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LISTENING GUIDES TO THE WORKS OF JOHANNES BRAHMS

Brahms picture

In an ongoing project, I am constructing distinctive real-time listening guides to the works of the German Romantic composer Johannes Brahms.  By nature, the guides are recording-specific, but they can be adapted to any recording of the given works by simply changing the timings.  I am willing to do this for anybody who would like to provide a recording.  Email me if you have any requests for specific guides for works that may not be posted or for guides tailored to alternative recordings.  The most recent additions will be marked as "new" for at least a week.  The following guides are now available:

Opus 1: Piano Sonata #1 in C Major [December 21, 2005--REVISED March 26, 2010]
Opus 2: Piano Sonata #2 in F-sharp Minor [December 21, 2005--REVISED January 24, 2010]
Opus 3: Six Songs (Gesänge) [December 21, 2005]
Opus 9: Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann for Solo Piano [June 30, 2010]
Opus 12: Ave Maria for Four-Voice Women's Chorus and Orchestra or Organ [October 14, 2008]
Opus 13: Begräbnisgesang (Burial Song) for Chorus and Wind Instruments [August 28, 2008]
Opus 14: Eight Songs and Romances (Lieder und Romanzen) [September 6, 2008]
Opus 17: Four Partsongs (Gesänge) for Women's Chorus with Two Horns and Harp [November 13, 2008]
Opus 18: String Sextet #1 in B-flat Major (includes arrangement of second movement for piano) [November 13, 2008]
Opus 19: Five Songs (Gedichte--Poems) [January 23, 2009]
Opus 20: Three Duets for Soprano and Alto [February 7, 2006--REVISED March 28, 2011]
Opus 21, No. 1: Variations on an Original Theme for Piano [January 31, 2009]
Opus 21, No. 2: Variations on a Hungarian Song for Piano [January 31, 2009]
Opus 22: Marienlieder (Marian Songs) for Mixed Chorus [August 24, 2009]
Opus 24: Variations and Fugue on a Theme of G. F. Handel for Piano [November 23, 2009]
Opus 25: Piano Quartet #1 in G Minor [July 9, 2009]
Opus 27: Psalm 13 for Three-Voice Women's Chorus and Organ [October 28, 2009]
Opus 28: Four Duets for Alto and Baritone [August 15, 2009]
Opus 30: Geistliches Lied (Sacred Song) for Mixed Chorus and Organ [October 14, 2008]
Opus 31: Three Quartets for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass [October 24, 2008]
Opus 32: Nine Songs (Lieder und Gesänge) to Texts by Platen and Daumer [September 15, 2009]
Opus 33: Fifteen Romances from L. Tieck's "Magelone" (Song Cycle) [August 12, 2006--REVISED September 15, 2009]
Opus 35: Variations on a Theme of Paganini (Studies for Piano) [January 9, 2009]
Opus 37: Three Sacred Choruses (Geistliche Chöre) for Four-Voice Women's Chorus [September 26, 2008]
Opus 39: Sixteen Waltzes for Piano Duet or Piano Solo (All Versions) [November 4, 2008]
Opus 41: Five Partsongs (Lieder) for Four-Voice Men's Chorus [May 31, 2008]
Opus 42: Three Partsongs (Gesänge) for Six-Voice Mixed Chorus [January 2, 2006--REVISED August 19, 2009]
Opus 43: Four Songs (Gesänge) [June 29, 2006--REVISED January 25, 2010]
Opus 45: Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) to Words of Holy Scripture for Two Soloists, Chorus, and Orchestra [December 26, 2008]
Opus 47: Five Songs (Lieder) [June 10, 2009]
Opus 52: Liebeslieder Waltzes for Vocal Quartet and Piano Duet [April 15, 2010]
Opus 53: Rhapsody for Alto, Male Chorus, and Orchestra [September 18, 2009]
Opus 57: Eight Songs (Lieder und Gesänge) to Texts by G. F. Daumer [August 28, 2008]
Opus 58: Eight Songs (Lieder und Gesänge) [November 7, 2009]
Opus 59: Eight Songs (Lieder und Gesänge) [February 20, 2009]
Opus 63: Nine Songs (Lieder und Gesänge) [July 15, 2006--REVISED November 7, 2009]
Opus 65: New Liebeslieder Waltzes for Vocal Quartet and Piano Duet [October 24, 2008]
Opus 66: Five Duets for Soprano and Alto [September 15, 2009]
Opus 68: Symphony #1 in C Minor [March 26, 2010]
Opus 70: Four Songs (Gesänge) [September 11, 2008]
Opus 73: Symphony #2 in D Major [January 29, 2010]
Opus 74: Two Motets for Mixed Chorus [June 30, 2009]
Opus 75: Four Ballads and Romances (Balladen und Romanzen) for Two Voices and Piano [March 28, 2011] NEW!
Opus 76: Eight Piano Pieces (Klavierstücke) [November 26, 2008]
Opus 77: Violin Concerto in D Major [February 9, 2009]
Opus 78: Violin Sonata #1 in G Major [September 1, 2009]
Opus 81: Tragic Overture (D Minor) [October 14, 2008]
Opus 84: Five Romances and Songs (Romanzen und Lieder) for One or Two Voices [June 26, 2006]
Opus 85: Six Songs (Lieder) [August 18, 2008]
Opus 86: Six Songs (Lieder) for Low Voice [November 20, 2008]
Opus 88: String Quintet #1 in F Major [July 21, 2009]
Opus 89: Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates) for Six-Voice Chorus and Orchestra [February 26, 2009]
Opus 92: Four Quartets for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass [June 26, 2009]
Opus 93a: Six Songs and Romances (Lieder und Romanzen) for Four-Voice Mixed Chorus [October 14, 2008]
Opus 93b: Tafellied--"Dank der Damen" ("The Ladies' Toast"), Glee for Six-Voice Mixed Chorus and Piano [June 26, 2009]
Opus 97: Six Songs (Lieder) [September 26, 2008]
Opus 98: Symphony #4 in E Minor [June 17, 2009]
Opus 100: Violin Sonata #2 in A Major [February 9, 2006--REVISED July 11, 2009]
Opus 101: Piano Trio #3 in C Minor [October 2, 2008]
Opus 104: Five Partsongs (Gesänge) for Mixed Chorus [December 28, 2008]
Opus 106: Five Songs (Lieder) [January 10, 2006--REVISED June 5, 2010]
Opus 108: Violin Sonata #3 in D Minor [March 28, 2007--REVISED September 1, 2009]
Opus 110: Three Motets for Four- and Eight-Voice Mixed Chorus [August 19, 2009]
Opus 111: String Quintet #2 in G Major [September 29, 2009]
Opus 117: Three Intermezzi for Piano [April 2, 2011] NEW!
Opus 118: Six Piano Pieces (Klavierstücke) [December 28, 2005--REVISED August 3, 2009]
Opus 119: Four Piano Pieces (Klavierstücke) [August 3, 2009]
Opus 121: Four Serious Songs (Vier ernste Gesänge) for Bass Voice and Piano [May 31, 2010]


