an analysis of the soulful melody by brahms from the third movement of his third symphony. recording (rattle): • Brahms: Symphony No. 3... score: imslp.org/wiki/Special:Imagef...
My Dad introduced me to the music of Brahms. This is one of my favourite movements from his symphonies. It's so full of yearning. Dad died last year, but whenever I listen to Brahms's music, it brings happy memories and I think what a great gift Dad gave me. ❤❤
@@dandeangeli9860 I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your Dad, Dan. I hope you're doing okay. I'm glad Brahms has helped you too. I've found Brahms's music very helpful for my healing as well, especially the 2nd symphony and 2nd piano concerto. Dad also loved Rachmaninov's music, as do I, so I've been immersing myself in that, too. Thanks to both our Dads for their gifts to us. 🙏
My dad did the same, and all of the other greats of course, but he was a very difficult person. I constantly have to question myself about 'am I turning into him'.
@@skylarlimex Interesting. I think No.4 must be his best, followed by No.2, No.3 and No.1, but individual movements from all four are candidates for best 'bit'.
@@skylarlimexI think 4 being first and 1st being last is pretty unanimous as far as I’ve seen. For the most part I think the positioning of 2 and 3 are up to personal preference and I wouldn’t judge anyone for either choice.
@@jojomj I'd disagree. Though I love the 2nd and all its incredibly wonderful melodies, the 3rd just has such wonderful harmonic innovation and rhythmic surprises. The first and last movement are some of the best written symphonic music if you ask me. I'm more likely to pit 3 and 4, sometimes I can be quite undecided too!
When I was a baby, I was given a teddy bear that had a wind up music box that played Brahms’ Lullaby inside it. I remember as a toddler I used to wind it up and cry my eyes out listening to it.
@@Hojotoho.Yall504 Almost erotic the sound of our own voices. An ode to us happy few with sensitivity and taste overwhelmingly surpassing that of the vulgar and common pleb.
This is a brilliant analysis and commentary on what is one of the most gorgeous melodic inventions in the history of music. That movement is actually in the form of a minuet, but goes far beyond anything in that form that had ever been created. I've played that symphony as an orchestra member, and the entire 4-movement work is one of the most beautiful things ever created. Johannes Brahms was a man uniquely endowed with an insight into a realm far more beautiful and exquisite than what we could possibly ever experience in this world or in this life. To God alone be the glory for this marvelous man's music!
Where has Brahms been all my life? Such a fertile imagination to bring these beautiful melodies to life and all the Symphonies in particular have moments that just have you craving more but he seems to give you just enough, amazing.
For many decades in the mid 20th century Brahms was dismissed as a pale imitation of Beethoven, a composer that offered nothing original or worth paying attention to. That assessment kept many people from discovering the truth, that Brahms was an astoundingly original composer, and a true "school of one". No one else sounds like Brahms. He took traditional forms and made astonishing new music with them.
@@theoldar The closest to it in my perception is Elgar. He has often been referred to as "the English Brahms". There was in both of them a divine spirit of nobility and high idealism, very similar to each other.
@@notmyworld44 also Nikolai Medtner, a contemporary and friend of Rachmaninoff, who was sometimes called "the Russian Brahms". Medtner's music is the apotheosis of Romanticism - the motivic development of Beethoven, the lush polyphonic textures of Brahms, and the yearning melodies of the Russian school all wrapped up in one.
That movement, this melody is the definition of sweet and melancholy a human person can be. It's more than just love. It raises to higher plain field that many feel it, but I do. I feel it so strong
"lovely counterpoint here" That passage always made me feel a strange sort of melancholy. Almost warm, I guess what Brazilians call 'saudade,' the remnants of past emotions. It occupies a space just behind the foreground, but to me it is the main statement, the emotional center of the piece.
This Symphonie is my favorite. Every movement is beautiful. The last movement for me is stellar. I was invited once to introduce it at Dutch classical radio.
