ARCHIVED UPDATE NOTICES FOR BRAHMS LISTENING GUIDES
©2005-2017 by Kelly Dean Hansen
UPDATE (3/31/17):
So how is everybody! Yep, two years to the day since I
posted an update to the site, and I am genuinely sorry. I
didn’t
mean for this to happen. In mid-2015 I did the guide for
the Op. 51, No. 2 String Quartet, which was a request from a
donor. It’s been done since about June of that
year. It’s also been available
and uploaded onto the site, but I never linked it
from the front page. That’s
because I didn’t want to put it up
without its companion quartet.
So I started to work on Op. 51, No.
1. It was around that time
that life started to catch up with
me in a lot of ways. It
suffices to say that a great many
things have happened during that
time. All that time, however,
I was slowly working on Op. 51, No.
1, but it was taking a very long
time. This may be the most
complex and intricate piece Brahms
ever wrote, and it was surprisingly
difficult to analyze and construct
the guide. Anyway, in the
meantime, the site has moved to a
new Plesk server after GoDaddy
retired the old Windows-based
one. I was able to get a free
year on the new server, but as of
June 2016, I was no longer
grandfathered into the free
unlimited hosting. What that
means is that I’m
now paying for both the domain and
the hosting, and I had never paid
for the actual hosting since I got
the domain in 2008. So I now
have an extra real expense to
actually keep the site up and
available. I hate to plead for
donations after being absent for so
long, but I’ve
been paying for hosting for almost a
year without saying anything
publicly about it. I have
found that I can’t
guarantee new guides
within a timely
manner, although I
will still give
priority to donor
requests. I
have to go back and
see what previous
donors have said
they want. And
yes, the Op. 84
guide needs to be
dealt with, along
with all the IMSLP
links from that opus
on. Also in
this time frame,
Emily Ezust’s
Lied and Art
Song Text Page
has migrated
from
recmusic.org
to a new
server.
Fortunately,
all those
links are not
dead--they
just lead to
redirects, and
everything
seems to land
on the right
page.
Still, it’s
another
time-consuming
task that I
should
undertake to
make the text
links more
clean.
The March 2015
update below
promised less
gap time
between
postings.
That was
obviously a
promise I
couldn’t
keep, and I
won’t
make it
again.
But I am
hopeful that
with the very
difficult
guide for Op.
51, No. 1
completed, I
can move on to
some works
that are a
little less
challenging.
I am committed
to finish the
project, no
matter how
long it
takes.
Thanks again
to everyone
who has
supported my
efforts.
UPDATE (3/31/15): Yes, it’s been a while,
with another unexpectedly busy stretch of time, but I have been
working fairly steadily (if slowly) on the Op. 10 Ballades since
September. This has been one of the most requested guides
(as have all the solo piano works), so I’m
glad to finally have it available. With its posting, the
only solo piano opus remaining is Op. 116, but it really is time
to give attention to other genres. And it is REALLY time
to revise the Op. 84 guide. That is absolutely my next
task on the site. After that, I will finally fix the
remaining score links (which should work up to Op. 82). I’ve been
tweaking the Spotify list a little (adding true quartet
recordings of Op. 103, Nos. 8-10, interspersed with the solo
versions of 1-7 and 11; adding at least the original piano
duet versions of the Hungarian Dances, WoO 1). And I’m
going to gently mention the little PayPal button at the top
again. After I posted it, I received a fair number of
generous donations, for which I am grateful, but the well
has been dry for a while. If you are interested in
seeing the project brought to completion (and in avoiding
long September-March gaps between postings--there were also
no donations during that time), then please consider
clicking the button and helping me out. Thank you!
Additional Note: With the Op. 10 guide, I’m
experimenting with a new idea--adding links to other guides
when reference is made to other works. I think that is
something I should have explored long ago, but again, it
will be an extended project to add these to existing guides.
RINALDO STRIKES AGAIN (8/19/14):
This is mainly for the Brahms scholars who may be skeptically
watching me with wagging fingers. At some point, I knew
about the ten measures that Brahms apparently cut from the very
end of Rinaldo’s main section, but long ago forgot about
them. This is partly due to the fact that my Kalmus
reprint of the Sämtliche Werke edition edited by
Eusebius Mandyczewski does not include the front matter with
editorial notes. (Oh, Dover, why did you never reprint
this? The Kalmus is overpriced and incomplete.)
