String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 51 - Violin 1

The viola begins a pattern of arpeggios in leisurely triplet rhythm. These always begin with an upward reach, then leap down again and back up. The second violin and cello play measure-long notes. After its initial arch, the first violin melody takes up an anxious gesture that rises once in sequence. The second violin joins it in harmony and counterpoint. After another arching line that includes a syncopated note held across the bar line, the melody becomes anxious again. The second statement builds rapidly in volume. The viola takes over for the second violin halfway through.

This descent begins forcefully, but rapidly diminishes. The cello enters and all four instruments, in harmony and strong syncopation, settle toward a cadence. At first the arrival is interrupted by a rest, but then, in longer notes, it is fully completed. Immediately after the cadence, all instruments except first violin play another agitated, but dolce gesture.

It begins with two syncopated chords, which are followed by faster notes that seem to whisper and sigh. A second statement overlaps with it, the first violin entering to take the lead. The harmony and direction are changed slightly. A second overlapping alternation begins a fifth lower, again with the first violin following the others. The motion away from A minor begins with a brief turn to E minor. Now the overlapping entries primarily between first and second violin; the others accompany both follow at a closer distance, becoming intense and building rapidly.

The first violin plays wailing downward arpeggios as the middle two instruments continue the agitated motion.

Two wailing arpeggios, the second a step lower, are heard. The first violin then departs from the pattern as the cello moves away from its low C and itself plays arpeggios in the opposite direction from the first violin. There are three such motions, all with the middle instruments continuing to violently churn. Now, the true destination is revealed.

The motion is suddenly arrested in a descent that is not quite finished. But the key has now clearly moved to C minor. The inner two instruments play syncopated pulsations while the first violin again reaches up and down against the plunging cello. Suddenly hushed, the last first violin leap down is repeated, but now with harmonies that suggest a change to major.

This is then confirmed in the harmonies that briefly accompany a long, winding solo first violin line. It is quickly left exposed, slowing slightly before sweetly leading into Theme 2 with a slow triplet rhythm. Brahms includes a very detailed Italian expression marking: This indicates that the theme is graceful, but still full of energy. The violins begin in thirds. The viola again plays in broad triplets, mainly leaping down and back up, and the cello adds a plucked straight-rhythm bass line that leaps widely, largely in octaves.

Although there was some syncopation in the first phrase in the form of notes held across bar lines, it becomes more pronounced here, including within measures. This begins in the second violin, joined later by the first. Even the triplets in the viola add some syncopation. The viola line is now focused on an initial downward leap, which is then isolated in a broader long-short swing. The plucked cello line settles on the note D, first in octave leaps, then isolated notes. At the end of the phrase, the first violin finally separates from the second, adopts the gently swinging triplet rhythm, and moves, over chromatic cello notes, toward a cadence on G.

The theme is played again, but now an octave lower, with parallel harmonies in second violin and viola. The viola actually plays the higher notes in the parallel line, above the second violin. The cello is still plucked, but is less continuous, not playing on several beats, including some downbeats. Most interestingly, the first violin, marked lusingando , plays a very graceful new counterpoint in decorative downward arching arpeggios.

At the end of the phrase, the melody is altered with strategic upward shifts and leaps that allow it to remain in C rather than moving to G. The decorative arpeggios continue in the first violin, and they also start to incorporate the syncopation. In a change from the previous parallel phrase, the triplet rhythm does not take over the melody where expected, and instead the syncopation prevails for four more measures, first in the viola, then in the violins the first violin finally ending its arpeggios.

In these last two measures, the broad triplets sneak into the viola. It is now the second violin that leads with the melodic continuation in these triplets. The first violin again begins its decorative downward-arching arpeggios. The cadence in C is reached as before in this new distribution. The first violin takes over for the second and repeats the measure approaching the cadence an octave higher. The volume strongly builds here. Suddenly, and with increasing agitation, the second violin and viola play arpeggios as the cello finally takes the bow for the bass line.