(5/7/12): IN HONOR OF BRAHMS'S BIRTHDAY: For the sake of those of you who think that I have totally lost interest in completing the guides, let me assure you that I have not.  Since late 2010, I have been heavily engaged in finishing my translation/dissertation of Paul Bekker's "Gustav Mahlers Sinfonien."  I am receiving my Ph.D. this week, and finishing up this massive project.  Because this has consumed so much of my time, I have simply not had any time at all to continue the Brahms site.  This summer, after the dissertation is submitted, I have every intention of returning to the guides and completing them.  Look forward to new guides in late May or June.  At the same time, I will update many of the score links.  IMSLP has added scores for most of the Complete Works Edition (the "Gesellschaft Edition") from 1927.  The score links have not been touched since mid-2010, and many of the works do not have links to the best available scores on IMSLP.  Again, look for my highly engaged return later this month!

(3/27/11): I'M BACK!  Yes, I've snuck back into the site with a revision to the Op. 20 duets and a new guide (shocking, I know) for the great Op. 75 duets.  I had started working on these back in the summer of last year, but an extremely busy fall and other very urgent events in my life required a break from the Brahms guides that was much longer than I had planned or anticipated.  I apologize for this.  With the site becoming more well-known and visited, I should have at least communicated that I would be absent for a while.  But I'm back for now.

