9. Orchestral works and concertos.

In his article ‘Neue Bahnen’, Schumann hinted that it was Brahms's destiny to compose for orchestra. By the time of Brahms's death in 1897, this prediction had been fulfilled with the creation of two serenades, four concertos, a set of variations, two overtures and four symphonies.

The D minor Piano Concerto is one of the most powerful statements after Beethoven in what Carl Dahlhaus called the ‘symphonic style’, which aimed for monumental effects achieved by orchestral means – a symphony could not be merely the transcription of a sonata – and was defined by moments like the opening of the Ninth Symphony. The first theme of the concerto recalls Beethoven's Ninth in its angularity, rhythmic energy and use of a throbbing timpani pedal point. Brahms also explored the tonal relationship between D minor and B major characteristic of the Ninth. The first movement of the Concerto (marked Maestoso) is distinctive for the ample dimensions of the orchestral exposition, its harmonic range and piano writing that, unlike that of most concertos of the period, is virtuoso without being flashy.

The turbulent first movement has often been associated with Schumann's attempted suicide. The Adagio movement, in broad ternary form, is a reflective counterpart: Brahms called it a ‘gentle portrait’ of Clara Schumann. Strikingly, it is in the same unusual time signature as the first movement, 6/4, and there are clear thematic links. The rondo-finale shows a very different spirit. Its formal structure is modelled closely, even slavishly, on the finale of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto in a way that might be called neo-classical.

It is this neo-classical impulse that comes to the fore in the next orchestral works. In the first movement of the First Serenade op.11, written (after several metamorphoses of medium) for ‘full [grosses] orchestra’, the angry D pedal point of the First Concerto has given way to a pastoral drone; the ferocious trills and chromaticism yield to a theme bouncing gently among the notes of the D major scale. The models for the First Serenade are in Haydn and in early Beethoven (especially the Second Symphony, in the same key). The apparent simplicity of the work, however, conceals sophisticated Brahmsian techniques of motivic development and flexible phrase structure. The Serenade includes two scherzos and a pair of exquisite minuets. In the minuets the origin of the Serenade as a chamber work is especially apparent. The expansive slow movement is the only one in Brahms's works to use full sonata form.

Unlike its D major counterpart, the Second Serenade op.16 in A was conceived for a ‘small’ orchestra, distinctive (like the first movement of the German Requiem) in having no violins, a scoring that gives prominent melodic roles to the wind instruments and violas. The Second Serenade has five movements, including two inner dance movements, a scherzo and a minuet. The darkly hued slow movement is noteworthy for its rich counterpoint, expansive ternary form and harmonic adventurousness.

In 1862 Brahms plunged back into the symphonic style with the first movement of what eventually became his C minor Symphony. But once again the symphonic engine stalled. He seems to have made no substantial progress with the work over the next 14 years. In 1873 he returned to orchestral writing with virtually simultaneous versions for two pianos and for orchestra of the Variations on a Theme of Haydn op.56, based on the St Anthony chorale for wind instruments (a piece no longer firmly attributed to Haydn). The Haydn Variations is the first orchestral work in which Brahms may be said to have assimilated fully earlier models and influences. There are eight variations, plus a finale in the form of a passacaglia with 17 variations and a coda. Although the techniques owe much to Brahms's forebears, what is new and genuinely symphonic is the way the counterpoint is realized through the orchestra, not only in the strict devices of canon and invertible counterpoint but also in the polyphonic movement of the parts. A passage like the Presto (eighth variation), with its eerie pedal points spread out over six octaves, also indicates a new level of sophistication in Brahms's orchestration.

The completion and première of the First Symphony in 1876 was a milestone for Brahms and for symphonic music generally in Austro-German lands. Although it was not universally loved, the symphony was acknowledged as the most significant since Schumann. It adheres to the standard four-movement format and as such was sometimes considered to contribute little to the development of the genre after Beethoven's Ninth. In fact, Brahms adapted with great originality the model of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which likewise progresses from struggle in C minor towards triumph in C major by means of links between the individual movements. In Brahms, these techniques include thematic-motivic connections involving especially the figures of a descending 4th and a chromatic rising 3rd, as well as a harmonic-tonal scheme in which the keys of the successive movements depart from and return to C by major 3rds: C–E–A –C.

