Brahms Third
Brahms Third
Brahms Third
BRAHMS
Symphony
No.
3
in
F
major,
Op.
90
Allegro
con
brio
Andante
Poco
allegretto
Allegro
Born:
May
7,
1833,
in
Hamburg
Died:
April
3,
1897,
in
Vienna
Work
composed:
188283
World
premiere:
December
2,
1883,
in
Vienna.
The
Vienna
Philharmonic
Orchestra
played
under
the
direction
of
Hans
Richter.
Brahms
composed
his
Third
Symphony
in
1883,
completing
the
score
during
a
summer
sojourn
in
the
Rhineland
spa
town
of
Wiesbaden.
These
few
details,
virtually
all
that
are
known
concerning
the
genesis
of
this
composition,
obviously
shed
no
light
on
any
larger
meaning
its
music
may
embody.
In
this
we
must
rest
content.
Brahms
led
an
outwardly
uneventful
existence
following
his
move
to
Vienna,
in
1862,
living
alone
and
filling
his
days
with
study
and
composing.
His
inner
life
remained
a
secret
even
to
his
close
friends,
and
it
seems
not
to
have
intruded
into
his
music.
Brahms
was
not
an
autobiographical
composer
in
the
way
that
Tchaikovsky
or
Mahler
were,
and
no
correlations
stand
out
between
his
mature
works
and
the
details
of
his
life.
The
subjects,
such
as
they
are,
of
his
great
instrumental
compositions
are
purely
musical
they
have
to
do
with
the
transformation
of
melodic
figures,
and
with
the
building
up
and
resolution
of
great
harmonic
tensions
and
it
is
for
purely
musical
reasons
that
the
Third
Symphony
is
enthralling.
Along
with
the
Second
Piano
Concerto,
composed
in
1882,
and
the
Fourth
Symphony,
which
followed
in
1884,
the
present
work
represents
the
summit
of
Brahms
orchestral
output.
The
majestic
scope
and
depth
of
musical
thought
entailed
in
these
compositions
often
inspires
the
adjective
Olympian,
and
in
a
general
sense
that
sobriquet
is
apt.
But
though
written
on
broad
lines
and
encompassing
great
emotional
range,
the
Third
Symphony
is
not
an
especially
large
work
by
the
standards
of
late
19th-century
symphonic
composition,
and
it
seems
anything
but
sprawling.
On
the
contrary,
Brahms
achieves
here
a
sense
of
classical
equilibrium
through
his
careful
attention
to
formal
proportions
within
and
between
the
symphonys
four
movements.
Moreover,
he
unifies
his
varied
melodic
ideas
with
ingenious
cross-references
and
thematic
threads
that
run
throughout
the
work,
and
this
adds
to
the
impression
of
cohesion
and
integrity
we
sense
when
hearing
the
piece.
The
most
notable
of
those
thematic
threads
is
the
ascending
three-note
motif
that
opens
the
symphony.
The
strong
sweep
of
this
figure
sets
the
mood
for
the
entire
work,
but
its
structural
role
is
no
less
significant
than
the
character
it
imparts.
Recurring
at
once
in
a
lower
register
of
the
orchestra,
it
serves
as
a
bass
line
for
the
cascading
melody
played
by
the
violins.
Thereafter
it
reappears
at
crucial
junctures
throughout
the
composition,
its
final
appearance
marking
the
conclusion
of
the
entire
piece.
In
this
symphony,
as
in
others
of
his
works,
Brahms
themes
prove
rich
in
possibilities.
Most
of
them
contain
not
one
but
two
or
more
melodic
ideas
suitable
for
variation
and
development.
The
second
subject
of
the
opening
movement,
for
example,
begins
as
a
quiet,
lilting
melody
with
a
rising
contour,
heard
first
in
the
clarinets
and
bassoon.
Many
composers
would
have
been
quite
satisfied
with
such
a
tune,
but
Brahms
appends
a
complementary
phrase:
three
sharp
notes
followed
by
a
descending
line
in
the
oboe.
Both
parts
of
the
theme
play
important
roles
as
the
movement
unfolds.
The
ensuing
Andante
begins
with
a
tranquil
melody
whose
dotted
(uneven)
rhythms
in
the
third
measure
outline
a
variation
of
the
opening
three-note
motif.
This
is
no
mere
coincidence,
of
course,
and
the
immediate
echo
of
this
figure
in
the
strings
serves
to
make
sure
that
we
do
not
miss
the
association.
The
initial
melody
dominates
the
movement.
A
second
theme,
hushed
and
mysterious,
is
introduced
by
the
low
woodwinds,
but
its
full
significance
will
be
realized
only
in
the
finale.
It
has
often
been
observed
that
Brahms
abandoned
the
traditional
scherzo
as
the
third
movement
of
his
symphonies.
Instead,
he
substituted
an
intermezzo
form
of
his
own
invention.
That
of
the
Third
Symphony,
tinged
as
is
it
is
with
a
bittersweet
autumnal
quality,
is
perhaps
the
most
beautiful
such
piece
in
all
of
the
composers
output.
The
finale
provides
both
climax
and
summation.
It
begins
with
a
running
melody
that
gives
way
to
a
chorale-like
theme
based
on
the
mysterious
subject
of
the
second
movement.
The
music
builds
through
a
series
of
energetic
climaxes
to
a
broad
coda,
ending
with
an
echo
of
the
symphonys
opening
bars.
Brahms
thus
brings
the
music,
in
supremely
satisfying
fashion,
full
circle
to
its
point
of
origin.
What
to
Listen
For
The
symphonys
first
moments
bring
three
broad
chords,
the
last
coinciding
with
the
start
of
a
heroic
theme.
That
three-chord
motif
recurs
at
important
junctures
in
this
movement
and
in
the
finale,
notably
at
the
very
end
of
that
movement.
Brahms
also
weaves
this
figure
into
the
second
movement.
There
the
first
theme
begins
with
an
anthem-like
melody
whose
every
phrase
ends
with
the
upward-arching
three-
note
motif
that
began
the
symphony.
The
third
movement
strikes
a
poignant
note.
After
establishing
the
opening
theme,
Brahms
reduces
it
first
to
three-note,
then
to
two-note
phrases,
all
the
while
maintaining
its
identity
and
character.
Paul Schiavo