I must have heard this piece a lot when i was a child or something. there is something nostalgic about it. i listened to this symphony for the first time about a year ago (or so i thought) but realized i faintly recognized the melody of the 2nd movement. Regardless, brahms is just the best.
1:00 when Brahms goes major like this it’s always a moment of love and mixed nostalgic feelings. Intermezzo 1 op.118 is in C major too. It’s also notable when he goes A major, it’s always about love (intermezzo 2, wow) and a section of another intermezzo from op.117 if I’m not mistaken.
The first time I heard this was when I attended a performance of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, many years ago. Hearing that movement live, having never heard it before, was worth the price of admission to the concert. It's Rachmaninoff level beautiful...
There are many Brahms pieces that few people have heard, that sound like Rachmaninoff, showing clearly that Brahms was one if Rach''s influences. There are late Brahms pieces that sound like Debussy too.
Everything moves perfectly together, especially at 0:17 with the triplet providing the subtle "dum-dum-dum" in the background as they scale up. Or more likely the staccato eights, but the triplets fit in the middle of it all, providing that extra umph to each passage of time.
Beautiful passage! Brahms' choral music also contains some of the most beautiful moments such as several in his Deutche Requiem, written for his mother.
It is indeed, Rob. There are so many pieces - not just classical music either - that take me back to the place I first heard them or remind me of a particular time in my life. Even now, so many years later, the memories bring a smile to my face.
This is up there 👆 in the most delightful and luscious way to enjoy Brahms. It’s such a soothing piece of music to relax to after a busy day Definitely my kind of music. … Aggh Perfection no question about it.
The melody instantly struck me as being familiar, and after some time trying to remember where I recognized it from, I found it: Stan Getz's intro to Jacques Brel's ballad "If You Go Away" as a featured accompaniment to a recording sung by acclaimed jazz vocalist Helen Merrill. The influence of this Brahms melody is delicately woven into the recording and sounds so natural. I was further astonished after reading Brel's piece and finding that the melodic figures he wrote for the piece were also strongly influenced by earlier classical pieces, including one passage inspired by Franz Liszt's great Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. Fascinating details. It really shows the influence contemporary writers have on the classical eras of the past. Thank you for a comprehensive analysis of this beautiful work by Brahms. 👍
He made absolute music - which is to say music which was neither operatic nor programmatic, but rather oriented around symphonic form and its potential for expression.
I just today found your channel via Ma Mere L’oye. Upon some looking further I landed here. Thank you for the gloriously wide net you cast in your choices of works to investigate 🙏🏼 Your analysis and insights are superb!! Thank you.
for me it was exactly the 2nd and 3rd movements that introduced me to Brahms' more serious side -- it was in the soundtrack for Civilization IV, along with a few Hungarian Dance. I've spent more hours on that game than is appropriate to admit in polite company.
This probably one of the greatest melodies ever written for the human spirit to fathom, next to Rachmaninoff's variations 18 on a theme of Paganini. I must admit, I go out of my mind, if I had to select which one was more beautiful, for my ear, mind and spirit to select and full comprehend! As I live they are both stunning beautiful!
I imagine this as meditating at a beach when its cool and cloudy outside, with a light sea breeze blowing. The breeze stops and you get some calmness in the C major section and nearly gall asleep, but the wind comes back and picks up toward the end of the A section. Then the C/middle section is almost as if the wind goes back and forth and maybe even birds/seagulls passing by.
Thanks for your kind words, Wolf. I'm glad to have something that gives me so much pleasure to remember him by. Good for you for wanting to pass on the tradition! I hope your kids will realise what a gift you're giving them. Aren't the Variations wonderful. I have a recording of them with the 2nd symphony (my favourite) that I listen to regularly. It's special because Dad gave it to me. ❤
This movement alone is a Masterpiece! I've loved this melody the first time I heard it as a graduate student in the late 70's. The melody, the counterpoint, the orchestration, the "hip changes". These days, they call garbage music Masterpieces (because the music may have sold a gazillion records, or was downloaded 400 million times)! Brahms was one of those geniuses that rose up in the 19th century.
