ARCHIVED UPDATE NOTICES FOR BRAHMS LISTENING GUIDES
 ©2005-2024 by Kelly Dean Hansen
HEADERS ON MAIN PAGE FROM JUNE 2014-MAY 2024:
6/17/14: In the almost ten years since beginning this project, it has been a personal labor of love.  It has been extremely gratifying to hear stories of people who enjoy what I have done and find the guides useful.  It has been even more satisfying to see my work here cited in various papers and projects.  But this is a labor-intensive project for which I receive no material benefit or compensation.  The guides are and always will be free to use and to cite (as long as I am properly credited), but I feel that it is finally time to drop this little button onto the top of the site.  If you feel that my continuation and eventual completion of the project is of value to you or to others, please consider helping me out.  Two days ago, I publicly announced (above) that I would not take any requests for guides.  However, for any donation of $20 or more, I will immediately drop what I am working on and move directly to a work of your choice from the 38 remaining opus numbers (no WoO numbers at this point).  First come, first serve.  Guaranteed completion within ten days of the donation or, if somebody is ahead of you, within ten days from the point at which the previous guide in the queue is completed.  Thank you in advance to anybody who is moved to help.

NOTE (6/15/14): I should have indicated long ago that I can no longer take requests for specific guides, and I have not done so for some time.  I have explained to some people who have emailed me that it is just not feasible, and that it is best to stick to the random order I generated long ago.  The guide you want will eventually be available.  The site should be finished in the next 2-3 years.  84 of 122 opus numbers have now been done.  For whatever reason, I have not changed this introduction since 2006, and I really should have done so.  I AM still willing to tailor EXISTING guides to alternate recordings (with changed timings), although with the new public Spotify playlist, this should not usually be necessary.

OTHER ARCHIVED UPDATE NOTICES:
UPDATE (3/17/24): WE ARE ALMOST THERE!  The Second Serenade (Op. 16) and the C-major Piano Trio (Op. 87) have been posted, leaving only the First Serenade (Op. 11).  This is a big work, so it may take a while.  That will not mean that the site is “finished,” as I intend to do some revisions to earlier guides that I now find lacking (the C-minor Piano Trio, Op. 101, is a prime example).  And the possibility exists that I will do the most significant works without opus number--but this is a major milestone nonetheless.  When Op. 11 is finished, I will almost certainly change the heading at the top of the page and archive those 10-year-old notes.  The updates here at the bottom of the page will also be moved to the archive at that point.

UPDATE (11/10/23): A big hole has now been filled with the arrival of the Haydn Variations in guides for both the orchestral and two piano versions.  That leaves five opus numbers remaining.  I intend to work on the C-major Piano Trio (Op. 87) simultaneously with the two remaining groups of vocal pieces (a set of solo songs, Op. 94, and the three vocal quartets, Op. 64).  The two orchestral serenades (Op. 11 and Op. 16) will then be the last opus numbers to be posted.  At that point, there will likely be revisions to older guides, and if I can keep going, I intend to start the works without opus number, beginning with the Hungarian Dances (a new index page for works without opus number would be created and linked).  I have made many predictions, promises, and “guarantees” that have turned out to be premature and false, but I am optimistic that the remaining five opus numbers will be posted by the middle of 2024.  That would be 20 years after I first conceived the idea of the listening guides in 2004.

UPDATE (1/4/23): Happy New Year!  I am happy to report that there are only TEN remaining opus numbers that still lack guides.  It has been a very long road, but an initial end point is finally in sight!  Thank you for your patience and faith in me.  One of the last remaining large works has just been posted, the C-minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60.  Only one song set remains, one set of choral motets (next on the docket), one set of vocal duets, one set of vocal quartets, two chamber works (both trios), the Schicksalslied for chorus and orchestra, the Haydn Variations (no, I have no good answer as to why this major and popular work is one of the last--much of the order has been based on a randomly generated sequence), and the two serenades, which I am planning to finish last.

UPDATE (2/17/22): Just a quick check-in to note that by far the most significant work remaining, the First Piano Concerto, has now been posted.  There are now 18 opus numbers to be completed.  I intend to make the largest remaining work, the First Serenade, the final one to be uploaded.  Two years into the pandemic, it is my hope that the immersion into great music has been a solace for anyone and everyone who has ventured to this obscure and esoteric little corner of the internet!

