen op.10 In: Brahms-Handbuch, Ed. Wolfgang Sandberger, Metzler, Weimar 2009, p. 342.
  10. ↑ Peter Jost: Lieder und Gesänge, Five songs for a deeper voice op.105 In: Brahms-Handbuch, Ed. Wolfgang Sandberger, Metzler, Weimar 2009, p. 252.
  11. ^ Constantin Floros : Studies on Brahms' piano music - Poetisches bei Brahms. In: Brahms Studies. Volume 5, Johannes Brahms Society, Hamburg 1983, p. 49.
  12. ^ Constantin Floros: Studies on Brahms' piano music - Poetisches bei Brahms. In: Brahms Studies. Volume 5, Johannes Brahms Society, Hamburg 1983, p. 51
  13. ^ Constantin Floros: Studies on Brahms' piano music - Poetisches bei Brahms. In: Brahms Studies. Volume 5, Johannes Brahms Society, Hamburg 1983, pp. 50-51.
  14. ↑ Detlef Kraus: De mortuis nihil nisi bene. Notes on Glenn Gould's recordings of the piano music by Johannes Brahms. In: Brahms Studies. Volume 9, Johannes Brahms Society, Hamburg 1992, p. 24.
  15. ^ Constantin Floros: Studies on Brahms' piano music - Poetisches bei Brahms. In: Brahms Studies. Volume 5, Johannes Brahms Society, Hamburg 1983, p. 52.