Tragic Overture Opus 81 by Johannes Brahms

The Tragic Overture (German: Tragische Ouvertüre), Op. 81, is a concert overture for orchestra written by Johannes Brahms during the summer of 1880. It premiered on December 26, 1880 in Vienna. Most performances last between twelve and fifteen minutes.

Brahms chose the title “Tragic” to emphasize the turbulent, tormented character of the piece, in essence a free-standing symphonic movement, in contrast to the mirthful ebullience of a companion piece he wrote the same year, the Academic Festival Overture. Despite its name, the Tragic Overture does not follow any specific dramatic program. Brahms was not very interested in musical storytelling and was more concerned with conveying and eliciting emotional impressions. He summed up the effective difference between the two overtures when he declared “one laughs while the other cries.” Brahms quotes some material from the last movement of the Second Symphony in this overture.

The Tragic Overture comprises three main sections, all in the key of D minor.

• Allegro ma non troppo
• Molto più moderato
• Tempo primo ma tranquillo.

Theorists have disagreed in analyzing the form of the piece: Jackson finds Webster’s multifarious description rather obscurist and prefers to label the work’s form as a “reversed sonata design” in which the second group is recapitulated before the first, with Beethoven‘s Coriolan Overture as a possible formal model.(Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragic_Overture)

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Best classical music, Leonard Bernstein, Brahms Tragic Overture Op.81, great compositions/performances

 

Leonard Bernstein, Brahms Tragic Overture Op.81

harpsichordVal

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The Tragic Overture (German: Tragische Ouvertüre), Op. 81, is a concert overture for orchestra written by Johannes Brahms during the summer of 1880. It premiered on 26 December 1880 in Vienna. Most performances last between twelve and fifteen minutes.

Brahms chose the title “Tragic” to emphasize the turbulent, tormented character of the piece, in essence a free-standing symphonic movement, in contrast to the mirthful ebullience of a companion piece he wrote the same year, the Academic Festival Overture. Despite its name, the Tragic Overture does not follow any specific dramatic program. Brahms was not very interested in musical storytelling and was more concerned with conveying and eliciting emotional impressions. He summed up the effective difference between the two overtures when he declared “one laughs while the other cries.” Brahms quotes some material from the last movement of the Second Symphony in this overture.

The Tragic Overture comprises three main sections, all in the key of D minor.

• Allegro ma non troppo
• Molto più moderato
• Tempo primo ma tranquillo.

Theorists have disagreed in analyzing the form of the piece: Jackson finds Webster’s multifarious description rather obscurist and prefers to label the work’s form as a “reversed sonata design” in which the second group is recapitulated before the first, with Beethoven‘s Coriolan Overture as a possible formal model.^[1]

Instrumentation

The work is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.

 

“Gaudeamus” , Best Classical Music, Bernstein – Academic Festival Overture (Brahms), great compositions/performances

Bernstein – Academic Festival Overture (Brahms)

Canal de rivalXXI

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Academic Festival Overture (German: Akademische Festouvertüre),^[1] Op. 80, by Johannes Brahms, was one of a pair of contrasting concert overtures — the other being the Tragic Overture, Op. 81. Brahms composed the work during the summer of 1880 as a musical “thank you” to the University of Breslau, which had awarded him an honorary doctorate the previous year.

Background

Initially, Brahms had contented himself with sending a simple handwritten note of acknowledgment to the University, since he loathed the public fanfare of celebrity. However, the conductor Bernard Scholz, who had nominated him for the degree, convinced him that protocol required him to make a grander gesture of gratitude. The University expected nothing less than a musical offering from the composer. “Compose a fine symphony for us!” he wrote to Brahms. “But well orchestrated, old boy, not too uniformly thick!”^[2]

Structure and instrumentation

Brahms, who was known to be a curmudgeonly joker, filled his quota by creating a “very boisterous potpourri of student drinking songs à la Suppé“^[3] in an intricately designed structure made to appear loose and episodic, thus drawing on the “academic” for both his sources and their treatment.

