I. Allegro non troppo
II. Allegro appassionato
III. Andante
IV. Allegretto grazioso
The choice of this concerto shows the high purpose and the pure aim; for
the Second concerto of Brahms is not one to tickle the ear, stun the
judgment, and provoke cheap and boisterous applause. And as the Second
symphony of Brahms is to the First, so is the Second concerto of Brahms
to the First. In each case, while the passion is less stormy, the
thoughts are less crabbed and gnarled. Only in the first movement of the
B flat major concerto does Brahms “keep up a terrible thinking.”
The second fascinates by its sturdiness and rhythmic capriciousness; the
third movement is Brahms at his noblest, when his thought is as lofty
and serenely beautiful as a summer sky at noon. And who can describe in
words the enchanting, haunting delight of the _finale_—music like unto
the perfect verse of a supreme poet whose imagination is kindled by wild
or melancholy tales told him in youth by gypsy lips.
* * *
This concerto was performed for the first time at Budapest, from
manuscript, November 9, 1881, when the composer was the pianist.
On April 8, 1878, Brahms, in company with Dr. Billroth and Carl
Goldmark, made a journey to Italy. Goldmark, who went to Rome to be
present at the last rehearsals of his opera _Die Königin von
Saba_—production was postponed until the next year on account of the
illness of the leading soprano—did not accompany his friends to Naples
and Sicily. Returning to Pörtschach, Brahms sketched themes of the
Concerto in B flat major on the evening before his birthday; but he left
the sketches, in which “he mirrored the Italian spring turning to
summer,” undeveloped.
His violin concerto originally contained a _scherzo_ movement.
Conferring with Joachim, he omitted this movement. Max Kalbeck thinks
that this _scherzo_ found a home in the second pianoforte concerto.
In March, 1881, Brahms set out on a second journey in Italy. He visited
Venice, Florence, Siena, Orvieto, Rome, Naples, and Sicily. He returned
to Vienna on his birthday of that year with his mind full of Italian
scenes in springtime and with thoughts of the pianoforte concerto
inspired by his first visit. On May 22 he went to Pressbaum near Vienna
and lived in the villa of Mme Heingartner. In 1907, Orestes Ritter von
Connevay, then the possessor of the villa, erected a monument to Brahms
in the garden. A bronze bust stands on a stone pedestal. An iron tablet
bears this inscription: “Here in the summer of 1881 Johannes Brahms
completed _Nänie_, Op. 82, and the pianoforte concerto, Op. 83.” Brahms
was moved by the death of Anselm Feuerbach, the painter, to set music
for chorus and orchestra to Schiller’s poem, “Nänie.”
Miss May says in her life of Brahms that the manuscript of _Nänie_, and
portions of the concerto, were soon lent by Brahms to Dr. Billroth, “the
concerto movements being handed to him with the words, ‘A few little
pianoforte pieces.’” “It is always a delight to me,” wrote Billroth,
“when Brahms, after paying me a short visit, during which we have talked
of indifferent things, takes a roll out of his greatcoat pocket and says
casually, ‘Look at that and write me what you think of it.’”