| Arnold Schöenberg |
The criteria for determining the progressive character of Brahms' music is set by Schöenberg's assertion that all facts must be scrutinized in a scientific manner. In addition, scrutiny and presentation of the elements of Brahms' music is relevant if the receiver of the data possesses sufficient intellectual acumen and training to comprehend it. He notes also that "progress in music consists in the development of methods of presentation", a skill Brahms certainly portrayed. (Schöenberg, p. 401). In the minds of the less informed, Wagner may be portrayed as the progressive while Brahms is the "academician" or "classicist."
| Johannes Brahms |
In a closer and "scientific" examination of Brahms' works, Schöenberg notes his departures from accepted nineteenth century thinking in regard to structure and tonal relationships. Upon perusal of an example of a Brahms' key relationship one notes that it "competes successfully with many a Wagnerian passage" (p. 402). Schöenberg suggests that Richard Wagner's music may in fact be as pedantic as it is daring. One will note in Wagner's Todestrank indications of closer relationships to tonality than may be found in the opening of Brahms' String Quartet in C minor, Op. 51.
Although Wagner's harmony may be considered richer in other regards like freer uses of dissonances, Brahms exemplifies remarkable harmonic relationship innovation in the opening of his String Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1. Many composers after Brahms avoided such remote deviations from the tonic base.
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| Richard Wagner |
Schöenberg notes that a musical thinker like Brahms systematizes irregularity in order to create structure and organization. And while Wagner seldom digressed from "two-by-two" measure construction in some works, Brahms, on the other hand, moved toward the creation of "musical prose" (Schoenberg, p. 414). This prose, as Schöenberg describes it, is a clear presentation of musical ideas that is not constrained by the symmetry of strophic verse or dance music. Brahms' skill at creating structure without the constraints of formal metrical feet (as in language) provides for creativity free from formal symmetry. This ability to convey musical prose in phrases of unequal length exemplifies the genius of the master who is "free from the shackles of an aesthetic of popular complaisance" (p. 409).
The earliest works of Brahms indicate the existence of asymmetry and phrases of different lengths (p. 416). A consistent feature of his phrases of varied duration are overlapping phrases; as one phrase ends, a new one is beginning. This technique provides for a smooth, flowing sense of unending motion and is reminiscent of J. S. Bach's contrapuntal fugue masterpieces that ebb and flow, overlapping as they travel through metaphorical time and space. Here's an example of Bach's Fugue of Praeludium No. 22 in Bb minor (BMV 891) performed by Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
| Glenn Gould |
Brahms sets text to music in his inimitably creative manner. In the example Schöenberg provides on page 419, metrical feet are stretched (stretto) to create asymmetric phrases that present the music's meaning effectively. Clearly, the musical setting of the poems digresses from the original meter of the written language while enhancing meaning and emotive impact in their musical setting. In other examples, Brahms adds instrumental interludes between text in order to more clearly portray the emotive content of the poem; again, digressing from the text's original symmetry.
In the opening sections of many of Brahms' works are textures and motivic elements that appear later in the same work. Schöenberg notes these "deviations" or "irregularities" as glances into the "remote future of his [Brahms'] themes or motives" and as examples of the "genius' foresight" (p. 422). Brahms' penchant for presenting this type of musical precursor in his works helps define his notion of effective musical structure.
Schöenberg notes the contemporary composer's challenge to connect phrases of varied durations. Arguably, it is the composer's skills that create continuity through the use of "harmonic progression, rhythmic and motival contents, fluency and logic" (p. 429).
To exemplify his argument in presenting Brahms as the Progressive, Schöenberg places Brahms in the same category as Mozart and Beethoven as composers of great inventiveness and versatility (p. 409). Common to all three composers is that their music is vital and important today. He notes Mattheson's smug comment that "counterpoint was a mere mental exercise without emotional power". This is significant because, in spite of Mattheson's great renown while living, his music has not survived and was likely written under existing precepts of musical dogma. Mattheson exists, as Schöenberg notes, only because of musicologists' interest in dead, decayed matter (p. 409).
Works Cited
Schoenberg, Arnold. (1947). Brahms the Progressive.