The work sparkles with some of the finest virtues of Brahms’s orchestral technique, sometimes applied for comic effect, such as the bassoons that inflate the light subject of “Fuchslied” (Was kommt dort von der Höh?).^[4] The inventive treatment includes tunes appropriated from the student ditties “Fuchslied”, “Wir hatten gebauet ein stattliches Haus”, “Hört, ich sing das Lied der Lieder”, and most memorably, the broad, triumphant finale on “Gaudeamus igitur“, which succinctly engages Brahms’s sophisticated mastery of counterpoint, further fulfilling the “Academic” aspect of his program, cheekily applied to the well-worn melody. Brahms manages to evoke ravishing euphoria without sacrificing his commitment to classical balance.

The blend of orchestral colors is carefully planned and highlighted in the piece, which, in spite of Scholz’s request, calls for one of the largest ensembles for any of his compositions: piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (both doubling on B-flat and C clarinets), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns (two in C and two in E), three C trumpets, three trombones, one tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and strings.

The Overture consists of four continuous sections:

• Allegro (C minor)
• Maestoso (C major)
• Animato (G major)
• Maestoso (C major).

The composer himself conducted the premiere at a special convocation held by the University on January 4, 1881, to the chagrin (and mischievous delight) of many of the academics in the audience^{[citation needed]}. Due to its easily grasped structure, its lyrical warmth, as well as its excitement and humor, the work has remained a staple of today’s concert-hall repertoire. A typical performance lasts around ten minutes.

Johannes Brahms – Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 & Tragic Overture, Op. 81 Chrissta Ludwig Otto Klamperer the philharmonic orchestra and Chorus, great compositions/performances

Johannes Brahms – Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53 & Tragic Overture, Op. 81

Classical Music

Alto Rhapsody for Alto, Male Chorus & Orchestra, Op. 53.
Christa Ludwig (mezzo soprano), Otto Klemperer/Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus.

The Rhapsody is a setting of verses from Goethe’s Harzreise im Winter. It was written in 1869, one year after the German Requiem, with which the third part of the Rhapsody has similarities of vocal and choral style. The work is in three sections: the first two, in a chromatically dense and wandering C minor, are for the soloist and orchestra and describe the pain of the misanthropic wanderer. The second section is an aria in all but name. The third section, in a nominal C major, brings in the male chorus, which joins the soloist in a plea to a celestial spirit for an abatement of the wanderer’s pain.
The work typically takes between twelve and fifteen minutes in performance. See recordings, below, for indicative timings.
The work was first “tried out” on 6 October 1869, at the dress rehearsal for the Karlsruhe season’s first orchestral subscription concert. Amalia Boni sang the solo role; the conductor Hermann Levi was on hand, but there was no male voice chorus, and it is unclear whether Boni was accompanied by orchestra or simply on piano. Brahms and Clara Schumann were present, but there was certainly no other audience. It received its first public performance, and its first definitely known proper performance, on 3 March 1870, at Jena. The soloist at the first performance was Pauline Viardot and the conductor was Ernst Naumann.

The Tragic Overture (German: Tragische Ouvertüre), Op. 81, is a concert overture for orchestra written by Johannes Brahms during the summer of 1880. It premiered on December 26, 1880 in Vienna. Most performances last between twelve and fifteen minutes.
Brahms chose the title “Tragic” to emphasize the turbulent, tormented character of the piece, in essence a free-standing symphonic movement, in contrast to the mirthful ebullience of a companion piece he wrote the same year, the Academic Festival Overture. Despite its name, the Tragic Overture does not follow any specific dramatic program. Brahms was not very interested in musical storytelling and was more concerned with conveying and eliciting emotional impressions. He summed up the effective difference between the two overtures when he declared “one laughs while the other cries.” Brahms quotes some material from the last movement of the Second Symphony in this overture.
The Tragic Overture comprises three main sections, all in the key of D minor.

1.Allegro ma non troppo
2.Molto più moderato
3.Tempo primo ma tranquillo.

Brahms, J. – Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (Tragische Ouvertüre): great compositions/performances

Brahms, J. – Tragic Overture, Op. 81

Sonny Beech

“Johannes Brahms (pronounced [joːˈhanəs ˈbʁaːms]; 7 May 1833 — 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. ***Performed by Nurnberger Symphoniker. Conducted by Hanspeter Gmur.