These arpeggios are passed to the first violin, which has just completed its cadence, and it turns them strongly to minor before leaping downward. The viola and cell then take the now strongly agitated minor arpeggios. The second violin and viola provide strong harmonies.

The arpeggios continue, largely led by the cello, although the viola leaves its harmonization of the melody to take over when the arpeggios reach higher. The four-measure statement is closed by strong punctuating chords.

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The cello then takes over the theme, and the first violin plays two octave leaps in the long-short rhythm of the theme. The second violin and viola play arpeggios, then pass them to first violin as they harmonize the cello. Again, the forceful chords round off this statement, but the first violin is an octave higher and the chords strikingly turn back to major. The first violin twice passes the triplets to the viola, which trails downward. The other two instruments provide bass and harmonic support.

The first violin takes back over the triplets and makes a huge leap down, leading to a full cadence. This cadence overlaps with a restatement by the second violin an octave lower. The first violin soars above it with an octave leap, and the bass line in the cello has chromatic half-step motion. Its cadence is full, arriving on the downbeat and making a cutoff. The strong cadence introduces the closing theme, which is a forceful surge in full harmony, with the violins rising, the viola and cello falling. The intensity quickly subsides after the surge, and the violins continue upward in a more gentle manner, sighing toward a half-close.

The forceful surge is then repeated. The quiet continuation reaches higher, but again reaches a half-close, this one slightly more expectant. More sustained and colorful harmonies beautifully lead to a satisfying cadence on C major. Trailing after it, the second violin, viola, and cello, in that order, play overlapping reminiscences of the long-absent Theme 1. The second violin holds notes across bar lines, and the trailing harmonies naturally move toward the home key of A minor. In the first ending m. The arrival there marks the beginning of the exposition repeat.

The first measure is notated as part of the first ending because, due to the preceding voice leading, the first two notes in the viola are different. Initial arching lines and their anxious sequels, as at the beginning. Agitated, syncopated gestures with overlapping entries and buildup, as at 0: First phrase with violins playing in thirds, as at 1: Forceful surges, then quiet continuations, as at 3: The motion back to A minor leads into the second ending, which, in only two measures, deftly avoids the D minor arrival and shifts the harmony, quite mysteriously, to the remote C-sharp minor, a half-step lower.

The viola then enters with the same opening arch, but in halved note values. The key seems centered on C-sharp minor, but G-sharp minor is heavily implied as well. Following these hushed and timid thematic entries, the music suddenly becomes extremely agitated, almost violent. The cello, playing short ascending figures, is followed directly by the other three instruments in harmony.

They reverse the direction of the cello and forcefully thrust downward. There are five of these alternations, in which C-sharp minor is confirmed. After four of these, which steadily move downward, the direction of the upper instruments changes, matching that of the cello for four more statements. These remain centered around the same range.

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A strong arrival on C-sharp minor is continuously implied, but avoided. Finally, the upper instruments depart from this pattern and reach upward longingly, changing from triplet to straight rhythm. The cello remains in triplets and now trails them. They reach a strong half-close. The second violin leads the former, followed by the viola.

The first violin and cello take the latter. Then all instruments join in a dramatic presentation of the previously quiet continuation of the closing material, with its sighing upward motion. The key shifts up a half-step from C-sharp minor to D minor, where the entire sequence is presented a second time. The very end of this second statement is subtly shifted to lead into the following unstable passage. It appears to begin in G minor, but rapidly presses upward, largely by half-step, as the volume builds even more.

The first violin takes the lead, with the others providing support. The climax comes as all four instruments come together and oscillate on half- and whole-step motion. It begins with the gesture from the closing material, then isolates a three-note upward ascent that is repeated in a descending sequence.