From Beethoven's Ninth Symphony Brahms took over the idea of giving both outer movements slow introductions. The introduction to the finale revisits the turbulent mood of the first one, then brings forth two new elements (a horn-call and a chorale-like passage) that point towards resolution, which comes with the famous first theme of the movement proper, a C major melody reminiscent of Beethoven's Ode to Joy theme.

The First Symphony is special in its combination of contrapuntal density, fluid phrase structure, and soaring lyricism. The main ‘theme’ of the first movement is actually a complex of three different motifs presented simultaneously, then immediately developed. The phrases generated are of irregular, constantly changing lengths. At certain moments – and their rarity makes them especially powerful – the momentum of this motivic style lets up to yield broader melodies, as in the G tune in the development of the first movement and, more prominently, in the C major theme of the finale.

The Second Symphony in D op.73, composed less than a year after the completion of the First, is often described as its sunny counterpart. The work indeed radiates a warmth and tunefulness absent in parts of the earlier work. But as Brahms himself acknowledged, the Second Symphony also has a ‘melancholy’ side. The lyrical opening theme of the first movement unravels almost at once into a dark passage for timpani and trombones. The voice of melodic continuity is reasserted often in this movement, however, first by the violin melody that follows the unravelling and again by the second group and the large coda. The pensive slow movement, in B major and in a modified sonata form, is dominated by a motivically rich, metrically ambiguous main theme remarkable for its combination of tunefulness and developing variation.

The second half of the symphony distinctly brightens in mood, although it too contains sombre moments – often involving the trombones – that evoke the expressive world of the first two movements. The Allegretto recasts the traditional scherzo–trio alternation into a rondo-like structure that is one of Brahms's most original creations. Although the finale ends the symphony in a jubilant blaze of D major, it glances back at the mood of the earlier movements, especially in the haunting passage at the end of the development section (whose chains of descending 4ths Mahler recalled his First Symphony) and in the syncopated episode for brass in the coda.

Two concertos and two overtures separate the first two symphonies from the second pair. Temperamentally, the Violin Concerto op.77 is in many respects a companion piece to the Second Symphony, with which it shares the key of D and a first movement in 3/4 time built from triadically orientated themes that furnish energetic development as well as gentle lyricism. The elegiac opening ritornello of the Adagio, scored for woodwind and solo oboe, introduces one of Brahms's most classically poised slow movements. The exuberant rondo is one of Brahms's greatest essays, and certainly his most virtuoso, in the style hongrois.

The Academic Festival Overture op.80 and the Tragic Overture op.81 are counterparts to each other, somewhat like a satyr play and a tragedy. In the Academic Festival Overture about half a dozen popular tunes and student songs, including the Rákóczi March and Gaudeamus igitur, are woven into a sophisticated large-scale binary form consisting of a three-key exposition and a recapitulation that incorporates developmental elements. Beyond its title, the Tragic Overture has no specific programme or narrative. This imposing movement is in the spirit of D minor predecessors, including Beethoven's Ninth and Brahms's own First Piano Concerto. It is in a broad sonata form, in which the recapitulation begins with the transition to the second group. The overture is remarkable for its motivic concentration, especially the way in which all the thematic material seems to be generated from the bold opening ‘motto’ of a descending 4th.

The B Piano Concerto op.83 is the Olympian successor to Brahms's first effort in the genre. (His friend Theodor Billroth remarked that the two works stood in the relationship of youth to man.) The interpenetration of solo and orchestral parts, as well as the addition of a scherzo to the normal three-movement design, brings op.83 closer to the genre of symphony than any other major concerto of the 19th century.

The piano makes an early appearance (as in Beethoven's Fourth and Fifth Concertos), responding to an evocative horn-call, then embarks on a fully fledged cadenza. All of this is a prelude to Brahms's most expansive concerto movement. The scherzo is an intense, compact sonata form in D minor, which flows into a radiant trio in D major: it is as if the worlds of the earlier D minor Concerto and the more recent Violin Concerto are put side by side. A masterpiece of tone painting, the Andante is almost a double concerto for solo cello and piano. The piano never takes up the cello's opening melody directly, responding instead with apparently improvisatory garlands of figuration that (being by Brahms) are in fact thematic. The finale, a sonata-rondo, encompasses a great range of moods, from the gypsy swagger of the first episode to the clownish romp of the coda.

