On Brahms' Symphony
No. 1
by Edward Gold
In the
first movement of the Brahms First Symphony, there is the usual
repeat mark of the classical exposition. Though I tried it, I found I
really disliked it greatly and few conductors actually observe it. To
me, it only unnecessarily lengthens the movement and with a sudden and
awkward transition back to the Allegro beginning (pace Heinrich
Schenker!). I feel the same way about the Schubert Bb piano sonata even
if I feel that, in most of the similar Beethoven works, the repeats are
necessary and organic.
Of all Brahms' works, I think this is one of the closest to
Beethoven in style but it has a greater lyricism than one usually finds
in Beethoven. The first movement is a standard classical sonata form
and is clearly influenced by the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony with it's stress on the same major third in the C minor chord
from the fifth to the third degree of the scale.
The slow movement is probably influenced by the style of the
Beethoven adagio but is more complex harmonically than Beethoven
usually is.
The third movement is a substitute for the scherzo ("joke")
of a Beethoven Symphony but is more wistful than jocular. But like a
scherzo, it has a contrasting trio which is, in this case, much more
powerful than the scherzo. The written out repeat of the main section
has an interpolated foreshadowing of the noble big tune of the last
movement and in my slight revision of the file, I've tried to make it
sound more noble.
The last movement which I was somewhat critical of in an
earlier version of this page, has a lengthy introduction similar to the
shorter one of the first movement starting with a minor-key suggestion
of the big tune and going on to a contrasting major-key almost pastoral
section. There is also another chorale-like section preceding the big
tune.
The big tune itself begins the sonata form proper which has
a classical exposition but there is no formal development section. In
the recapitulation, most of the development takes place in the
transition to the second theme and there is a lengthy two-part coda at
the end. As has been mentioned many times before, the tune is obviously
inspired by Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" tune but it's hardly treated the
same way.
Those who argue for the first movement repeat can point to
the fact that the last movement is the longest and doing that repeat
can balance the whole symphony more convincingly.
Since the complete Symphony is available in four files at Classical
Archives, I have replaced them with a combined file of the four
movements here.
