Violin Concerto (Brahms)

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The Violin Concerto in D major op. 77 by Johannes Brahms is his only violin concerto and is one of the most famous works of this genre.

History of origin

Brahms began the work in the summer of 1878 during a summer stay in Pörtschach am Wörthersee. At the end of August he sent his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim , the violin part of the first movement and the beginning of the finale with the announcement that “the whole story should have four movements”. A few weeks later, however, Brahms decided on the classic form in three movements. In connection with the request to give him suggestions for changes, he sent the entire solo part to Joachim. In his first request for corrections, which he sent back to Brahms, Joachim simplified the work in some particularly difficult passages with a view to achieving greater solo effect. Brahms initially only allowed a few of these changes to apply. This was followed by an intense struggle between the two musicians about the form, which continued beyond the premiere. For example, Joachim commented on the tempo mark in the last movement with “non troppo vivace? otherwise too difficult ”. Brahms then added “ma non troppo vivace”, deleted it again, and then put it back in the final score. Since Brahms himself did not master the violin and composed from the perspective of the pianist, the exchange with Joachim was decisive for the final form of the piece.

With Brahms on the conductor's podium and Joachim as the soloist, the work was premiered on New Year's Day 1879 in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig . Fritz Simrock published it in October of the same year .

The most played cadenza comes from Joachim, but a number of musicians have offered alternatives, including Max Reger, Fritz Kreisler , Leopold Auer , George Enescu , Jascha Heifetz Hugo Heermann and Ferruccio Busoni .

construction

Like most concerts since the Baroque, the work has three movements according to the pattern fast - slow - fast:

  1. Allegro non troppo
  2. adagio
  3. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace

In many other violin concertos, the virtuoso representation of the solo instrument is in the foreground, form and content are subordinate to that, the orchestra only has an accompanying function. In contrast, Brahms' concerto follows symphonic principles. As in his first and second piano concertos , the solo part is first among equals. She is not limited to figurative work and playing around melodic themes, but takes a significant part in the development of the motifs.

The first, epic-wide movement is more than 20 minutes long. He already reminded Clara Schumann of the first movement of Brahms' Second Symphony . It begins with a simple, periodic triad theme, leads over to a secondary theme with strong syncopal friction and ends soulfully in a rapturous vocal theme.

The tender, lyrical Adagio in the second movement lingers for a long time with the woodwinds and horns before the violin finally takes up the theme and develops it further with the orchestra.

The final movement presents an effective rondo with Hungarian-tinged dance themes that are further developed in the interplay between solo violin and orchestra. At the end, Brahms fools the listener with a little surprise: the piece seems to dawn on the violin with a plagalous ending - but then the orchestra sets in with energetic final chords.

occupation

The work is written for solo violin and orchestra with two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , two trumpets , timpani and strings.

reception

The criticism reacted split on the work. The Leipzig premiere was a success. However, some contemporary musicians did not want to accept Brahms' symphonic conception of the instrumental concerto and the technical difficulties: The conductor Hans von Bülow was of the opinion that the work was written less “for” the violin than “against the violin”. Henryk Wieniawski called the piece unplayable and the violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate refused to play it on the grounds that he found it unbearable to overhear the oboe withholding the only melody of the concerto from the violin at the beginning of the second movement. Brahms is said to have burned his sketches for a second violin concerto, worn down by this criticism.

Similar criticism had previously been expressed of other works for strings, such as Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto or Hector Berlioz 's Harold en Italie .

The range of well-known interpretations of the violin and concert parts and especially the cadences is remarkable. Recordings of many great violin virtuosos and conductors are available today. Examples include: Gidon Kremer with conductors Leonard Bernstein and Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Yehudi Menuhin with Wilhelm Furtwängler , Jascha Heifetz with Sergej Kussewizki and with Fritz Reiner , David Oistrach with Franz Konwitschny and with Otto Klemperer , Nathan Milstein with Pierre Monteux and with Eugen Jochum , Henryk Szeryng with Pierre Monteux, Itzhak Perlman with Carlo Maria Giulini , Arabella Steinbacher with Fabio Luisi , Maxim Vengerov with Daniel Barenboim , Anne-Sophie Mutter with Herbert von Karajan and with Kurt Masur , Viktoria Mullova with Claudio Abbado .

technical requirements

The violin concerto is widely considered to be one of the most important works in a violinist's repertoire. The technical demands on the soloist, with the use of double stops , broken chords, very fast scaling passages and rhythmic variations are impressive.

Metronome markings have been preserved from Joseph Joachim. These indicate that he performed the work very quickly - contrary to his initial reservations and significantly faster than is usual in today's concert performances.

Trivia

The third movement of the violin concerto is used as the theme melody of the award-winning feature film There Will Be Blood .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Unless other sources are expressly stated, the presentation in this section follows the commentary by Roman Hinke and Isabelle Faust
  2. ^ Roman Hinke: Isabelle Faust. Commentary on the recording by Isabelle Faust with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Harmonia Mundi, 2011.
  3. ↑ Recording by Isabelle Faust with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Harmonia Mundi, 2011.

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