The best thing about this video is that we did not have to "start at the beginning": Who was Brahms? What is a heart? How does it get "wrenched" and what is the history of this going back to prehistoric times? And what exactly is a melody and here are 80 examples to illustrate sprinkled with dozens of cut-aways, jokes, and puns that I think are funny. And all this before we can start the actual subject of the video. Thank you for making a video for people who are not 14 with no understanding of anything in the world.
The title' s "Heart-wrenching" is so perfectly well-suited that I loved it so much, I felt paralyzed to replay it. It's so overwhelming that it intimidated me. Totally out-of-this-wordly!!! P.S. - I will still replay it once I can just accept this heanvenly gift for what it is - minus the intimidation.
Just tried to replay and stopped upon noticing how he masterfully tricked the tempo to sound as a 4/4 beat at first before fully realizing it at 3/8, which again kinda proceeded as a 6/8. All that through melodic structuring. Then, speaking of the melody, it's like an unsettling dialog between 2 eternal foes, intranched in their views so much that, each time one party offers an argument, the other counters with a more pronounced one. Argument 1 "C-D-Eb", counter-argument 1 "E-F-D", argument 1 repeated, pronounced Counter-argument 1 "Bb-Ab-D", pronounced Argument 1 "D-Eb-F", and it goes on and on... I had to stop ✋️. I will go back to it another day. It's just too much for one day!!! (That's only 8 bars in)
It's rival in Brahms's canon must be the slow movement form his 3rd piano quartet. Although he wrote alot of haunting stuff, such as the first movement of his 2nd string sextet.
I cried when hearing this.. Oh, not because it was sad, but because it was an excerpt I played for an audition. All those awful memories of practicing it over and over lmao
I've always been partial to the first movement, but I'll admit there's something special about the third. To me, it's contra-Beethoven. The image I have of Beethoven is of him walking through the Vienna woods at night, looking into the heavens, and listening to the Music of the Spheres. In this movement, I see Brahms as a brooding presence in the heavens looking down on the plight of Man.
I get that, rc. Dad could be difficult too and quite cutting when he spoke to Mum, me and my siblings. He mellowed in later life but I think we all had self esteem issues from his treatment. I'd like to think I learnt from his example which of his good characteristics to adopt and which ones to reject. Hope I've been successful. Good luck with your journey.
Sometimes, people who have had NDE's say that when they "pass' they hear the most breathtakingly beautiful music possible. To that, I would simply say: "Well, I think I have already heard it. I can think of several of them. This is in the top ten, for sure. No, I have no idea how Brahms could possibly have "thought" of this. But he did. And he developed it with the intense beauty that this magnificent tune deserved. Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
Thanks, Joanna. It's sad your Dad couldn't do better for you. I hope something positive came out of that experience. God bless you for your kind words.
Santana heard it on the radio while riding a taxi. He told the cabbie to go to Tower Records, where he hummed this tune for them, and they told him it was this symphony, so he bought the record and used the tune.
If I heard the waft of 1:06 as I was leaving this mortal coil I would feel my time was plumb and level, adversity forgiven or sued for peace, progeny launched to prosperity, I to posterity, floating in the arms of Morphos and gazing across the Elysian Fields, while drifting down the eternal, alluvial now.
Take a look at the meter and the melody. Brahms has written a lovely Viennese waltz. What makes it do melancholy is that he’s moved the upbeats from the conventional third-beat position to the DOWNBEAT of the ensuing measure. Try humming the tune relocating the “upbeats” to their conventional position and you’ll see that the intense pathos is gone. By the time Brahms finished this symphony in 1883, the waltz had long been the replacement movement for the Classical minuet-a disconcerting vestige of the bygone glory of the court of Louis XIV. By the close of the 19th century, the waltz had become a bit of musical nostalgia. This view of the waltz was explored by Maurice Ravel as well-in La valse.
