Brahmn Technique Of Motive Development In His Sonata In D Minor Opus 108 For Piano And Violin

Author : Marie Rivers Rule
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (774 download)

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Download or read book “The” Allure of Beethoven's "Terzen-Ketten" written by Marie Rivers Rule and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My primary argument concerns Brahms0́9s use of a specific musical resource: chains of thirds or 0́Terzen-Ketten0́+ as this device is sometimes described in the original sources. Brahms used third-chains in various ways as a motivic and harmonic technique. Some of his earlier works, such as the Piano Sonata in C major, op. 1, and the Piano Concerto in D minor, op. 15, already show the use of such chains of thirds as a prominent feature. However, Brahms0́9s treatment of such 0́Terzen-Ketten0́+ in his later works shows an especially impressive inventiveness and importance. The ways the chains of thirds are treated often lend to these works a character of intense concentration and melancholy, culminating in the setting of 0́O Tod, 0́+ the third of the Vier Ernste Gesänge, op. 121. I argue that Brahms0́9s sustained preoccupation with chains of thirds after 1862 was connected to his friendship with the pioneer Beethoven scholar Gustav Nottebohm who facilitated the composer0́9s access to Beethoven0́9s sketch materials for the 0́−Hammerklavier Sonata0́+ op. 106. Through Nottebohm, some of Beethoven0́9s sketches for op. 106 passed into Brahms0́9s personal collection of musical sources. It is remarkable that Brahms also acquired the autograph score of Mozart's G minor Symphony and the corrected copy of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, op. 1230́4two other celebrated works which make prominent use of chains of falling thirds. Gustav Nottebohm0́9s transcriptions of Beethoven0́9s sketches represented a major contribution to musicology in the late nineteenth century. Some of these transcriptions appeared with his commentary in issues of the Allgemeine Musikalisches Zeitung and the Musikalisches Wochenblatt in the 1860s and 70s; other studies were published as short monographs. As the surviving sources show, Brahms took an interest in these transcriptions and helped arrange for their publication. Brahms and Nottebohm socialized often and shared a strong interest in Beethoven0́9s creative process. An original sketchbook for parts of Beethoven0́9s 0́−Hammerklavier0́+ Sonata op. 106 containing a prolonged 0́−Zirkel-Ketten0́+ (or circle-chain) of descending thirds became one of the prized treasures of the composer0́9s collection. Brahms0́9s fascination with such descending third-chains is evident in many of his late works, and his use of this device in the Fourth Symphony bears close comparison with Beethoven0́9s 0́−Hammerklavier0́+ Sonata. My dissertation presents new findings on Beethoven0́9s use of 0́−Zirkel-Ketten0́+ drawn from Nottebohm0́9s posthumous papers (Nachlass) at the Gesellshaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna as well as previously unpublished correspondence between Nottebohm and Brahms. This material provides support for my argument that Nottebohm played a key role in enabling the composer0́9s study of Beethoven0́9s sketch materials, which was bound up in turn with the composer0́9s intensive exploration of 0́−Terzen-Ketten0́+ and their subsequent incorporation and development in his later compositions. The second part of my dissertation offers analytical investigation of third-chains in the late works of Brahms. Following an examination of descending third-chains in Beethoven0́9s 0́−Hammerklavier0́+ Sonata, op. 106 and Brahms0́9s Fourth Symphony, op. 980́4two works frequently cited for their pervasive use of this device0́4I discuss selected examples from the later instrumental and vocal works of Brahms, some of which have received much less attention in the literature. Descending third-chains are used poignantly in texted works like 0́−Feldeinsamkeit, 0́+ op. 86 no. 2, and the Vier Ernste Gesänge, op. 121, especially 0́−O Tod, wie bitter bist du, 0́+ no. 3. An even more elaborate treatment of chains of falling thirds0́4or their inversion as rising sixths0́4occurs in instrumental works including the piano Fantasien, op. 116, the Klavierstücke, op. 118 and 119 and the Clarinet Sonata in F minor, op. 120 no. 1. In op. 116 the use of such 0́−Terzen-Ketten0́+ contributes importantly to the integration of the seven pieces, which can be heard as a larger work or cycle, despite the powerful contrasts between the successive pieces. Brahms0́9s lifelong preoccupation with chains of thirds reaches a remarkable climax in this cluster of works from his final years.