These editorial notes included the ten excised bars as a
supplement. When I was assembling my Brahms recordings in
the late 1990s, the Sinopoli/Kollo Rinaldo on DG (part
of the re-released Complete Edition) really was the only
obtainable version. It did not include the ten bars, and
neither did the only readily available full score. I never
did consult the piano/vocal score. I tend to avoid those
when analyzing choral/orchestral works. Obviously, I
should have done so. Anyway, to my horror, those ten bars
reared their ugly head while I was listening to the
Albrecht/Andersen recording on Chandos. I discovered that
at least one other recent recording, De Billy/Botha on Oehms,
includes them. I then recalled that they are, in fact, in
the first edition (to which I have linked in my guide). So
I had a quandary. I completed the guide for Rinaldo
last year, and I believe it to be the site’s magnum opus.
I have neither the desire nor the willpower to change the
recording, and no available full score (they are all reprints of
the Sämtliche Werke edition) includes the
measures. Yet piano/vocal scores include them even
today. I have no idea what will happen when the new Henle
Brahms Gesamtausgabe tackles the piece. I know that
Professor Robert Pascall disagrees strongly with Mandyczewski’s
consistent assumption that Brahms’s changes in his personal
copies of the first editions represent his final, definitive
thoughts. Indeed, no edition published in Brahms’s
lifetime cut the measures.
The problem is that I really don’t like these ten
measures. They sound strange, like an interpolation.
Indeed, their material is almost entirely new. And really,
asking the tenor soloist for a high B-flat (sung fairly quietly)
at that point of the work is rather sadistic. If Brahms
meant to cut them, it was a good decision. But I am a
completist to a fault. I go out of my way to use
recordings that include every repeat. So I felt that I
needed to address the ten measures in my guide. I have
therefore added a brief explanation and description of them at
the end of the main section, before the final chorus.
Brahmsians, please give me credit for this!
UPDATE (6/15/14): I can’t believe that I haven’t done this yet,
but in an exciting development, I have assembled a
complete Brahms playlist on Spotify! Almost all of
the recordings in this playlist are the ones I have used
or will use in the guides. Only one recording for
guides I have already done, the two-piano works
performed by Argerich and Rabinovitch on Teldec, is not
(yet) available on Spotify. This applies to the
Sonata, Op. 34b and to the two-piano version of the Op.
39 waltzes. For now, I’ve
included a substitute recording for these pieces, as
well as for the five or so other works whose guides
are not yet completed and for which I could not find
my intended recording. The playlist is in opus
order, and includes all the alternate versions
covered in the guides. It should be
self-explanatory. I have included two
recordings for Op. 84. This is the only
existing guide that still requires major revision,
and this will happen shortly. In the revision,
I am going to include timings for a recording with
two voices as well as the existing timings for the
solo recording. The playlist does not yet
include works without opus number. I have no
intention of doing guides for these “WoO”-numbered pieces
(including the Hungarian Dances, the F.A.E.
Scherzo, all folksong arrangements, the
early organ pieces, etc.)
until all the opus numbers are done. The
existence of this playlist should GREATLY enhance
the usability of the guides, giving instant access
to the recordings. If I have previously given
anybody private access to the recordings, have no
fear, that location will continue to be updated and
available. One great aspect of the Spotify
playlist is that Spotify smoothly transitions
between tracks where there should be no gap (Rinaldo
and some variations sets are good examples of where
this is desirable). Of course, if it’s time for an ad, all bets are
off. So, without further ado, access to
the playlist is HERE!
For more detailed clarification on the playlist,
particularly all the alternate versions, click here.
IMSLP score links are now repaired through Op.
82. Alternate keys for songs are now
indicated through Op. 72 (the newest
guide). We’re
getting there! In the
distant future, when the guides are done, I may revisit the issue of
song keys in the guides (a point that continues to trouble me),
giving indication as to which keys are used in the recordings and
possibly for the various other complete song sets that are available
(such as the CPO and Brilliant sets). Analysis in the guides
is ALWAYS done with reference to the original key, whether or not
(usually not) the song in question is sung in that key by
Fischer-Dieskau or Norman.
