The first movement of the concerto (Allegro non troppo, D major, 3-4) has a chief subject of idyllic nature, announced by violas, ’cellos, bassoons, and horns. The peak of the movement comes with the merging of the cadenza into the return of the first subject.
The second movement (Adagio, F major, 2-4) has been compared to a serenade or a romanza. The principal melody is sung first by an oboe, then in altered form by the solo violin,
which also introduces an emotional and highly ornamented second theme. After extended development the original melody comes back in the solo instrument.
The finale (Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace, D major, 2-4) is a rondo on three themes, demanding brilliant execution from the soloist. Compact in its formal body, the movement ends in an elaborate coda. Fuller-Maitland points out the Hungarian flavor of this finale, “as if a dedication to the great Hungarian violinist were conveyed in it.”
“Academic Festival Overture,” Op. 80
According to a plaque on the outer wall of a house at Ischl in Upper Austria, “the great tone poet Dr. Johannes Brahms” occupied the house for twelve summers. Indeed, Brahms had a marked fondness for Ischl. In spite of the fact that it was one of the most fashionable of spas and that he disliked fashionable life, his attachment to the town persisted, and in the aforesaid house, in the summer of 1880, he composed two overtures, the “Tragic” and the “Academic Festival.” Notwithstanding the opus numbers, the “Tragic” was composed first and also performed first.
The origin of the “Academic Festival Overture” is explained by its name. The University of Breslau, on May 11, 1879, conferred on Brahms an honorary doctor’s degree. Though not a university man, Brahms had had a taste of university life in 1853 when, with Remenyi, he had paid a visit to Joachim, who was then at Göttingen, the university bitingly satirized by Heine. There, during his stay of several weeks, he became familiar with the songs best liked by the students. Nearly three decades later the songs were present in his memory ready for use in an overture intended as the composer’s tribute to the university honoring him.
Brahms himself conducted the first performance of the “Academic Festival Overture” on January 4, 1881, at Breslau, before an audience that included in the front seats the Rector and Senate of the University and members of the Philosophical Faculty. The honorary Doctor of Philosophy, so often mystifying and coy about a new composition, described the overture to Max Kalbeck, in the autumn of 1880, as a “very jolly potpourri on students’ songs à la Suppé.” When Kalbeck, a bit sarcastic, inquired whether he had used the “Fox Song” (a freshman song), he replied eagerly, “Yes, indeed!” Kalbeck, taken aback, declared that he could not think of such academic homage to the “leathery Herr Rektor.” “That is also wholly unnecessary,” answered Brahms.