Serenade No. 2 in A-Major, Op. 16

 

 

Johannes Brahms

(1833~1897)

 

 

 

 Serenade No. 2 in A-Major, Op. 16

 

          

"The second serenade was written in 1859(24세) and dedicated to Clara Schumann. It was revised in 1875(42세). It is scored for a chamber orchestra, including double woodwinds but omitting violins, trumpets, trombones, and percussion. The five movements take approximately thirty minutes to perform.

 

I. Allegro moderato (0:00)
II. Scherzo. Vivace (9:15)
III. Adagio non troppo (11:54)
IV. Quasi menuetto (21:17)
V. Rondo. Allegro (27:48)

 

Orquesta de cámara Scottish
Director. Charles Mackerras

 

In 1863 the Vienna Philharmonic was rehearsing a serenade by a young, rather wet-behind-the-ears composer from Hamburg named Brahms. It was a real technical knuckle-buster, and the players complained about the ridiculous difficulty of many of the passages. Why go to all this trouble for a nobody? At the final rehearsal, open mutiny broke out. The first clarinetist stood up and, speaking for all the musicians, declared that they refused to perform the score. Conductor Otto Dessoff, white with anger, laid down his baton and declared his resignation from the Philharmonic. The concertmaster, one of the most celebrated musicians in Vienna, joined him, as well as the equally illustrious first flutist. Alarmed at the threatened disintegration of their orchestra, which, since its foundation by composer and conductor Otto Nicolai, had been in existence for 21 years, the rebels capitulated. The performance of Brahms’ Serenade No. 2 took place as announced and was, to their chagrined astonishment, a tremendous success.

 

The Southern Illinois University Chamber Orchestra

at Joseph Ryker's conducting recital

 

Brahms had written two orchestral serenades in his mid-20s while he was struggling to begin his career as a professional musician in the little city of Detmold, giving piano lessons to the local aristocracy and conducting a small chorus. In September 1859 he sent the score of the second and third movements of the A major Serenade to pianist Clara Schumann (wife of composer Robert Schumann) on her birthday. Clara, with whom Brahms enjoyed a lifelong artistic friendship and (mostly platonic) love affair, wrote back: “What shall I say about the Adagio? I can find no words to express the joy it has given me … I have to try to think of something extremely beautiful, something which gives me the greatest pleasure, perhaps as if I were looking at the stamens of a beautiful flower one by one. It is incredibly beautiful! … My dear Johannes, I’m sure you know that I can feel this better than I can express it in words. The Minuet is very charming (a bit Haydn-ish), and the oboe in the Trio—I look forward to hearing it, it must sound very special with its soaring melody.” These words of encouragement must have been sweetest balm to Brahms, who often was tortured by doubts about the value of his music. Later that spring he wrote to another friend, violinist Joseph Joachim: “I’ve just been arranging my second serenade for piano four hands [four-hand piano arrangements were

the most popular form of informal music making and listening in the days before phonograph recordings]. Don’t laugh! I had the greatest joy in it. I have seldom written musical notes with such extreme pleasure. The tones permeated my being so gently and lovingly that I was delighted through and through.”"