Brahms and Variation ‘Variations theme on Schumann, Op.9’
Several defining characteristics have generated extensive scholarly interest in Brahms’ Op. 9, Variations theme on Schumann. Op. 9 is Brahms’s first independent variation, meaning it is not paired with his other compositions; the first pair is Brahms’ piano sonatas Op.1-second movement and Op. 2- second movement, the second pair is Op.21, 1 and 2. In this composition, Brahms departs widely from the variation form as well as from the rigidity of writing his Sonatas Op. 1, 2, and 5.
Critical opinion generally finds Brahms’ composition style to be strict. As a result of this strict compositional style and its date of composition (1854), a number of writers excessively link Op. 9 to the variation form of Bach and Beethoven. Furthermore, although Brahms borrows Schumann’s melody in Op. 9, overly associating Op. 9 with Schumann is inappropriate for several reasons. In Op. 9, two personas are observed – Brahms (B) and Kreisler (Kr). Although similarities exist, Brahms’ perception of Kresler in Op.9 is not identical to Schumann’s references to Kreisler; directly connecting Op. 9 to Schumann’s Op. 6 Davidsbündlertänze is not proper interpretation. Additionally, the poetic aspect in variation form which developed in Brahms Op.9 is already evident in his previous writings (the second movements of Op.1 and 5); thus his free spirit in writing the variation genre is not an imitation of Schumann’s Op.13 Symponique etude, but Brahms’s own.
Brahms Op.9 can be viewed as the most innovative and creative outcome of his early compositions for several reasons. Brahms constructively sought for a new and creative [Neuere] compositional style in variation form, and he saw the bass as the critical creativity-enabling element . Theoretically speaking, Brahms’s wild experiment in Op. 9 is possible because of his exploitation of the role of bass in the variation genre. Second, as stated earlier, Brahms alludes to his personalities (dual personas), by using ‘B’ and ‘Kr’ throughout the variations. Lastly, Brahms’s use of daring harmony that foreshadows his ambiguity in later compositions is shown in Op. 9. Therefore, in this paper, the following discussion of Op.9 will include Brahms’s perspective on variation genre ‘fantasy-variation,’ and a glimpse of his inward qualities that are shown in personas, and a thorough analysis of Op. 9 based on Brahms’ use of bass in terms of fantasy-variation form.
Brahms’s perspective on variation form; ‘Fantasy-variation’
Brahms questioned the modern approach to form in a letter to Joachim in June 1856:
From time to time I reflect on variation form and find that it should be kept stricter, purer. The Ancients [die Alten] were very strict about retaining the bass of the theme, their actual theme. With Beethoven, the melody, harmony, and rhythm are so beautifully varied. I sometimes find, however, that the Moderns [Neuere] (both of us!) more often (I don't know the right expression) worry the theme [über das Thema wohnen]. We anxiously retain the entire melody but don't manipulate it freely. We don't really create anything new out of it; on the contrary, we only burden it. The melody thus becomes scarcely recognizable. (Sisman, 133)
Furthermore, Brahms was never hesitant to categorize variations in the manner of the fantasy genre. To this end, Brahms said:
But could we not make a distinction between variations and fantasies on a melody, a motive? (Look at the Etudes.. ? .. [Symphoniques].) Fantasy-variations. Unfortunately, its cause is that I too cannot be strict with myself [Doch leider hat es seine Ursache, daf? ich auch mir gegenüber keine Strenge gebrauchen kann]. (Sisman, 134)
In order for Brahms to approach this new stance, he saw the bass as a resolution to harness the tension between older and newer styles in variations, and between variation and fantasy, which corresponds to the perspective of Julius Schaeffer. Both Brahms and Schaeffer saw fantasy-variation as the ideal variation style, surpassing the melody-decorative style.
