Program Notes: Elgar & Brahms

JOHANNES BRAHMS 
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 
BORN: May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany 
DIED: April 3, 1897, in Vienna, Austria 
WORK COMPOSED: 1878–1881 
WORLD PREMIERE: November 9, 1881, in Budapest, Hungary, with Alexander Erkel conducting and Brahms as soloist. 
FIRST SEATTLE SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE: February 11, 1979, with Rainer Miedél conducting and Vladimir Ashkenazy on piano. 

What to Listen For: 

• The opening of the first movement (Allegro non troppo) begins with a horn solo featuring the main theme, which is comprised of three ascending notes followed by three quick descending notes. This short motive reappears throughout the movement in different instrument groups and across a wide swathe of characters. 

Johannes Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 was completed in 1881, a staggering two decades after his Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15. Although many now consider the First Concerto to be Brahms’ first great orchestral work, it was coldly received at its premiere, with one critic proclaiming that “the public was wearied and the musicians puzzled.” While it wasn’t until the 1950s that the First became a staple of the repertoire, the Second was an instant hit. It has an air of intimacy about it that pianist Sir Stephen Hough — the program’s soloist — describes as feeling “more like a massive chamber work, where the musical ideas are an exchange rather than a confrontation.”

In the mid- to late-19th century, Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner stood at the forefront of the latest musical revolution, one which emphasized expression of extramusical material and new approaches to musical form. Brahms, however, was fiercely opposed to these developments and remained steadfast in his conservative dedication to abstract forms. Hailed in his youth by Schumann as Beethoven’s successor, Brahms expressed frustration with bearing such a significant burden: “You have no idea of how it feels to hear behind you the tramp of a giant like Beethoven.”  

For the most part, Brahms avoided writing symphonic music until his Symphony No. 1 in 1876. From there, he produced substantial orchestral works in quick succession, such as his Symphony No. 2 in 1877, the Violin Concerto in 1878 and finally, the Second Piano Concerto in 1881. An accomplished pianist and conductor as well as composer, Brahms gave the premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 2 as soloist with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra on November 9, 1881. He proceeded to tour with it across a dozen European cities, its enthusiastic reception a balm to the sting of the disdainful reception his First Piano Concerto received over 20 years prior.  

In the first movement (Allegro non troppo), Brahms defies the conventional practice of beginning a concerto with an orchestral introduction and instead introduces the piano almost immediately. What begins as a gentle dialogue between piano and orchestra soon develops into a restless and dramatic cadenza. Featuring a virtuosic piano solo so early in the concerto echoes the opening of Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto of 1809. About two-thirds of the way through this movement, Brahms captures a moment of pure magic, with the piano ascending through shimmering patterns and the opening horn solo joining in once again underneath. The movement ends with a passage of thrilling trills in the piano that are punctuated by fragments of the opening theme in the orchestra.   

In a letter to his friend and former student Elisabeth von Herzogenberg dated July 7, 1881, Brahms offered an ironic commentary of his Second Piano Concerto: “I don’t mind telling you that I have written a tiny, tiny pianoforte concerto with a tiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo.” It turns out the second movement (Allegro appassionato) is more inferno than wisp, with its stormy opening theme introduced by the piano and orchestra and a tranquillo e dolce (tranquil and sweet) second theme steeped in equal parts melancholy and whimsy.  

A three-minute cello solo opens the third movement (Andante), which is perhaps a nod to Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto of 1835, in which the cello is similarly highlighted during the slow movement. Brahms later reconfigured this cello theme for the 1886 song Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer (“My Slumber Grows Ever More Peaceful”). There is a timeless quality to the third movement that Brahms achieves by obscuring its 6/4 meter with languid rhythmic play. In the heart of the movement, the key changes from B-flat major to the distant key of F-sharp major; marked ppp and dolcissimo, Brahms evokes an ethereal quality before returning to the main theme once again. 

The piano sets the final movement (Allegretto grazioso) in motion with an innocent, playful theme. The main theme reappears among a variety of colorful episodes, including a Hungarian-inspired melody played by the flutes, oboes and bassoons, and a lighthearted theme outfitted with virtuosic flutters on the piano. The movement accelerates towards a climactic ending with cascading arpeggios and chords that burst forth from the piano like a geyser.  