UPDATE ON SCORE LINKS (7/1/10): IMSLP has been undergoing a server upgrade and other upheavals in recent days, and yesterday I discovered that some of the score links that I have posted here were not working.  This is easy to fix, as the score files are still available on the IMSLP directories, but it seems that some URLs have slightly changed.  I will work on fixing the score links in the next few days, and will monitor more closely in the future whether all the links are working or not.  For now, all score links through Op. 19 should work, and I will continue to go through the list and repair broken links.  Incidentally, some new scores have been posted on certain guides, such as alternate-key (usually low-key) editions of certain solo songs.  As a rule, I'll always post links to the first editions, to the Breitkopf and Härtel Gesamtausgabe, if available, and to the Peters edition of solo songs (in high, low, and in some cases middle keys), as they become available.  If you find a broken link, please let me know and I will fix it immediately.

(6/30/10): Two straight new additions on the last day of a month...anyway, I wanted to get the Op. 9 Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann up before June was over in honor of Robert Schumann's 200th birthday on June 8 (I started the guide for Op. 9 that day).  Since I had a vacation and a move in the meantime, it took until today to get it done.  But it's still up before Robert's birth month expires!

(5/31/10): There is something highly appropriate about posting the guide for the Four Serious Songs on Memorial Day.  Happy coincidence.

UPDATE (3/26/10): In a milestone for the site, the very first two guides I ever did have been redone and reposted.  The Op. 1 Sonata never actually left, and now a revised version can finally head the list.  These guides represented the conception and origin of the project, but they also came to represent an earlier, less detailed standard that was made with beginners in mind.  My new standard is meant to be accessible and useful to all, and started to evolve around the time I did the Op. 33 "Magelone" song cycle.  I actually removed the guide for the First Symphony when I decided that it just didn't fit with the rest of the site, but that spontaneous 2004 exercise was the germ and cell of the project's evolution.  Now a new and improved (and long-awaited) guide to the First Symphony can be enjoyed.  The Op. 1 Sonata was the last large work to need extensive revision.  Three song sets, one set of duets, and one set of male choruses will undergo revision in the next updates.  Thanks again for feedback and encouragement!  We have now reached the halfway point of 61 out of 122 opus numbers!

UPDATE (1/29/10): It seems like I was absent for the past couple of months, but I really wasn't.  I decided to tackle the Second Symphony at a time when a lot was going on (holidays, preparing to teach a class, etc.).  The guide to the first movement of the Second ended up being truly epic.  I was worried about this--it was much longer than the one for the first movement of the Violin Concerto, which is of similar tempo, length, meter, and even key.  But then the other movements were not nearly as long, and I simply came to the conclusion that it wasn't so much as me getting out of control with detail in a guide--it was the fact that the first movement of the Second Symphony is simply extraordinarily rich in content and complexities.  At the same time, I finally revised a very early Piano Sonata guide (Op. 2 in F-sharp minor, originally posted with the site's first version in December 2005).  Op. 1 was going to be my last revision, but I'm increasingly embarrassed by that very early, very rudimentary guide up there at the top of the list, so I'm going to revise it, and it will be among the next updates along with...wait for it...the trimuphant return of the First Symphony!!  I've finally got a good recording with the exposition repeat.  The song set Op. 43 was also in dire need of a revision.  Since this set contains my favorite Brahms song, I am glad that I finally brought it up to standards (although one thing I did do was remove the embarrassing "personal note" in the heading--I think it's rather obvious from the guide itself what my opinion of "Von ewiger Liebe" is!).  Other revisions to be done include the song sets Op. 84 and Op. 106, the duets Op. 20, and the male choruses Op. 41 (if I can ever get my hands on the original parts to clarify the text underlay in #5).  Finally, the last revision will be the song set Op. 3.  For Op. 84, I think I'm going to include two timings in every heading--I'd like to include a duet recording as well as a solo one, but the description would be the same for both (since the musical material is the same).  Op. 106 will also remove an embarrassing personal note about a song I like.

I have now moved the long list of previous updates to an archive page, linked below.  This front page was getting too cluttered.  If you're new to the site, you might want to check out the archive.  The front page will only include the latest update.

ARCHIVED UPDATES AND COMMENTS
NOTE ON MEASURE NUMBERS


All guides copyright 2004-2011 by Kelly Dean Hansen.  Feel free to use them in any way, but please give me credit.