Brahms, Song Quotation, and Secret Programs

Author(s): Dillon Parmer

Source: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 161-190
Published by: University of California Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/746660
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Brahms, Song Quotation,
and Secret Programs
DILLON PARMER
Histories of nineteenth-century music remem-
ber Brahms chiefly for his contribution to what
Gerald Abraham terms "the great instrumental
tradition."' Yet in terms of published opuses,
Brahms produced as many compositions for
voice as he did for instruments. In fact, when
all the Werke ohne Opuszahlen are also taken
into account-a portion of which includes over
200 folk-song arrangements-the number of
compositions for solo voice alone outweighs
that for any other genre. Of course, the histori-
cal importance of his songs can never exceed
that of the symphonies simply on the basis of
19th-Century Music XIX/2 (Fall 1995). ? by The Regents
of the University of Califoria.
'Gerald Abraham, A Hundred Years of Music (Chicago,
1967), pp. 159-73. A more recent account appears in
Francesco Bussi, La musica strumentale di Johannes
Brahms (Torino, 1989). Most scholars single out his con-
tribution to chamber music. See RobertH. Schauffler,The
Unknown Brahms: His Life, Character and Works (New
York, 1933; rpt., Westport, Conn., 1972), p. 372; Carl
Dahlhaus, Nineteenth-Century Music, trans. J. Bradford
Robinson (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1989), pp. 252-61;
Dahlhaus, "Brahmsund die Idee der Kammermusik,"in
Brahms-Studien, vol. I, ed. Constantin Floros (Hamburg,
1974), pp. 45-57; Ivor Keys, Brahms ChamberMusic (Lon-
don, 1974);and Daniel GregoryMason, The ChamberMu-
sic of Brahms (New York, 1933; rpt., 1970).
numbers-it would take many Lieder to match
the musical substance of a single symphony-
but the disparity between aesthetic worth and
numerical proportion suggests that at least two
factors guide the historical evaluation of his
music. On the one hand, monumentalism con-
fers canonical status more easily on large-scale,
multimovement works than on individual or
collected miniatures, while on the other, the
ideal of absolute music not only favors compo-
sitions free of extramusical associations, but
also offers a concomitant analytical methodol-
ogy for treating even those works with texts.2
Urged on by revisionist historicism, current
Brahms research challenges these and other co-
vert values by bringing to the center of discus-
sions new or overlooked evidence, marginalized
2The Vier ernste Gesange, op. 121, and the Requiem, op.
45, furnish two important exceptions. For a Schenkerian
approachto song analysis, see Heather Anne Platt, Text-
Music Relationships in the Lieder of Johannes Brahms
(Ph.D. diss., City University of New York, 1992). For one
perspective on values in scholarship, see Janet M. Levy,
"Covertand Casual Values in Recent WritingsAbout Mu-
sic," Journal of Musicology 5 (1987), 3-27. More to the
point is Kevin Korsyn, "BrahmsResearch and Aesthetic
Ideology,"Music Analysis 12 (1993), 89-103.
161
 19TH compositions, and neglected repertories.3The
CENTURY
MUSIC present study is no exception, for I hope to
undermine the canonical barrierseparatingvo-
cal from instrumental music by asserting that
song texts may be necessary for understanding
works for instruments alone.
At first, a generic separation of song from
symphony might seem appropriate,but even a
cursory glance quickly reveals that many of
Brahms's instrumental works rely on specific
vocal antecedents in various ways. At one ex-
treme are those compositions that appropriate
preexisting vocal music or styles, as in the An-
dante from the C-Major Piano Sonata, op. 1,
and the Variations on a HungarianTheme, op.
21, both of which use actual songs as their
basis.4 According to Paul Mies, the "Edward"
Ballade, op. 10, no. 1, may have originated as a
song, while documentary evidence betrays a
vocal conception for the Andante from the F#-
Minor Piano Sonata, op. 2, as well as the Drei
Intermezzi, op. 117.5 Chorales anchor both a
3Fora brief outline of the history of Brahmsresearch, see
George Bozarth's preface to Brahms Studies: Analytical
and Historical Perspectives,ed. GeorgeS. Bozarth(Oxford,
1990).Although 1974 saw the first installment of the afore-
mentioned Brahms-Studien,the sesquicentenaryof his birth
has markeda noticeable mushroomingof Brahmsresearch.
Much of this work is gatheredin such collections as Bozarth,
Brahms Studies; Brahms:Biographical,Documentary and
Analytical Studies, ed. Robert Pascall (Cambridge,1983);
Brahmsund seine Zeit, ed. ConstantinFloros,HansJoachim
Marx, and Peter Petersen (Hamburg,1984);Brahms2: Bio-
graphical, Documentary and Analytical Studies, ed.
Michael Musgrave(Cambridge,1987);and Brahmsand His
World, ed. Walter Frisch (Princeton, 1990). In addition,
three new surveys of the life and works have appearedin
English: Michael Musgrave, The Music of Brahms (Lon-
don, 1985); Ivor Keys, Johannes Brahms (London, 1989);
andMalcolmMacDonald,Brahms(London,1990).Although
not directly related to the revisionist trend, several impor-
tant reference works have been published since 1983:
Brahms-Bibliographie,ed. SiegfriedKross (Tutzing, 1983);
JohannesBrahms:Thematisch-bibliographischesWerkver-
zeichnis, ed. MargitL. McCorkle(Munich, 1984);andTho-
mas Quigley, JohannesBrahms:An Annotated Bibliogra-
phy of the Literaturethrough 1982 (Metuchen,N.J., 1990).
Quigley promises a companion volume.
4For a discussion of the sonata movement, see Bozarth,
"Brahms's Lieder ohne Worte: The 'Poetic' Andantes of
the Piano Sonatas,"in Brahms Studies, pp. 348-52.
5Fora discussion of the piano ballade,see Paul Mies, "Herd-
ers Edward-Ballade bei Joh. Brahms," Zeitschrift fur
Musikwissenschaft 2 (1919-20), 225-32. For discussion of
the Andante, see Bozarth,"Brahms'sLieder ohne Worte,"
pp. 353-58; Bozarth, "Brahms'sLiederInventory of 1859-
60 and Other Documents of His Life and Work," Fontes
Artis Musicae 30 (1983),111;AlbertDietrich, Erinnerungen
162
set of variations, op. 56, and-as they ought
to-the twelve organ preludes, WoO 7 and op.
122. At the other extreme are parenthetical
references,those instances of song allusion gen-
erally confined to one or two isolated moments
within a largerwork.6 In the orchestral idiom,
the first movement (mm. 102-05) of the Sec-
ond Symphony recalls Wiegenlied, op. 49, no.
4. In the Third Symphony, the first (mm. 31-
35) and the second (mm. 108-10) movements
refer respectively to passages from Wagner's
Tannhduser and G6tterddmmerung.7 Both
Schumann's "Sfi3er Freund"(Frauenliebe und
-leben, op. 42) and Beethoven's "Nimm sie hin
denn dieser Lieder"(An die ferne Geliebte, op.
98) appear in the finale of the Fourth Sym-
phony (mm. 105-10).8 The Adagio from the
First Piano Concerto, op. 15, also refers to the
same Beethoven song (mm. 17-20).9 And the
slow movement (mm. 59-62) from the Second
Piano Concerto, op. 83, quotes Brahms's
Todessehnen, op. 86, no. 6.10
Hardly the first examples of song allusion,
these instances exemplify a widespread prac-
tice in nineteenth-century music that still
awaits thorough study. It is not difficult to
concoct a miscellany. In Schubert's output, for
example, the slow section from the "Wanderer"
Fantasy,the fourthmovement from the "Trout"
Quintet, the Introduction and Variations for
Flute and Piano (D. 802), and the slow move-
an Johannes Brahms in Briefen besonders aus seiner
Jugendzeit (Leipzig, 1898), pp. 3-4; and Max Kalbeck,
Johannes Brahms, vol. I (Berlin, 1912-21; rpt., Tutzing,
1976), p. 212. Kalbeck asserts that the three Intermezzos
of op. 117 are literally songs without words, and Brahms
identified them as "Wiegenlieder meiner Schmerzen";
"Wiegenlied der Schmerzen"; "Wiegenlieder meinem
Schmerze!"(see respectivelyKalbeck,IV,285, and Johannes
Brahms:Briefwechsel [1919;rpt. Tutzing, 1974], XII,89).
6Songwill be used to referto any type of vocal work.
7Fordiscussions of the Third Symphony, see RobertBailey,
"MusicalLanguageand Structurein the Third Symphony,"
in Brahms Studies, ed. Bozarth, pp. 405-09; and David
Brodbeck, "Brahms,the Third Symphony, and the New
GermanSchool," in Brahms and His World,p. 67.
8Foran account of these putative allusions, see Kenneth
Hull, Brahmsthe Allusive: Extra-CompositionalReference
in the InstrumentalMusic of JohannesBrahms(Ph.D.diss.,
Princeton University, 1989),pp. 210-11.
9This referencewas pointed out to me by Hull.
I?The allusion is noted in Max Friedlaender, Brahms's
Lieder: An Introduction to the Songs for One and Two
Voices, trans. C. LeonardLeese (London, 1928; rpt., New
York, 1976),p. 153.
ment from the D-Minor String Quartet use one
of his own songs-Der Wanderer,Die Forelle,
Trockne Blumen, and Der Tod und das
Madchen respectively-as a compositional ba-
sis. At least two of Schumann's piano works-
the second movement from the Sonata in G
Minor, op. 22, and the finale from the Etudes
symphoniques, op. 13-derive from vocal
sources: the early song Im Herbst and the over-
ture to Hans Marschner's opera, Der Templer
und die Jiidin, respectively. Schumann's by far
most famous song reference, however, is to the
aforementioned Beethoven song, a quotation
that appears in the first movement of the C-
Major Piano Fantasy, and the finales from the
F-MajorString Quartet, op. 41, no. 2, and the
Second Symphony." Given Mendelssohn's in-
terest in Lutheranmusic, it is not at all surpris-
ing that the finales from his C-Minor Piano
Trio and the Reformation Symphony, as well
as movements from the Third and Sixth Organ
Sonatas, utilize chorales. Liszt is well known
for his transcriptions and paraphrasesof vocal
music, and Mahler's first four symphonies in-
corporate melodies, with and without text,
from Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Des
Knaben Wunderhorn. Perhaps following
Brahms's example in the "Academic" Festival
Overture, op. 80, Mahler quotes Wir hatten
gebauet throughout the first movement of his
Third Symphony.12The sheer number of com-
positions dependent on vocal models demands
systematic investigation.
In Brahms's instrumental music, a reliance
on vocal antecedents might be attributed to his
alleged belief that only song, especially folk
song, can serve as a suitable source for melodic
inspiration.13Such an explanation could apply
to the Andante from the First Piano Sonata and
"Discussion of the Beethoven referencein Schumann can
be found in Hull, Brahms the Allusive, pp. 62-65; and
Nicholas Marston,Schumann:Fantasie,Op. 17 (Cambridge,
1992), pp. 34-37.
'2Incidentally,the Mahler movement also contains a refer-
ence to the finale theme from Brahms'sFirst Symphony.
'3Dietrich, Erinnerungen,pp. 3-4. For studies of the rela-
tion of folk song to Brahms'sLieder,see SiegmundHelms,
Die Melodiebildung in den Liedern von JohannesBrahms
und ihr Verhaltnis zu Volksliedern und volkstiimlichen
Weisen (Ph.D. diss., Freie Universitat Berlin, 1968); and
WernerMorik, JohannesBrahms und sein Verhaltniszum
deutschen Volkslied (Tutzing, 1965).
the Variations op. 21. But because most other DILLON
PARMER
instances of song reference in his output tend Brahmsand
to be parenthetically isolated rather than the- Song Quotation
matically structural, they demand different ex-
planations. Ever since the publication in 1855
of Liszt's and Princess Wittgenstein's essay cel-
ebratingBerlioz'sHarold Symphony, critics and
historians predisposed to such explanations
generally account for symphonic poems and
programsymphonies in terms of a specified or
implied external text.14More recently, scholars
have taken to juxtaposingindependent musical
compositions and literary works to illuminate
relationships both within and between the two
media.15In contrast, extracompositional refer-
ences to texted music have yet to be widely
recognizedas playing a similar interpretiverole.
In fact, with song allusion lies the potential to
transform a work allegedly free of specific ex-
ternal associations into programmusic. Indeed,
if a song text can open what Lawrence Kramer
calls a "hermeneutic window" into the instru-
mental work in question, is not the text of the
vocal work functioning like a program?16
Although Harold C. Schonberg claims that
Brahms wrote not a shred of program music,17
there are numerous cases in his ceuvre to the
contrary. For the "Edward"Ballade, the An-
dante from the First Sonata, and the Eb-Major
Intermezzo, op. 117, no. 1, for example, Brahms
specifies literary adjuncts in the published
'4FranzLiszt, "Berlioz und seine 'Harold-Symphonie',"
Neue Zeitschrift fir Musik 43 (1855),25-26, 40-46, 49-55,
77-79, and 80-81. The complete text can be found in Franz
Liszt, Gesammelte Schriften,ed. L. Ramann(Leipzig,1882),
IV, 1-102. An abridgedEnglishtranslationappearsin Source
Readings in Music History: From Classical Antiquity
through the Romantic Era, selected and annotated Oliver
Strunk(New York, 1950),pp. 847-73.
"SSee,for example, Lawrence Kramer,Music and Poetry:
The Nineteenth Century and After (Berkeleyand Los An-
geles, 1984);and RolandJordanand Emma Kafalenos,"The
Double Trajectory: Ambiguity in Brahms and Henry
James,"this journal 13 (1989), 129-44.
"6Atthe "Feminist Theory and Music II: A Continuing
Dialogue" conference in Rochester, N. Y., 1993, Lawrence
Kramersuggestedprecisely this path in his "MermaidFan-
cies: The 'Trout' Quintet and the Wish to Be a Woman."
Fora discussion of "hermeneuticwindows," see his Music
as Cultural Practice, 1800-1900 (Berkeleyand Los Ange-
les, 1990),pp. 9-10.
'7HaroldC. Schonberg,The Lives of the Great Composers
(New York, 1981),p. 296.
163
 19TH scores. Although without such explicit textual
CENTURY
MUSIC associations, the "Riickblick" Andante from
the Third Sonata, two Intermezzi (ops. 117, no.
3, and 118, no. 6), the Andante and scherzo
from the Second Piano Sonata, op. 2, and the
Third Piano Quartet, op. 60, have been linked,
in most cases by Brahms himself, to specific
literary works, of which some may even have
circulatedamong his closest friends.18Still other
compositions with textual, if not properly lit-
erary, associations may be classified similarly:
the "Riickblick" Andante and the "Tragic"
Overture, op. 81, have suggestive titles that
serve to orient listeners,19 while the tenth of
the Variations op. 9, as well as the Adagio from
the D-Minor Concerto,carryprovocativeif enig-
matic inscriptions in only their autograph
scores.20Of these cases, only two come with a
documented hermeneutic prescription.In a let-
ter to his publisher Senff (26 December 1853),
Brahms indicates that the motto accompany-
ing the op. 5 Andante is necessary for under-
standing and enjoying the movement,21and for
the Quartet op. 60, he stipulates in correspon-
dence that a reading of its literary adjunct-
'8Withrespect to the "Riickblick"Andante, the two Inter-
mezzi, and the Andante from the Second Sonata, see
Kalbeck, Brahms, I, 121; and IV, 280 and 552; and I, 212;
Dietrich, Erinnerungen,pp. 3-4; Bozarth,"Brahms'sLieder
Inventory," p. 111; and Bozarth, "Brahms'sLieder ohne
Worte,"pp. 353-58.
19Foran account of the overture as musical tragedy, see
James Webster, "Brahms'sTragic Overture:The Form of
Tragedy,"in Brahms:Biographical,Documentaryand Ana-
lytical Studies, pp. 99-124.
20Theseinscriptions appearonly in the autograph.For the
inscription in the variation, see Johannes Brahms:
Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis,p. 28. A
reproductionof the inclusion in the Adagio can be found
in Constantin Floros, Brahms und Bruckner:Studien zur
musikalischen Exegetik (Wiesbaden,1980),p. 147. A simi-
lar, but nonexhaustive, listing of Brahms'spotentially pro-
grammatic compositions appearson pp. 79-83.
21"Ichhabe die 'Sonate' schon zugesiegelt und mag mich
nicht mehr aufhalten; so bitte ich Sie folgenden kleinen
Vers iiber das erste Andante in Parantheseklein setzen zu
lassen. Es ist zum Verstandnisdes Andantevielleicht n6tig
oder angenehm" (Brahms,Briefwechsel,XIV,5). The same
function can be adduced for the poetic motto that heads
the Intermezzo in E; Major, op. 117, no. 1. Bozarth be-
lieves that this motto can be linked to the second Inter-
mezzo as well. See Bozarth,"Brahms'sLiederohne Worte,"
pp. 376-77; and Kalbeck,Brahms, IV, 280. A second poem
appearsin a collection found in Brahms'sapartmentafter
his death and might be associated with the third inter-
mezzo. See Bozarth,"Brahms'sLiederInventory,"p. 111.
164
Goethe's Leiden des junges Werther-will fa-
cilitate understanding.22Although such docu-
mentary evidence is lacking in the other cases,
it is possible that their textual associations also
serve a similar hermeneutic function. Could
not song allusion be deemed yet another means
by which Brahms stipulates a literary referent,
since song allusion embodies an indirect refer-
ence to the vocal text? A brief exposition of
one case outlines what I have in mind.
In his 1862 review of Brahms's early com-
positions, Adolf Schubring suggested that the
second movement Andante of the F-Minor Pi-
ano Sonata, op. 5, refers to the song Steh' ich in
finst'rerMitternacht.23A comparisonof the two
passages confirms such a relationship (ex. 1).
Although their interval structures are not iden-
tical, the two excerpts have in common mode,
contour, meter, and rhythmic gesture. In addi-
tion, they serve similarly prominent roles, one
forming the song's head motif, the other the
opening of the Andante's coda.24A potentially
hermeneutic function lies in the explanatory
effect the song text has for understandingboth
this and a subsequent movement. The poem,
given below, tells of a soldier who stands alone
at night thinking of his distant beloved:
Steh' ich in finst'rerMitternacht
So einsam auf der fernen Wacht:
So denk' ich an mein fernes Lieb,
Ob mir's auch treu und hold verblieb.
22See Billroth und Brahms im Briefwechsel, ed. Otto
Gottlieb-Billroth (Berlin, 1935), p. 211; Brahms,
Briefwechsel, IX, 201; and XIII,22 and 24-25. In a similar
vein, Brahms encouraged Clara to hear the slow move-
ment from the D-Minor Piano Concerto as a portrait of
herself (30 December 1856): "Auch male ich an einem
sanften Portrat von Dir, das dann Adagio werden soll"
(ClaraSchumann-JohannesBrahms:Briefe aus den Jahren
1853-1896, ed. BertholdLitzmann [Leipzig,1927], I, 198).
23AdolfSchubring, "Five Early Works by Brahms,"trans.
Frisch in Brahms and His World, p. 114. The original
review appears as "Schumanniana Nr. 8: Die
Schumann'sche Schule: IV. Johannes Brahms," Neue
Zeitschrift fiir Musik 56 (1862), 109-12. For discussion of
this and other reviews, see Walter Frisch, "Brahmsand
Schubring:Musical Criticism and Politics at Mid-Century,"
this journal7 (1984),271-81.
24Theopening of the coda actually crystallizes an implied
melody in the contrastingB section of the movement (mm.
37-44).
a. Brahms,Piano Sonata in F Minor, movt. II, mm. 144-48. DILLON
PARMER
Andantemolto Brahms and
.o.nrp,.z.uvn
Song Quotation

