The eleven chorale preludes Op. 122 Johannes Brahms
Date
1990
Authors
Shaw, John Abbott
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Abstract
Although Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is well known as a composer of orchestral and chamber music, of choral works and solo songs, he is not generally known as a composer of music for the organ. His interest in this field began under the influence of Robert and Clara Schumann while he was a young man but was set aside after the death of Robert Schumann. He did not turn again to the organ until almost the end of life. It is not known what caused his return to organ music at this time but the world of organ music has been greatly enriched by his essays in the form of the chorale prelude a genre made famous by outstanding German organist-composers in earlier centuries.
The intent of this thesis is to analyse the contrapuntal and harmonic structures of these short compositions to discover the source of their unique attraction. To this end, following a short biographical sketch in the first chapter in which the meagre results of a search for Brahms' religious influences are recorded, the chorale melodies and Brahms' treatment of them are examined in chapter two, while in chapter three, the comparison between the chorale melodies, as found by Brahms, and his subsequent modifications of them are discussed, and shown in score in Appendix D.
Since the chorale melodies on which the preludes are based are themselves a specialized development of German Volkslieder, a subject of life-long interest to Brahms, a brief comparison is made between his treatment of the sacred and secular forms of this genre as found in his 49 Deutsche Volkslieder. Analyses of the selected Volkslied melodies are contained in Appendix C. German texts have been included for all chorales and selected Volkslieder on the grounds that Brahms, to whom they would have had relevance, was as much a scholar of German literature, folk-song texts, and the Bible, as of music ancient and modern. Where English translations have been available they have also been included.These texts are included in Appendix E.
The heart of the thesis is contained in the contrapuntal and harmonic analyses which form chapter four and its accompanying Appendices A and B.
Because of Brahms's reticence about his religious beliefs, and because of his selection of enigmatic Biblical texts for his choral and vocal compositions, there has been great divergence among writers about Brahms' attitude toward Christianity. An attempt has been made to discover writings concerned specifically with his relationship to religion. A concise report of the finding is included at the end of chapter one.
The fifth chapter comments on organs Brahms may have played, on organ registration and on performance, with particular reference to articles published in Music by Vernon Gotwals in April 1970, and by Robert Schuneman in September 1972, which discuss all editions of op.122, to which I have added some remarks about the most recent Henle edition prepared by George S. Bozarth. Also included is a short description of the similarities between selected preludes of op. 122 and certain works by Johann Sebastian Bach.