At first, the top note of each ascent is repeated, which keeps the meter undisturbed, but then the repetition is dispensed with, momentarily disrupting the sense of meter and greatly increasing the agitation. The statement vacillates between A and E minor, and is cut off at a point suggesting the latter. Against it, the forceful upward gesture from the closing material returns in the upper three instruments. As the cello continues, they dissolve into supporting harmonies.

String Quartet No. 2 in A minor,… | Details | AllMusic

The cello then isolates this last figure, lengthening the upbeat notes so that they take up a full measure. This happens twice, the second time again fully in minor.

The harmonies and lines in the upper instruments actually move toward a strong half-close in E minor. Then the longer upbeat notes are given one more time as the upper instruments drop out. The first violin echoes these notes two octaves higher. The first violin takes over and presents the opening arch of Theme 1 at a higher level on B, though the harmony does not move there.

They pass it back and forth. The viola itself inverts the motion of the opening arch. The first violin plays the opening arch twice more on E, the second time beginning off the beat. Its entry sneaks in and avoids drawing attention to itself. At first, it seems like a continuation from the preceding statements of the opening arch. Like the last one, it begins off the beat, one of several alterations from its first presentation. The rhythmic displacement continues into the second measure, which smooths out the first anxious gesture.

Also notable are the significant and colorful changes to the harmony. The triplet rhythm, now with more undulation than arpeggios, is passed between the second violin and cello, the viola playing wide leaps typical of the theme. The theme gradually achieves its original identity, initially in the violins. It is greatly abridged from the exposition. The agitated, syncopated gestures from 0: They are followed by the viola and cello, but with a much closer overlap than before, after only two measures.

The alternation between these pairs of instruments on these patterns continues, rapidly deviating from the harmonies of the exposition. After six measures and three exchanges, the patterns are shortened, focusing on the faster notes. As in the exposition, the volume rapidly builds with these shortened patterns. The climactic passage with pedal points and wailing arpeggios is completely omitted, along with the suddenly quiet echoes.

The solo first violin line is strongly played in A major instead of C major. Its opening is displaced by half a measure, and it is extended by a half-measure to compensate. The contour is also subtly altered leading into the rising triplets that introduce Theme 2. Other than the new key, the first phrase closely matches the earlier C-major presentation, except for a couple of necessary and insignificant octave shifts in the plucked cello notes. The cadence is now in E major.

The patterns of the exposition continue to be closely followed. The setting in A major is lower than in the exposition, but the viola remains above the second violin, which now reaches quite low in its range. The first violin counterpoint is again marked lusingando.

In the exposition, the first violin reaches to its lowest note in the first two measures. This makes it necessary to replace these leaps down an octave with syncopated notes in the lower setting. The first violin statement is moved up an octave, which is an effective change given the lower overall setting here. The other parts also make some range adjustments, including a brief exchange of previous parts between second violin and viola. The cello statement is at the expected level. The leap in the first violin is much smaller here because an analogous leap would take it below its range.

That instrument also makes other range adjustments. The passage with the leap in the second violin is here transferred to the viola. Only the first forceful surge and quiet continuation are retained. Range adjustments are made in viola and cello. After the first statement, the key signature of A major is changed back to A minor, and the material deviates, marking the beginning of the coda. The cello trails, moving up but changing the harmony. A second surge or third, counting the original one makes a striking motion suggesting B-flat major or D minor. Here, the second violin and viola leap up with the first violin, then move down with it.

Only the cello has the upward motion. The violins follow in thirds, apparently moving from D minor back to A minor. When the lower instruments enter a second time, now lower and in harmony, things quickly settle down. All four instruments join in a quiet pizzicato.

String Quartet No.2, Op.51 No.2 (Brahms, Johannes)

Two chords appear to lead toward a cadence, but this is interrupted. It is lengthened slightly. But the first violin interrupts this with a high statement of the opening arch from the main theme. This dissolves into a descending line in triplet rhythm while the second violin soars above with the Theme 1 material.