7 1Z > sosten.
PPp -.

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r r r r r r?r r
j.r r r r r r .L7
r9r rrr r
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sempre les I I I I I I
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deux Pedales ??

b. FriedrichSilcher, "Steh' ich in finst'rerMitternacht," mm. 1-12.

Andante

<^jl, DIJ. tPD2IJ 7bb r pp - j^i Jr r^ i

Steh' ich in finst' - rer Mit - ter - nacht so ein - sam auf der fer nen Wacht: so denk' ich an mein fer - nes

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6

6iT7 ~ r ,u I8,i,J., F, i IJF,,

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Lieb, ob mir's auch treu und hold ver - blieb, so denk' ich an mein fer-nes Lieb, ob mir'sauch treu und hold ver - blieb.

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Example 1

Als ich zur Fahne fortgemuiit, Die Glocke schlagt, bald naht die Rund',
Hat sie so herzlich mich gekiiit, Und lost mich ab zu dieser Stund';
Mit Bandernmeinen Hut geschmuickt, Schlaf' wohl im stillen Kammerlein,
Und weinend mich an's Herz gedriickt. Und denk' in deinen Traumen mein.

Sie liebt mich noch, sie ist mir gut, (I stand in the darkmidnight
Drum bin ich froh und wohlgemuth, so lonely on the distant watch;
Mein Herz schlagt warm in kalter Nacht, thus I think of my distant love,
Wenn es an's treue Lieb gedacht. if she also remains faithful and pure to me.

Jetzt bei der Lampe mildem Schein When I had to leave for the army,
Gehst du wohl in dein Kammerlein, she kissed me with such passion,
Und schickst dein Nachtgebet zum Herrn, she adornedmy hat with ribbons,
Auch fur den Liebsten in der Fern'. and crying she pressed me to her heart.

Doch wenn du traurigbist und weinst, She still loves me, she is good to me,
Mich von Gefahr umrungen meinst: and so I am happy and full of cheer.
Sei ruhig, ich bin in Gottes Hut, My heart beats warmly in the cold night,
Er liebt ein treu Soldatenblut. when it thinks about my true love.