With his Third Symphony op.90 Brahms achieved a new level of coherence in a large-scale orchestral work. It is the shortest of the four symphonies, lasting only half an hour in most performances. The durations of the individual movements are closer to being equal than in any of the others. The compact dimensions and balanced proportions seem intended to point up processes that extend over the entire work. These include the most direct thematic recall in any symphonic work by Brahms: the opening motto and theme return transfigured at the end of the finale. Coherence is also imparted by harmonic devices, such as the frequent juxtaposition of F major and F minor. The tonal scheme is unique in the genre: outer movements centred on F and inner movements on C, thus creating a plateau of harmonic tension in the dominant that implies a large-scale sonata form over the whole work.

In many ways the Fourth Symphony op.98, composed soon after the Third, represents the summit of Brahms's achievement in the genre. The finale, in the form of a passacaglia with a terse eight-bar theme and 30 variations, is his most thoroughgoing attempt to synthesize historical and modern practice. While observing the strictures of the ostinato subject, he created continuity by arranging the variations in groups according to figuration, thematic style, dynamics and harmony.

As in the Third Symphony, tonal relationships, here involving E and C, extend over the entire work at both larger and more detailed levels. The four movements are in E minor, E major, C major and E minor, respectively. At the beginning of the recapitulation in the first movement, a C major triad that had been only a discreet harmony at the opening becomes a broad arpeggio under the sustained fourth note of the theme. In the Andante, the Phrygian inflections of the theme continually bring C (as flattened sixth) into play. In the finale, whose ostinato theme suggests a single harmonic framework, variations 26–8 are brought deftly into the key of C major.

The Fourth Symphony is also remarkable for what Edward T. Cone called ‘harmonic congruence’, whereby the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the music are fashioned from the same basic material. This principle is adumbrated by the descending chain of melodic 3rds that shapes the main theme. Here and elsewhere in the first movement, the augmented triad forms a significant element on both the thematic and the harmonic axes. Congruence of this type foreshadows remarkably Schoenberg's concept of the unity of musical space, in which ‘there is no absolute down, no right or left, forward or backward’.

Brahms's final work involving orchestra is the much underrated Concerto for Violin and Cello op.102, which was composed in 1887 in part as a gesture of reconciliation with Joachim after a long period of cool relations. There is no apparent precedent for the use of these two instruments in a concerto, though Brahms's work is clearly indebted to Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola k320d and to Beethoven's Triple Concerto. The opening of the first movement is dominated by two cadenzas, one for each instrument, corresponding to the two main themes of the exposition. Because of the subsequent interpenetration of solo and orchestra, the dialogic aspect of the solo parts and the nature of the thematic material, the standard demarcation points in the sonata form are blurred to an even greater degree than is normal in Brahms. The central Andante movement is built from one of Brahms's most expressive melodies, which, when played by the two soloists in octaves, almost takes on a Puccinian intensity. The finale is a sonata-rondo in the gypsy style.

The many orchestras that played Brahms's music in his lifetime, often under his baton, varied widely in size. The largest was the Vienna Philharmonic, which had about 100 players at the time of the premières of the second and third symphonies. The smallest were the court orchestras at Karlsruhe and Meiningen, which gave the premières of the First and Fourth, respectively; they had 49 players, with only nine or ten first violins. Especially in these smaller groups, the balance between strings and woodwind brass was more even than is common today.

Two basic trends in interpretation of Brahms's orchestral music can be gleaned from surviving evidence. One was that of Hans Richter, conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic, whose straightforward, more literal approach was inherited in part by Felix Weingartner. The other was the heavily nuanced style, with rhythmic inflection and tempo fluctuation, of Hans von Bülow, passed on to Fritz Steinbach. Although not always content with either Richter or Bülow, Brahms approved of both Weingartner and Steinbach. This suggests that he had no fixed idea of how his symphonies should sound, putting his trust in the musicianship of the best conductors.

Brahms, Johannes