UPDATE
(2/26/14): Well, it had to happen
eventually. The Lullaby has finally arrived at the
Brahms Listening Guides website. This is for the other
95%--I guess. But you, sophisticated regular visitors,
will never call it “Brahms’ Lullaby” again. And
even if you do, you’ll rebel against the horrible AP style
Brahms’ and properly style it as “Brahms’s
Lullaby.” After all, we wouldn’t want to
imply that the most famous cradle song in the world was written
by several members of the family Brahm! Or even better,
you will demonstrate your sophistication by putting your child
to sleep while singing Wiegenlied, Op. 49, No. 4, making
sure the infant grows up knowing its proper
designation.
In more mundane news, I neglected to mention on this front
page that last month, I added the version without voices
(Op. 65a) to the guide for the New Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op.
65a, in the same manner that this was done for Op. 52, as
described below. Score links have now been fixed and
updated through Op. 69!
UPDATE (1/9/14): As mentioned in the guide
itself, I have departed from my usual practice in constructing
separate guides for the Piano Quintet, Op. 34, and its version
as a Sonata for Two Pianos, Op. 34b. Typically, alternate
versions of works are presented within the same guide (e.g.,
Opp. 12, 18, 39, 52, 65, 120 Nos. 1 & 2). The reasons
for doing a separate guide for Op. 34b are actually obvious; the
fact that neither piano part in the sonata matches the piano
part in the quintet (and the sheer scope of the differences in
the scoring) really left me no choice. The guides are
among the largest I have done for instrumental works, which
speaks to the vast content and compositional intricacy of this
music, in either of its two versions. I did use the guide
for Op. 34 as a template for Op. 34b, but I made an effort to
treat the two-piano version independently, with as little
reference to the quintet version or to string instruments as
possible, only doing so in a few cases of particular
interest.
I apologize once again for the long delay; this was one of the
most challenging works to tackle, and I had to do it twice (at a
busy time of the year). I now intend to turn for a time to
song sets and other smaller works--the Piano Quintet has kind of
drained me. Expect to see more movement on the updating of
score links as well, as more low-voice versions from the Peters
Edition of the songs become available on IMSLP.
UPDATE (9/17/13): Whew! Now that I’ve tackled Rinaldo,
the greatest obstacle to eventually finishing this long project
has been removed. I had been concerned about this
particular work for some time. It is the most singular and
unique among all of Brahms’s major works, his only
choral setting of an overtly dramatic text, and the only large
composition to have an almost completely continuous
structure. I had debated for many months how I would
handle this guide when it came up. Even the issue of
posting translations for such a long text proved a puzzle, as
did the issue of how to handle a multi-track recording of a
piece with only one real break. The result is what will
likely be the magnum opus of the Brahms Listening
Guides. No, it’s not the biggest Brahms work or
even the most profound. In fact, it is probably the least
familiar of all the major compositions. But it provided
challenges to my established method, and I am extremely happy to
have finished it. I hope you enjoy my approach to this
unusual piece. As you can see, it took a while.
Another much-demanded piece, the Piano Quintet (Op. 34), is
coming next.
I am mindful of the need to update the rest of the score
links. I am kind of stalled there right now because the
low-key editions for the later song opus numbers have not yet
been posted to IMSLP. Still, I intend to move forward with
non-song opus numbers. The links are fixed through Op. 55.
On another subject entirely, my city of Boulder has been ravaged
by disastrous floods in the last week. Ironically, with
everything shut down because of an abundance of water, I was
able to find time to finish describing Brahms’s
thrilling setting of Rinaldo’s voyage away from Armida’s enchanted
island. We find silver linings where we can. While my
family was fortunate to escape with no damage to health or
property, the devastation around us is awesome and
terrible. I ask for thoughts and prayers on behalf of
those who suffered devastating losses in this incredible
catastrophe.
UPDATE (6/4/13): The guide for the Liebeslieder
Waltzes, Op. 52, has been updated to consider the version for piano
duet without voices published as Op. 52a. I had resisted
including this version because I consider it inferior. But it
does have a prominence among arrangements because of the separate
opus number with letter, because it was included in the Sämtliche
Werke, and because recordings are readily available.
There are very few alterations of any significance from the piano
duet parts of the main version with vocal quartet. The most
prominent of these is the embellished repeat of No. 7, Part 2.
I hope that my method of considering this version is unobtrusive,
but still useful. I did not consider it worthy of its own
separate outline as with, for example, the viola versions of the Op.
