JOHANNES BRAHMS

The Waltzes, Opus 39, in the version for one pianist, were published in 1867 with a dedication to Eduard Hanslick, the writer and musician so unfairly parodied by Wagnerin The Mastersingers, where Beckmesser is a barely disguised representation of the critic. The first version of the Waltzes was in the form of a piano duet, completed in 1865. Other versions include the present one, for one pianist. There was also a simplified version, a concession to enthusiastic amateurs, and an arrangement of four of the waltzes for two pianos. Each waltz is a delightful miniature. Occasionally a Hungarian element appears and there is, in any case, considerable variety within the necessary triple metre of the dance. The set of waltzes enjoyed considerable popularity, an early tribute by Brahms to the city where he was to make his home.

 

The cadenzas Brahms wrote out for keyboard concertos by Bach, and Mozart were published for the first time in 1927, while those for Beethoven’s G Major Piano Concerto were published originally in 1907. The cadenza for Bach’s Concerto in D minor preserves something of the style and figuration of the concerto itself. The manuscript of the cadenzas to Mozart’s Concerto in G major, K. 453, carries a note of attribution from Clara Schumann and is clear enough in texture, with one or two chords that demand either a large hand or arpeggiation. The cadenza for the slow movement is marked quasi fantasia and brings an element of Brahmsian cross-rhythm. It exists in alternative versions. The rather more elaborate cadenza for Mozart’s Concerto in D minor, K. 466, was used, in part, by Clara Schumann, as her note on the manuscript informs us. Brahms himself played the concerto in Hamburg in 1856 for the Mozart centenary celebrations. The cadenza for the first movement of Mozart’s Concerto in C minor, K. 491 also carries a note of authentication from Clara Schumann, in whose possession, it can be presumed, these manuscripts once were.