Analysis of Johannes Brahmss Violin Sonata No 1 - Coursework Example

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Grade Course Date of Submission Analysis of Johannes Brahms’s Violin Sonata No.1 Johannes Brahms was a renowned German pianist and composer. He was born on the 7th of May 1833 in Hamburg, Germany as a second born to the double bassist, Johann Jakob Brahms and his wife, Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen. His father was affiliated with the Hamburg Philharmonic Society, and he is the one that introduced young Brahms to playing the piano at the young age of seven. His musical prowess heightened and by the time he reached teenage years, he was a highly accomplished musician. Brahms widely wrote chamber music, symphonies, concerti, choral compositions, and piano works. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest composers of the nineteenth century and more specifically, a master of the sonata and symphonic style. One of his most famous sonatas is his three-movement Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, Op.78 which he composed in the summers of 1878 and 1879 in Portschach am worthersee. Its first performance is recorded to have taken place on the 8th of November 1879 in Bonn. It was performed by a husband and wife, Robert Heckmann who played the violin and Marie Heckmann who played the piano respectively. Violin Sonata No.1 is made up of three distinct movements which share a motivic idea that is common in other pieces of the composer’s work (Trafford and White 1). This paper is a discussion on Brahms’ Violin Sonata No.1 in regards to the structure and historical perspective that are associated with the piece as well as its composer. From a historical perspective, Brahms can be perceived as a primary protagonist of the classical tradition of Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, as well as Mozart. According to Edmund Trafford and Kathryn White, this renowned composer substantially accepted the Classical tradition without questions. He also contributed to the Romantic music by infusing the romantic devices with all of the standard forms of his composition. This he did in a manner that stretched the formal limits of Classical practice while at the same time remaining generally loyal to the original modes. Therefore, the structure of Brahms music and compositions such as the Violin Sonata No.1 were structured based on a number of technical and formal principles instead of along dramatic or literary lines (Trafford and White 1). Heather Platt on the other hand, maintains that although Brahms had a reputation of being one of the most iconic representatives of absolute music, he often associated various works of literature with some of his instrumental works. However, the scholar does not directly indicate whether this case applies particularly to Violin Sonata No.1 but points out that the composer had earlier on confessed that the piece had a hidden meaning. Unfortunately, the meaning was not shared with the public and is largely left to the interpretation of the audience. Due to the implied hidden meaning, the audience is inclined to believe that there is a connection between some literature of that era and the composed piece, Violin Sonata No. 1. (Parmer and Grimes 132; Platt 391). A deeper analysis discussed in a later part of this paper in regards to the piece’s composition time helps to unravel the possible hidden meaning. Upon completion of the Violin Sonata No.1, it was accorded the Opus number 78, and that is why the piece is referred to as Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, Op.78. It is important to note that Opus Number is a term used in the musical composition, and it means the same as the work number that a composer assigns to his or her single composition or set of compositions. The Op. number indicates the chronological order of production of the composer. Therefore, this automatically implies that chronologically, Violin Sonata No.1 in G major was the 78th piece to have been produced by Johannes Brahms in his musical career (Johannebrahms.org Np). However, the audience may not be in a position to make this conclusion with utmost precision because studies on the person and early works of Johannes Brahms indicate that he destroyed many complete and incomplete works during his musical career. According to notes by Edmund Trafford and Kathryn White, Brahms had a keen historical perspective that made him judge his own achievements against those of Beethoven. In other words, the composer consistently worked under the shadow of Beethoven and this, in turn, turned him into a composer characterized by severe self-criticism. Trafford and White continue to note that as a result of the above trait, Brahms destroyed numerous complete works as well as other unpublished and unfinished compositions (Trafford and White 1). On the same note, Dillon Parmer, and Nicole Grimes point out that in addition to following in Beethoven’s footsteps, Brahms also keenly followed the musical tradition of Mozart. It is noted that in his [Brahms] inscription of a copy of the original edition of the Violin Sonata No.1 in G major, Op.78 to Heinrich Groeber, a designer, the composer ascertained his connection to the two musical predecessors [Beethoven and Mozart]. In this case, the composer indicated that this Sonata under review was his way of continuing the tradition of violin sonata by Beethoven and Mozart, to the extent that he chose the same key as them – the G major (Parmer and Grimes 137). There is a high possibility that in the eyes of another composer or audience, the destroyed pieces would have passed as excellent masterpieces. Apparently, Brahms destroyed the pieces because according to him they did not meet his own scrupulous standards of perfection and excellence (Trafford and White 1). Therefore, no one can actually tell how much music was written by Brahms and neither can one say for sure if the Violin Sonata No.1 in G major was in the actual sense, the seventy-eighth piece in all of Brahms’ compositions. For this reason, the audience sticks to the given number as it is. As already mentioned, most of Brahms’ works such as the one under review had a hidden meaning that had a close connection to the events taking place in the music arena of that time as well as in the composer’s personal life. Other than the connection to his musical idols, Brahms composition of the Sonata in question was influenced by his personal interest and connection to a friend. Apparently, Brahms composed Violin Sonata No.1 in G major