And like with everything in life. There are those who listen, get carried away, and soul-surf the waves of melodies that were created by a talented human a long time ago - but in such a way that their impact on humans remains timeless. And then - there are those to whom Music, or anything that sounds like "Art" - is used to showcase their superior knowledge in music, and they end up presenting their "expertise" in analyzing and interpreting, and speculating about anything - and eventually convince themselves that their talents to talk about music is more important to than those of the composers who actually created that music. And - watch next time you are in the audience of a Concert Hall - watch the conductors, the 1st violine, or most of the "musicians" - the stooges who learned to play an instrument - they are now - the Maestros. Hoping for "an encore" which makes them the one and only reason why people showed up.
![Тестовый вопрос, на который все ответили неверно [Veritasium]](/img/1.gif)
My Dad introduced me to the music of Brahms. This is one of my favourite movements from his symphonies. It's so full of yearning. Dad died last year, but whenever I listen to Brahms's music, it brings happy memories and I think what a great gift Dad gave me. ❤❤
I'm in there with you my friend. Johannes Brahms was a luminous and God-focused soul.
My dad was also a big Brahms fan and also died last year. I listen to a lot of Brahms during my time of grieving it helped a lot.
@@dandeangeli9860 I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your Dad, Dan. I hope you're doing okay. I'm glad Brahms has helped you too. I've found Brahms's music very helpful for my healing as well, especially the 2nd symphony and 2nd piano concerto. Dad also loved Rachmaninov's music, as do I, so I've been immersing myself in that, too. Thanks to both our Dads for their gifts to us. 🙏
My dad introduced me to alcoholism and all sorts of bad things. God Bless your dad.
My dad did the same, and all of the other greats of course, but he was a very difficult person. I constantly have to question myself about 'am I turning into him'.
The greatest complement i ever got was "that sounds like something brahms would do"
Now I want to hear whatever piece you wrote that got that compliment
@@nathanhol42001me too omg
Dont tease us
1:15 ~ 1:36
This harmonic progression to the original key by diminished chord is just genious. Brilliant!!
amazing how far a diminished chord can take you
Brahms was one of THE experts on such things. His harmonic sense is just astounding.
I want to take lessons because I barely understand this musical language lol
@@skylarlimexWould you like to listen to an "re-arrangement" of a work of Brahms that I wrote?
Right! From a diminished triad or 7th you can go almost anywhere.
As a friend used to say "that how it sounds when the woman which you are in love is in love with another guy".
perfect
Exactly this
😭😭😭😭😭 I'm going through that at the moment
@@feudal_age_spearman_with_i9410 I'm sorry to hear that😭😭
And that other guy is your best buddy. Gash darn it that freaking bro code!
And one of the most beautiful orchestral horn solos in the repertoire.
It's my favourite melody of Brahms, and one of my favourites of all time.
Your piano solo transcription is the best I've seen. Nice work!
Well done 👏
If I was force to name which piece of Brahm's I like the best, my only real answer is: yes.
I heard this on a car commercial years ago and it took me forever to figure out where it was from (Symphony 3) Truly one of the great melodies😍
@@rbarnes4076I’ve heard this answer before: Everybody’s favorite Brahms piece is which ever one they heard last.
so good! my favorite Brahms symphony is always whichever one I last listened to
i love that
@@skylarlimex Interesting. I think No.4 must be his best, followed by No.2, No.3 and No.1, but individual movements from all four are candidates for best 'bit'.
@@martinlee5604 i'd personally say 4,3,2,1
@@skylarlimexI think 4 being first and 1st being last is pretty unanimous as far as I’ve seen. For the most part I think the positioning of 2 and 3 are up to personal preference and I wouldn’t judge anyone for either choice.
@@jojomj I'd disagree. Though I love the 2nd and all its incredibly wonderful melodies, the 3rd just has such wonderful harmonic innovation and rhythmic surprises. The first and last movement are some of the best written symphonic music if you ask me. I'm more likely to pit 3 and 4, sometimes I can be quite undecided too!
When I was a baby, I was given a teddy bear that had a wind up music box that played Brahms’ Lullaby inside it. I remember as a toddler I used to wind it up and cry my eyes out listening to it.