Specifically, Brahms cited four types of variations whereas Schaeffer suggested three types of variations. In Brahms's view, three types of variation are quasi-historical cannon: variations on the bass, variations of the melody, and an additional category including variations by Beethoven and himself. He classifies a fourth type of variation - elaborations of a melody or motive in the manner of a fantasy – as fantasy variation. Schaeffer also emphasized the essential aspects of the fantasy-style of variation in his dedication. Schaeffer's description:
The variation form, although cultivated by the masters with special partiality, is still so badly mistreated by bunglers and hacks that when it appears, people avoid it or encounter it with mistrust, and as a consequence of its bad reputation noteworthy theorists and aestheticians scarcely want to grant it even a modest spot next to the legitimate art forms. This appears to us unjust. If we exclude the Bravura-variation, then the different forms of variation divide themselves chiefly into three principal categories. In the first, which can appropriately be described as the decorative, all interest lies in the theme. In each variation, this is clothed, as it were, in a new attire, but it is not disguised. ... It is usually a known melody and the goal of this genre is the ever-new charm of its differently turned-out repetitions. -In the second [category], which we call the contrapuntal, the center of gravity lies in the variations themselves... Here the theme is only the outline, on which different architectonic creations are built... This category stands higher than the first ... [and features] the creation of independent structures on the basis of the given harmonic relationships.... -In the third category, the center of gravity lies neither in the theme alone nor in the variations alone, but rather in the psychological bond between the two... That the theme is usually an invention of the composer's - a so-called original theme-is entirely in the nature of the thing. The individual variations will have to manifest a connection with the theme as well as with each other...; in other respects, however, they will come into the world bringing with them their newborn motives and new developmental laws, thus [each] to expand into autonomous art forms-often even as related movements [which are] not directly derived from the theme, [but] like "intermezzi" draw into their own realm. Just as the variation form in this genre achieves its highest significance, it reaches at the same time its outermost limits, striving to overcome them and to pass into the sphere of the free fantasy. It appears not inappropriate to give them the name Fantasy-Variations. (Sisman, 142-43)
In spite of ideological and language differences, Brahms and Schaeffer interpret variation forms with remarkable similarity. For a more explicit understanding of Brahms’ approach to his fantasy-variation style, Sisman explained how Brahms exploits bass to reach his ideal in the fantasy variation genre. in her article ‘Brahms and the Variation Canon’. To Brahms, creativity in variation writing was a priority and he thought the bass is the most important element of a theme. Brahms stated that “the bass in the variation can modify the entire character rather than a variation of that melody only,” and “On the given bass, I invent something actually new, I discover new melodies in it, I create.” (Sisman, 134)
Thus, the bass is the mechanism that creates a psychological bond between theme and variations, as well as the source of the new motives and “developmental laws” described by Schaeffer. (Sisman, 140) By manipulating the character of the entire variation based on maintaining the bass, Brahms was able to achieve the aspect of true fantasy-variation; extensive alterations in structure, meter, and tempo of the theme while retaining its melody or motives. (Nottebohm and Herzogenberg) (Sisman, 136)
Dual Personas ‘Brahms’ vs ‘Kriesler’
Despite the idea that using characters and their first names in a composition can be derived from Schumann, , Brahms’s identification with Kapellmeister Kreisler appears in a significantly different way in his correspondence. From the letters, which are indeed communications between real persons, it becomes clear that this identification applied only to Brahms’s artistic and poetic existence. (Kross, 194) Siegfried Kross states in his article ‘Brahms and E.T.A. Hoffmann’:
The difficulty with this collection is that its entries, like the correspondence and Brahms’s musical autographs, refer to the figure of Kapellmeister Kreisler rather than to his creator, the poet-musician-painter Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822). Hoffmann appears only once, with a minor excerpt from his Serapionsbrueder. (Kross, 194)
Besides, the use of identification with Kreisler was complete before Brahms entered the Schumann circle and thus was not associated with their literary interests and tendencies. (Kross, 194 )Thus, the approach to the use of dual personas, or Kreisler in Brahms’ music should be disparated.
If so, what is Brahms’ perception of Kreisler in his music, and how it appeared in Op. 9?
