Brahms: Symphony No. 1

Cambridge Music Handbooks

by David Lee Brodbeck, Julian Rushton (Editor)

Brahms's First Symphony has been hailed as Beethoven's Tenth. Its controversial status and relationship in the Beethovenian tradition is considered alongside other important issues in the early reception history of this key work in the symphonic repertory. David Brodbeck begins with an account of the lengthy genesis and complicated background to the writing of the symphony, before providing a thorough critical reading of the work, movement by movement. In particular, Professor Brodbeck reveals a dense web of extra-compositional allusions--references in the music to works by J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and Robert Schumann--in which, the author argues, much meaning resides.

126 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 1997

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a brief but deep dive into Brahms' first symphony, covering his process in writing it, harmonic and thematic analysis of the work itself, and an examination of its early reception. I especially liked the sections about Brahms' creation of the symphony and the early reception of it. I always enjoy reading about the context of music I like. Broadbeck's harmonic analysis is clear and thorough, if a bit dry to read. I would have liked it better if I had bothered to drag out my score and more closely follow the analysis, but I confess to being a bit lazy. I really liked the discussion of all the allusions to other works in the fourth movement and what the meaning behind it may have been.