Such a sensitive spirit as yours and mine is rare.
People like us who defecate marble are indeed of the rarest kind.
@@beaudereck3122lol what??
@@Hojotoho.Yall504 Almost erotic the sound of our own voices. An ode to us happy few with sensitivity and taste overwhelmingly surpassing that of the vulgar and common pleb.
I'm pretyy sure most people knows the lullaby, but they don't know it's Brahms'.
This is a brilliant analysis and commentary on what is one of the most gorgeous melodic inventions in the history of music. That movement is actually in the form of a minuet, but goes far beyond anything in that form that had ever been created. I've played that symphony as an orchestra member, and the entire 4-movement work is one of the most beautiful things ever created. Johannes Brahms was a man uniquely endowed with an insight into a realm far more beautiful and exquisite than what we could possibly ever experience in this world or in this life. To God alone be the glory for this marvelous man's music!
So beautifully put! Thank you!!!
AMEN
❤
Where has Brahms been all my life? Such a fertile imagination to bring these beautiful melodies to life and all the Symphonies in particular have moments that just have you craving more but he seems to give you just enough, amazing.
For many decades in the mid 20th century Brahms was dismissed as a pale imitation of Beethoven, a composer that offered nothing original or worth paying attention to. That assessment kept many people from discovering the truth, that Brahms was an astoundingly original composer, and a true "school of one". No one else sounds like Brahms. He took traditional forms and made astonishing new music with them.
@@theoldar The closest to it in my perception is Elgar. He has often been referred to as "the English Brahms". There was in both of them a divine spirit of nobility and high idealism, very similar to each other.
@@notmyworld44 also Nikolai Medtner, a contemporary and friend of Rachmaninoff, who was sometimes called "the Russian Brahms". Medtner's music is the apotheosis of Romanticism - the motivic development of Beethoven, the lush polyphonic textures of Brahms, and the yearning melodies of the Russian school all wrapped up in one.
Hiding ...... With Edward Elgar!
That movement, this melody is the definition of sweet and melancholy a human person can be. It's more than just love. It raises to higher plain field that many feel it, but I do. I feel it so strong
Qwasont
"lovely counterpoint here" That passage always made me feel a strange sort of melancholy. Almost warm, I guess what Brazilians call 'saudade,' the remnants of past emotions. It occupies a space just behind the foreground, but to me it is the main statement, the emotional center of the piece.
Extremely well-said! Thank you.
Yes, we Brazilians call it saudade! I thought you had that in your voice
This Symphonie is my favorite. Every movement is beautiful. The last movement for me is stellar. I was invited once to introduce it at Dutch classical radio.
i think it's my favourite last movement out of all his symphonies!
I absolutely love Brahms. I first heard this haunting melody as the theme to a movie called 'Goodbye Again' starring Ingrid Bergman.
I must have heard this piece a lot when i was a child or something. there is something nostalgic about it. i listened to this symphony for the first time about a year ago (or so i thought) but realized i faintly recognized the melody of the 2nd movement. Regardless, brahms is just the best.
1:00 when Brahms goes major like this it’s always a moment of love and mixed nostalgic feelings. Intermezzo 1 op.118 is in C major too. It’s also notable when he goes A major, it’s always about love (intermezzo 2, wow) and a section of another intermezzo from op.117 if I’m not mistaken.
op 118/1 is in a minor
I have admired and loved herr brahms since I was 14 years old.
great analysis! I gave a lecture on this piece a few yrs ago, the rhythmic displacement Brahms uses in the middle section is genius!
I love these types of videos. It’s like those lyric analyses videos just with classical music
Thank you for that moment of sanity in this crazy world!!!
awesome!! It's easier to know what is happening clearly with your analysis. Thanks!
Bravo. And the presentation was perfect. Good job.
Man, this channel is gold.
so kind of you!
The first time I heard this was when I attended a performance of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, many years ago. Hearing that movement live, having never heard it before, was worth the price of admission to the concert. It's Rachmaninoff level beautiful...