120 sonatas. At some point in the near future, this update
will also be done for the New Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 65.
Score links have been updated and corrected through Op. 55 (and for
any guides with higher numbers constructed from 2012 on). The
latest new guide is the A-major Piano Quartet, Op. 26, the
composer’s longest instrumental work! On deck are the Academic
Festival Overture, Op. 80, and the First Cello Sonata, Op. 38.
UPDATE (3/4/13): I’ve again moved the updates to the
archive page (linked below). I am regularly posting guides
again, but at a slower pace than in 2008 and 2009. The latest
guide to be posted, the F-minor piano sonata (Op. 5), has been long
awaited and requested. I’m happy to finally have it
available. Score links have been updated through Op. 33.
Indications of alternate keys for solo songs are also being added as
I fix the score links. Again, this will be an extended
process, as most of my time on the site will be spent creating new
guides. Thanks again for all the messages of support!
(9/26/12): I'm still here! A big move and some other
life changes have happened in the last three months, but I was
working on the Triumphlied the entire time. In many
ways, this is Brahms's most complex work (eight-voice double choir
and large orchestra with a lot of intricate counterpoint). So
it took some time. Next on the docket are the Op. 120
sonatas. I've been going back and forth on how to handle the
different versions. Obviously, the primary analysis is going
to be based on the clarinet versions. But the viola versions
are played almost as frequently. The problem is that Brahms
didn't have as much to do with the arrangement of the viola part as
has been previously believed. The little-known violin
versions, however, are entirely his own, including alterations to
the piano part. Since the violin versions are rarely played,
but the viola versions are staples of that instrument's repertoire,
I have decided to include recordings with viola, but not
violin. Each sonata (Op. 120, No. 1 and Op. 120, No. 2) will
have its own guide. The original clarinet version will be
presented and below it, an outline based on a recording with viola
indicating divergences of the viola part from the clarinet part
(shifts of register, double stops, etc.) will be given. Also,
I have updated the score links through Op. 24 (except Op. 3, which
is going to be revised soon). The format I am using should
stay consistent if the URLs at IMSLP migrate again--so no more dead
links. Please be patient--this job is huge, and will
eventually be complete. The good news is that IMSLP now has
most of the Breitkopf & Härtel Complete Edition (Sämtliche
Werke) in excellent scans by "piupianissimo."
(6/23/12): SO NOW I REALLY AM BACK!!: If I still
have any regular viewers left after such a long time (and PLEASE
email me to let me know you're still here), here's the story.
The dissertation is complete, and I am now a Ph.D. As late as
2009, the dissertation was going to be on Brahms vocal quartets and
duets. But I found that the only thing I really wanted to do
with Brahms was work on this site. In 2009, as you can read in
my first column for the Daily
Camera (it's called "The Ph.D. Process" and is available
online at http://www.dailycamera.com/entertainment/ci_20543047/classical-notes-ph-d-process),
the project wasn't going anywhere, and I switched to a translation
of Paul Bekker's Gustav Mahler's
Sinfonien with commentary (Mahler being the other composer
I dearly love). It ended up being an enormous project.
While I still worked on the Brahms site for much of 2010 and briefly
came back in 2011, I eventually had to dedicate myself full-time to
completing the translation project and finishing my degree. I
hated to abandon the site for all that time, but I really had no
choice. As soon as I finished, however, I eagerly wanted to
come back. And so, I'm back, and hopefully will not have
another huge absence. The guide for the Op. 44 partsongs for
women's chorus marks my return. In the meantime, much has
happened regarding the site. First of all, you'll notice that
there is no longer any disclaimer at the top about ads and no longer
any mirror site. The latter has been gone since 2011, when
CU-Boulder discontinued its webfiles service. The former is a
happier development and makes the need for a mirror site moot.
GoDaddy.com (where I host the site and the domain) very recently
stopped providing free hosting with domain purchases. But
since I had purchased the domain with that option, I was
grandfathered into free hosting. But the best part is that
GoDaddy has now removed the banner ads. This is simply
awesome! The site will now be hosted only here, and ad-free,
at http://www.kellydeanhansen.com.