165
19TH Now, in the soft rays of the lamp,
CNUSCRY you are happily going into your little room,
sending your evening prayerto the Lord,
for your beloved who is also far away.
Yet when you are sad and crying,
when you think me surroundedby danger,
be at peace, I am in God's care,
he loves a true-bloodedsoldier.
The clock strikes, soon the patrol will come
to relieve me at this hour;
sleep well in the quiet little room,
and think of me in your dreams.)25
The song allusion might seem insignificant by
itself, but the Andante in question also has a
poetic motto in the score-the first three lines
from C. O. Stemau's Junge Liebe (Young Love)-
which can be linked to the song text:
Der Abend dammert, das Mondlicht scheint,
Da sind zwei Herzen in Liebe vereint
Und halten sich selig umfangen.
(Twilight falls, the moonlight is shining,
there two hearts are united in love
and wrap themselves in bliss.)26
Portraying a night spent together by two youth-
ful lovers, Junge Liebe extols the joys of young
love, and the Andante, a ternary form with
coda, captures many of the central poetic im-
ages: wafting breezes, the nocturnal atmosphere,
and the intensity of youthful passion.27 The
entire text appears in a diary of Brahms's poetic
favorites and is followed there by another
Sternau poem, Bitte, which Max Kalbeck as-
serts belongs to the sonata's interpolated fourth
movement, entitled "Intermezzo: Riickblick."
In stark contrast to the first poem, Bitte tells of
25Thepoem,byWilhelmHauff,appears
in Friedrich
Silcher,
100 Volkslieder ffir eine Singstimme mit Begleitung des
Pianoforte,p. 76. Cited in Bozarth,"Brahms'sLiederohne
Worte,"p. 365. All translationsaremy own unlessother-
wise noted.
26Briefwechsel,XIV,5.
27A discussion of this movement in relation to the Sternau
motto canbe foundin DetlefKraus,JohannesBrahmsals
Klavierkomponist: Wege und Hinweise zu seiner
Klaviermusik (Wilhelmshaven,1986),pp. 29-34.
166
how a young man returns home to find that his
relationship has faded:
O wiigtest du, wie bald, wie bald
Die Baume welk und kahl der Wald,
Du warst so kalt und lieblos nicht
Und sahst mir freundlich ins Gesicht!
Ein Jahrist kurz und kurz die Zeit,
Wo Liebeslust und Gliick gedeiht,
Wie bald kommt dann der triibe Tag,
An dem verstummt des Herzens Schlag.
O schau mich nicht so lieblos an,
Kurzist die Zeit und kurz der Wahn!
Der Liebe Seligkeit und Gliick
Bringtkeine Trane dir zuruick!
(Ifonly you knew how soon, how soon
trees wither and the woods grow barren,
you would not be so cold and loveless,
you would look at me in a friendly way!
One year is short and so also is the time
when joy and love's bliss prosper;
how soon then comes the sad day
when the heart's beat is silenced.
Oh, do not look at me so lovelessly,
time is short and short is the delusion!
Love's blessedness and joy
bring back no tears to you!)28
The "Intermezzo," also an Andante, expres-
sively inverts elements from its counterpart
through various means of distortion.29 Within
this literary and musical context, the song allu-
sion interposes a third text that explains the
expressive dissonance between both Sternau
poems and the two Andantes: the young man
has been away for too long. The allusion, there-
fore, not only informs the narrative relation-
ship between the Sternau poems, it also pro-
vides a framework for making sense of the
opposed expressive trajectories of the two move-
ments. Although this brief outline only sug-
28Kalbeck,Brahms, I, 121.
29A readingof both movementsin relationto theirpoetic
counterpartscan be foundin Bozarth,"Brahms'sLieder
ohneWorte,"pp.358-68.I proposean alternateinterpreta-
tion in my "Brahmsandthe PoeticMotto:A Hermeneutic
Aid?"(forthcoming).
gests a hermeneutic significance for the puta-
tive reference, the three case studies that
follow flesh out more fully the nature of and
extent to which a song allusion can have inter-
pretive value.
II
Brahms's perhaps most famous song allu-
sion occurs in the finale of his G-MajorViolin
Sonata, op. 78, of 1879. Here the main theme
quotes the head motif of his 1873 settings of
Klaus Groth's Regenlied and Nachklang, op.
59, nos. 3 and 4. The parallel between melody,
rhythmic motif, accompanimental figuration,
mode, and meter is virtually exact in all three
excerpts, but the allusive connection is stron-
gest between the finale and Nachklang because
only they begin without piano introduction (ex.
2). Nevertheless, posterity remembers op. 78 as
the "Regenlied" Sonata, and documentary evi-
dence further establishes that Brahms wanted
the connection noticed. In a letter to Theodore
Billroth (June 1879), for example, the composer
writes that the finale is "not worth playing
through more than once" and requires "a nice,
soft, rainy evening to give the propermood."30
Oblivious at first, Billroth spotted the citation
after playing through the movement, as he ad-
mits in his response (26 June 1879):"The recur-
ring motif in the last movement seems familiar
to me. First I thought of Klaus Groth's song,
Heimat, and then at last it dawned on me that
30"Mehrist sie nicht wert und dazu mufi noch eine sanfte
Regenabendstundedie nbtige Stimmung liefern" (Gottlieb-
Billroth, Billroth und Brahms, p. 283). An English render-
ing can be found in JohannesBrahmsand TheodorBillroth:
Letters from a Musical Friendship, trans. and ed. Hans
Barkan(Norman, Okla., 1957), p. 80. Another letter (Sep-
tember 1879), addressed to the conductor, Otto Dessoff,
also emphasizes the same connection: "UberRegen mufit
du nicht klagen. ErlaBt sich sehr gut in Musik setzen, was
ich auch den Fruhling in einer Violin-Sonata [op. 78]
versucht habe" (You must not complain over rain. It can
be set to music quite well, something I have also tried to
do last spring in a violin sonata [op. 78]) (Briefwechsel,
XVI, 218). A third letter (31 August 1879) makes no men-
tion of rain, but hints at the origins of the finale in an-
other work by warning the publisher, Fritz Simrock, about
the consequences of plagiarism-a jest, of course, for
Brahmscould not be chargedwith stealing his own mate-
rial: "Hiiten Sie sich aber, sie kann Ihnen einen
Nachdrucksprozefizuziehen!" (Briefwechsel,X, 128).
it was Regenlied. Now, for the first time I un- DILLON
PARMER
derstand your sentence about a rainy evening, Brahmsand
for I had taken that remark as completely in- Song Quotation
nocuous without realizing that it pointed to-
ward the leading motif. You rogue!"31In spite
of the fact that Billroth recognized the citation
before comprehending Brahms's remark, the
reference to a "rainy evening" seems designed
not only to draw attention to the vocal source,
but also to engender an understanding of the
sonata in terms of the song. Having perceived
the connection, Billroth proposes exactly this
function:
To recognize a song motif again in a sonata form is a
peculiar thing. In my view, the song, like Groth's
Heimat, is the most beautiful of poetic creations
among your compositions.... It is entirely impos-
sible for me to imagine what sort of impression this
sonata will make on people who are not in posses-
sion of the song as wholly and fully as if they had
composed it themselves. To me, the whole sonata is
like an echo of the song, like a fantasy about it.32
Even though the appearanceof a song reference
in an instrumental work is not that "peculiar,"
Billroth unwittingly indicates that a thorough
familiarity with both vocal antecedents is nec-
essary for understanding the sonata when he
tries to answer Brahms's "rainy evening" with
his own pun on "echo" (Nachklang).33
31"Dasso oft wiederkehrendeMotiv im letzten Satz kommt
mir so bekannt vor. Aus den 'Heimat' liedem von Klaus
Groth dachte ich, dann endlich dammerte mir das
Regenlied auf. Nun wurde mir erst der Satz mit der
Regenabendstimmung ganz klar, den ich ganz harmlos
genommen hatte, ohne zu ahnen, welches Leitmotiv damit
angedeutet war, Du Schelm!" (Gottlieb-Billroth,Billroth
und Brahms, pp. 283-84). An alternate English rendering
appearsin Barkan,Brahms and Billroth, pp. 80-81.
32"Esist ein sonderbaresDing, bekannte Liedermotive in
Sonatenform horen zu sollen. Das Lied gehort, wie die
'Heimat'von KlausGroth,in Deiner Kompositionfur mich
zu den schonsten poetischen Schopfungen.... Es ist mir
absolut unm6glich, mir vorzustellen, welchen Eindruck
diese Sonate auf Menschen macht, die das Lied nicht ganz
und voll wie eine Selbstsch6pfungin sich haben. Mir ist
die ganze Sonate wie ein Nachklang vom Liede, wie eine
Phantasie uber dasselbe" (Gottlieb-Billroth,Billroth und
Brahms, p. 284). For an alternate English rendering, see
Barkan,Brahms and Billroth, p. 81.
33I thank Gretchen Wheelock for pointing out Billroth's
roguish repartee.
167
 1 9TH a. Brahms,Violin Sonata in G Major,movt. III,mm. 1-2.
CENTURY
MUSIC
Allegro molto moderato

O e I
p dolce

p dolce

T, -r JI r

b. Regenlied, mm. 1-14.

In ruhiger

Singstimme B mai~iger, Bewegung I

Wal le,

Pianoforte

r V C

Re gen, wal le nie der, we cke mir die

m.g

JC"
P~ J~
1- H r pcr ly r _

Trgu me wie der, die ich in der Kind heit

N"il~
I?J Ijg

-t 1 # -Z~ -t

Example 2

168
c. Nachklang, mm. 1-7.
Sanftbewegt
PA Y"-r
?r^''
Re - gen - trop -fen
j
:nJ:
###q:_ 6 :-r- _-?
Example 2 (continued)
Although Brahms's subsequent letter char-
acteristically avoids mentioning his friend's
"discovery," scholarly discussion of the sonata
almost invariably follows Billroth's lead when
it locates the id6e fixe of the sonata in the
song's principal rhythmic motif, the dotted
figure (ex. 2b and c).34The presence of the mo-
tif in each of the three movements is undeni-
able, but if fuller cognition of the sonata really
does depend on intimate knowledge of the song
sources, then surely we have to take the texts
of Regenlied and Nachklang into consideration
as well.35 Brahms's own thoughts on the prior-
ity accorded to poems in the process of song
composition-recorded by his student, Gustav
Jenner-lend support to this supposition:
34Fora detailed account this and further musical connec-
tions between song and sonata, see Hans Hollander, "Der
melodische Aufbau in Brahms' Regenlied Sonate," Neue
Zeitschrift fiir Musik 125 (1964), 5-7.
35EdwinEvans in fact suggests that the sonata could be
deemed programmaticin light of its indirect poetic allu-
sion, but he does not consider the work in light of the
song texts. See Edwin Evans, Handbook to the Chamber
and Orchestral Works of Johannes Brahms, vol. II (Lon-
don, 1912;rpt. New York, 1970), p. 64.
DILLON
PARMER
Brahmsand
Song Quotation
Cr
i ri r Ir r 1
aus den Bau -men
1 ?"
p
"Brahms demanded from a composer, first of
all, that he should know his text precisely....
[Brahms] recommended ... that before com-
posing [a composer] should carry the poem
around [in his head] for a long time and should
frequently recite it out loud . . . paying close
attention to everything, especially the decla-
mation."36 Given this requirement, as well as
the depth and extent of Brahms's literary tastes,
it is inconceivable that the finale would not, in
evoking the music of Regenlied and Nachklang,
also call up their literary components.37 A read-
36GustavJenner,"JohannesBrahms as Man, Teacher, and
Artist," trans. Susan Gillespie, in Brahms and His World,
p. 197.
37ForBrahms'sfamiliarity with literature, see Des jungen
Kreislers Schatzkiistlein: Ausspriiche von Dichtern,
Philosophen und Kunstlern, ed. Carl Krebs(Berlin, 1909).
A subsequent but unpublished collection is discussed in
KarlGeiringer,"Brahms'zweites Schatzkastleindes jungen
Kreisler,"Zeitschrift fiir Musik 100 (1933), 443-46. For an
index of the nonmusical contents in Brahms'slibrary, see
Kurt Hofmann, Die Bibliothek von Johannes Brahms:
Biicher- und Musikalienverzeichnis (Hamburg,1974). For
one account of the extents of Brahms'snonmusical inter-
ests, see Musgrave, "The Cultural World of Brahms," in
Brahms:Biographical,Documentary and Analytical Stud-
ies, pp. 1-26.
169
 19TH a. movt. II, mm. 1-9.
CENTURY
MUSIC Adagio
I .

