Brahms – String Quintet no. 1 in F major

^{Johannes Brahms (1833-97)}

^{String Quintet no. 1, in F major, op. 88 (1882)}

^{Brahms wrote his F-major String Quintet during the summer of 1882. He was then 49, his first two symphonies, the Academic Festival and Tragic Overtures, three solo concertos, and Requiem (in addition to much more) behind him. On the surface, it’s a piece that looks back not a little, both to Brahms’ earlier music (notably the Symphony no. 2) as well as to the string quintets of Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn. Like those three notable forebears, Brahms opted for an ensemble consisting of two violins, two violas, and one cello. Unlike any of them, though, his first Quintet is cast in a three-movement design, not four, and, more than any of theirs, it possesses a truly symphonic heft – even though its performance time only runs to about twenty-five minutes.}

^{Part of the reason for this is because not a gesture or note in any of its movements is wasted. The first cuts right to the point, opening with a warm, flowing, folk-like tune that’s as inviting and irresistible as any that Brahms wrote. Brahms’ sure craftsmanship ensures that everything that follows this germinal melody is related to it, whether that be transitional material or the genial second theme, this an expansive tune alternating triple and duple rhythms.}

^{The slow second movement offers a bittersweet contrast to the first, it’s opening theme shifting between major and minor modes with unsettling urgency. Based on the model of the Baroque sarabande, the sobriety of the slow movement is interrupted twice, first by a gracefully dancing Allegretto, and later by a Presto section that incorporates rhythms and motives reminiscent of the first movement.}

^{Brahms begins the finale with a stern gesture, suggesting a strict fugue to follow up the lament of the sarabande. Instead, this opening section proves a feint and its vigorous counterpoint instead gives way to a very loose sonata-form movement built around iterations of a buoyant, skipping refrain. Countermelodies, variations, and developments ensue before the coda transforms the chorus one last time and the Quintet ends in a rush of high spirits.}

^{© Jonathan Blumhofer}

^{Reproduction Rights: This program note may be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with a credit to the author.}