The first intermezzo in opus 119 is in B minor, adagio. A very ideal and poetic movement, requiring, however, to be played with great delicacy and a deep and musical tone, which rarely rises to forte. The other intermezzi of this book I do not much care for. In the opus 116, the fourth number, entitled Intermezzo, is also a very beautiful adagio in E major, and it is one of the most poetic and delightful short pieces for the piano of any recent master. Both these pieces are of quite moderate difficulty. Of a somewhat more dramatic and diversified character is the second intermezzo in the opus 116. This is in A minor, with a somewhat capricious middle piece. The great beauty of these short, slow movements of Brahms is the moderation with which they are treated, and, at the same time, the masterly manner in which the interest is kept up to the end. The most fortunate illustration of Brahms' treatment of the piano in the dramatic and highly moved direction is afforded, perhaps, by the second of the rhapsodies, opus 79. These are in no respect to be mentioned in connection with the rhapsodies by Liszt, which, as is well known, are somewhat ad captandum show pieces founded upon popular airs. The Brahms rhapsody is a poetic rhapsody, perhaps such as the rhapsodists of Greece used to deliver; and in this particular case the music is very dramatic and strongly marked, and at the same time the treatment of the piano is free and the effect brilliant. It is, however, considerably more difficult than any of the pieces mentioned above except the Paganini variations.
This program might well be diversified by a few songs of Brahms; and for this purpose selections may as well be made from the first book of songs by this writer as from any other, as they are among his best-known works.
The first volume of selected songs of Brahms contains six. The first one,—
"O sink, O sink thy grief, my child,
To the bottom of the deep, deep sea,"—
is founded upon a poem by Robert Reinick. In the edition which I notice (Schirmer) there are three texts—German, English, and French. This song is of a very serious and impassioned character, the melody somewhat slow and deliberate. The accompaniment, as so often happens in the songs of Brahms, is purposely developed out of a different rhythmic figure from that of the song itself. In this instance the melody runs in pulses and half pulses, whereas the accompaniment runs in triplets; that is to say, the chords in the right hand run in triplets, while the bass preserves the rhythm of the song itself. The entire rhythmic sense is sustained, or nearly sustained, by half-pulse motion, running at the same time with a continually sustained triplet motion, three to a pulse.
The musical handling of this song presents several peculiarities, the most notable of which is the entrance of the bass upon a dissonance, which at the same time is an advance imitation (to speak Hibernically) of the leading motive of the melody. The effect of this combination with the rhythmic figure already noticed gives the song a much more impassioned character than it would otherwise have.
It would be difficult to say why Brahms has so long remained unpopular with singers, considering how well he uses the voice. In the second line, "A stone, alas, in the sea will sink; my grief returns to me," the lower part of the accompaniment is at the same pitch and identical with the melody itself, but the voice breaks through at the emphatic climax of the phrase, "grief." This is taken upon high G-flat, and is supported with full harmony by both hands, giving the effect of a much stronger harmonic climax, and also affording the singer the needed assistance in maintaining the high pitch.
The second song in the series is a very beautiful one, "To a Violet." This is on a poem by Holty, beginning:
"Hide, O flow'ret, within thy blue recesses,
Hide these pale dews of sorrow."
The entire effect of the song and the accompaniment is extremely tender and delicate, one of the important features in the artistic effect being the arpeggios of the accompaniment, which is throughout in sixteenth-note motion, whereas the melody, in 6/8 time, runs in dotted quarters and eighths.