Brahms's First Symphony

The resource of Brahms's thematic working has for long been one of the most frequently observed characteristics of his music, and with every reason. Without denying the richness of his language as a whole, it is particularly difficult to ignore the thematic features which were of such interest to his successors, especially Schoenberg. Yet the thematic processes gain a new dimension when they are related not only to a work as we know it, but also to its evolution. The latter subject is of great interest in Brahms's case. He kept drafts by him for years, and the nature of the transition from first conception to final realization prompts imaginative conjecture in a number of instances, notably in the major works of his youth. The Requiem has provided a particular focus in this regard, because of the apparently long period of its growth and of Brahms's comments on the generative role of a chorale melody.' The First Symphony, whilst less often approached from this angle, offers an even more interesting example. Brahms seems to have been more continuously preoccupied with this work than with any other in the period, even the Piano Quartet in the same key,2 and it provided the greatest challenge of his youth. Whereas he had written other piano quartets with relative fluency-and the Requiem, despite its scope, had no direct generic originBrahms was acutely aware of the tradition of symphonic composition which he had inherited. His debut in this genre can stand analysis at a much deeper level than those works. Indeed, it is my specific claim that the First Symphony is thematically organized to a much greater degree than has generally been acknowledged and that this organization is significantly attributable to the presence of a basic shape,3 replete with symbolic associations, within its thematic fabric

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• Historical Influences in the Growth of Brahms's ‘Requiem’

  Michael Musgrave•Music and Letters•1972

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