- le
p 4 bo
R I- i
j o ;+ -;s-- 4 j a
1 J-1
I :bb~ pocof espress.

9: 661. $ 11J -e --l 10 I I -1'iI -

Ij _. -.
- --OL
- -40
-U-l
~ 4 1

b. movt. III,mm. 82-85.

Example 3: Violin Sonata in G Major.

ing of the movement against this putative po-
etic context suggests that the crucial relation-
ship lies less within the purely musical realm
and more in the interplay between music and
song text. In fact, the finale contains some for-
mal peculiarities that lend themselves to fruit-
ful interpretation in light of the poems.
The movement is cast as a rondo that uses
the opening of Nachklang as its principaltheme
(cf. exs. 2a and c). The rondo unfolds predict-
ably until the appearanceof the second episode
(mm. 84-113), which recalls not only the main
theme from the Adagio but also its key, Eb
major (ex. 3). Analysts committed to the no-
tion of organic unity might argue that this rec-
ollection generates thematic coherence across
the last two movements, a coherence that is
consolidated when the coda (mm. 139-64) syn-
thesizes elements from all three movements.38
This may be true, but the Adagio theme arrives
more in the manner of a substitution, as if it
does not belong in the musical discourse.39Af-
ter the first statement of the main theme (mm.
1-22), a transition based on material from the
first group (mm. 23-28) leads the tonality from
38See Keys, Brahms Chamber Music, p. 52; Frisch, Brahms
and the Principle of Developing Variation (Berkeley and
Los Angeles, 1984), p. 117; and MacDonald, Brahms, p. 282.
39Neither Schauffler nor Frisch approve of this disjunctive
appearance of the Adagio theme. For Schauffler, the remi-
niscence violates the composer's "cardinal principles of
terseness, reticence, and understatement" (Schauffler, The
Unknown Brahms, p. 373), while, for Frisch, it rings hol-
low because it appears suddenly rather than gradually
{Brahms and the Principle, p. 117). Frisch does not con-
sider and interpret the possibility that a sudden appear-
ance might be precisely the effect Brahms desired.

170
 Vivace ma non troppo
Violin 6
** r CriC
pm.v.
rp m.v. dolce
Pianoforte
I v d'e
. .
Example 4: Violin Sonata in G Major, movt. I, mm. 1-4.
the tonic to the minor dominant, the tonality
of the first episode (mm. 29-52). Instead of a
comparabletransition between the restatement
of the main theme (mm. 61-82) and the begin-
ning of the next episode (m. 84), the interven-
ing bridge prolongs the tonic, G minor, by ex-
tending the arpeggiation across mm. 82-83. In
place of the expected transition, the Adagio
theme suddenly appears without modulation.
A similarly disjunctive appearance occurs in
the coda (mm. 139-64).
This intrusion into the finale of both key
and thematic material from the Adagio is a
culmination of a series of interruptions that
occurs within the other movements. Indeed,
even the first movement is not entirely with-
out interruptiveepisodes, for there are moments
when thunderheads threaten its nostalgic lyri-
cism. For the most part, its main theme (ex. 4)
begins each of the larger sections of the sonata
form-the exposition (mm. 1-10), development
(mm. 82-91), and recapitulation(mm. 156-64)-
where it is anchored firmly in G major.40In the
first two statements (mm. 1-10 and mm. 82-
91), a pair of peaceful chordsprefacesthe theme,
but elsewhere these chords become emotion-
ally charged. At mm. 53-54 and 191-92, for
instance, they momentarily suspend motion
with diminished-seventh sonorities. In both
cases, the main theme restores stability by ini-
tiating a retransition back to the local tonic.
The most forceful instance occurs in the sec-
ond half of the development, when an imita-
tive treatment of material from the third group
40It also surfaces in an internal developmental episode in
AS major (mm. 99-102).
j Ij'^i j^ I J >Jd-r DILLON
PARMER
Brahmsand
Song Quotation
r r
(mm. 134-39) is abruptly halted by minor-mode
chords and the head of the main theme (mm.
140-42). Before this interruptive gesture ca-
dences in the tonic minor, the imitative pas-
sage resumes in m. 143, only to be forestalled
again by the chords. This time, the theme man-
ages to restore stability by wending its way
back to the tonic major in a cascade of eighth
notes (mm. 148-55). What is telling here is the
absence of the prefatory chords at the outset of
the recapitulation (m. 156). Instead, the violin
melody begins in medias res, as if to preempt
any further harmonic stumbling. The effort is
in vain, however, for the chords return in the
coda as pianissimo diminished sevenths (mm.
219-22) that arrest the musical flow (as in mm.
53-54 and 191-92) and tilt the modality back
to the minor mode (as in mm. 140-41 and 148-
50). Although restatements of the first theme
in mm. 223-24 and 227-28 establish G major,
they lack the stabilizing effect of previous state-
ments. As if the theme can no longer suffice to
close the movement satisfactorily, a rising sca-
lar passage builds in momentum and volume
across mm. 229-34 to introduce an alternative
close at m. 235. From here to the end, the coda
foregoes any reference to the main theme and
resorts to using other material from the first
group to ground the conclusion in an exuberant
tonic major (ex. 5a).
The Adagio, a ternary form with coda, like-
wise contains disruptive material.41 Although
4'Keys asserts that the form is a rondo A B A B A' in his
Brahms Chamber Music, p. 54. It is true that the coda
(mm. 91-122) refers to both the A and B sections, but the
arrival on the tonic at m. 91, the Eb pedal (mm. 95-110)
and the shorter duration of the two putative "episodes"
give the segment the character of a closing sentence.
171
 19TH a. movt. I, mm. 233-43.
CENTURY
MUSIC 233 ,- -'

I
~---- ~
: I,-' .
'
--, - . -

I
^" LLJ-I I /r -Ji -J'T

, 237~
(fj iri^ ;J_J LJ p} / r ^.
J C

07 77-1~K
#1 ?,S g ,r s
i ,
z?-^
r r
I I f7rTrI r I
'
>
1"I"tB

b. movt. II, mm. 24-29.

24
A I Pidtandante
I I I I
^ b"aJ r f.v.r^|h
Piu andante

1
m.v.
-4 I w

Example 5: Violin Sonata in G Major.

the prevailing tonality, Eb major, seems pre-
pared by modal mixture in the preceding move-
ment-El (mm. 20, 155, and 222), D# in the
context of B major (mm. 11 and 165), and G
minor in the development and coda-its juxta-
position with the preceding G-major chord cre-
ates a jarring effect. This effect is compounded
when, after the A section presents a developing
variation of a changing-note figure (ex. 3a), the
contrasting B section transmutes the theme

172
that ended the previous movement into a pon-
derous funeral march in El minor (ex. 5b).42
With those enriched accompaniments so typi-
cal of the mature Brahms, the return of the A
material closes the form (mm. 67-91), and the
ensuing coda (mm. 91ff.) promises to dispel the
funereal topos by playing the march in El ma-
jor. But the haunting mood, the inexorable dot-
ted rhythm, the low tessitura, and subdued dy-
namic level suggest that all may not be well.
Indeed, the appearances of Gl and Cl in mm.
106-07 preparethe substitution of Gbfor Ghat
m. 109, a reversal that reintroduces the minor
mode and its opposed expressive implications.
Immediately, however, Gbis absorbedinto the
relative major of El minor (Gb major) and a
compromised statement of the main theme
(mm. 110-11) steers the tonality back to the
tonic major.The movement closes without fur-
ther regard for the intrusion of material from
earlier in the movement.
In the first movement, it is not the main
theme but a secondary idea that closes the coda
in G major. This alternate theme becomes, in
the Adagio, a harbinger of Death exemplified
musically in the minor-mode funeral march. In
the ensuing coda, the fateful image forces the
modality into the parallel minor, but the Ada-
gio theme subverts the attempt by restoringthe
major mode. Even this restoration is insuffi-
cient, for the finale takes the modal mixture
established throughout both movements as jus-
tification for a G-minor finale. If the Adagio
theme may be understood as transcending
Death, then it is possible to explain its appear-
ance at mm. 84 and 139 of the finale as an
attempt to compensate now for the bleakness
of the Regenlied theme. Although the G-major
triad concluding the final reprise (mm. 123-39)
promises to subvert the fateful implications on
its own, the wistful reiteration of Bl in the
melody (m. 138) seems to call for more optimis-
tic closure. Indeed, the recollection of the first
bridge in mm. 140-41 creates the expectation
42AlthoughKeys notes the recurrence of the main rhyth-
mic motif, he does not point out the thematic and expres-
sive link between the preceding coda and funeral march
(see ibid.). Incidentally, the first movement prepares for
this topical transformationby juxtaposing major and mi-
nor versions of this theme in mm. 11-14 and 165-68.
for a tonic reprise of the first episode at m. 142 DILLON
PARMER
rather than a recapitulation of the second, po- Brahmsand
tentially transcendental, one. Instead, the mo- Song Quotation
mentum in the transition is arrestedby the sud-
den, but dolcissimo, emergence of the Adagio
theme, now in the tonic major (mm. 141-43).
The marriageof the Adagio theme with the
tonality of the first movement seems to tran-
scend the ethos of the Regenlied melody. The
attempt would be utterly contrived if the re-
statement of the transitional material in mm.
144-48 did not reveal an affinity between the
Adagio theme and the tail of the.transition, a
connection that justifies substituting a reca-
pitulation of the first episode with a tonic re-
prise of the second (ex. 6). Thus, the integration
of the Adagio theme into the musical discourse
is achieved, in fact, by the closing segment of
the movement. Over accompanimental figura-
tion based on the Regenlied motif, mm. 149-59
rise above the rainy bleakness with a G-major
statement of the Adagio melody. The final mea-
sures (mm. 159-64) sound out the head of the
Regenlied melody, now lifted up into the major
mode, and the therapeutic effect seems to ex-
tend to the entire opus, for the submediant
major harmony (mm. 151 and 155) harks back
to the B-major theme in the first movement,
while El (mm. 152-53 and 158) echoes the chro-
matic passing tones in the first movement, as
well as the key of the second.
The opusconcludesin ambiguity:althoughthe
codatransfiguresthe Regenlied motif, the sonata
clearly does not culminate in an exuberant apo-
theosis. Surprisingly,the texts of Regenlied and
Nachklang provide one possible context for
making sense of this expressive trajectory:
Walle,Regen,walle nieder,
weckemirdie Traumewieder,
die ich in derKindheittraumte,
wenn dasNafiim Sandeschaumte!
Wenndie matteSommerschwule
lassigstrittmit frischerKuhle,
unddie blankenBlattertauten,
unddie Saatendunklerblauten.
WelcheWonne,in demFliefien,
dannzu stehnmit nacktenFufien,
an demGrasehinzustreifen
unddenSchaummit Handengreifen,
173
 139 ------------------------------ Piu moderato
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC r ^ r_r
dolcissimo ;
1r -i= ^

