Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Op 34: 3rd Movement

Texture
1. At the beginning there is a pedal on the 'cello accompanying music in octaves in Violin 1 and viola
2. Free imitation between the piano and strings from bar 5
3. The third theme (in C major), from the end of bar 22 is in homophonic style
4. The music builds to five-part texture at the stretto beginning at bar 92.
5. The main theme of the trio uses melody-dominated homophony
The overall form of the movement is Scherzo and Trio structure, using a large scale ternary form (ABA)
1. 1. A: Scherzo. 1-67
  1. Theme 1. Bars 1-12 - a syncopated tune in C minor, beginning in triadic style, leading to a rising sequence
  2. 2. Bars 13-21 - a pianissimo march theme, with a distinctive repeated note pattern
  3. 3. Bars 22-37 - tutti fortissimo theme in the tonic major (C), repeated down an octave in bar 30, with the piano imitating two beats later
  4. Theme 1. varied repeat - bars 38-56
  5. Theme 2. varied repeat - bars 57-67 modulating from G minor (dominant) to E flat minor (the remote, mediant key).
2. 2. B: Trio. Fugato/67-100
  1. Fugato - bars 67-100 - beginning in E flat minor. The subject in the viola, based on theme 2, is accompanied by a simultaneous staccato countersubject in the piano left hand.
    1. A fugato is a fugal section in a piece (as opposed to a fugue, which is a whole movement in itself).
  2. When the answer appears in the right hand of the piano in bar 71, a 2nd countersubject appears in the piano left hand, while the first countersubject shifts to the viola part
  3. A third countersubject enters in the viola at bar 80 and we now have four-part counterpoint. It is comparatively unusual to have more than one countersubject.
  4. A stretto section, (where the entries are closer together than before) starts at bar 92. The music builds to a climax at bar 100.
3. 3. A: Scherzo repeated. 100-193
  1. Themes from the A section in a different order and different keys
    1. Theme 2 fortissimo in E flat minor at bar 100
    2. Theme 3 in E flat major (relative major) at bar 109
    3. Theme 1, bar 125-158, moving from E flat minor to the tonic
    4. Theme 2, fortissimo (tonic key - C minor) at bar 158
4. The Trio is cast in clear ternary form
  1. A (193-225) Sweetly lyrical theme in C major (tonic major). It is repeated at bar 210, this time forte with a new broken chord accompaniment in the piano.
  2. B (225-241) A more aggressive and contrapuntal theme with constantly shifting tonality. The violins begin in octaves.
  3. A varied (241-261) The first theme of the Trio returns in the tonic major, but with a new, slightly menacing bass line, which descends chromatically from B flat to F, before sinking to the tonic note C for 8 bars of tonic pedal.
5. The scherzo is then repeated to end the movement
Tonality
1. Wide-ranging - typical of the Romantic age
2. Tonic C minor (the title states F minor, but this refers to the opening movement of the work), though the music modulates almost constantly
3. Related keys like the dominant are used (eg. the beginning of the fortissimo section at bar 57).
  1. Distant keys like E flat minor (found in the fugato and elsewhere) occur more often
    1. The remote key of B major appears briefly in the trio (from bar 206)
4. The tonic major key is used frequently, e.g.. the third main tune, as well as the trio. Alternation between tonic minor and major was a common device in Romantic music, much favoured by Schubert.
5. Pedals reinforce the key, e.g. tonic pedal at the beginning of the scherzo and end of the trio.
  1. There is a long dominant pedal from bar 225 to 233
Harmony
1. Chromatic harmony is a feature of Romantic music and is found everywhere in this piece.
  1. Soon after the beginning, the introduction of the chromatic F sharp in the piano part introduces harsh dissonance with the F natural in the Violin and Viola at bar 7.
  2. Bar 232: Diminished 7th. Additional dissonance as the chord is over a dominant pedal note G.
2. Perfect cadences hardly exist. Instead Brahms likes to propel the music forward by having frequent imperfect cadences, eg. bars 12-13. Here the 3rd is omitted from the dominant chord
Melody
1. Melodies are highly motivic, built from small cells.
2. The 1st theme begins in broken chord style, before a phrase is repeated in rising sequence
3. Falling minor 2nd is an important feature of the movement and is constantly repeated, as at the end of the scherzo (bars 190-2)
4. Chromatic passages are frequent, e.g.. bars 166-169, where the 1st Violin moves up chromatically from E natural to A natural
Rhythm and Metre
1. Duble time throughout, but varies from compound duple, as at the beginning, to simple duple, e.g. from bar 13.
2. The time signature changes a number of times to accommodate the different tunes.
3. Often distinctive march rhythm, particularly for the 2nd theme (from bar 13), where semiquaver rests and staccato markings add to the detached, spiky nature of the music.

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Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Op 34: 3rd Movement

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	Created by Matt Pope almost 11 years ago