In a more negative development, it appears that
most of the score links from IMSLP have died. The URLs for the
IMSLP pdf files are unstable, and frequently change. But I
believe that I have found a solution that will make the links
permanent. IMSLP provides shortcut links to all their scores
with identification numbers. It will take some time, and it
will be a gradual process, but I will replace all the IMSLP score
links with this shortcut, which should remove this issue in the
future. I will also add the permanent link to the "work page"
on the IMSLP wiki to each guide, just in case the score links
themselves die again. I may also purge the links
somewhat. The excellent user "piupianissimo" at IMSLP, with
whom I've worked a bit on adding low-voice versions of the songs,
has scanned most of the volumes in the Breitkopf & Härtel
Complete Edition (Sämtliche Werke).
I hope that he will eventually have them all. Any links to
that edition will be replaced with links to his much higher-quality
scans. The links to the first editions from Lübeck will remain
for their historical interest. I will also link to all
transpositions of the songs in the Peters Edition as they become
available. As for the links to the Choral Public Domain
Library (ChoralWiki), I'm going to purge out most of those.
Many of them use Sämtliche Werke
as their source anyway, and all the choral works without orchestra
are now available from that edition. The one exception will be
the fantastic scores by Robert Urmann, which will remain. The
project of updating the score links will take some time, so please
be patient on that, as I want to work on new guides while doing it.
I want to once again acknowledge the wonderful
Emily Ezust, whose site remains the source for English translations
linked from the guides. Emily is a true "Mensch" in every
sense of the word. Please consider giving her a donation (via
the PayPal link visible on every text and translation on her
site). There are not too many holes left for translations of
Brahms texts, and I am working to fill them (I believe my
credentials as a German translator are well established at this
point), and am grateful to Emily for her help with that as
well. You'll notice that many of the translations for Op. 44
are mine.
So once again, PLEASE contact me to let me know
you're still here, and while guides may not appear as rapidly as
they once did, I will make every effort to avoid another huge
break. Hey, over half of the opus numbered works are here
already--they will be finished eventually. Only a few guides
still remain to be revised. This will happen shortly as well,
starting with the long-suffering guide to the Op. 3 songs, which has
been begging for revision for a long time.
(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.
(9/29/09): The update to the Op. 18 sextet has been done, and the
recording used is now one that takes the first movement exposition
repeat. The guide now reflects that repeat.
UPDATE ON REVISIONS (9/15/09): The guide to the "Magelone"
cycle, Op. 33, represented a turning point in the style and
development of the project. I consider it the first one to use
the new standard (that might also explain the long hiatus after I
posted it). It did not require a great deal of intervention,
but there were some important details I missed and some cleaning up
to do. It is by far the largest guide (and probably will
remain so). I hope that now it is better than ever. In
the near future, revisions will be done of the song sets Opp. 43,
63, 84, and 106 as well as the duets Op. 20. I also intend to
redo Piano Sonata #2 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 2. That will only
leave Op. 1 and Op. 3 for extensive revision, but I'm saving those
for a future time. I would like to revise the male choruses,
Op. 41. I am currently engaged in a quixotic quest to get my
hands on the original vocal parts so that I can clarify the text
underlay of the bass parts in No. 5 (this has been a sore spot for a
while). I'm trying to exhaust my resources there. There
will also be a slight revision to the Op. 18 sextet, which will be
noted when it is done. I have obtained a recording that takes
the exposition repeat in the first movement, and would like to
change the guide to use that recording and be more "complete."
My beloved Amadeus Quartet recording of all the quintets and sextets
sadly left out the repeats of both this piece and the Op. 111
quintet. To my great joy, a recording was recently made of
those two very pieces (strange coupling) by the Verdi Quartet that
includes the repeats! The Op. 111 quintet will be one of the
next guides to be added. I think I have found a way to make
sure that no exposition repeats are omitted in any recordings I will
use for the guides (this is also one reason why the return of
Symphony #1 is kind of delayed). Finally, I am NEARLY finished
adding score links and bolding the time headings (really, only the
guides to be extensively revised still need attention there).
Op. 65 still needs score links, and then that will be pretty much
it. I also think it's time to archive all of these updates and
move them to a separate page so that this main page can mainly be
devoted to the list of guides and to the very latest update.
That will probably happen soon. Thanks for all the wonderful
feedback on the site!
(9/1/09): The addition of Violin Sonata # 1, Op. 78, and the
revisions of Violin Sonata # 2, Op. 100, and Violin Sonata # 3, Op.
108, mark the first completed chamber music genre on the site.