Jdolcissimo

/)*;f , - h# - _ Z t

142

' c - f
4 YrT.
fir^ rri d'
_ e~I4
1
7---- I I

Example 6: Violin Sonata in G Major, movt. III, mm. 139-64.

oder mit den heifen Wangen Schauerndkiihlte jederTropfen

kalte Tropfen aufzufangen, tief bis an des Herzens Klopfen,
und den neuerwachten Diiften und der Schopfungheilig Weben
seine Kinderbrustzu liiften! drangbis ins verborgneLeben.
Wie die Kelche, die da troffen, Walle, Regen, walle nieder,
stand die Seele atmend offen, wecke meine alten Lieder,
wie die Blumen, diiftetrunken, die wir in der Tiire sangen,
in dem Himmelstau versunken. wenn die Tropfen draugen klangen!

174
 152
DILLON
i espress.
LJ riK ? ir n pp
\I ^ PARMER
Brahmsand
SongQuotation

158

poco rit-----------------

I- * 1 t Ev

158 .....------
--......--- ..-.--- .----- .- ..-- ..--.---

-.-----
-------------------
- --------- ' -
..

^~ -
161 i, 1
j

<1 dim. --p p

p

Example 6 (continued)

Mochte ihnen wieder lauschen, When the weary sultriness of summer

ihrem sfigen, feuchten Rauschen, fought indolently against the fresh coolness,
meine Seele sanft betauen and the gleaming leaves drippedof dew,
mit dem frommen Kindergrauen. and the fields of grain took on a deeperblue.

(Pour,rain, pour down, What joy it was to stand

reawaken in me the dreams in the downpourwith bare feet,
which I dreamt in childhood, to brush against the grass
when moisture foamed in the sand! and to reach for the foam with your hands,

175
 19TH or to catch cool drops
CENTURY on hot cheeks,
MUSIC
and to open one's childlike heart
to the newly awakened scents!
Like the calyxes drippingthere,
my breathing soul stood open,
like the flowers, intoxicated with fragrances,
sunk with heavenly dew.
Each trembling dropcooled
right down to the beating heart,
and the holy weave of creation
penetrated the hidden sources of life.
Pour, rain, pour down,
awaken my old songs,
which we sang in the doorway,
when the drops fell noisily outside!
I would like to listen to them again,
to their sweet, moist murmuring,
so that my soul is gently bedewed
with holy childlike awe.)43
Regenlied reveals itself as a variant of the
Stimmungslyrik, the genre that extols the in-
terpenetration of nature and humanity. In this
poem, however, the connection appears as a
distant memory that the protagonist hopes to
revitalize by recalling moments from childhood:
of hearing raindrops, of standing in downpours,
of touching foam on the sand, and of inhaling
rich fragrances. In a final attempt to rekindle
past experience, he equates the pitter-patter of
raindrops with the sound of childhood singing.
If Regenlied portrays a nostalgic attempt to
recapture the experience of youth, Nachklang
exposes the futility of the protagonist's efforts:
Regentropfenaus den Baumen
fallen in das griine Gras,
Tranen meiner truibenAugen
machen mir die Wange nafi.
Wenn die Sonne wieder scheinet,
wird der Rasen doppelt griin:
doppelt wird auf meinen Wangen
mir die heifie Trane gliihn.
43Theoriginal German text is taken from Dietrich Fischer-
Dieskau, The Fischer-DieskauBook of Lieder,trans.George
Birdand RichardStokes (New York, 1980),pp. 319-20.
176
(Fromthe trees raindrops
fall into the green grass;
tears from my dulled eyes
moisten my cheeks.
When the sun shines again,
the lawn becomes twice as green:
my hot tears burn twice
as fiercely on my cheeks.)44
The equation of rain with tears seems to
heighten the tragic irony: whereas the grass
will be greener from the downpour, the tears
fail to produce a similar growth for the protago-
nist. Indeed, the arrival of the sun nourishes
the grass, but it makes the protagonist's tears
burn all the more. Taken together, then, the
two poems produce a pessimist narrative. In-
stead of reawakening lost experience, the rain
leaves the protagonist with only his tears and
dashed hopes for a renewed communion with
nature.45Although the finale and the songs have
in common the same melody and pitter-patter
accompaniment suggestive of falling rain, the
interpretive relationship between the sonata
and songs lies precisely in how this literary
context may be used to focus the expressive
thrust of the sonata.
If the modal disruptions in the first and sec-
ond movements reflect the threat that lost ex-
perience poses for the lyric subject of Regenlied
and Nachklang, then their cancellation by re-
instatements of the major mode parallel the
subject's attempts to regain the experiences of
youth. As suggested by Nachklang, however,
these cancellations are futile, and the finale
signals this result with the appropriate song
allusion and minor modality. And yet the de-
sire to regain something seems played out when
the Adagio theme, in an attempt to alleviate
the bleakness of the finale, suddenly appears as
p. 302.
44Ibid.,
45Brahms's settingsof both texts arefairlyregular.In the
firstsong,differentmusicsets eachof the firstthreestan-
zas, while the musicof the fourthstropherepeatsthatfor
the first.The resultingmusicalform,followingthe tex-
tualpatter, is A B C A. The secondsongis muchshorter
than the first and unfoldsin a roundedbinarydesign.
Brahmsalso set Groth'sNachklangto unrelatedmusic
that was publishedposthumouslyin 1908 and entitled
Regenlied.Thissecondsetting,however,bearsno musical
connectionto the finaleof the sonata.
the second episode. But the experiencesof youth
can never be rekindled, only remembered as
lingering sounds (Nachklang), and the inevita-
bility of aging and death never evaded, only
accepted. Thus, the main theme cannot be
averted, and the remainder of the movement
must accede to it.
What transpires in the coda, however, di-
verges from the pessimism of the songs, a de-
parture that seems, on first blush, to counter
the case I am building here. But this departure
need not detract from the argument; it can
support it further. Indeed, the coda offers a
compromise solution in which the musical dis-
course manages a final statement of the
Regenlied theme without succumbing to its
original expressive mood. Whereasthe protago-
nist of the songs was left with only tears and
no renewal of lost experience, the coda of the
sonata offers an affirmative, if understated, so-
lution. To be sure, the finale foregoes any hint
of Beethovenian heroism, but the modal tem-
pering of the Regenlied theme marks a change
in attitude toward inexorable Fate.
The viability of this comparative readingin-
creases in view of a verbal inscription Brahms
included in a copy of the original edition. Taken
from the "Verklarung"scene in the second part
of Goethe's Faust (act V, sc. 7) and spoken by
the Queen of Heaven, the inscription reads as
follows: "Komm, hebe dich zu h6hern Spharen!
/ Wenn er Dich ahnet, folgt er nach."46At this
point, the Queen promises Margaret that her
purity will redeem Faust from eternal damna-
tion. In the context of the Groth poems, the
Faustian reference becomes doubly appropri-
46"Come,lift yourself to the spheres on high! When he
senses you, he will follow after" (Kalbeck, Brahms, III,
383-84, n. 1).Also discussed in ImogenFellinger,"Brahms's
View of Mozart," in Brahms: Biographical,Documentary
and Analytical Studies, p. 53. Included with this motto
are the incipits from the G-MajorViolin Sonatasof Mozart
(K. 379) and Beethoven (op. 96). The latter may actually
have served as a model for Brahms's sonata. Its second
movement, an Adagio espressivo, is set in E;major,begins
with a piano introduction, and is cast in a ternary form
with a coda synthesizing elements from both the A and B
sections. Its third-movement scherzo is set in G minor,
while the finale, a theme and variations, refersback to the
inner movements: the figuration and tempo at m. 145, as
well as El major at m. 164, recall the second movement,
while the G-minor variation (m. 217) points to the scherzo.
ate, for not only does it echo the transfigura- DILLON
PARMER
tion of the Regenlied motif in the coda, it also Brahmsand
stands for someone who eventually reconciles Song Quotation
his yearning for youth with the acceptance of
its inevitable loss. But even without knowl-
edge of the suppressedmotto, the existing docu-
mentary evidence, together with the findings
of comparative analysis, suggests that Brahms
deliberately incorporated an allusion to
Regenlied and Nachklang in order to supply
attentive listeners with a literarycontext that-
as with the song allusion in the poetic Andante
of the Sonata op. 5-clarifies the expressive
trajectoryof the violin sonata. Although, in the
end, the sonata moves beyond the confines of
its putative literary adjuncts, the reference to
the songs nevertheless points to a hidden pro-
grammatic text.
III
If song allusion can extend from isolated,
parenthetical references to the complete appro-
priation of vocal antecedents, then the
"Regenlied"Sonata exemplifies a midway type
in which the allusive passage occupies a promi-
nent, but not predominant, role in a wider mu-
sical context. Most instances of song allusion
in Brahms are of this type. In the orchestral
medium, for example, Beethoven's "Odeto Joy"
serves as one model for the finale of Brahms's
First Symphony, and the "Academic" Festival
Overture, a potpourriof popular student songs,
contains references to at least Wir hatten
gebauet (mm. 64-88), Was kommt dort von der
Hoh? (mm. 157-66), and Gaudeamus igitur
(mm. 379-401).47 In music for chamber en-
semble, the expositional themes from the first
movement of the Second Violin Sonata, op.
100, are modeled respectively on the "Preislied"
from Wagner'sMeistersingerand Brahms'sWie
Melodien, op. 105, no. 1. The Adagio from the
original version of the B-MajorPiano Trio, op.
8, refersto the openingof Schubert's"Am Meer"
(Schwanengesang, D. 957, no. 12), while the
second theme of its finale quotes Beethoven's
47Fora discussion of the First Symphony, see Eduard
Hanslick, "Brahms'sSymphonyNo. 1 (1876),"in Hanslick's
Music Criticisms, trans. Henry Pleasants (Toronto, 1950;
rpt. New York, 1980), p. 126. Musgrave disputes the vi-
ability of this model in The Music of Brahms, p. 134.
177
 Andante
19TH (Nach einem altdeutschenMinneliede), r
CENTURY
MUSIC
Vu - ^
Lb(Vorsanger) -pWi1 (Vorsinger) P?

