At Bonn, in August, 1873, Brahms with Clara Schumann played to a few
friends the _Variations on a Theme by Haydn_ in the version (Op. 56b)
for two pianofortes.
It is not definitely known whether the orchestral version or the one for
two pianofortes was the earlier. The orchestral stands first in thematic
catalogues of Brahms’ compositions, but the pianoforte version was
published first—in November, 1873. The probability is that the
orchestral version was the first. The autograph manuscript of Op. 56b is
dated at the end “Tutzing July 1873.” It was in November, 1870, that C.
F. Pohl showed Brahms the compositions of Haydn, an _andante_ from a
symphony and the _chorale_ that gave Brahms his theme. Kalbeck believed
that the score of Haydn’s _chorale_ put Brahms in mind of the excellent
wind choir of the Detmold Court Orchestra, and the thought of the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra gave him greater desire to write an orchestral
work.
The theme is taken from a collection of _divertimenti_ for wind
instruments by Haydn. In the original score it is entitled _Chorale St.
Antoni_. The _divertimento_ in which this theme occurs is in B flat
major; it is composed for two oboes, two horns, three bassoons, and a
serpent. For the third bassoon and the serpent Brahms substituted a
double bassoon. The _divertimento_ was composed by Haydn probably about
1782-84 and for open-air performance. It was performed at a concert in
London in March, 1908. As then played, it consisted of a lively
introduction, the _Chorale Sancti Antonii_, a _minuetto_ and a _rondo_.
It was then questioned whether Haydn composed the _chorale_, and why the
folk-song-like tune was so named.
The theme is announced by Brahms in plain harmony by wind instruments
over a bass for violoncellos, double basses, and double bassoon.
Variation I. _Poco più andante._ The violins enter, and their figure is
accompanied by one in triplets in the violas and violoncellos. These
figures alternately change places. Wind instruments are added.
II. B flat minor, _più vivace_. Clarinets and bassoons have a variation
of the theme, and violins enter with an _arpeggio_ figure.
III. There is a return to the major, _con moto_, 2-4. The theme is given
to the oboes, doubled by the bassoons an octave below. There is an
independent accompaniment for the lower strings. In the repetition the
violins and violas take the part which the wind instruments had, and the
flutes, doubled by the bassoons, have _arpeggio_ figures.
IV. In minor, 3-8. The melody is sung by oboe with horn; then it is
strengthened by the flute with the bassoon. The violas and shortly after
the violoncellos accompany in scale passage. The parts change place in
repetition.
V. This variation is a _vivace_ in major, 6-8. The upper melody is given
to flutes, oboes, and bassoons, doubled through two octaves. In the
repetition the moving parts are taken by the strings.
VI. _Vivace_, major, 2-4. A new figure is introduced. During the first
four measures the strings accompany with the original theme in harmony,
afterwards in _arpeggio_ and scale passages.
VII. _Grazioso_, major, 6-8. The violins an octave above the clarinets
descend through the scale, while the piccolo doubled by violas has a
fresh melody.
VIII. B flat minor, _presto non troppo_, 3-4. The strings are muted. The
mood is _pianissimo_ throughout. The piccolo enters with an inversion of
the phrase.
The _finale_ is in the major, 4-4. It is based throughout on a phrase,
an obvious modification of the original theme, which is used at first as
a ground bass—“a bass passage constantly repeated and accompanied each
successive time with a varied melody and harmony.” This obstinate phrase
is afterwards used in combination with other figures in other passages
of the _finale_. The original theme returns in the strings at the
climax; the wood-wind instruments accompany in scale passages, and the
brass fills up the harmony. The triangle is now used to the end. Later
the melody is played by wood and brass instruments, and the strings have
a running accompaniment.
The late Max Kalbeck in his long-winded and ponderous Life of Brahms has
much to say about these Variations. Which St. Anthony was in Haydn’s
mind is immaterial. Kalbeck decided that Brahms’ hero is the St. Anthony
of Thebes. Brahms was a friend and admirer of Anselm Feuerbach, the
artist, who had painted a life-size Temptation of St. Anthony, the monk
kneeling with a book, a scourge, and a skull near him, while a woman
begs him to leave his religious meditation and enter into life. This
picture was so ridiculed that the sensitive Feuerbach destroyed it, but
it had been engraved and photographed.
Kalbeck finds a _crescendo_ of musical psychology in the Variations,
which, as they are developed, remind him of musical dissolving views.
The seventh Variation pictures the severest test undergone by the saint:
“The most atrocious because it is the sweetest.” In this Siciliano he
sees the apparition of the tempting woman. The music is “the
quintessence of human voluptuousness, which according to Master Eckhart
is ‘mixed with bitterness.’ After it comes death. Blessed is the man
that has withstood the temptation! The _finale_, which includes
seventeen and more variations, celebrates him.”
Did Brahms have all this in mind when he wrote these Variations? Was not
Kalbeck like the man “of meager aspect with sooty hands and face” seen
by Captain Lemuel Gulliver at the Academy of Lagado engaged for eight
years upon a project for extracting sunbeams from cucumbers?
“TRAGIC” OVERTURE, OP. 81
The _Tragic_ overture is among the greatest works of Brahms; by its
structure, and by its depths of feeling. There is no hysterical
outburst; no shrieking in despair; no peevish or sullen woe; no
obtruding suggestion of personal suffering. The German commentators have
cudgeled their brains to find a hero in the music: Hamlet, Faust, this
one, that one. They have labored in vain. The soul of Tragedy speaks in
the music.
* * *
Although the _Tragic_ overture is Op. 81 and the _Academic_ is Op. 80,
the _Tragic_ was composed and performed before the _Academic_: it was
performed for the first time at the Fourth Philharmonic Concert at
Vienna in 1880.
The _Tragic_ overture may be said to be a musical characterization of
the principles of tragedy as laid down by Aristotle or Lessing; it
mirrors, as Reimann puts it, the grandeur, the loftiness, the deep
earnestness, of tragic character; “calamities, which an inexorable fate
has imposed on him, leave the hero guilty; the tragic downfall atones
for the guilt; this downfall, which by purifying the passions and
awakening fear and pity works on the race at large, brings expiation and
redemption to the hero himself.” Or as Dr. Dieters says: “In this work
we see a strong hero battling with an iron and relentless fate; passing
hopes of victory cannot alter an impending destiny. We do not care to
inquire whether the composer had a special tragedy in his mind, or if
so, which one; those who remain musically unconvinced by the
unsurpassably powerful theme, would not be assisted by a particular
suggestion.”[21]
The overture was composed in 1880 and published in 1881.