The major revisions to Op. 108 were in the last movement. I
remember doing that hurriedly back in 2007. In late 2006,
before the long break with no updates, I had completed the first
three movements of the piece. In 2007, a very busy year for
me, I needed to finish it for use in a class, and did the last
movement quickly and superficially. You'll notice that it was
the only guide added that year and the last one before I resumed the
site in earnest in late 2008.
--Because of Robert Urmann's excellent recent work on Brahms at
Choral Wiki, his editions will now be given precedence in my links
to that site, and any editions he completes will replace any current
links to Choral Wiki. Urmann's editions also lack the measure
numbering issues that are present in other editions on the Choral
Wiki site.
(8/19/09): The revision of the Op. 42 partsongs taught me...well,
why revisions of the earlier guides are necessary. I had
thought I wouldn't need to do much with it since I was more detailed
with vocal works than with instrumental works back then, but in
addition to grammatical format, I also discovered several blatant
analytical errors. Hey, I'm human. Let me know if you
ever find what you perceive to be outright mistakes. Also,
note that complete scores for Op. 93a (with CORRECT measure numbers)
are now available from Choral Wiki and linked!
(8/3/09): Six Piano Pieces (Klavierstücke), Op. 118, which was
already one of the better earlier guides, has been somewhat
revised. Many attractive elements of the old guide that I no
longer regularly use, such as internal event timings within
segments, have been retained. This revision comes in tandem
with the posting of the companion set, Op. 119.
(7/21/09): In case anyone is wondering, I really despise "vocal
scores" (piano reductions) of choral/orchestral works and orchestral
reductions (two-piano arrangements) of concertos, and will NOT
include any links to such scores (except in one case, where the
first edition full score of Piano Concerto #1, Op. 15 is not
available from Lübeck). Those types of scores are for
performance preparation, not analytical study.
(7/11/09): I have finally done a revision to an earlier guide.
Violin Sonata #2 in A Major, Op. 100, has been thoroughly redone to
help it conform to the standards of later guides. It's not as
easy a task as I imagined! This will now be done with older
guides on a regular basis. For now, only guides posted BEFORE
August 2008 will undergo extensive revision, although even later
guides could be revised in the future. If anybody liked the
brevity and "digest" form of the earlier guides, I do apologize, but
I have to try to get them all to the same standard, and the "digest"
form started to fail me around the time I did the "Magelone"
Romances (Op. 33).
(6/26/09): In one final "tweak" to the score links, I've decided to
go ahead and include the link to the Lübeck first editions for all
works, since these are of great historical interest, even when they
are not the only available scores. I will also include links
to other online scores when they are available. All scores
will be linked through either IMSLP or CPDL (Choral Wiki).
Note that in some CPDL scores that begin with upbeats, the upbeats
are counted as measures, so one number should be subtracted from all
measure numbers that appear in such scores. Again, this ONLY
applies to certain CPDL scores that begin with incomplete measures
(such as Op. 93a, No. 3 or Op. 92, No. 4).
UPDATE OF UPDATE BELOW (6/17/09): I have rethought my
approach to including score links. The Lübeck site, while
valuable, is quite limited because of the restriction to first
printed editions. I have therefore decided to link to the
scores via the International Music Score Library Project
(IMSLP)/Petrucci Library. There are several advantages to
this. First, the site's basic language is English, not
German. Second, the scores are always uploaded as printable
.pdf files, not the rather confusing page navigation system from the
Lübeck site. Third, and most importantly, it allows me some
flexibility in which scores I link. In many cases, the Lübeck
score is the only one available (their entire collection is mirrored
by IMSLP). But at IMSLP, even these scores are full .pdf
files. For many scores, the Breitkopf & Härtel complete
edition from 1927 is used (which is the best available public domain
source). I will include what I believe to be the best
available scores. Songs present a special challenge.
IMSLP has links to the complete Lübeck scores (which are always in
the original keys, and I always use original keys for my
guides). It also has links to some individual song scores,
currently available for all song groups through Op. 58. These
come from the Peters Edition, and are easier to read. The
problem is that these are always in the high key, which in most
cases (but not all) is also the original key. I have decided
to include links to both the Lübeck scores and the Peters scores
(when they are available), always indicating whether they are in the
original key. I should mention that most of the recordings
that I use for the site are in fact in the low key (which is usually
NOT the original key), since Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a
baritone. This is only a problem for those with perfect
pitch. I felt it best, however, to use the original keys for
analysis. So it is in fact uncommon that my analysis, the
recorded performance, and an available online score will all be in
the same key for solo songs. Confused yet?
