String Sextet No. 1 (Brahms)

The String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18, was composed in 1860 by Johannes Brahms. It was published in 1862 by the firm of Fritz Simrock.

The sextet is scored for two violins, two violas, and two cellos.

The sextet has four movements:^[1]

I. Allegro ma non troppo, in 3/4 time
II. Andante, ma moderato, in D minor and 2/4 time (and in variation form)
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto (3/4, in F major, with a central, Animato trio section)
IV. Rondo: Poco Allegretto e grazioso, in 2/4

The outlines of the main themes of the first movement and finale are similar (the first four notes of the cello theme of the first movement are almost identical with those of notes two to five of the finale, and there are other similarities more easily heard.)

Sextet chronology

There are earlier examples by Luigi Boccherini (two sets of six each). However, between the Boccherini and the Brahms, very few for stringed instruments without piano seem to have been written or published, whereas within the decades following Brahms' two examples, a number of composers, including Antonín Dvořák, Piotr Chaikovski, Joachim Raff, Max Reger, Arnold Schoenberg, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold, all wrote string sextets.

Exceptions, composers whose sextets appeared between the Boccherini and the Brahms, include a sextuor a deux violins, deux violes, violoncelle & basse from the 1780s (still later than the 1776 or so of Boccherini's opus 23) by Ignaz Pleyel^[2], Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński's opus 39 in E-flat (from 1849)^[3], Louis Spohr's in C opus 140 of 1850, but they do not seem to have been many.

References

^ For instance, see pages 1-44 of the 1968-published Dover Publications reprint of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Edition: Complete chamber music for strings and clarinet quintet (originally edited by Hans Gál). ISBN 0486219143.
^ OCLC 78958908
^ "Announcement of Recording with Dobrzynski's String Sextet and Elsner's Septet". 2002. Retrieved 3 March 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

Free scores by Brahms String Sextet No. 1 at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
Performance of String Sextet No. 1 by the Musicians from Marlboro from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
Detailed Listening Guide using the recording by the Amadeus Quartet with Aronowitz and Pleeth

This article about a composition for a chamber music group is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] For instance, see pages 1-44 of the 1968-published Dover Publications reprint of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Edition: Complete chamber music for strings and clarinet quintet (originally edited by Hans Gál). ISBN 0486219143.

[2] OCLC 78958908

[3] "Announcement of Recording with Dobrzynski's String Sextet and Elsner's Septet". 2002. Retrieved 3 March 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Chamber music by Johannes Brahms
Duos	Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38 Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99 Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 120, No. 1 Clarinet Sonata No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 120, No. 2 Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78 Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100 Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Trios	Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 Horn Trio in E-flat major, Op. 40 Piano Trio No. 1 in B major, Op. 8 Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87 Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101 Piano Trio in A major, Anh. 4/5 (doubtful)
Quartets	Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26 Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 String Quartets, Op. 51 (No. 1 in C minor; No. 2 in A minor) String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat major, Op. 67
Quintets & Sextets	Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 String Quintet No. 1 in F major, Op. 88 String Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111 String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18 String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36
List of compositions by Johannes Brahms