Brahms 7 Fantasies

[ by Richard Goode]
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Seven Fantasies, Op. 116Born May 7, 1833, in Hamburg; died April 3, 1897, in Vienna.

Brhams completed the Seven Fantasies, Op. 116, in 1892, and they received their first complete Carnegie Hall performance on March 4, 1949, with Frank Glazer, piano. The first performance at Carnegie Hall of any of the Fantasies took place on November 29, 1902, with Ossip

Gabrilowitsch, who performed the Intermezzo in E Major, Op. 116, No. 4.Johannes Brahms’s “Paganini” Variations, Op. 35, completed at age 30, was his last large-scale keyboard work. His subsequent piano pieces were all cast in single-movement forms, most of them quite small. Far from being trifles, these were microcosmic “novels in miniature” wrought with jewel-like perfection, in which allusive intimacy rose to the truly oracular. One set of these Klavierstücke—the eight pieces of Op. 76—appeared in 1878, to be followed shortly after by the more extended Rhapsodies of Op. 79.

The Rhapsodies would have constituted Brahms’s early farewell to piano music had he persisted in his intention to retire from composition in 1890. However, the playing of a superb clarinetist soon lured him back to work, and 19 short piano pieces appeared in 1892–93, reaching print in four volumes as Brahms’s Opp. 116–119.

The present Op. 116 collection, titled “Fantasies,” comprises seven pieces and lasts some 22 minutes in performance. Brahms completed Op. 116 while summering at Ischl in 1892. Although the pieces may be played separately, Brahms unified the set by beginning and ending it with fiery Capriccios in the same key (D minor). Moreover, three leisurely paced pieces in succession (Nos. 4–6) share the note E as their key-center, suggesting a kind of slow movement, and the agitated main themes of No. 3 and the final No. 7 show a distinct family resemblance.

A burst of rage launches the opening Capriccio on its brief, breathless journey; later, abysses loom in passages where fateful bass descents that set the whole instrument aglow. The ensuing Intermezzo brings a plaintive minor-key melody over rocking rhythm. Purling filigree summons a nocturnal atmosphere, and a major-key transformation of the initial melody sings with openhearted ardor before the original plaint returns. Heroic derring-do invigorates the following Capriccio, cast in A-B-A form, with the rich-textured B-section reveling in a melody of noble grandeur.

No. 4 is again designated “Intermezzo,” although Brahms thought of titling it “Nocturne.” Opening with serene, introverted lyricism, it gradually sheds its reticence, as melody sings out over a rich bed of left-hand figuration. Enigmatic, fretful lilt marks the next Intermezzo, its melody stated in wistful, elusive fragments. Serenity and affection return in No. 6, where sonorous chordal outer portions surround a gently fluttering central episode. Agitated heroism dominates the final Capriccio, again in A-B-A form. The B-portion presents a tenor-register melody against a colloquy of upswoops vs. downswoops. The recurrence of A leads to an emphatic coda that crystallizes the opening music into crashing chords before winning through to triumph.