Exam 2 Facts about pieces Brahms Flashcards
Brahms / O Heiland reiss die Himmel auf (no need to identify individual mvt)
[1863]
- Chorale Motet
- There’s a fascination with the past
- The tune is found in the opening of the Soprano line
- Based on a Lutheran Chorale
- Follow the chorale tune - V1 Sop, V2 Sop, V3 Ten, V4 Bass (diff meter/key), V5 Sop (ornamented with passing tones) and the bass is in exact inverted canon,
- Brahms LOVED counterpoint and loves canon and fugues
- The AMEN - Sop/Ten inversions of each other and A/B are inversions of each other in exact canon
Brahms / Schaffe in mir Gott ein reines Herz (no need to identify individual mvt)
[1860]
- Canon in Opening Soprano and Bass (Bass is the soprano tune in augmentation)
- Loves contrapuntal tricks
Brahms / Geistliches Lied
[1856]
- Imitative polyphony looking back to Palestrina or Di Lasso
- Accompanied by the Organ
- Canon - SOP/TEN a 9th apart
- Canon - ALTO/BASS a 9th apart
- Not based on a Chorale Tune
- Brahms is obsessed with the past
- “Has THE most beautiful amen at the end” - Dr. Rayl
- Easiest of the Sacred Brahms - Well, no Brahms is easy.
Brahms / Darthulas Grabesgesang
[1860]
- Opus 42
- The Germans are fascinated with Celtic Culture (Scotland, Ireland), the distant past, heroism
- Scottish poet names McPhearson writes poem but claims they’re from an ancient poet named Ossian…which was false
- Darthula was an Irish Princess - there is a dramatic love story - and in the end, everyone dies.
- Reminiscent of ancient Celtic culture
- SSATTB
- A lot of TTB vs SSA alternating writing
-Meter changes and a key change to G major at “Wake up!
Wake up”
- Overall ABA form
- Moved a long way away from Mendelssohn - the music is less tuneful.
Brahms / Waldesnacht
[1874]
- Opus 62
- More homophonic style
- SATB
- Strophic
- More harmonically interesting than something by Mendelssohn
- Lots of chromatic alteration outside of the secondary dominant function
Brahms / Der Abend
[1874]
Brahms / O schöne Nacht [1889]
[1889]
- Probably his most famous quartet
- Typical 19th century German Romanticism
- Big rangey piano part
- Evocative of the night
- Very long lines passed between the B then T then A then S
- Rangey vocal writing - moments of High Tenor writing
Brahms / Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52
[1869]
- Piano Four hands and SATB soli ad libitum
- Texts from Georg Friedrich Daumer’s Polydora a collection of folk songs and love poems
- All in ¾
- Not really waltzes, they’re actually Lendler
- Lendler are folky slower dances in three
- Typically SATB homophony
1 Rede, Mädchen, allzu liebes
Brahms/Liebeslieder Walzer, Op 52
[1869]
-Starts with the TB, which is not typical.
2 Am Gesteine rauscht die Fluth
Brahms/Liebeslieder Walzer, Op 52
[1869]
- Very active pianos (moving 8th notes)
- Minor key
- Sounds a bit angry
- Hemiola distorts downbeat - Located in the voices and upper piano but not in the piano 2
- Hemiola as expansion rather than contraction of beats
8 Wenn so lind dein Auge mir
Brahms/Liebeslieder Walzer, Op 52
[1869]
- More typical waltz
- There is an example hemiola in this movement, but nowhere near as frequently used as MVMT 2.
9 Am Donaustrande
Brahms/Liebeslieder Walzer, Op 52
[1869]
-Aggressive B section
Brahms / Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
from Ein deutsches Requiem
[1868]
- Requiem is in German
- Requiem is non-liturgical
- Brahms is very influenced by Bach (how might that play a part in the Requiem?)
- Opens with an inversion of the melody
- Eb Major - we don’t get an Eb chord until the choir comes in (be patient)
- The phrases are long and it’s rather rangey
- He uses a Baroque gesture to represent the sigh (descending half step)
- Uses a big fugue to represent Heaven
- The beginning music comes back twice after the opening