^ t_L^Jl
I t2 t
LJ T
If r IA
JA I
Ver - stoh-len geht der Mond_ auf, blau, blau Blii- me - lein, durch Sil - ber- wolk- chen fuihrtsein Lauf: blau, blau

H)~ o XJjj pco marc.

_, _: _j ^^ , Q --; ti^'""^
-
I -' _ - l I I l
Blii - me - lein. Ro - sen im Tal, Ma - del im Saal, o sch6n - ste Ro - sa!

Example 7: Brahms, Piano Sonata in C Minor, movt. II, mm. 1-13.

"Nimm sie hin denn dieser Lieder."48 In the
keyboard idiom, the scherzo in Eb Minor bor-
rows its contrasting theme from the overture
to Marschner's opera, Hans Heiling,49 while
the A-minor theme in the finale of the C-Major
Piano Sonata (mm. 107-25) may have origi-
nated as a Volkslied setting of Robert Burns's
"My Heart's in the Highland."50
The following discussion will not, however,
navigate through these cases, but will instead
present that manner of appropriating a song
called transcription. Although transcription dif-
fers from allusion in that it appropriates and
transforms much more of the song source-as
in Schubert's aforementioned self-borrowings-
the technique can still have a hermeneutic func-
tion. Such an effect occurs in the Andante from
Brahms's C-Major Piano Sonata, a movement
that uses the folk song Verstohlen geht der
Mond auf as the basis for a set of variations.51
At the top of the score, Brahms indicates in
parenthesis that this work derives from an old
German love song (Nach einem altdeutschen
Minnelied), and, to make the derivation en-
tirely clear, he places the first stanza under-
neath the notes of the theme (ex. 7). In contrast
to the implied literary association in the
"Regenlied" Sonata, this textual inclusion in-
vites listeners and players to connect the sub-
sequent three strophes with the three varia-
tions that follow (mm. 13-26, 27-56, and 57-
71).52
Divided into four stanzas, the poem alter-
nates solo verse with choral refrain as it traces
a reflexive and ultimately revealing narrative
progression:
Verstohlen geht der Mond auf,
blau, blau Blumelein!
durch Silberwolkchen fuihrt sein Lauf;
blau, blau Bluimelein!
Rosen im Tal, Madel im Saal,
o schonste Rosa!

Er steigt die blaue Liift hindurch,

48The Wie Melodien model is discussed in Musgrave, The
blau, blau Bliimelein!
Music of Brahms, pp. 188-90. The Wagner and Schubert bis daf er scheint auf Lowenburg;
allusions are noted in Kalbeck, Brahms, IV, 17-18; and I, blau, blau Blumelein!
152 and 155. Rosen im Tal, Madel im Saal,
49Kalbeck, Brahms, I, 83-84. o sch6nste Rosa!
5SSee Roger Fiske, "Brahms and Scotland," Musical Times
109 (1968), 1106-07 and 1109-11.
SlComposed as early as April of 1852, the Andante was
only later incorporated into the sonata the following year.
In 1894 the tune returns as the last of a collection of forty-
nine German folk songs (WoO 33). 52Thecoda (mm. 72-85) has no poetic counterpart.