The transition gesture is then heard again, and is again interrupted by the first violin, but it now reaches dramatically higher for the first theme material. Now the first violin launches into a passionate, agitated melodic line that plunges down and soars back up with much syncopation, steadily building. The first violin continues with its feverish line, interrupted by dramatic rests. The second violin and viola play syncopated harmonies with gestures beginning off the beat.

The cello provides a wide ranging bass line in longer notes. The second violin and viola, in unison, take the material previously played by the first violin and add heavy syncopation with notes held over bar lines. The cello, meanwhile, forcefully begins a series of rising arpeggios in triplet rhythm. These provide the music with even more forward propulsion. Meanwhile, the opening arch is passed from viola to second violin to first violin.

When the first violin takes it, the triplets migrate to the viola and second violin. The arching line finally moves to the cello as the first violin plunges down, and the other two instruments continue with the triplet motion, now adding descending arpeggios. Its initial presentation is in the first violin, accompanied by a steady and wide-ranging, but suavely sumptuous and chromatic bass line from viola and cello in octaves.

The melody is almost entirely built upon a two-note one-step descent. The descending step is usually placed off the beat or on a weak beat. A triplet rhythm is introduced, the second violin makes its first entry, the melody reaches high, and the viola separates from the cello. The cello remains on the downbeat. A pair of these figures begins a melodic line that briefly descends to F-sharp minor. A second pair of off-beat figures, with a high reach between them in the first violin, builds in volume and turns back to E. Here, the opening gesture of the main theme returns in the first violin.

These overlap and dovetail between the two instruments. Meanwhile, the cello twice plays the opening gesture of the main theme, and is twice answered by a sighing variation of that gesture in the first violin. The second time, the instruments move inward, the cello up an octave, the first violin down one. Each of the two cycles begins on E, and each time the harmony moves toward D minor.

The phrase begins strongly, but by the second cycle is much quieter. In a one-bar extension, the first violin slides up by half-step, punctuated by a chord in the lower instruments, leading back to A major and the second verse of the A section. The melody of the first four measures closely follows that of Verse 1, but is moved up an octave.

A new accompaniment, based on the off-beat figures from 0: All parts are marked dolce. From the fifth measure, where the music had moved toward E major before, the melody deviates, but remains reasonably analogous. The off-beat accompaniment ends and is replaced by more steady rocking motion. The triplet rhythm is expanded and intensified, creating more of a yearning character.

Most significantly, the music remains rooted in A major here, including the cadence, which is similar in construction. Now it leads directly into a new extension. The viola part is heavily syncopated. After two bars, the first violin emerges with a soaring, bright upward scale on B major. This then resolves into cadence patterns that quickly move through E major and back to A as they descend to another, even more convincing cadence. The second violin has joined the viola in the syncopated accompaniment, and the cello follows the melodic cadence with an off-beat arpeggio.

At first, the three upper instruments play it in harmony, leading into figures that resolve unstable downbeat harmonies on the second beat. These alternate with arpeggios in the cello. At first gentle, the postlude builds up over four measures until the first violin erupts into a passionate line that descends, reaches up again, and finally settles down to a full cadence. The lower instruments at first have syncopated harmonies, then gradually join the motion of the first violin. The cello hangs onto its arpeggios and starts playing them continuously before before it breaks and finally joins the cadence.

Coinciding with the cadence, the main melody is used for a very subdued transition into the middle section.

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It is first heard in the second violin, and then passed to the first violin. The viola and cello provide the familiar accompaniment patterns, also passing them back and forth. The ubiquitous two-note descents become isolated against the melodic fragments. Chromatic notes such as B-flat and F-natural create a twinge of modal flavor. B Section --F-sharp minor 2: When the violins enter, the second violin joins the viola on the tremolo , but the first violin begins a feverish dialogue in canon with the cello, which follows its motion precisely. The cello is two octaves plus a fifth below the first violin.