Op.78 as a gift for his close friend, Joseph Joachim, who was a conductor, violinist, teacher, and composer who worked with Brahms on his Violin Concerto, Op. 77 (Parmer and Grimes 131; Trafford and White 1). During the composition of this piece, Brahms was at a stage that could correctly be described as his full maturity; having completed a number of other excellent pieces including two symphonies, violin concerto, the First Piano Concerto and a considerable amount of other chamber music. Although the title indicates that the sonata is in G major, there are many instances where minor and diminished modalities intrude into the sonata’s tonal space. According to Parmer and Grimes, these instances of intrusion pull the expressive trajectory of the music piece away from what its title stipulates, and rather make the Sonata shift between tonic major and minor as it moves from one movement to the other (Parmer and Grimes 138). This scenario is explained in detail in the following section of the paper. Without a doubt, the sonata is very lyrical, and the call and response sections are to be nicely balanced in order to achieve the composer’s intention. In other words, the piece has an ebb and flow that calls for skillful moderation between speed and intensity to create the perfect tone for each of the three movements. From a simplistic view, the shifts and interludes make the Sonata a bright and radiant piece with a relaxed character throughout. Trafford and White note that the sonata is characterized by many stylistic contrasts that are coupled with rhythmic ingenuities (Trafford and White 2). The first movement “Vivace ma non troppo” has a broad 6/4 meter with immense potential for various rhythmic games such as cross-groupings. Thematic reassertion in this movement works to overcome the tilts to the minor mode by constantly relocating the sonata’s tonality to a major modality. However, the tilts give way to the formation of a compromise in the second movement, “Adagio Piu Andante” which is presented in E-flat major. It is an extended ternary form in E♭ major. According to Parmer and Grimes, this key combines the elements of the G major as well as the G minor. The third movement, “Allegro molto moderato”, has a minor key which is unexpected in such as bright piece. This third movement finale is a Rondo in G minor but has a Coda in G major which consequently reestablished the violin sonata’s major mode. This major mode reestablishment in the final movement is achieved in reverse via the E-flat major first and then followed by the G major later [m. 84 and m. 140 respectively]. However, despite the sonata’s ability to move back to its key – G major, as suggested by the title, the increasing presence of the sonata’s minor mode throughout the entire piece becomes more and more profound as the Sonata unfolds (Parmer and Grimes 139). Therefore, the finale’s turn to the sonata’s major key at the end not only creates a magical effect for the audience but also helps to substantially mitigate the agitated minor-key character of its main portion. It turns out that the second and third movements of Brahms’s Violin Sonata No.1, in G major, Op.78 derive their inspiration from the opening rhythm in the first movement. On the same note, the third movement finale uses the main theme of the second movement which is both slow and beautiful in one of its contrasting episodes. Notably, the rhythmic motive introduced in the first movement reappears in each movement which makes the Sonata cyclic in the sense that an opening idea continually develops and transforms from the introduction throughout the entire piece (Parmer and Grimes 129; Trafford and White 2). Brahms develops the rhythm soon after the first movement starts and frequently uses a temporary metric displacements otherwise known as hemiola to create the rhythmic variations. There are some scholars, such as Heather Platt who believed that Brahms made the finale movement intentionally slow with a purpose which can be viewed as the hidden meaning. In this case, Platt mentions that Brahms associated the slow movement of the Violin Sonata No.1 in G major, Op.78 to the final illness and death of his friend, Felix Schumann, in one of his unpublished letters dated 1879. The hidden meaning is that the Sonata was a demonstration of Brahms’s sympathy towards Clara Schumann, the mother of Felix Schumann (Platt 217). However, it is imperative to note that a three-movement structure was not common for Brahms in his composition of chamber works. Rather, he preferred a four-movement structure and so his Violin Sonata No.1 in G major, Op 78 was different from his other works. At the same time, it is notably the longest of the composer’s three sonatas in regards to performance duration. Perhaps it is due to this and other facts that Parmer and Grimes view Brahms’s Violin Sonata No.1 in G major, Op.78 as a composition transcending the tradition that is embodied in its two predecessors [Mozart’s and Beethoven’s Sonatas in G major] (Parmer and Grimes 129). It is, therefore, right to conclude that Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata No.1 in G major, Op. 78 is a beautiful and unique piece of the eighteenth-century compositions. It is also apparent that Brahms composition was greatly influenced by other renowned composers such as Ludwig Van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This is especially seen in the tonal connection between the sonatas of the mentioned prolific composers of the classical era and that of Johannes Brahms. The three composers have their sonatas composed in G major, and it is therefore not a wonder that the audience tries to find the possible connection between the three. The composition by Brahms is beautiful and when played skillfully; it is real music not only to the ears but to the mind and soul as well. The audience is automatically driven to love and appreciate music composition and the essence of beauty and excellence upon listening to Brahms Violin Sonata No.1 in G major, Op.78. Works Cited Johannesbrahms.org,. "Brahms Biography". Johannesbrahms.org. N.p., 2013. Web. 1 Sept. 2016. Parmer, Dillon R. and Nicole Grimes. "“‘Come Rise To Higher Spheres!’: Tradition Transcended In Brahms Violin Sonata No.1 In G Major, Op 78,” Ad Parnassum". A Journal of Eighteenth- and Nineteenth – Century Instrumental Music 6.11 (2009): 129-152. Print. Platt, Heather. Johannes Brahms. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2012. Print. Trafford, Edmund and Kathryn White. Johannes Brahms: Notes. 1st ed. 2016. Print. Read More