Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)
The Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 by Johannes Brahms is the last of his symphonies. Brahms began working on the piece in 1884, just a year after completing his Symphony No. 3, and completed it in 1885.
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[edit] Instrumentation
The symphony is scored for two flutes (one doubling on piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, triangle (third movement only), and strings.
[edit] Movements
The symphony is divided into four movements with the following tempo markings:
- Allegro non troppo (E minor)
- Andante moderato (E minor/E major)
- Allegro giocoso (C major [might also be interpreted as E phrygian])
- Allegro energico e passionato (E minor)
A typical performance lasts about 40 minutes.
[edit] Analysis
The first movement is dramatic and passionate, while the second movement has an archaic and restrained air. The joyful third movement, which was written last, resounds with a triangle. The last movement is notable as a rare example of a symphonic passacaglia, which is similar to a chaconne with the slight difference that the subject can appear in more voices than the bass. For the repeating theme, Brahms adapted the chaconne theme in the closing movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150. The symphony is rich in allusions, most notably to various Beethoven compositions. The symphony may well have been inspired by the ancient Greek tragedies of Sophocles that Brahms had been reading at the time.[1]
Arnold Schoenberg, in his essay Brahms the Progressive, pointed out several thematic relationships in the score, as does Malcolm MacDonald in his biography of the composer. The first half of the chaconne theme is anticipated in the bass during the coda at an important point of the preceding movement; and the first movement's descending thirds, transposed by a fifth, appear in counterpoint during one of the final variations of the chaconne.
[edit] Reception
The work was given its premiere in Meiningen on October 25, 1885 with Brahms himself conducting. The piece had earlier been given to a small private audience in a version for two pianos (one of them played by Brahms). Brahms' friend and biographer Max Kalbeck, reported that the critic Eduard Hanslick, on hearing the first movement in this performance, exclaimed, "For this whole movement I had the feeling that I was being given a beating by two incredibly intelligent people."[citation needed] Hanslick later spoke more approvingly of it, however.[citation needed]
Progressive rock group Yes' keyboardist Rick Wakeman used part of the symphony on the song "Cans and Brahms" from the 1971 album Fragile.
[edit] References
- ^ "Brahms, Johannes ." Britannica Encyclopedia, from Encyclopædia Britannica Deluxe Edition 2004 CD-ROM. Copyright © 1994-2003 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. May 30, 2003
- Walter Frisch. Brahms: The Four Symphonies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), pp. 115–140
[edit] External links
- Symphony No. 4: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
- Downloadable score of the piece in .pdf format
- Allusive Irony in Brahms's Fourth Symphony. (Analysis of Allusions in the Symphony) by Kenneth Hull
- Detailed Listening Guide (Text!) using the recording by Claudio Abbado
- Andrew Clements, "Brahms: Symphony No. 4" (from "Building a Classical Library" series). The Guardian, 17 March 2000.
- Online Audio-Video of the first two minutes of the final movement (Berlin Philharmonics under Sir Simon Rattle)
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