REMAINING WORKS WITH OPUS NUMBER TO BE COMPLETED AS OF 6/30/2020
Orchestral Works (including one concerto and one choral/orchestral work):
Serenade #1, Op. 11, Piano Concerto #1, Op. 15, Serenade #2, Op. 16, Schicksalslied, Op. 54, Haydn Variations, Op. 56a
Chamber Works:
Horn Trio, Op. 40, Piano Quartet #3, Op. 60, String Quartet #3, Op. 67, Piano Trio #2, Op. 87, Clarinet Trio, Op. 114, Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115
Piano Works:
Schumann Piano Duet Variations, Op. 23, Haydn Variations for Two Pianos, Op. 56b, Fantasies, Op. 116
Unaccompanied Choral Works:
Fest- und Gedenksprüche (Motets), Op. 109, 13 Canons for Women's Voices, Op. 113
Vocal Ensembles:
Four Duets, Op. 61, Three Quartets, Op. 64, Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103, Six Quartets, Op. 112
Solo Songs:
Six Songs, Op. 6, Six Songs, Op. 7, Four Songs, Op. 46, Seven Songs, Op. 48, Five Songs, Op. 94, Seven Songs, Op. 95, Four Songs, Op. 96, Five Songs, Op. 105, Five Songs, Op. 107

UPDATE (3/11/19): Hello, Brahms lovers!  If you have been coming to the site in the last five years or so (since 2014), you are aware that new guides have been few and far between during that time.  In November 2017, I received a request to start working on the Second Piano Concerto, which I agreed to do, knowing it was a big work that might take me a while to analyze.  I worked on it sporadically then and through 2018, but early this year, I decided to make a systematic plan to finish that guide and to hopefully return to regular production so that the last 34 opus numbers (at this point) can finally be posted to make the site quasi-complete.  After posting the guide, which gave me great satisfaction, I decided to take the initiative to do some long-delayed cleanup, especially in the later opus numbers beyond Op. 84.  When I revised the pre-2008 guides in 2009-2010, for some reason I never got around to revising Op. 84.  That was also the cause for me stopping there when updating score links, song keys, and other spruce-ups.  After posting the opus number directly preceding, I decided it was time to finally tackle this, which only took me a few hours.  That guide was still in a very early state, and did not even have bold timing and measure indexes.  Being thus in the mood again, I continued to clean up the site.  Here is what I accomplished:

1. Completely revised the guide for Op. 84, Romances and Songs for One or Two Voices, adding timings for a duet recording.
2. Went through all guides and added internal links, as I had started doing with earlier opus numbers in 2015.  I may have been a little obsessive with this, and there is certainly an element of overkill (many repeated internal links in the same heading, etc.), but I don't think the links are distracting from the text (they mainly appear in the introductory paragraphs).  I created “dummy” pages for opus numbers where the guide does not yet exist so that I could simply add all the links at once.
3. Fixed all the dead score links after Op. 84 and added score links to make these later guides consistent with the earlier ones, particularly with the addition of alternate keys for solo songs.  Added links to the IMSLP work page for the later opus numbers after Op. 84.
4. Fixed all the translation links, changing them from recmusic.org to lieder.net to avoid a redirect.  Emily Ezust’s site has permanently migrated.
5. Moved all the updates on this main page to the archive, which was long overdue.
6. Made every attempt to bring every guide to the same state as far as consistency in links to scores, translations, formatting, etc.

Granted, there are some guides from 2008 that could possibly use a revision (for example, Op. 101), but none of them are in the state that that the 2006 ones were before revision, and Op. 84 was a relic of that.  I would want to finish adding the remaining opus numbers before doing any further revisions.

I probably should update the header to the page and move those comments, but that is something that can wait, perhaps when the opus numbers are finally all available.

And in upsetting news, last July all of the Fischer-Dieskau/Barenboim song recordings disappeared from Spotify in the United States.  The DG complete edition was essentially withdrawn, and most of its recordings were assigned to other album art, but the Fischer-Dieskau songs were removed (the Jessye Norman ones are still available).  I inquired about this with Deutsche Grammophon, and while they wanted to be helpful, they really didn’t have a good answer as to why the recordings had been removed or when they would be available again in the U.S.  They told me to be patient and wait.  This obviously leaves a big hole in the playlist.  I hope they will come back.  I believe most other recordings on the playlist are still available, although I may need to find a new one for the Op. 16 Serenade.

Finally, I really do have to ask for donations again.  I hate to sound desperate, but the guides are available freely for anyone to use.  The hosting, which was once included with the domain, is now no longer bundled, and I pay a monthly fee for it.  And last May, I was forced to resign my position as classical music writer for the Daily Camera.  If the remaining 34 opus numbers are to be completed, the site needs to generate real income.  With only 27% of the opus numbers still remaining, I can still prioritize missing works that donors would like to see (if the donation is $20 or more--$50 would be preferred for this), but I also have to give some of the lesser remaining works my attention.

I think that’s all for now.  Thank you again for all of your encouragement and for your patience in the years of inactivity.

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.