A Thematic Analysis Of Brahms Third Symphony

For his time, Brahms was criticized as being overly technical or old fashioned; an opponent of true progress and emotion in music. However, what his music shows is not a lack of emotion but layers of depth. His carefully planned motifs and calculated phrases allow his audience an initial emotional experience while offering a technical structure intelligent enough to sate most musicologists. This can especially be seen in Movement One of Brahms’ Third Symphony, where he clearly uses a specific pattern to encapsulate both of these aspects.
 First and foremost, it is important to understand that Brahms’ symphonies (as well as much of his music) fits the definition of absolute music. This is similar to composers of earlier times in the romantic
era, specifically the early romantics. Unlike his counterparts, Brahms focused only on the audible experience for his symphonies - there were no specifically related plots, poems, etc provided with his work. This holds true for his piece, Symphony No. 3, as well. His focus is on structure, not clever symbolic tendencies. Symphony No. 3 starts in the key of F, shifting to C minor and back. Brahms’ early influences are seen immediately, as the introduction makes a subtle, alluded play toward the ideas of Beethoven; the bass maintains long holds in contrast to the moving, intense and synchronized treble sections - namely the upper strings and their chords. By PDF page 10 of the sheet music provided, he creates a recurring, ascending shape. Much of the first theme and motives in the work is very triangular visually, as can be seen in the first several pages of the score. This is to manipulate the intensity of the piece - the higher the melodic lines ascend, the more the dynamic level increases. The bass provides support for these passages by remaining comparatively stable while falling notes are coupled with quieter descents. This follows not only the tendencies of most instruments to become louder at their higher ranges but also with the concept of literature’s use of the coincidentally called rising action. Furthermore, many people visually, albeit subconsciously, relate intensity or increased passion with height or rising lines. “Rising to the top” is even a phrase for meeting a harder earned success, and Brahms not only realized this but manipulates that expectation to full effect. After, for lack of better terms, “training” the audience to expect that imbedded concept (as seen on page 11 through 13), he immediately inverts the trope he created. This is where Brahms generally creates his transitions into alternate moods, especially into those that are less intense than the rising dynamics seen before. For example, on page 14, the flutes are left suspended, their high notes fading into the air and allowed to ring as their notated runs grow ever more distant. The more deeply voiced instruments all but disappear except for the string section, which holds long chords that have an almost pulsating volume. This inversion, along with the strings maintaining long chords, allows for time to feel slowed just slightly enough to allow a transition. “Grazioso,” it says - leading into a contrasting passage with its own contrasting concepts. Even the key is changed to A. Immediately the dynamic motive of “ascension is crescendo” is abandoned.
On page 15 are several comparably tame measures in terms of range; the basses and horns are silent, even. The dynamics stop constantly alternating between p and ff, but instead work within pp and p for several measures. While there are still full chords present in the string section, as seen on page 16, the intensity of these are softened by means of pizzicato and instructions such as “dolce” (“sweet”) adorning the score. Simply put, this is a clearly defined, newly introduced theme of the piece. It repeats, leading straight back into the concept of intensity of dynamics relating to motivic lines and ascensions on page 22. This marks a return to the themes the introduction alluded to - a grandiose swell that performs its transition not with an inversion of dynamic expectations this time but with a sudden staccato. The second theme closes as it began - softly. The development section quietly picks up afterward on page 28, rehearsal G. Double bars indicate the development section that is to come 3 measures afterward, which opens with a crescendo ascension within a trio that involves winds and horns. Unlike the F Major to C minor modulations indicated in the introduction, the trio plays in F minor as intentional mirroring. But this is a section that plays on tension; the dominant is extremely present, but the full triad is interestingly never fully displayed by the trio to allow for a definite resolution
until right before section H on page 30. From there, the resolution is established a second time, and Brahms takes all the then-introduced materials and reintroduces variations of them. Motives return, are built upon in the introduced grandiose manner, and are then deconstructed while Brahms switches between his transition-based techniques. For example, on page 32 the audience is once again treated to an ascending line of held notes that builds through the doubling of additional instruments only to be suddenly left with a declining number of horns and winds holding a single chord with subtle dynamic changes. He also uses subtle texturing to full extent - for example, on page 34 of the PDF, he introduces pizzicato on the first beats of the measure despite such details likely going unnoticed due to the surrounding string section not employing the tactic in unison.
On the same page is a technique he uses later - instruments layer one after the other to progressively create a thick sound. Here, the winds and horns enter one after the other, measure after measure initiating a half or whole note. Meanwhile, underneath, the strings each have an individual, ascending melodic line that lingers just long enough to overlap with the other incoming string melodic lines. They get closer and closer in timing, in a sort of calculated chaos, that allows a tension that yearns for resolution. This nearly comes on the next page, which slows the ascending passages down after passing them to the wind section; however, it is not fully resolved, and the meandering lines slowly continue to appear wherever necessary until page 36, when Brahms elected to return to a more melodically structured
material.
 Purely visually speaking, the first movement of his symphony it is extremely patterned; triangles and diamonds control the page. Held notes are always either followed by more rapid passages or are simply an underscore for those rapid passages. That is itself followed by an effective unison of instruments that either diminishes into one of the previously introduced themes that either swells into a “grazioso” or diminishes into a “dolce” phrase, as marked by the score. Finally, Brahms links this into a transition, sometimes using a new technique or one already established be it ending the phrase in a sudden staccato or simply allowing the notes to fall away slowly.
 This formula starts with a single concept or idea but is extremely effective and could be repeated until any desired effects are achieved, especially if new material or tonal atmospheres are introduced. It plays off of a layered idea of expansion - dynamic markings and even ascensions or descents are fair game for prolongation or inversion. Once those tropes are played out or, if one simply wants to play with the audience’s expectations, one would introduce new content and then return to the older themes. The new content then functions as a new variable in the formula to work with, allowing the composer to cycle indefinitely. This renders the score as an effective piece that evokes intensity and sweetness while also having a calibrated design, and neither of those need be exclusive from the other – even if Brahms’ critics would disagree.