EDWARD ELGAR 
Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 63 
BORN: June 2, 1857, in Broadheath, England 
DIED: February 23, 1934, in Worcester, England 
WORK COMPOSED: 1910–1911 
WORLD PREMIERE: May 24, 1911, in London, England, with Elgar conducting 
LAST TIME PERFORMED BY THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY: March 16–18, 2000, with Andy Stern conducting. This was also the Seattle Symphony’s first-ever performance of the work. 

What to Listen For: 

• The massive symphonic structure of this very public music, dedicated to the memory King Edward VII, also captures Elgar’s most heartfelt inner emotions, dreams and doubts.  

• Each movement provides a masterclass of orchestration, full of ingenious colors and effects. This is music to ‘watch for’ as much as ‘listen for’.  

Edward Elgar described his Symphony No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 63, his last completed symphony, as “the passionate pilgrimage of the soul.” Completed in 1911, it was dedicated to the memory of King Edward VII (1841–1910) and was premiered at the London Music Festival at the Queen’s Hall by the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, with Elgar conducting.  

An almost entirely self-taught composer, Elgar experienced many difficult years in obscurity before rocketing to fame in the dawn of the 20th century. Perhaps his greatest ‘hit’, Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (1901), is famously used in graduation ceremonies across the United States: Yale University sparked this widespread tradition in 1905, when Elgar was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music. It has become an unofficial national anthem in Britain as ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. Elgar’s reputation as a British cultural icon was solidified in 1904 when he was knighted by King Edward VII, to whom this Symphony No. 2 would be dedicated. 

Elgar’s lifelong passion for literature plays an ever-present role in his works. The Symphony’s score is headed by the first line of a poem by English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley: “Rarely, rarely, comest thou, Spirit of Delight!” - an ambiguous hint at both its presence and absence. While the symphony does not follow a strict narrative, Elgar suggests his work seeks to capture the essence of the quote with all the emotional extremes we come to expect with English Romanticism: brooding melancholy, profound longing and ecstatic rapture. Elgar alluded to Shelley once again in a letter to his friend Frances Colvin to describe his heavy state of mind while composing the Second Symphony: “I do but hide Under these notes like embers, every spark of that which has consumed me.” 

The strings burst forth in the first movement (Allegro vivace e nobilmente – one of Elgar’s favorite performance indications) with the sweeping “Spirit of Delight” theme that features a series of bold leaps and triumphant descents. The movement ventures to more lyrical, gentler themes and back again in an imaginative patchwork of fluctuating emotions. Elgar’s description of the symphony as “tremendous in energy” is fitting, even as this energy transforms throughout the work.  

The second movement (Larghetto) features heart-wrenching and nostalgic melodies that quietly bloom over a steady percussive pulse. Elgar’s inspiration for the funereal atmosphere of this movement is once again drawn from Shelley’s poem. Some speculated that he was influenced by several significant deaths that surrounded its composition: the King’s in 1910 as well as two of Elgar’s close friends. However, Elgar himself claimed it had “nothing to do with any funeral march.” In the climax of the movement, the brass pierces through the luscious texture with raw emotion. A quiet moment of contemplation follows, which Elgar instructed should “be like a woman dropping a flower on a man’s grave.” 

The places and people Elgar encountered while composing the Second Symphony played a significant role in guiding its creation. He sketched the third movement (Rondo) while in the square outside of Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, where the music of passing musicians inspired its energetic and irregularly accented opening. Similarly rambunctious themes return throughout the movement interspersed with contrasting material, including a bucolic pastoral theme in the woodwinds and a vicious outburst of excessive passion instigated by the brass.  

For the final movement (Moderato e maestoso), Elgar returns to uplifting and energetic themes set in a brisk tempo, which he later develops through intricate counterpoint across the orchestra. Elgar was adamant that “the spirit of the whole work is intended to be high and pure joy” and yet, the symphony ends not with a bang, but a whisper, as the “Spirit of Delight” theme from the first movement is leisurely restated by the woodwinds.  

All notes by Tristan McKay © 2023