Also, for choral works without orchestra, I may turn to the Choral
Public Domain Library (CPDL or ChoralWiki), whose .pdf scores are
generally of even higher quality than what IMSLP currently has to
offer. Their offerings are, however, far from complete.
All score links will be directed through CPDL or IMSLP. Lübeck
scores will be linked through IMSLP rather than through their own
site. That will be the practice.
IN OTHER NEWS: A symphony is
finally available! OK, now that I've said that, I want to say
that it is painfully obvious that the earlier guides (essentially
anything added before August 2008) are of lesser quality than the
later ones. Rest assured that these earlier guides WILL be
revised eventually. Right now I'm concentrating on getting up
as much content as possible, but the revisions will happen.
All guides, even the later ones, are subject to constant
revision. I really want to create a uniform standard so that
the guides can be useful to both musicians AND lay music lovers with
a reasonable knowledge of music theory. Even those with
limited musical knowledge can simply ignore what they do not
understand. I'm honestly trying to be all-inclusive (which was
not the case when I started this). FINALLY, don't forget that I have the recordings
available for anybody who individually requests them. Simply
email me to obtain them.
UPDATE (6/10/09): In yet another effort to improve the guides, I
am beginning, with the just-added guide to the Op. 47 songs,
to add links to the online scores from the Brahms-Institut
Lübeck. This collection is a wonderful resource.
Each link will be to the first page of the score.
Navigation buttons (in German) are at the top. These
scores are usually first editions and lack measure
numbers. Score links will gradually be added to existing
guides, again moving in reverse order by date. The
boldface time and measure number indices will continue to be
added to existing guides, also in reverse order by date as
before.
(12/26/08): In an effort to make the guides somewhat easier to
read, the main time and measure number indices will now be in
boldface with all new guides. This will be changed in
existing guides in gradual updates, moving in reverse order to
that in which they were added. For example, the first
"update" to an existing guide was to the Op. 76 piano
pieces. I have also decided to remove the link to the
Symphony #1 guide (Op. 68). It is simply not up to my
current standards, and will be reposted upon revision.
While other earlier guides may be revised in the future, none
except this one will be removed.
(11/13/08): Beginning with the String Sextet #1, Op. 18,
movement headings in instrumental works will be
underscored. This will be updated in existing guides,
but not noted on the main page.
(9/26/08): I went ahead and removed the green "measure
numbers added" tags. The Symphony No. 1 guide is the
only one that does not have them, and since I know that it
will undergo a substantial revision at some point, I will add
them then.
(8/28/08): All guides except for Symphony #1 (Op. 68)
now have measure numbers and recording catalog numbers.
When Symphony #1 is added, the green tags will be
removed. Also, I have added a "home" link to the bottom
of each guide. I should have done that long ago.
This should help if somebody runs across a single guide
through a search engine.
LONG-DELAYED UPDATE (8/18/08): These guides
are my personal labor of love. Posting them on the internet is
a way to share them with others. Unfortunately, I have had
little opportunity to add more of them in the last couple of years
due to real academic and personal life getting in the way (including
my Brahms dissertation, which must take first priority--and the
birth of my third child in February 2007). But I love this
project so much that I can't let it die, and I hope to begin to work
steadily, if not quickly, on adding more. I have not yet
brought them to the attention of entities such as the American
Brahms Society (whose officers I know), as I want them to be more
complete before doing that. You can see that Op. 108 was added
in 2007, and Op. 41 a few months ago. I have now added Op. 85,
and my goal is to add two or three works (or opus numbers) per month
if time and other demands allow that.
In the interim, the University of Colorado has dropped the
ucsub.colorado.edu server, where I was hosting my personal
pages. I needed to move everything to webfiles.colorado.edu,
which is free, but doesn't work well with search engines.
Because of that, I decided to acquire kellydeanhansen.com, a domain
I've wanted to have for a while anyway. For now, it will
display ads for GoDaddy.com on top, which kind of messes with the
margins of the pages and also creates issues with printing.
