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JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 10’00
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A composition written for an academic affair by a man with absolutely no inclinations
for academia!
Composed as his “thesis” for an Honorary Doctorate conferred by Cambridge University
in England.
Incorporates several German songs commonly sung by students.
Brahms was not a man to stand on ceremony. In 1876, at the relatively young age of 43, he was
honoured by Cambridge University with the offer of an Honorary Doctorate, but he couldn’t
manage the journey to England so the offer was withdrawn. Three years later, another academic
institution, the University of Breslau, conferred upon him in absentia the same degree, with the
official parchment describing him as artis musicae severioris in Germania nunc princeps (“the
leader in Germany today of music in the more serious vein”). Brahms’ acknowledgement took
the form of a postcard to his conductor friend at the university, Bernard Scholz, asking him to
thank the proper authorities on his behalf. Scholz had to advise the composer that a major work
was expected of him: “a symphony, or at least a festive song”. Brahms grudgingly complied, but
it was nearly two years after conferral of the degree before his “doctoral thesis” was heard. On
January 4, 1881, before the distinguished faculty and administration of the school, Brahms
conducted the premiere of his Academic Festival Overture.
The overture was written in the summer of 1880, along with its companion piece, the Tragic
Overture, Op. 81, at Brahms’ favourite summer resort in the mountains of Upper Austria. “One
weeps; the other laughs,” said Brahms of his two overtures. He further described the Academic
Festival Overture as “a jolly potpourri of student songs à la Suppé”.
Although not a university man himself, Brahms was not entirely unfamiliar with student life,
having shared in convivial university gatherings and events in his earlier years. Into his
overture in standard sonata-allegro form he worked four student songs interspersed with
original material of his own. The first of these songs, “Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus”
(“We had built a stately house”) is softly and solemnly intoned by the brass following a soft roll
on the timpani. The second, “Der Landesvater” (“Father of Our Country”) is a flowing, lyrical
theme for the violins. A perky tune in the bassoons suddenly interrupts the mood to announce
the ribald and mischievous Freshmens’ initiation song “Was kommt dort von der Hoh?” (“What
comes there from on high?”). For a grandiose coda, Brahms introduces his fourth song, the
immensely popular “in nineteenth-century Germany” “Gaudeamus igitur” (“Let us now rejoice”),
with the full orchestra blazing away in joyous C major.
RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, AV132 20’00
I.
II.
III.
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Allegro
Andante con moto
Rondo: Allegro molto
Strauss’ two horn concertos come from the very beginning (age 19) and very end (age
78) of his long, long career.
As one would expect from Strauss, the solo part is extremely virtuosic and demanding,
following in the line of such orchestral scores as Till Eulenspiegel, Also sprach
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Zarathustra, Ein Heldenleben and Symphonia Domestica; and such operas as Salome,
Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier.
Like Strauss’ other works of the 1940s, the concerto is imbued with tender melancholy
and nostalgia.
The horn is often considered to be one of the most romantic of instruments for its mellow tone,
expressive range and noble character. Indeed, these qualities were exploited in countless works
written throughout the nineteenth century, the era we call the “romantic” period in music
history. Yet, surprisingly enough, no concerto for this instrument was created by an important
composer since Mozart until Richard Strauss produced his First Horn Concerto in 1882-83.
Nearly sixty years later, he wrote a second concerto, also in E-flat major.
It is hardly surprising that Strauss wrote so brilliantly and ambitiously for the horn, his
favourite instrument, as his own father was generally regarded to be the best horn player in
Germany, perhaps in all of Europe. He dedicated his First Concerto to his father, and wrote the
Second in 1942 to be performed in memory of his father. It was first heard at the Salzburg
Festival on August 11, 1943 with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Karl Böhm. The
orchestra’s renowned principal horn player, Gottfried von Freiberg, was the soloist.
The concerto requires only a small classical orchestra and employs classical forms harking back
to the eighteenth century. The solo part is often closely integrated with the orchestral texture;
there are even passages where the orchestral horns join in with the soloist. It begins with a
proud flourish, and continues with a long (54 measures!) expository passage from the soloist
before the full orchestra finally takes over. The writing is highly supple and fluid, requiring the
kind of technique more commonly associated with a flute or clarinet than with a horn. A bridge
passage connects the first movement directly with the second, a tender, nostalgic idyll. Oboe
and bassoon breathe forth a long, soaring cantilena before being joined by the solo horn. The
final movement is a rondo, often of elfin lightness and delicacy, demanding extraordinary agility
from the soloist as it trips buoyantly along to a flamboyant conclusion.
JOHANNES BRAHMS
(arr. ARNOLD SCHOENBERG)
Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25 40’00
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Allegro
Intermezzo: Allegro ma non troppo
Andante con moto
Rondo alla zingarese: Presto
So indelibly has Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) become identified in the public consciousness
as a radical, an innovator, a revolutionary, that to associate him with a basically conservative
composer like Brahms seems downright incongruous. Yet, upon some consideration, we find
that such a meeting of these two musical minds is not so improbable after all, but in fact a
continuation of the grand tradition of Austro-German music extending from Bach through
Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Brahms and Richard Strauss. Schoenberg further
believed that Brahms was no conservative, and wrote an essay in 1933 called “Brahms the
Progressive”, noting such forward-looking aspects in his music as the extensive use of variation
procedures, metrical asymmetry, unity achieved through development of motivic fragments,
and lack of tonality in certain passages – all characteristics found extensively in Schoenberg’s
own music.