According to Kross, the general identification of Brahms' early works associated with Kreisler by commentators without further inquiry raises problems. The problem that is widely ignored is that Kapellmeister Kreisler already led a highly complicated literary existence of his own in the work of his creator. Kreisler appears there in three different roles: First, Hoffmann signed some of his music reviews with this name, second, Kreisler, with strongly autobiographical features, And Lastly, Kreisler is one of the central figures in Hoffmann’s masterpiece, The Life and Opinions of Kater Murr, published in 1819-22. A few evidences are found in Brahms’ letter to Clara Schumann referring to Kreisler in Kater Murr. The psychological novel Kater Murr, whose hero is Kapellmeister Kriesler is clearly what Brahms identified with. (Kross, 195) It is undeniable that Schumann’s Kreisleriana, Op.16 is also based on the perception of Kapellmeister Kreisler in Kater Murr. (Deahl, 134) However, Schumann’s opposite characters in Kreisleriana are Murr and Kreisler; disappointed romances, brutal duels, epiphanic revelations, and discarded dreams haunt both the poet-artist Kreisler and his ironic double, Murr. To be specific, Schumann expressed the fierce frustration due to separation with Clara, borrowing these two characters. On the other hand, Hoffmann to Brahms was more impactive and personal. To a highly sensitive young man of sixteen or seventeen, as Brahms was in the period of Hoffmann’s first impact on him, there are indeed phrases in Hoffmann’s work that must have seemed addressed expressly to him. Kross also explains in his article that because Brahms had, by chance, the same first name as Kreisler, certain passages must have sounded like a direct address, and Brahms must have felt that Hoffmann described precisely his frame of mind. (Kross, 195) Kross also extracts from Hoffmann what might have impacted young Brahms. The article describes the inner struggle between an external reality and an inner, artistic one of musician:
At this time my inclination to music grew day by day, and my father, a good musician himself, took responsibility for instructing me carefully. He intended to train not only a good performer, but probably a composer too, since I so assiduously searched out at the piano melodies and chords, which often had much expression and coherence. But often I wanted to weep bitterly-and indeed resolved in faint-hearted despair never to touch the piano again-for whenever I touched the keyboard, it gave forth something other than what I had intended. Unknown songs that I had never heard before flowed through my soul, and they seemed to me not my father's song, but rather those songs which sounded around me like ghostly voices. (Kross, 196)
When I felt myself free, then the indescribable restlessness which, since my earliest years, has so often torn me took hold of me. It is not the yearning which ... endures forever because it is never fulfilled, neither deceived nor cheated, but only not fulfilled so that it does not die; no-there often erupts a barren, insane desire for something that I am restlessly seeking outside myself although it is concealed in me; a dark secret, a confused puzzling dream of a very highly satisfying paradise which even the dream is unable to name, only to surmise; and this presentiment tortures me with the agony of Tantalus. (Kater Murr, p.63)
Besides, Hoffmann defines the inward and creative powers that beyond mere romantic enthusiasm:
The musician, that is, he in whose soul music develops to a distinct and clear consciousness, is everywhere bathed in melody and harmony.... Just as, according to the statement of a gifted physicist, hearing is seeing from within, so for the musician seeing is hearing from within, that is listening to the innermost consciousness of music, which, vibrating simultaneously with his soul, resonates from all that his eye takes in .... With knowledge, the inner will increases .... The more animated, the more penetrating the perception grows, the higher the musician stands as a composer; and his capability to record and to fix those impulses as signs and letters is the art of composing. (Kross, 197)
Therefore, Brahms perception of Kreisler is akin to what Brahms related himself, and dual personas in Op.9 are the characters in which there is a more profound level than introductory purpose. In other words, Brahms was deeply influenced by Hoffmann in a way that he developed the two characters ‘Kr’ and ‘B’ from the novel to the degree of his own creative world.