The canon itself uses forceful upward and downward leaps, jagged short-long rhythms, and finally triplet motion, all against the continuing tremolo. The first violin hesitantly leads it with syncopated notes. The viola and cello provide accompanying counterpoint with some chromatic motion. Still in C-sharp, the harmony is inflected to minor and reaches a cadence. This happens on the upbeat to the second half of the measure m.

There, the first violin and cello once again begin a passionate canon, this one even stormier and more intense than the first one. The second violin and viola begin their accompaniment by reiterating the forceful upbeat descent, but after a measure, they revert to the familiar tremolo from the first canon. Because the canon now begins on the second half of a measure, at first it appears that only a slight adjustment with an extra leap will reorient the meter, but in fact this is only part of a larger expansion including new very wide leaps and more dotted rhythms.

The triplet portion with the diminishing volume has the same pattern, but now points to an arrival at home on F-sharp. It bears some similarity to the interlude from 3: It begins in F-sharp major, but both the first violin melody and the lines of counterpoint from the other instruments are highly chromatic.

The cello punctuates with rocking figures. The triplet rhythm is heavily used, first in the accompaniment, then in the melody, which uses a descending triplet motion after its initial gesture. This already inflects back to minor, but the tender major-key opening gesture is heard twice more. One statement of the opening gesture is followed by two measures of the descending triplets, and the rocking figure now appears in both the cello and the viola, being passed between them.

The second violin counterpoint is very syncopated. After a soaring leap and descent, there is an abrupt motion back to F-sharp minor above plucked chords. The main melody from the A section, now in D major, is heard in the viola, echoed by an inversion in the second violin. The first violin provides the familiar steady accompaniment, then takes over the next statement of the melodic opening, passing the accompaniment to the second violin.

This overlaps with another viola entry and an inversion in the cello. At this point, there appears to be the expected move back to the home key of A major for the reprise. The first violin leaps up an octave, then slowly descends as the cello moves to A. The first phrase largely follows the pattern from the beginning, but the steady accompaniment, originally in the viola and cello, is now played by the viola and the second violin which had been silent in the opening measures.

The cello holds a solid F, as if to reiterate that yes, we are in fact in that key. The second pair, however, begins in a higher octave and is very subtly altered, especially the first violin descent after its high reach. The subtle change causes the return of the opening gesture to move not toward C, as would be expected based on the previous pattern, but toward A.

The second statement and answer are given to the viola and the cello, the latter switching roles. The accompanying arpeggios, already somewhat altered, are played by the two violins in this last exchange. The one-bar extension is replaced by two bars that solidify the final transition home to A major.

The cello has a wide arch. The other instruments play rising harmonies, then two off-beat chords. Although A major has finally been achieved, there is still variation, at least for the first five measures. The melody from 1: Naturally, the first violin joins in the off-beat harmonies. It has the melody entrusted to the first violin, while viola and cello accompany with a smoothly flowing line moving in parallel octaves. Following this two-stranded texture, the full quartet sound emerges only gradually. But the outburst is short-lived, before the emergence of a resigned, warmly lyrical theme in the major.

For his third movement, Brahms makes a nostalgic return to the world of the eighteenth-century minuet. But this is no straightforward minuet, and in place of a trio it has a delicate scherzo-like passage in a quicker tempo. In the A minor String Quartet the integration between the two opposing types of material is particularly subtle: The finale derives much of its tension from a metrical conflict between theme and accompaniment. The main subject gives the impression of being largely in duple metre, while its emphatic chordal accompaniment is in a firm triple time.

The conflict is resolved towards the end of the piece, where the theme is transmuted into a gentle, albeit syncopated, waltz in the major. But in the end Brahms will have none of such whimsy, and the music turns back to the minor, and hurtles inexorably towards an accelerated conclusion. Mais Brahms finit par cesser ce genre de foucades: Aber der Ausbruch ist nur kurzlebig. Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. Don't show me this message again. String Quartet in A minor, Op 51 No 2 composer.

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