There are many Brahms pieces that few people have heard, that sound like Rachmaninoff, showing clearly that Brahms was one if Rach''s influences. There are late Brahms pieces that sound like Debussy too.
many thanks for posting
Excellent gloss on the score, thank you.
Everything moves perfectly together, especially at 0:17 with the triplet providing the subtle "dum-dum-dum" in the background as they scale up. Or more likely the staccato eights, but the triplets fit in the middle of it all, providing that extra umph to each passage of time.
Thanks for this analysis!
Beautiful passage! Brahms' choral music also contains some of the most beautiful moments such as several in his Deutche Requiem, written for his mother.
It is indeed, Rob. There are so many pieces - not just classical music either - that take me back to the place I first heard them or remind me of a particular time in my life. Even now, so many years later, the memories bring a smile to my face.
One of my all time favorite passages
This is up there 👆 in the most delightful and luscious way to enjoy Brahms. It’s such a soothing piece of music to relax to after a busy day
Definitely my kind of music. … Aggh
Perfection no question about it.
Thanks .
J avais pas écoutée cette symphonie depuis longtemps
On dirait que mon âme revit en l entendant
Absolutely beautiful.
Genius. This is an endearing masterpiece.
love your vids
The melody instantly struck me as being familiar, and after some time trying to remember where I recognized it from, I found it: Stan Getz's intro to Jacques Brel's ballad "If You Go Away" as a featured accompaniment to a recording sung by acclaimed jazz vocalist Helen Merrill.
The influence of this Brahms melody is delicately woven into the recording and sounds so natural. I was further astonished after reading Brel's piece and finding that the melodic figures he wrote for the piece were also strongly influenced by earlier classical pieces, including one passage inspired by Franz Liszt's great Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6.
Fascinating details. It really shows the influence contemporary writers have on the classical eras of the past.
Thank you for a comprehensive analysis of this beautiful work by Brahms. 👍
Mario Lanza recorded this melody as ‘The Song Angels Sing’ in 1952. He performs it in the movie of the same year, ‘Because You’re Mine’.
Somewhat languid in an elegant, luxurious manner🙌🏿
The piano score could almost pass as one of his intermezzos, that's a crazy cool transcription! where did you find it?
most of the scores i find are from imslp!
Dover publishes the complete Brahms symphonies for piano/two hands (reprint of Schirmer edition)
Pretty much every well known symphony has an arrangement for solo piano on IMSLP
Brahms himself wrote piano versions of all his symphonies, and of the Haydn variations, and of his German Requiem, and of his Op. 34 quintet, and more
Brahms was amazing at the "sad" sounds
So true! However, Brahms did not consider himself a "romantic", but composer of "absolute music". I would have to disagree with him.
He made absolute music - which is to say music which was neither operatic nor programmatic, but rather oriented around symphonic form and its potential for expression.
I've always loved this movement.
Lovely analysis
❤ simply beautiful!
I just today found your channel via Ma Mere L’oye. Upon some looking further I landed here. Thank you for the gloriously wide net you cast in your choices of works to investigate 🙏🏼 Your analysis and insights are superb!! Thank you.
That's a very kind comment thank you! I do try to keep it as varied as I can hahaha
Heart break comes in many forms, this piece is bewitching.
The orchestration is beautiful
Brahms-Master of Modulations
Gorgeous melody.
.
Nice analysis
Beautiful.
I’ve always loved the 2nd movement of this piece, it’s so sweet
for me it was exactly the 2nd and 3rd movements that introduced me to Brahms' more serious side -- it was in the soundtrack for Civilization IV, along with a few Hungarian Dance. I've spent more hours on that game than is appropriate to admit in polite company.
Yes, this is a wonderful tune, but the 2nd movement is sublime.
This entire symphony #3 is imbued with divine light. It could only have come from God, with Brahms as his amanuensis.
