In terms of technique, Johannes Brahms(1833-1897)'s musical works are characterized by frequent use of octaves, 3rd and 6th parallel harmonies, recurring and overlapping melodic lines, syncopated notes, dispersive choral tones, as well as polar- and a...
In terms of technique, Johannes Brahms(1833-1897)'s musical works are characterized by frequent use of octaves, 3rd and 6th parallel harmonies, recurring and overlapping melodic lines, syncopated notes, dispersive choral tones, as well as polar- and alternating rhythms.
The well-organized style revealed in the works of senior composers such as Beethoven, Schumann, and Schubert greatly influenced Brahms' music in terms of form. Other major elements that influenced his musical compositions are the strong national spirit contained in German folk songs, as well as the characteristic irregular rhythm of the Hungarian folk music that Brahms encountered in his childhood, whose influence can be found in many of his works.
Brahms reveals his musical color through the use of harmonies that give a sense of variety of tonality, the widening of the range of tonality by harmonizing using 3rd and 6th intervals, the use of accents and dotted lines, triplet notes, successive eighth notes, and progressing to a low bass. Brahms’s work reveals the influence of romanticism in the romantic colors of its melody, harmony, and structure, but shows extreme classicism in the form of his compositions.
The music of Brahms, who lived in the era of romanticism while pursuing the musical form of classicism and moderation, can be clearly divided into a first, second, and third period.
Brahms's personality is clearly visible by his composition of mainly sonatas in the first period, variations in the second, and character pieces in the third period.
The subject of this paper, Rhapsody Op. 79, belongs to the later period, and No. 1 and No. 2 are both composed of large-scale single movements with passionate minor keys. The first song consists of a total of 235 measures and is in the complex ternary form of the A-B-A′ Coda.
The second composition consists of a more compact total of 124 measures, and is composed according to a strict sonata form, following the classic three-part structure consisting of exposition, development, and recapitulation, followed by a coda. In No. 2, it can be seen that the structural texture of the music is more revealed and a lower range is used compared to No. 1.
In this thesis, we will attempt to more deeply understand the world of Brahms’s piano works by studying Rhapsody Op. 79, and examining the characteristics and forms of the aforementioned pair of compositions.