Brahm's Intermezzo No.3, Op.119 in C Major Analysis
9/29/12
MTO 13.3: Ricci, The Progress of a Motive in Brahms 's Intermezzo op. 119, no. 3
Volume 13, Number 3, September 2007 Copyright © 2007 Society for Music Theory
Adam Ricci*
The Progress of a Motive in Brahms’s Intermezzo op. 119, no. 3*
ABSTRACT: Brahms’s Intermezzo op. 119, no. 3 is structured around a motive with two components—one melodic, one harmonic—that operate sometimes separately and sometimes together. The global harmonic trajectory of the piece is embodied in the combination of these two components; local harmonic motion proceeds through an expanded LR-cycle, with periodic short cuts from one zone of the cycle to another. The A section unfolds a double-tonic complex while introducing chromatic pitch classes in a carefully planned order; the B section is densely chromatic, featuring interlocking transpositions of the harmonic component. Rhythmic transformations of the motive are also addressed, including a previously unnoted motivic connection with op. 119, no. 2. KEYWORDS: motive, Grundgestalt, Brahms, double-tonic complex, Intermezzo
Received January 2007
[1] Johannes Brahms’s skill with motivic development is well known. Beginning with Arnold Schoenberg’s famous essay “Brahms the Progressive,”(1) analysts have demonstrated time and time again the masterful ways in which Brahms manipulates his motivic ideas. [2] Motivic development is especially concentrated in the late piano music op. 116 through 119, written in 1892 and 1893. About op. 118, no. 6, for instance, John Rink (1999, 97) writes that “to characterize [this piece] as a motive in search of a tonic would hardly do justice to the tremendous dramatic impulse generated by Brahms’s incessant reharmonizations of the almost ubiquitous melodic shape.” Notable about many of these pieces is the extreme economy of material: the way in which a single idea is transformed in myriad ways.(2) [3] Among the op. 119 pieces, No. 1 has received the most analytic attention.(3) Op. 119, no. 2
MTO 13.3: Ricci, The Progress of a Motive in Brahms 's Intermezzo op. 119, no. 3
Volume 13, Number 3, September 2007 Copyright © 2007 Society for Music Theory
Adam Ricci*
The Progress of a Motive in Brahms’s Intermezzo op. 119, no. 3*
ABSTRACT: Brahms’s Intermezzo op. 119, no. 3 is structured around a motive with two components—one melodic, one harmonic—that operate sometimes separately and sometimes together. The global harmonic trajectory of the piece is embodied in the combination of these two components; local harmonic motion proceeds through an expanded LR-cycle, with periodic short cuts from one zone of the cycle to another. The A section unfolds a double-tonic complex while introducing chromatic pitch classes in a carefully planned order; the B section is densely chromatic, featuring interlocking transpositions of the harmonic component. Rhythmic transformations of the motive are also addressed, including a previously unnoted motivic connection with op. 119, no. 2. KEYWORDS: motive, Grundgestalt, Brahms, double-tonic complex, Intermezzo
Received January 2007
[1] Johannes Brahms’s skill with motivic development is well known. Beginning with Arnold Schoenberg’s famous essay “Brahms the Progressive,”(1) analysts have demonstrated time and time again the masterful ways in which Brahms manipulates his motivic ideas. [2] Motivic development is especially concentrated in the late piano music op. 116 through 119, written in 1892 and 1893. About op. 118, no. 6, for instance, John Rink (1999, 97) writes that “to characterize [this piece] as a motive in search of a tonic would hardly do justice to the tremendous dramatic impulse generated by Brahms’s incessant reharmonizations of the almost ubiquitous melodic shape.” Notable about many of these pieces is the extreme economy of material: the way in which a single idea is transformed in myriad ways.(2) [3] Among the op. 119 pieces, No. 1 has received the most analytic attention.(3) Op. 119, no. 2