Ballades, Op. 10 (Brahms)

The Ballades, Op. 10 are lyrical piano pieces written by Johannes Brahms during his youth. They were dated 1854 and were dedicated to his friend Julius Otto Grimm. Their composition coincided with the beginning of the composer's lifelong affection for Clara Schumann, the wife of Robert Schumann, who was helping Brahms launch his career. Frédéric Chopin had written the last of his famous ballades only 12 years earlier, but Brahms approached the genre differently from Chopin, choosing to take its origin in narrative poetry more literally.^[1]

Brahms's ballades are arranged in two pairs of two, the members of each pair being in parallel keys. The first ballade was inspired by a Scottish poem "Edward" found in a collection Stimmen der Völker in ihren Liedern compiled by Johann Gottfried Herder. It is also one of the best examples of Brahms's bardic or Ossianic style; its open fifths, octaves, and simple triadic harmonies are supposed to evoke the sense of a mythological past.

No. 1 in D minor. Andante
No. 2 in D major. Andante
No. 3 in B minor. Intermezzo. Allegro
No. 4 in B major. Andante con moto

The tonal center of each ballade conveys an interconnectedness between the four pieces: the first three each include the key signature of the ballade that follows it somewhere as a tonal center, and the fourth ends in the key signature of D major/B minor despite cadencing in B major.

Brahms returned to the wordless ballade form in writing the third of the Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118. His Op. 75 vocal duets titled "Ballads and Romances" include a setting of the poem "Edward"—the same that inspired Op. 10, No. 1.

A number of famous pianists have played some or all of the Ballades, including Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Artur Rubinstein, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, Glenn Gould, Wilhelm Kempff, Idil Biret, Julius Katchen, Krystian Zimerman and Claudio Arrau.

External links

↑ Charles Rosen (1998). The Romantic Generation, p. 323

Johannes Brahms

Orchestral works	Academic Festival Overture Serenades Symphony No. 1 Symphony No. 2 Symphony No. 3 Symphony No. 4 Tragic Overture Variations on a Theme by Haydn

Concertante	Double Concerto Piano Concerto No. 1 Piano Concerto No. 2 Violin Concerto

Vocal/Choral works with orchestra	A German Requiem Alto Rhapsody Gesang der Parzen Nänie Rinaldo Schicksalslied Triumphlied

Chamber music	Cello Sonata No. 1 Cello Sonata No. 2 Clarinet Quintet Clarinet Sonatas Clarinet Trio Horn Trio Piano Quartet No. 1 Piano Quartet No. 2 Piano Quartet No. 3 Piano Quintet Piano Trio No. 1 Piano Trio No. 2 Piano Trio No. 3 String Quartet No. 3 String Quintet No. 1 String Quintet No. 2 String Sextet No. 1 String Sextet No. 2 Two String Quartets, Op. 51 Violin Sonata No. 1 Violin Sonata No. 2 Violin Sonata No. 3

Piano works	Ballades, Op. 10 Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119 Piano Sonata No. 1 Piano Sonata No. 2 Piano Sonata No. 3 Rhapsodies, Op. 79 Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 Sixteen Waltzes, Op. 39 Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Variations on a Theme of Paganini

Other compositions	Brahms' Lullaby Eleven Chorale Preludes Fünf Gesänge, Op.104 Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52 Neue Liebeslieder Vier ernste Gesänge Zigeunerlieder

Named for Brahms	1818 Brahms Brahms (crater) Brahms Inlet

Related articles	List of compositions by genre List of compositions by opus number Brahms guitar Brahms-Institut Brahms-Preis German Romanticism International Johannes Brahms Competition Musical cryptogram Three Bs

Portal:Classical music

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.