Schoenberg orchestrated Brahms’ G-minor Piano Quartet during the spring and summer of 1937
while living in California. The first performance took place on May 7, 1938 with the Los Angeles
Philharmonic conducted by Otto Klemperer. This work represents Schoenberg’s final and most
ambitious effort at orchestrating the music of other composers, a skill that he had been
polishing for over four decades. (His first paying job was that of orchestrating operettas!)
Between 1897 and 1923, Schoenberg transcribed music by Bach, Beethoven, Rossini, Schumann,
Busoni, Zemlinsky, Schreker and Johann Strauss. In 1932, he wrote a Cello Concerto based
loosely on a harpsichord concerto by the eighteenth-century Viennese composer Georg Matthias
Monn, and in 1933 he made a “free arrangement” of Handel’s Concerto grosso Op. 6, No. 7 as a
Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra.
Schoenberg was indeed a master orchestrator, but his belief that he had transcribed Brahms’
sound for the orchestra, and that he had held true to his intention “to remain strictly within the
style of Brahms and not go further than he himself would have gone” are exaggerated claims.
For one thing, Schoenberg’s orchestration includes a number of instruments Brahms never
used: English horn, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, glockenspiel and xylophone. Woodwinds are
employed in threes, whereas Brahms used only pairs. (The opening bars, for instance, are
scored for E-flat, B-flat and bass clarinet in octaves.) Other instruments are used more
generously than Brahms was wont to, particularly piccolo, trombones, cymbals and triangle.
Schoenberg gives trumpets and horns melodic lines of a kind Brahms would never have written,
since the latter composer steadfastly wrote only for the natural, valve-less instruments with
their true, open notes restricted to those of the harmonic series.
In a Brahms orchestral work, one is never aware of a sense of virtuosity. But in Schoenberg’s
transcription, virtuosity is apparent throughout; one almost could dub the G-minor Piano
Quartet a “Concerto for Orchestra”. His transcription is a veritable tour de force of orchestral
mastery that dazzles with a brilliance Brahms never dreamed of, especially in the exuberant,
gypsy-inspired finale. Special effects includes brass trills, “stopped” horns (the player’s right
hand is jammed tightly into the bell, choking off the sound), fluttertonguing and trombone
glissandos. In sum, the orchestral writing is more Straussian than Brahmsian, but this detracts
not a bit from its appeal. Although originally written in 1859 as a quartet for piano, violin, viola
and cello, its scope is so grand, the textures so rich and the sonorities so powerful that the music
fairly cries out for symphonic elaboration. Such treatment has also been accorded to other
largescale masterpieces, such as Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and Schubert’s Wanderer
Fantasy. Schoenberg was justly proud of his achievement, and liked to think of the result as
Brahms’ Fifth Symphony.
“Expansive” is the word most often invoked to describe the first movement. It contains a
wealth of thematic, motivic and rhythmic ideas, all welded into a musical structure and unified
by the four-note motif that opens the work. The grandeur of the spacious opening subject
(spread out over 20 measures and containing two distinct ideas in itself) is counterpoised with
the soaring lyricism of the second (initially heard in the solo cello in D minor, and thereafter in
altered form in glorious D major by violin and viola). One of the oft-remarked peculiarities of
this movement is that although it is technically in G minor, a surprisingly large portion lies in
the contrasting tonality of D major/minor – nearly 75%. “The movement is never untroubled,”
writes Malcolm MacDonald, “continually questioning its own premises; and no comforting
answer is found, for the coda, beginning hopefully with sweet tranquillo writing for strings
alone, blazes up in a passion only to gutter out quietly in implied frustration.”
Brahms had originally intended to call the second movement a Scherzo but decided that
Intermezzo would be more appropriate, rightly so in view of its moderate tempo, subdued
nature, wistful tone and veiled colours. The central Trio in A-flat major is more animated and
sports brighter colours while retaining the characteristic rhythmic pattern of the Intermezzo
(short-long-short-longlong).
The emotional heart of the Quartet is the magnificent slow movement, written in the “heroic”
key of E-flat major. Long-arching melodic lines, a warmly romantic atmosphere and rich
sonorities of almost orchestral proportions are features of this third movement. The mood is
interrupted by a march-like section in C major (traditionally a “military” key) full of
“rumbustious good spirits” and which “works up to a climax that cries out for trumpets and
drums” (MacDonald) – which is precisely what Schoenberg used here in his orchestration.
The rondo-finale “in the gypsy style” incorporates four themes into an all-out maelstrom of
untamed energy and virtuosic effects, complete with a piano cadenza and a coda replete with
dazzling pyrotechnical displays.
Programme notes by Robert Markow