178
 O schaue Mond durchs Fensterlein,
blau, blau Bliimelein!
Sch6n Trude lock mit deinem Schein!
blau, blau Bliimelein!
Rosen im Tal, Madel im Saal,
o schonste Rosa!
Und siehst du mich, und siehst du sie,
blau, blau Bliimelein!
Zwei treure Herzen sahst du nie!
blau, blau Bliimelein!
Rosen im Tal, Madel im Saal,
o schonste Rosa!
(The moon rises stealthily,
Blue, blue little flower!
It makes its way through silver clouds;
Blue, blue little flower!
Roses in the valley, maiden in the hall,
o most beautiful Rosa!
It climbs through the blue air,
Blue, blue little flower!
Until it shines down on L6wenburg;
Blue, blue little flower!
Roses in the valley, maiden in the hall,
o most beautiful Rosa!
Oh moon, look through the little window,
Blue, blue little flower!
Entice beautiful Trude with your glow;
Blue, blue little flower!
Roses in the valley, maiden in the hall,
o most beautiful Rosa!
And if you see me and if you see her,
Blue, blue little flower!
Two truer hearts have you never seen;
Blue, blue little flower!
Roses in the valley, maiden in the hall,
o most beautiful Rosa!)53
In the first two stanzas, a description of exter-
nal events (the moon rises to illuminate the
village below) yields in the third to a direct
address (the poetic voice exhorts the moon to
entice the beloved with its glow). Thus, the
outward and upward view directs the focus
down into the house from which the lyric sub-
53FromAugust Kretzschmer and Anton Wilhelm von
Zuccalmaglio, Deutsche Volkslieder mit ihren Original-
Weisen (Berlin, 1838; rpt. Hildesheim, 1969), I, 56-57.
ject gazes to reveal in the fourth stanza the DILLON
PARMER
central poetic image, two faithful lovers. The Brahmsand
refrain text unites the nocturnal atmosphere Song Quotation
with the external and internal images alluded
to in the narrative, for underneath the moon's
blue light, the roses in the valley and the woman
inside are one and the same. (Presumably the
"blue little flower" acts as the object of the
poet's search.)
According to George Bozarth, "the whole
musical composition, both in its gross features
and in its details, closely follows the progress
of the poem."54 Bozarth's reading, however,
treats the composition as a vocal work without
its verbal component. Consequently, his analy-
sis emphasizes vertical synchronisms between
an implied coextensive text and its musical
setting. Thus, musical form corresponds to po-
etic form, while the placement of the melody
in the lower registers evokes the masculine
voice of the poem. Other musical details seem
to respond to specific textual events. The
stealthy moon, for example, is reflected in the
minor mode, the fateful triplet motif (m. 12),
the cadential dissonances (mm. 16-25), and the
Neapolitan digressions (mm. 20 and 24). The
moon's ascent parallels the upward registral
expansion in the first variation (mm. 18-26).
And the shimmering chords at the end of the
second variation (mm. 47-49 and 51-53) evoke
both the moonlight and love's bliss. Some of
these equivalencies may seem forced, but
Bozarth's approach is appropriate for demon-
strating how this composition derives from as-
pects of the poem. Such a genetic treatment
fails to explain the movement as a piano piece
with an overt textual association, however, for
it does not demonstrate how the literary back-
ground directs the conceptualization of the work
as a piece of instrumental music.
It may be that the sporadic intimations of a
major mode within a minor-mode piece reflect
specific words or images-Eb major (m. 11) for
sch6nste, and Bbmajor (mm. 30 and 38) for the
radiant moonlight.55 But these and other modal
inflections-such as in the Neapolitan sonori-
ties (mm. 20 and 24) and the brief tonicization
54Bozarth,"Brahms'sLiederohne Worte,"p. 348.
55Ibid.,pp. 348-52.
179
 19TH of Ab major (mm. 42 and 46)-might also be
CENTURY heard as preparingthe large-scaleshift from the
initial C minor to the final C majorin the third
variation and coda. This modal progressionun-
derpins a cumulative process involving texture.
The theme is cast in a simple barform (mm. 1-
4 and 5-8 for the Stollen, mm. 9-12 for the
Abgesang). The Stollen itself establishes a cru-
cial dichotomy between a solitarymelodic state-
ment (mm. 1-2) and a melodic response with
chordal accompaniment (mm. 3-4). The dis-
tinction between these two textures is height-
ened by: (1) differences in dynamics: mezzo
forte for the monophonic statement, pianis-
simo for the chordal response; (2) function: the
first is an antecedent phrase, the second a con-
sequent; and (3) Brahms's own distinction be-
tween vocal groups, "Vorsanger"(lead singer)
versus "Alle" (everyone). In contrast to this
textural duality, the Abgesang (mm. 11-14)
seems to adopt only the homophonic texture
presented in the second half of the Stollen. But
a closer reading reveals that the Abgesang re-
solves the textural opposition by referring to
both halves of the Stollen, the monophonic
phrase in diminution (mm. 11-12) and the
cadential phrase (mm. 13-14). Thus, the
Abgesang synthesizes the dialectic between solo
melody and accompanied countermelody by
absorbingthe monophonic phrase into a homo-
phonic texture. This synthesis is both under-
mined and transcended on a largerscale across
the entire movement.
The first variation elaborateson the progres-
sion embodied in the theme but maintains the
textural duality. First, the solitary melody from
the theme expands into a more spacious state-
ment through rhythmically displaced octave
duplications (mm. 13-14 and 18-19), while the
original chordal response accrues thicker so-
norities through cadential dissonances (m. 16)
and a Neapolitan digression (mm. 20-21). Sec-
ond, whereas the original Abgesang absorbed
the melodic statement into itself, the corre-
sponding phrase of the first variation incorpo-
rates aspects of both statement and response in
a way that preserves the differencebetween the
two halves of the Stollen-a chordal frame-
work with rhythmically displaced gestures re-
fers back to the monophonic phrase (mm. 22-
23), while the sudden shift from the higher to
180
the lower register points toward the cadential
phrase (mm. 25-26).
This tension between two melodic voices
also plays out in the second variation, but in a
different manner. Although a countermelody
of triplet sixteenths accompanies both the
monophonic phrase (mm. 27-29) and the ho-
mophonic phrase (mm. 30-34) in the Stollen,
the opposition between them persists in tonal-
ity (C minor versus Bb major) and register
(whereas the cadential melody remains in the
sopranoregister, the monophonic phrase is pre-
sented first in the bass voice and then an oc-
tave above the soprano range; see mm. 35-37).
The force bisecting the Stollen now infiltrates
the Abgesang to divide it into two phrases(mm.
42-45 and mm. 46-53). Measures 42-45 present
the passage in the "proper"register with har-
monies touching the Neapolitan region. Mea-
sure 46 begins what appearsto be a repetition
of mm. 42-45, but m. 47 is extended for three
measures with a quasi-improvised chordal pro-
gression.The same procedureoccurs acrossmm.
50-51. Instead of the expected close from mm.
44-45, however, the cadential phrase from the
Stollen intrudes to round off this variation.
Thus, the absorption that characterized the
Abgesang in the three preceding periods gives
way here to a full-fledged soprano melody from
the Stollen.
Arriving as an apotheosis, the final varia-
tion, now in the major mode and sounding
forte, takes the registral dialectic produced in-
crementally through variation and synthesizes
it into a new textural unity. Indeed, the main
melodic statement, now joined with its chordal
response to form a single melodic strand in the
lower register, balances a soprano counter-
melody in the upper register. Thus, variation
does for musical texture what the moon does
for the narrative:just as the moonlight reveals
two lovers in the house below, the first two
variations reveal two increasingly distinct
voices, while the third amalgamates those
voices into a texture comprised of dual melodic
strands. Although there is no corresponding
poetic strophe for the coda, the final literary
image is still given musical form in the presen-
tation of imitative counterpoint based on the
opening motif. Like the reflexive motion in the
poem that at first moves up and outward only
to return down and inward, the entire musical
process embodies a movement from melodic
and registral separation to melodic integration
within the dual registral spaces, a movement
that reflects on a larger scale the dialectic pro-
gression across the Stollen and Abgesang in the
theme. Admittedly, the analysis could have ar-
rived at a similar reading without recourse to
the folk-song text, but knowledge of the poem
may facilitate the process if the stipulated lit-
erarycontext is allowed to open a hermeneutic
window into the music in question.
IV
Because a comprehensive account of the
hermeneutic importance of song allusion in
the music of Brahms is far beyond the scope of
this study, I shall close the discussion by con-
fronting what a systematic investigation must
inevitably address:a case that lacks direct docu-
mentary support for both a song reference and
an inherent textual association. The absence of
"hard"evidence, such as that associated with
the "Regenlied"Sonata and the folk-song varia-
tions, presents two methodological problems:
classifying resemblances between two works
as references; and in song quotation, postulat-
ing a hermeneutic function for the implied text.
The first issue has been dealt with critically
by Kenneth Hull in his study of quotation and
allusion in Brahms.56In order to infer the au-
thorial intention necessary for defining a refer-
ence, Hull proposes six criteria according to
which two like musical passages may be re-
lated allusively.57 The first three-exactitude,
singularity, and multiplicity-involve compar-
ing aspects of the two works in question. To-
gether, these criteria state that the case for
identifying a quotation is strengthened by the
precision of the resemblance between the two
passages, by the distinctiveness of the quoted
passage, and by the number of points of resem-
blance between them.58 The last three crite-
56Hull, Brahms the Allusive, pp. 60-91.
57Byrelying on authorial intention for defining reference,I
do not mean to disregard or dismiss other connections,
but only to isolate one subset of associations between
works within the totality of possible intertextual associa-
tions.
58Hull, Brahms the Allusive, pp. 62, 65, and 66.
ria-historical plausibility, prominence and in- DILLON
PARMER
tegrity, and functional significance-relate the Brahmsand
passages in question to their wider musical and Song Quotation
extramusical contexts. In these domains, the
case for reference becomes more plausible "in
proportion to the strength of the connection
which can be made between its composer and
the work which is referredto," as the passages
in question occur "prominently and with in-
tegrity" in both works, and by the extent to
which a "convincing explanation of its func-
tion can be given."59Unlike the two earlier
cases in which external factual evidence sub-
stantiates the references to Regenlied, Nach-
klang, and Verstohlen geht der Mond auf, the
strength of Schubring's case for a folk-song al-
lusion in the op. 5 Andante rests entirely on
the extent to which the passages in question
meet these six criteria. Similarly, most in-
stances of putative allusion in Brahms-or other
composers for that matter-will stand or fall
by these criteria.
The second problem may be surmounted by
using a variation on Hull's last criterion, func-
tional significance. When an allusion is to a
texted work, a hermeneutic function may be
postulatedfor the oblique literaryreferenceonly
when a convincing comparative analysis can
be advanced. The principal difficulty with this
criterion lies in the ease with which readings of
musical works can be made to conform to read-
ings of verbal texts or vice versa. In order to
alleviate this problem, the analysis should be-
gin with "isolated" readings of both musical
and literary works as separate discourses. Only
after each work is intelligible in its own terms
can the musical work be understood in terms
of its literary adjunct. Together with any cor-
roborative external evidence, a plausible case
for a hermeneutic function may then be built
by showing how foreknowledge of the literary
work illuminates the musical composition, as I
have tried to demonstrate in the violin sonata
and the piano variations.
I will addressthese difficulties by examining
the Adagio from the original version of the B-
Major Piano Trio of 1856. Putative song allu-
sions aside for the moment, a striking feature
59Ibid.,pp. 71-72, 78, and 84.
181
 19TH of this work is its tonal rootedness: all four
CENTURY
MUSIC movements are cast in the key of B, the first
and third in the major mode, the second and
fourth in the minor.60Even more unusual is its
overall modal progression, from major to mi-
nor. Works that begin in the minor but end in
the parallel major mode are common fare in
the nineteenth century. In Beethoven's Fifth or
Brahms's First Symphony, for example, the
transformations convey an expressive move-
ment from darkness to light, from struggle to
victory. Rareare those compositions that begin
and end in the minor mode. In the finale of
Brahms's Fourth Symphony, for instance, the
last series of variations defies tradition when it
dashes all hope for an affirmative conclusion.
As the complete antithesis of Romantic hero-
ism, Brahms's Trio exemplifies an even rarer
type, works that begin in the major mode and
end in the parallel minor.61Indeed, the finale
seems to promise an apotheosis when the sec-
ond theme returns in the tonic major (mm.
425-64), but the ensuing coda cancels out the
anticipated victory as it reinstates the gloomy
first theme in the minor mode (mm. 465-518).
Thus, the expressive thrust of the movement
plunges from the heights of triumph into the
depths of tragedy.62
Although the revised version of 1889 is sub-
stantially recomposed, this inverted expressive
trajectory is preserved. Instead of asking why
Brahms retained the original thrust, however,
most scholars focus on how the differences be-
tween the two versions afford a glimpse into
Brahms'scompositional development.63Indeed,
the Trio op. 8 is better known not as a rare
instance of a major-key work that ends in the
minor, but as the only case in which Brahms
60Thefour movements of the Horn Trio, op. 40, are also
cast entirely in Ebmajor.
61Thisaspect of the work was noted in print as early as
1911 in J. A. Fuller-Maitland,Brahms (London,1911; rpt.
1972), pp. 107-08. Two other examples of this rare type
are Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony and Haydn's Em-
perorQuartet.
62A comparative analysis can be found in Ernst Herttrich,
"JohannesBrahms-Klaviertrio H-durOpus 8, Friihfassung
und Spatfassung-ein analytischer Vergleich," in Musik,
Edition, Interpretation:Gedenkschrift Gunter Henle, ed.
Martin Bente (Munich, 1980),pp. 218-36.
63See,for example, Musgrave,Music of Brahms, pp. 195-
97.
182
returned to an already published composition
to alter and reissue it in revised form. The
circumstances surroundingthe revision arewell
known and well documented. As early as 19
June 1854, Brahmsadmitted to Joachim that he
wished he had taken the opportunity to make
some changes.64His chance came thirty-four
years later when Simrock considered reissuing
several of Brahms'searly compositions that had
gone out of print and asked the composer if he
wanted to use this opportunity to revise any.
Speaking of the Trio, Brahms responded some-
what ambivalently (9 March 1888):"I shall cer-
tainly make revisions and to such an extent
that you will be justified in announcing the
fact on the title page. Yet revision and alter-
ation are a tricky business as is shown by all
revised editions made by poets and musicians.
In the case of dubious productions like my
early works one has to be very careful."65
On the one hand, he affirms a desire to re-
vise, but, on the other, he cautions against it.
PerhapsBrahmsrefers to improving the quality
of earlier compositions, but after he rewrote
the Trio he was not sure if it actually had been
improved!In letters to Clara(3 September 1889)
and Simrock (13 December 1890), for example,
he asserts that "the old one is indeed bad," but
cannot maintain that "the new one is good";66
while in subsequent correspondence with his
publisher (29 December 1890), he denounces
both versions in a manner that questions his
implied motivation for revision:
In my opinion, op. 8 requires on its title page noth-
ing more than the words "New Edition." In your
publicity you can add "completely revised and
64Briefwechsel,V, 31-32, 36, and 47.
65"Revidierenwerde ich jedenfalls und jedenfalls so, dafi
Sie es mit Anstand auf den Titel setzen konnen. Es ist
aber eine sehr bedenkliche Sache mit Revidieren und
Andern, wie alle zweiten Ausgaben bei Dichtern und
Musiker beweisen. Bei so zweifelhaften Produkten, wie
gar meine ersten, soll man sich erst recht hiiten"
(Briefwechsel,XI, 177).
66"Ichhabe mein H dur-Trionoch einmal geschriebenund
kann es op. 108 statt op. 8 nennen. So wust wird es nicht
mehr sein wie fruher-ob aberbesser?"(Schumann-Brahms
Briefe, II, 393). "Wegen des vemeuerten Trios mufi ich
noch ausdriicklich sagen, dafi das alte zwar schlecht ist,
ich aber nicht behaupte, das neue sei gut!" (Briefwechsel,
XII,37).
changed" and anything else you like. What about
the old edition? It really is unnecessary to discuss it
or make a decision about it-I just think that it
should not be advertisedalong with the new edition.
If it is requested, send it, and if you find it necessary
and advisable to reprint it one of these days, then go
ahead (possibly allowing the new edition to arriveas
well!). But this would be redundant.67
If Brahms was so sure about the poor quality
of the earlier version, why allow Simrock to
retain and reissue it? Such consistent ambiva-
lence might be attributed to Brahms's charac-
teristic sarcasm, but perhaps he undertook the
revision not to soften its youthful style but to
conceal its perhaps too revealing expressive con-
tent. Hull has suggested that Brahms took ad-
vantage of Simrock's offer because it had been
discovered in 1884 that the original finale con-
tained a reference to Beethoven's An die ferne
Geliebte, an allusion that has come to be un-
derstood as a reference to a distant beloved,
perhaps Clara herself.68 Because it was already
known as early as 1880 that Schumann also
alluded to the same song in the finale of his
Second Symphony, Hull proposes that Brahms
may have removed the reference for fear that
this shared allusion might point to the one
thing the two composers had most in common:
their relation to Clara.69 Could Brahms have
taken Simrock's offer as an opportunity not to
improve the opus but to remove this all-too-
revealing quotation?
Kalbeck has pointed out that the Trio con-
tains a further reference-to Schubert's "Am
Meer" from Schwanengesang, as noted earlier.
In the third movement, mm. 33-36 present a
lyrical passage that resembles mm. 3-4 of the
song (ex. 8). Although the musical connections
67"Ich meine, es brauchte bei op. 8 nichts weiter zu stehen
als: Neue Ausgabe. In Ankiindigungen konnen Sie ja
beisetzen: vollstandig umgearbeitete und veranderte und
was Sie wollen. Was mit der alten Ausgabegeschehen soll:
es ist wirklich unnuitz, daruber zu reden und zu
beschliefen-nur meine ich, man kann sie nicht wohl
jetzt mit der neuen Ausgabe zugleich anzeigen. Wird sie
verlangt, so schicken Sie sie, und scheint es Ihnen eines
Tags notig oder wiinschenswert, so drucken Sie sie neu
(lassenja auch m6glicherweise die neue Ausgabeeingehen!)
Ein Vorsatz aber ist iiberfluissig"(Briefwechsel,XII,39).
68Kalbeck,Brahms, I, 155.
69Hull,Brahms the Allusive, pp. 237-38.
are not as strong here as they are for the DILLON
PARMER
Regenlied allusion, a probable functional sig- Brahmsand
nificance might strengthen the connection. In- Song Quotation
deed, Brahms may have referred to this song
because its Heine text mirrors the circum-
stances surrounding his relationship to the
Schumanns:70
Das Meer erglanzte weit hinaus
im letzten Abendscheine;
wir sassen am einsamen Fischerhaus,
wir sassen stumm und alleine.
Der Nebel stieg, das Wasser schwoll,
die Mowe flog hin und wieder;
aus deinen Augen liebevoll
fielen die Tranen nieder.
Ich sah sie fallen auf deine Hand
und bin aufs Knie gesunken;
ich hab' von deiner weissen Hand
die Tranen fortgetrunken.
Seit jener Stund verzehrt sich mein Leib,
die Seele stirbt vor Sehnen-
mich hat das ungliicksel'ge Weib
vergiftet mit ihren Tranen.
(The sea was glittering far and wide
in the last rays of evening;
we sat at the lonely fisherman's house,
we sat silent and alone.
The mist arose, the water swelled up,
the seagulls flew back and forth;
from out of your loving eyes
flowed tears.
I saw them fall onto your hand,
and I sank to my knees;
from your white hand
I drank the tears.
70Kalbeck,Brahms, I, 152, 155. Kalbeck records that the
Trio was completed in Januaryof 1854 (p. 149). Documen-
tary evidence, however, suggests that the Trio may have
been completed and made available only in March, as a
letter from Joachimsuggests: "Wie leid tut es mir, dafi ich
nicht mit Euch zuhoren konnte, als endlich das H dur-
Trio lebendig wurde!"(How sorryI am that I was not able
to listen with you to the at last completed Trio in B major)
(Briefwechsel,V, 32).
183
 19TH a. Brahms, Piano Trio in B Major, first version, movt. III, mm. 33-36.
CENTURY
MUSIC 33