If you are the performer, be aware of the fact that “The Orchard Music” falsely claim copyright to your work and profit on YouTube (and probably anywhere else) from your performance.

The Tragic Overture (German: Tragische Ouvertüre), Op. 81, is a concert overture for orchestra written by Johannes Brahms during the summer of 1880. It premiered on December 26, 1880 in Vienna. Most performances last between twelve and fifteen minutes.

Brahms chose the title “Tragic” to emphasize the turbulent, tormented character of the piece, in essence a free-standing symphonic movement, in contrast to the mirthful ebullience of a companion piece he wrote the same year, the Academic Festival Overture. Despite its name, the Tragic Overture does not follow any specific dramatic program. Brahms was not very interested in musical storytelling and was more concerned with conveying and eliciting emotional impressions. He summed up the effective difference between the two overtures when he declared “one laughs while the other cries.” Brahms quotes some material from the last movement of the Second Symphony in this overture.

The Tragic Overture comprises three main sections, all in the key of D minor.
1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Molto più moderato
3. Tempo primo ma tranquillo.

The work is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.”

Brahms: Academic Festival Overture (Solti, CSO): great compositions/performances

Brahms: Academic Festival Overture (Solti, CSO)

  musicanth
This is Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 (Akademische Festouvertüre), a much lighter counterpart to his Tragic Overture. He composed it in 1880 when he received an honourary doctorate from the University of Breslau (now Wroclaw), as a musical show of gratitude. The music is very light-hearted, warm and humorous, but Brahms uses the occasion as a tour-de-force in contrapuntal symphonic writing. The orchestra whisks through several pulsing, boisterous melodies, which Brahms described as a “potpourri of student drinking songs,” subtly mocking the academic institution for which he composed the piece. At 9:10 the orchestra erupts into a joyous rendition of “Gaudeamus igitur” (“So let us rejoice,” a.k.a. “On the shortness of life”), a popular Latin graduation hymn which was originally a beer-drinking song.

The recording is by Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The images are of Solti, Brahms, the University of Wroclaw, and the beautiful old city of Wroclaw, Poland.

First verse of the Gaudeamus:

Gaudeamus igitur Juvenes dum sumus.
Post jucundam juventutem
Post molestam senectutem
Nos habebit humus.

Let us rejoice therefore
While we are young.
After a pleasant youth
After a troubling old age
The earth will have us.

Great Compositions/Performances: Bernstein – Academic Festival Overture (Brahms)

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Great Compositions/Performances: Brahms, Symphony Nr 3 F Dur op 90 Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker

From Wikipedia:

The Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, is a symphony by Johannes Brahms. The work was written in the summer of 1883 at Wiesbaden, nearly six years after he completed his Second Symphony. In the interim Brahms had written some of his greatest works, including the Violin Concerto, two overtures (Tragic Overture and Academic Festival Overture), and the Second Piano Concerto.

The premiere performance was given on 2 December 1883 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Hans Richter. The shortest of Brahms’ four symphonies, a typical performance lasts between 30 and 40 minutes.

Instrumentation

The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, a contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, and strings.

Form

The symphony consists of four movements, marked as follows:

1. Allegro con brio (F major), in sonata form.
2. Andante (C major), in a modified sonata form.
3. Poco allegretto (C minor), in ternary form (A B A’).
4. Allegro (F minor/F major), in a modified sonata form.

History

Hans Richter, who conducted the premiere of the symphony, proclaimed it to be Brahms’ Eroica. The symphony was well received, more so than his Second Symphony. Although Richard Wagner had died earlier that year, the public feud between Brahms and Wagner had not yet subsided. Wagner enthusiasts tried to interfere with the symphony’s premiere, and the conflict between the two factions nearly brought about a duel.^[1]

After each performance, Brahms polished his score further, until it was published in May 1884. His friend and influential music critic Eduard Hanslick said, “Many music lovers will prefer the titanic force of the First Symphony; others, the untroubled charm of the Second, but the Third strikes me as being artistically the most nearly perfect.”^[1]

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