‘Brahms’ variations are more reflective [Variation 4,7,8,11,14,16]; the faster, more animated ones [5,6,9,12,13] are ‘Kriesler.’ [Ex.1]
[Ex.1: Indication of the initial ‘B’ and ‘Kr’]
More specifically, the ‘Brahms’ variations are nearly all slow, like the theme, and tend to have a lyrical melody which is sometimes treated in canon. [Ex.2]
[Ex.2: ‘B’ variation with lyrical texture and canonic progression]
On the other hand, ‘Kreislers’ are given quick tempo designations (e.g., “Schnell,” “Allegro capriccioso”) and feature melodic fragments embedded in figurations. [Ex.3]
[Ex.3: Melodic fragments embedded in figurations in quick tempo]
Among the ‘Brahms’ variations, variation 9 and 10 are strongly associated with Clara, representing Brahms’ personal emotion towards Clara. Variation 10 quotes Clara’s Romance [the theme of Schumann’s Impromptus, op.5), and Brahms wrote to Joachim that in that variation “Clara speaks!” (Sisman, 149) Brahms alters to major key (D) in this variation, the melody is exceptionally delightful and euphonious among other variations. [Ex. 4]
[Ex.4]
In addition, Brahms uses a private code in variation 11, the most harmonically ambiguous of all the variations, presenting Brahms’”Clara” theme in its first two measures. [Ex. 5]
[Ex.5: Clara theme]
Elaine explains in her article that Brahms himself has the chance to murmur her name after Kreisler impersonates Robert (Var. 9), after Clara speaks (Var. 10). (Sisman, 149)
An Analysis on Op.9
Brahms gave him a strict concept to maintain the bass -harmonic progression - as he identified the bass as the essence of the variation form. As a result, Brahms could display a great diversity of expression and character founded on the given material, thus facilitating the fantasy-style variation . To be specific, while maintaining the structure of the theme - the passive bass - Brahms actively create melodies and figurative patterns, different contrapuntal textures, and expanded harmonic vocabulary. Thus, despite Op.9 being the first variation composition of Brahms, his writing in this composition is considerably bold and harmonically sophisticated. In this chapter, the analysis will provide Brahms’ experimentation in harmonic language, and its relation with the bass maintained, thus suggesting the fantasy-variation.
The Schumann theme in Op.9 is harmonically symmetrical; it is divided into three eight-measure periods (ABA’), and A and A’ sections consist of two four-measure phrases. A section cadence on F sharp minor and A major, and A’ reverses this to cadence on A major and F sharp minor. In the B section, the harmony directs to C sharp-minor chords, in second inversion, first inversion, and root position, respectively. [Ex. 6]
[Ex.6: Theme]
In the variations, Brahms alters the harmonies of the static second period (B section) most extensively. For example, the third variation slips down a half step from C sharp to C natural at the second C sharp minor chord, the consequent move to F minor continues in the third period. [Ex.7]
[Ex.7]
Other examples that Brahms exquisitely manipulates the melody and harmony based on the bass are displayed in many places. In variation 4, Brahms alter both the melodic and bass lines of the theme, and the variation recomposes the melody, modifies the harmony by adding pedal points, but remains close to the theme in structure. And despite these new harmonies, the pedal points reflect the cadance structure of the theme by spelling out a tonic triad (F sharp in the first period, A in the second, C sharp and F sharp in the third), which also retrograde the essential melodic outline of the theme (C sharp-A-F sharp) in the later phrase. [Ex. 8]
[Ex.8]
Another example of pitch-spelling technique is variation 5. Brahms emphasizes pitches with accents, these pitches spell out an inversion of the theme’s melodic outline (C sharp-E-G) [Ex.9] , then tough on the major dominant (E sharp as 3^ of C sharp major [Ex.10] and the major tonic (A sharp as 3^ of F sharp major). [Ex.11]
[Ex.9] [Ex.10] [Ex.11]
In the variation 1, the theme melody is immediately reinterpreted as a bassline, supporting different harmonies and thus sounding like a continuation of the theme on the dominant. [Ex.12]
[Ex.12]
Brahms also uses canonic progression to develop his musical idea throughout the variation 8 and 15. [Ex.13]
[Ex.13: Canonic progression]
Accordingly, Brahms maintains the frame of harmonies within the bass, and varies other variations through his exquisite compositional technique.
Conclusion
As Brahms himself pursued in fantasy-variation form, Op.9 manifests the aesthetic of strictness but pure, yet creative. Variation genre was the ideal for him to conduct his inner world.
Despite the close connection with Schumann, the approach to Brahms’ Op.9 should be completely independent. Adopting the concept of dual personas in the variation is Brahms’ personal identification of Kreisler and Hoffmann, and Brahms reflects and discloses his opposite sensibilities via ‘B’ and ‘Kr.’
By approaching the bass as the crucial principle, Brahms could accomplish freestyle variation without losing intelligence. “[. . . ]the firm foundation on which I then build my stories,” Brahms said.
Although Brahms Op.9 is written in his early period, it appears to be a potential masterpiece that forecasts Brahms’ pure and creative compositions in absolute genre later.
Bibliography
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