I'd like to do more with that domain in the future, including
starting a blog, but for now, the Brahms guides will be on the index
page there. The page already shows up in Google under the
"Brahms Listening Guides" search (usually in second position), and
I'm hoping it will show up in Yahoo as well (the old
ucsub.colorado.edu page did show up there). There were at
least a couple of pages that linked the old URL, so the change was
kind of frustrating. But ultimately, this is better. To
keep an ad free version available that is probably also more
printer-friendly, I will continue to mirror everything at
webfiles.colorado.edu, linked at the top of kellydeanhansen.com.
As far as the guides themselves go, I'm struggling with the decision
whether or not to revise some of the earlier guides. My style
has evolved since 2005 more toward complete sentences and greater
detail. That is not necessarily "better," but styles do
evolve. I have not made that decision yet, but at least one
guide, that for the First Symphony, Op. 68, will probably demand
it. That was the exercise I did back in 2004 on a whim to
share with a couple of friends and it inspired the entire
project. I have great affection for that guide as it stands,
but it has an air of informality (as does the one for Op. 1, but
that is less extreme) and brevity that will surely contrast with the
other three symphonies when I get around to them. So at least
that one will probably be revised whenever the next symphony goes
up. When I conceived the idea (based on the First Symphony
guide), I initially decided to go in chronological opus number, but
after the first three, I went with a random list for more
variety. That has worked well and I am sticking with
that. Because songs and vocal works have more opus numbers
(out of 122 total), there may seem to be a bias toward songs at some
times. Also, only a few posted guides still lack measure
numbers (Opp. 68, 100, 106, and 118). Those will be completed
and added in the near future. See the link below for
information on measure numbers.
FINALLY, a reminder about
the recordings used in the guide. I can provide any of these
to anybody who asks, but you must contact me privately at hansenkd
[at] colorado [dot] edu to request them. I can provide them in
mp3 or CD format (the latter would require a snailmail address, of
course). For very obvious reasons, I can't post any recordings
publicly.
UPDATE (6/26/06): I'm back! I went
for a while without updates (busy with my class and other things),
and am anxious to get back into constructing guides, so I'll be
placing new works up more regularly now. I do hope that
eventually the site will become known in the Brahms world and will
be visited. There are a couple of changes I am instituting in
the guides. First, I am now including measure numbers along
with time indices. This will make the guides less "recording
specific" and might be helpful for those who may want to use them
with just scores or scores in conjunction with recordings.
"Old" guides will be gradually updated with measure numbers, and any
"new" guides will include them. Until all posted guides are
updated, those that have been given measure numbers will be
indicated. For some additional information about how measures
are numbered, click
here. Also, each guide will now include a brief
indication of the catalog number of the recording used. A link
with more details about these recordings will be added
shortly. Because of copyright, no MP3's or other audio of the
recordings will be posted on the site. Contact me privately
for help in obtaining digital or CD versions of the recordings from
me (many are out of print).
UPDATE (12/29/05): A WORD ON TRANSLATIONS OF WORKS WITH
TEXTS: I have communicated with Emily Ezust, the webmaster
of The Lied and Art Song Texts Page (http://www.recmusic.org/lieder).
She
is
happy
to
allow
me
to
use her translations for the site, but she would prefer for me to
link directly to the respective pages on her site for translations
rather than copying the texts here. She has good reasons for
this request. Translations by their nature will inevitably
involve copyright issues, and Ms. Ezust's site is, for many reasons,
the best option for providing translations in my guides. The
guide for Op. 3 has been changed accordingly, and this format will
be used for ALL texted works, with a few exceptions. The
original German texts will of course remain in the guides
themselves. A convenience of linking directly to Ms. Ezust's
translations on her own site is that the original German is often
printed side by side with the translation. She currently has
all of the Lieder (solo songs) as well as vocal duets and quartets
translated. She is gradually working on part songs and other
choral works, and has promised me that those "holes" in the Brahms
choral output will be filled. For this reason, I will not post
guides for certain poetic choral works until she has the translation
on her site. The exception to this will be works with biblical
texts. In these cases, I will include the corresponding
passage of the King James Version along with the Luther Bible text
set by Brahms. King James is obviously not a translation of
Luther, so the correspondence will not be exact. In cases
where Ms. Ezust has provided a close English translation of the
Luther Bible text, links will be provided for those translations.
I am grateful to Emily Ezust for allowing me to link to her
translations and for her positive feedback on the guides themselves.