I think the melody of the Adagio mesto of Brahms's Horn Trio is even more heart-wrenching.
so good
This probably one of the greatest melodies ever written for the human spirit to fathom, next to Rachmaninoff's variations 18 on a theme of Paganini. I must admit, I go out of my mind, if I had to select which one was more beautiful, for my ear, mind and spirit to select and full comprehend! As I live they are both stunning beautiful!
I imagine this as meditating at a beach when its cool and cloudy outside, with a light sea breeze blowing. The breeze stops and you get some calmness in the C major section and nearly gall asleep, but the wind comes back and picks up toward the end of the A section.
Then the C/middle section is almost as if the wind goes back and forth and maybe even birds/seagulls passing by.
I like videos like this with the progression on the bottom
Che melodia raffinata e struggente!
I LOVE THIS PIECEEEEE
Well done!
thank you❤
This pne one of my favourite Romantic-era symphonies.
Awesome!
Thanks for your kind words, Wolf. I'm glad to have something that gives me so much pleasure to remember him by. Good for you for wanting to pass on the tradition! I hope your kids will realise what a gift you're giving them. Aren't the Variations wonderful. I have a recording of them with the 2nd symphony (my favourite) that I listen to regularly. It's special because Dad gave it to me. ❤
I remember that tune, but not where it came from till now! I owe you...
The ending of the movement is probably one of the most intensely I’ve felt despair through music!
One of the best melodies cellists get to play
This movement alone is a Masterpiece! I've loved this melody the first time I heard it as a graduate student in the late 70's. The melody, the counterpoint, the orchestration, the "hip changes". These days, they call garbage music Masterpieces (because the music may have sold a gazillion records, or was downloaded 400 million times)! Brahms was one of those geniuses that rose up in the 19th century.
The best thing about this video is that we did not have to "start at the beginning": Who was Brahms? What is a heart? How does it get "wrenched" and what is the history of this going back to prehistoric times? And what exactly is a melody and here are 80 examples to illustrate sprinkled with dozens of cut-aways, jokes, and puns that I think are funny. And all this before we can start the actual subject of the video. Thank you for making a video for people who are not 14 with no understanding of anything in the world.
The title' s "Heart-wrenching" is so perfectly well-suited that I loved it so much, I felt paralyzed to replay it. It's so overwhelming that it intimidated me.
Totally out-of-this-wordly!!!
P.S. - I will still replay it once I can just accept this heanvenly gift for what it is - minus the intimidation.
please feel free to replay it as many times as you want! hahaha
Just tried to replay and stopped upon noticing how he masterfully tricked the tempo to sound as a 4/4 beat at first before fully realizing it at 3/8, which again kinda proceeded as a 6/8. All that through melodic structuring. Then, speaking of the melody, it's like an unsettling dialog between 2 eternal foes, intranched in their views so much that, each time one party offers an argument, the other counters with a more pronounced one. Argument 1 "C-D-Eb", counter-argument 1 "E-F-D", argument 1 repeated, pronounced Counter-argument 1 "Bb-Ab-D", pronounced Argument 1 "D-Eb-F", and it goes on and on...
I had to stop ✋️. I will go back to it another day. It's just too much for one day!!! (That's only 8 bars in)
Okay!!! I listened to the whole thing... TWICE.
One word: Divine
great tutorial !!!
Amazing
It's rival in Brahms's canon must be the slow movement form his 3rd piano quartet. Although he wrote alot of haunting stuff, such as the first movement of his 2nd string sextet.
swoon
And maybe the Sextet Op 18
I cried when hearing this..
Oh, not because it was sad, but because it was an excerpt I played for an audition.
All those awful memories of practicing it over and over lmao
The 1961 film "Goodbye Again" which I saw in Williamsburg then, uses this theme in the background.
It’s the main theme in the Mario Lanza movie ‘Because You’re Mine’ (1952). In the movie, he sings this melody as ‘The Song Angels Sing’.
Played this (poorly) on French horn in high school back in the 1990s
I've always been partial to the first movement, but I'll admit there's something special about the third. To me, it's contra-Beethoven. The image I have of Beethoven is of him walking through the Vienna woods at night, looking into the heavens, and listening to the Music of the Spheres. In this movement, I see Brahms as a brooding presence in the heavens looking down on the plight of Man.
