{"id":121,"date":"2008-12-14T15:52:08","date_gmt":"2008-12-14T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/?page_id=121"},"modified":"2020-12-20T23:56:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T06:56:17","slug":"brahms-johannes-string-quintet-in-g-major-op-111","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/?page_id=121","title":{"rendered":"Brahms, Johannes: Op. 111, String Quintet in G Major"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetPolyrhythm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-600 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetPolyrhythm-263x300.jpg\" alt=\"BrahmsQuintetPolyrhythm\" width=\"331\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetPolyrhythm-263x300.jpg 263w, https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetPolyrhythm.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\" \/><\/a>It isn&#8217;t clear exactly why JOHANNES BRAHMS set out to write a second string\u00a0quintet in 1890, other than it was his job to be a composer. It seems possible\u00a0that in writing the quintet, Op. 111, Brahms was depressedly reworking material meant for symphonies which weren&#8217;t coming satisfactorily to fruition, and it\u00a0is said that he intended this quintet to be his last composition. But his work on<br \/>\nthe quintet brought from him a very\u00a0generous &#8211; even optimistic &#8211; compositional spirit. Unlike his clarinet\u00a0quintet, it doesn&#8217;t have any qualities\u00a0of lastness, lateness, or falling leaves;\u00a0and of course, this quintet didn&#8217;t turn\u00a0out to be his last composition after all.\u00a0Upon reading through the piece, his\u00a0old friend Joachim wrote, &#8216;I am enormously struck by its boldness [and]\u00a0strength.&#8217;\u009d Another friend, Elizabeth\u00a0von Herzogenberg (who gave some very\u00a0astute and direct musical commentary\u00a0to Brahms over the years), wrote, &#8216;He\u00a0who can invent all this must be in a\u00a0happy frame of mind!&#8217;\u009d<\/p>\n<p>It should not be difficult for a listener to believe that some of the material for\u00a0the quintet, particularly in its opening, arose from sketches for symphonies. A\u00a0sense of vastness and ebullience comes immediately from the cello launching itself\u00a0toward a shining surface made from four tight-knit upper voices. And when that\u00a0surface is broken, strong, light nettings of rhythmic structure (see fig. a above) preserve the singleness and buoyancy of the tune for a full 38 bars. And so it lives &#8211;\u00a0largely. But the quintet is no symphony, and it does not take a symphonic course.\u00a0By the end of the last <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetFinale.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-599  aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetFinale-300x134.jpg\" alt=\"BrahmsQuintetFinale\" width=\"354\" height=\"158\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetFinale-300x134.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetFinale-1024x458.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/BrahmsQuintetFinale.jpg 1050w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 354px) 100vw, 354px\" \/><\/a>movement, it has transformed from Viennese abstract to\u00a0pure gypsy string-band, navigating wild unisons (see bars 242-246, fig. b) which\u00a0could come straight from the Prater of Brahms&#8217; Vienna.<\/p>\n<p>Given the amount of music between the occurrence of the music at figs. a and\u00a0b, little is spoiled in revealing the end. The ride is the ride is the ride, and everyone\u00a0may find moments in it which move them more or less, or which merit special\u00a0mention. Such was the experience of Ms. von Herzogenberg (the astute critic,\u00a0cited above): &#8216;I will not weary you by describing the beauties of the work bar by\u00a0bar. You know them better than I do.&#8217;\u009d But then again, even she was forced, happily, to digress just a bit: &#8216;I must mention the Adagio&#8230;&#8217;\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It isn&#8217;t clear exactly why JOHANNES BRAHMS set out to write a second string\u00a0quintet in 1890, other than it was his job to be a composer. It seems possible\u00a0that in writing the quintet, Op. 111, Brahms was depressedly reworking material meant for symphonies which weren&#8217;t coming satisfactorily to fruition, and it\u00a0is said that he intended [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":75,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1496,"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121\/revisions\/1496"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timsummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}