A Tribute to Johannes Brahms

[Peter1953]

Brahms passed away on 3 April 1897. His death was for several composers a reason to write music in memory of the great composer.

Reinecke dedicated his 3rd Sonata for Cello and Piano in G major, op. 238, "To the Manes of Brahms". Composed in 1897, this "pearl of the not all too plentiful cello literature" was premiered on 9 October 1897. (Carl Reinecke, Complete Violoncello Sonatas on MDG, 2011, booklet notes).

Parry wrote the orchestral Elegy for Brahms in A minor, a private tribute. Composed in 1897, this wonderful work had its first performance on Parry's own memorial concert in 1918, conducted by Stanford. (Parry, Symphonic Variations etc. on Chandos Collect, 2000, booklet notes).

Are there other works dedicated to the memory of Brahms?

[Ilja]

Geirr Tveitt's Third Piano Concerto is dedicated to Brahms, but written a fair number of years after 1897.

[Amphissa]

The book Brahms and his World by Walter Frisch contains an appendix which lists "all known works dedicated to Brahms." A revised edition was published just a couple of years ago. I have not seen the book.

[M. Henriksen]

According to the book mentioned of Amphissa, Brahms kept a list of works dedicated to him. This list contains 78 compositions, but it doesn't include works dedicated to the memory of Brahms. Quite naturally since Brahms wrote that list himself.
A preview of the book (and parts of the list) can be found here:

http://books.google.no/books?id=pyHu9R_sSNsC&pg=PA433&lpg=PA433&dq=%22works+dedicated+to+Johannes+Brahms%22&source=bl&ots=wlCe-eybWQ&sig=mMpKukHPXKDn6EHX8g_Xj31l53g&hl=no&ei=vsXkTryNBZHV4QT7osG_BQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22works%20dedicated%20to%20Johannes%20Brahms%22&f=false


Morten

[Amphissa]

How inconsiderate of him to just quit with his list so abruptly like that.

[Peter1953]

This list contains 78 compositions, but it doesn't include works dedicated to the memory of Brahms.
Morten

Yes, that's what I meant, works dedicated to the memory of Brahms. I can imagine that composers like Dietrich, Von Herzogenberg and Jenner wrote music to commemorate Brahms.

[JimL]

Brüll and Brahms were good friends, and Ignaz outlived him by a decade.  I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have penned a tribute to his friend.

[Alan Howe]

The release of the MDG recording of Reinecke's Cello Sonatas (which I haven't heard - I have the cpo version with Claudius Herrmann and Saiko Sasaki) provoked the following response from Christopher Howell at MusicWeb in respect of the late Sonata No.3:

The third sonata arouses more ambivalent reactions. Dedicated "to the shade of Brahms", who had just died, its formal mastery will not be questioned. Furthermore, while in one sense it occupies harmonic ground solidly rooted in Schumann, its restless modulations look ahead to the world of Reger. It is a bitter, even vehement work by a composer whose art was by then left high and dry by musical progress. The only problem is that Reinecke's easy flow of melodic inspiration seems to have dried up. The themes are clear-cut and functional, but neither the composer's masterly development of them, nor these performers' imagination and conviction, can hide the fact that the cupboard is a little bare. Only the second theme of the finale recalls the warmth of earlier years. Nevertheless, as often with late works by composers clinging to the style of their youth in the teeth of what they perceive as ugly modernism, the sense of isolation and disillusionment can be moving in themselves.

...which seems to me to miss the point. While stating, quite rightly, that this is a late 'bitter, even vehement work' (it was published in 1898), he goes on to criticise the piece because the composer's 'easy flow of melodic inspiration seems to have dried up'. However, the whole point is that this work is deliberately unlike Reinecke's earlier sonatas; instead of the easy melodiousness of his earlier style, here we have a work in which the composer's 'undiminished creativity' (Joachim Draheim in the cpo CD liner notes) is expressed in a quite different manner. It is indeed an agitated, even bitter piece - as befits a work dedicated to the memory of Brahms who had died the year before - and therefore can hardly be expected to exhibit the sort of character displayed by the two earlier sonatas.
IMHO it is a masterpiece - and all the more so for the fact that the composer has developed his style in response to the sad event of Brahms' passing. If you don't know it, seek it out!

[Peter1953]

This is a most interesting post. A very well-reasoned commentary, Alan. I fully agree with you.

[Alan Howe]

Very kind, Peter. I felt it just had to be said.