...and I have no doubt that his spirit is in the heavens. He was a devout believer in the God of the bible. He knew his Saviour.
I love to play Brahms ❤
I get that, rc. Dad could be difficult too and quite cutting when he spoke to Mum, me and my siblings. He mellowed in later life but I think we all had self esteem issues from his treatment. I'd like to think I learnt from his example which of his good characteristics to adopt and which ones to reject. Hope I've been successful. Good luck with your journey.
Sometimes, people who have had NDE's say that when they "pass' they hear the most breathtakingly beautiful music possible. To that, I would simply say: "Well, I think I have already heard it. I can think of several of them. This is in the top ten, for sure. No, I have no idea how Brahms could possibly have "thought" of this. But he did. And he developed it with the intense beauty that this magnificent tune deserved.
Sanjosemike (no longer in CA)
He was such a giant, both physically and musically..........
bien lovely
This piece is like saying "I love you and I care about you even though you don't care about me as much"
That's good shit
Santana use the melody in love of my life
00:22 vi6, a minor error seems to occur here. btw, every kind of analysis such as this is wholesome.
Oh, now I get why you didn't signify it. Sorry, my bad.
it does get a bit tricky sometimes hahaha 😅
so lush, Brahms
Thanks, Joanna. It's sad your Dad couldn't do better for you. I hope something positive came out of that experience. God bless you for your kind words.
This melody is paraphrased in Santana's "Love of my life".
I was looking for this comment just to upvote it.
Santana heard it on the radio while riding a taxi. He told the cabbie to go to Tower Records, where he hummed this tune for them, and they told him it was this symphony, so he bought the record and used the tune.
If I heard the waft of 1:06 as I was leaving this mortal coil I would feel my time was plumb and level, adversity forgiven or sued for peace,
progeny launched to prosperity, I to posterity,
floating in the arms of Morphos and gazing across the Elysian Fields, while drifting down the eternal, alluvial now.
Reminds me of the sound track to the movie The Age Of Innocence.
Magnifique morceaux fait voire le film aimez vous Brams avec Ingrid Bergman un fil génial a
Anyone know where I can see more videos like this? Like a structured musical analysis of a song, be it classical or not?
It’s a beautiful melody which I actually first heard as a song sung by Jose Carreras
Very clever and sensible comment.
You "Romantics", so easily swayed.
Take a look at the meter and the melody. Brahms has written a lovely Viennese waltz. What makes it do melancholy is that he’s moved the upbeats from the conventional third-beat position to the DOWNBEAT of the ensuing measure. Try humming the tune relocating the “upbeats” to their conventional position and you’ll see that the intense pathos is gone. By the time Brahms finished this symphony in 1883, the waltz had long been the replacement movement for the Classical minuet-a disconcerting vestige of the bygone glory of the court of Louis XIV. By the close of the 19th century, the waltz had become a bit of musical nostalgia. This view of the waltz was explored by Maurice Ravel as well-in La valse.
And like with everything in life. There are those who listen, get carried away, and soul-surf the waves of melodies that were created by a talented human a long time ago - but in such a way that their impact on humans remains timeless.
And then - there are those to whom Music, or anything that sounds like "Art" - is used to showcase their superior knowledge in music, and they end up presenting their "expertise" in analyzing and interpreting, and speculating about anything - and eventually convince themselves that their talents to talk about music is more important to than those of the composers who actually created that music.
And - watch next time you are in the audience of a Concert Hall - watch the conductors, the 1st violine, or most of the "musicians" - the stooges who learned to play an instrument - they are now - the Maestros. Hoping for "an encore" which makes them the one and only reason why people showed up.
Hey skylar, quick tip, the 5tuplets are actually just called a turn.
any references on where to learn more about brahms composition technique and use of harmony?
could you include links to the scores you use?? great vid on a great piece
done!