i "1 * 7 - 7i'P D LL 7 'F 7 7 L7dI

7 7' i
poco

8 1t".'1^ 7 D1 ' D 7 D 17 D 7J I '7 L ' D

i .

espressiveo m 1 0

b. Schubert, "Am Meer" (Schwanengesang), mm. 1-10.

Sehrlangsam r.
Singstimme ?
v
|
- r
Das Meer er-glanz - te_ weit hin - aus im letz - ten A - bend

Pianoforte < : = pp molto legato

a:s rrz
, d ?I ~~~~~? i

schei -
e p' a-
ne, wir
pr p+
sa - ssen am ein - sa-men Fi -
pr1' ;-ir i
scher-haus, wir sa -
r -p
ssenstumm und al - lei - ne.
I

Cl i. i ?-.;f t l i rPPP

Example 8

From that hour my body has withered away, woman with Clara, and the sympathetic lis-
my soul is dying from longing; tener with the young Brahms seems viable.72
the unhappy woman has
poisoned me with her tears.)71

Even with only circumstantial biographical evi- 72DuringRobert's hospitalization, Brahms became so in-
volved in the day-to-dayroutines of the Schumann house-
dence, the equation of the "lonely fisherman's hold-he tended to the family accounts, he looked after
house" with the Schumann household, the ab- the children, he served as friend to Clara-that he may
sent fisherman with Robert himself, the tearful have come to view himself as a surrogateman-of-the-house.
Could this surrogacyhave extended to include the roles of
father and husband? It was at this time that Brahms is
alleged to have fallen in love with Clara. For a detailed
71TheGerman text is taken from Philip Miller, The Ring account of the much-debated liaison between Clara and
of Words:An Anthology of Song Texts (New York, 1973), Brahms, see Nancy B. Reich, "Clara Schumann and
p. 122. JohannesBrahms,"in Brahms and His World,pp. 37-47.

184
And if the putative Beethoven allusion in the
finale really does refer to Clara, the equation
becomes all the more tenable. What attests to
Brahms'sperception of these features as a unity
is the omission of both the Schubert and the
Beethoven allusions in the revised Trio, even
though the presence of the Schubert reference
may not have been noticed in print during
Brahms's lifetime.
Eric Sams goes one step further to say that
the original Trio actually encodes Robert's en-
trusting of Clarato Brahms'scare.73Sams makes
this inference from comparing the Trio, and
the biographical circumstances in which it
arose, to Schumann's opera Genoveva (1851).
The hero of this opera, Siegfried,marches off to
war leaving his wife under the care of his stew-
ard, Golo, a dramatic situation that resembles
Brahms's subsequent involvement with Clara
after Schumann's hospitalization. Because the
opera was published two years before Brahms
met the Schumanns, however, Robert could
not have initially identified the younger com-
poser with Siegfried's steward. But the operatic
and biographical circumstances are so similar
that the older composer could have later recog-
nized similarities between the dramatic situa-
tion and his own. Moreover, assuming that
Brahms knew the opera, he too could also have
identified Golo's predicament with his own ro-
mantic inclinations for Clara during Robert's
absence. Indeed, when Siegfried entrusts his
wife to Golo's care, the hero sings a phrase in B
minor that, as Sams has argued, could be con-
strued as containing a Clara cipher, an almost
literal encoding of Clara's name in musical
notes (ex. 9a and b).74Since Brahms was also
aware of this cipher, could he not have heardin
this phrase an indirect imperative from
Schumann himself to look after Clara?75
73EricSams, "Brahms and His Clara Themes," Musical
Times 112 (1971), 433-34.
74SeeSams, "Did Schumann Use Ciphers?"Musical Times
106 (1965), 584-91, "The Schumann Ciphers," Musical
Times 107 (1966),392-400, The Songs of RobertSchumann
(London, 1969), pp. 22-26, and "Schumannand the Tonal
Analogue," in Robert Schumann: The Man and His Mu-
sic, ed. Alan Walker(London,1972),pp. 390-405.
75Thisaspect of Brahms's style is discussed in Eric Sams,
"Brahmsand His Musical Love Letters," Musical Times
112 (1971), 329-30; and "Brahmsand His Clara Themes,"
432-34.
As Kalbeck has pointed out, a similar ges- DILLON
PARMER
ture recurs throughout the scherzo (ex. 9c).76 Brahmsand
And the almost consistent association of B ma- Song Quotation
jor and B minor with Golo in the opera further
suggests that Brahms could have identified the
Trio, whose movements are in the same key,
with himself, Golo, and the situations that
united them both. In this wider context, the
text of the Schubert song presents a situation
in which both Golo and Brahms could have
found themselves. Sams's entire argument,
however, rests on the assumption that the B-
minor figurein the scherzo alludes to Siegfried's
phrase and consequently the rest of the opera.
Although further corroborative information
could substantiate an allusive relationship be-
tween such conventional melodic gestures, it
seems unlikely, given the private nature of a
cipher in general, that Brahms would have ex-
pected anyone to grasp the purported connec-
tions between the Trio and opera and conse-
quently between his own situation and Golo's.
This conclusion neither disproves nor im-
plies an interpretive function for the allusion.
Although Sams's case may corroborateit, only
the findings of comparative analysis will sug-
gest a hermeneutic purpose. Cast in four stro-
phes, Heine's text alternates stanzas of relative
stability and instability. Stropheone establishes
the shimmering evening atmosphere that finds
the couple sitting alone in silence by the sea.
The second strophe introduces elements that
disturb this serene calmness-in nature the
mists rise, the waters swell up, and flying
seagulls are buffeted, while the eyes of the fe-
male subject well up with tears. In strophe
three, the male protagonist responds by drink-
ing the tears, an action that suggests empathy
and promises consolation. The retrospective
final strophe, however, reveals the futility of
his efforts: by participating in her sorrow, he
succumbs to a state of internal deterioration
from deathly longing, and he curses her for
poisoning him.
Schubert's setting juxtaposes two contrast-
ing periods to reflect the opposed emotional
states expressed alternately across the poem.
Strophes one and three receive a regular four-
76Kalbeck,Brahms,I, 153-54.
185
 I 1 -

19TH a. The Claracipher.

CENTURY
MUSIC _ I I I

C (L) A (R) A

b. Schumann, Genoveva, act I, no. 4, mm. 45-64 ("Take unto yourself my wife when she requires man's
strength.")
GOLO ritard. \ SIEGFRIED
(ZUGolo herz-
> =
45 .. I > > > >- -m- Etwas bewegter (J 126) b ~A f.a .
Frr -r
-0 .

'):#R##jl J i - r l ll -I - i -- -- :1l1I r
GO - ter Bes- tes au - ver-trau'n Der bist Du! Mei - nes Wei - bes

:"sf2= Sf
f-f }sfsj
-3 r
Sf Sf

"J'7~~~~~~ CSf
lich.) (zu den andem Dienem.)

:# rI r -t- f-t I1 II f r, If i If f
nimm dich an, wo sie Man - nes Schutz be - darf Und Ihr, seht in Go - lo

c. -PT i-- ?F fe

c. Piano Trio in B Major,movt. II, mm. 1-8.

Scherzo
Allegro molto M.M. J.= 100

Example 9

plus-four period that is firmly rooted in the demand a less stable musical setting. Indeed,
tonic major, clearly projects the prevailing meter the second period begins in the parallel minor,
with a marked rhythmic figure, never exceeds tonicizes the supertonic, and ends in the tonic
pianissimo, and asks for a legato line through- major. Furthermore, the regular pulse of the
out. In contrast to this stability, the emotional previous period yields here to tremolo figuration
disturbances embodied in strophes two and four and recitative-like declamation. Finally, varia-

186
 tions in dynamic level, though never exceeding
a piano, offer further contrast to the consis-
tently subdued tenor of the first period.
Whereas the static alternation between sta-
bility and instability mirrors the contrasting
states presented across the strophes, the final
state of emotional corruption resonates more
with the opening (and closing) motif. This un-
usual gesture consists of a German-sixth re-
solving to a dominant six-four in C major, but
the presence of a tonic pedal skews the
precadential function and transforms the pro-
gression into an uncanny appoggiatura-like
figure that Joseph Kerman suggests symbolizes
an enigmatic solemnity plumbing "infinite
marine and spiritual depths."77 Although it
seems to stand as a nonfunctional introduction
and coda in that it does not point to or sum up
other figurative, melodic, or harmonic events
in the song, closer inspection reveals that the
gesture nevertheless recurs in more diatonic
forms at the hinges joining the principal sec-
tions where its cadential implications are fol-
lowed through. At mm. 10-11 and 31-32, for
example, the gesture closes the serene first pe-
riod with authentic cadences. In mm. 22-23,
the figure appearsnow within a half cadence in
the major tonic, but darkened by a chromatic
passing tone (Eb).The gesture even occurs in a
compressed chromatic form (mm. 21 and 42) in
which the ensuing dissonance between the
pedal (F) and the third and fifth of the applied
diminished-seventh chord (E and G) heightens
the emotionally charged words "Thranen"and
"vergiftet." The process of corruption that the
protagonist undergoes seems embodied in the
contrast between the diatonic-major cadential
version of the gesture (mm. 10-11 and 31-32)
and a chromatic-minor one that fails to func-
tion as a conventional cadence (mm. 1-2 and
44-45). The instance at mm. 22-23 stands, then,
as a midway point between these extremes,
and the text painting on "vergiftet" (m. 42)
could indicate that the chromatic version is a
corrupted version of the diatonic. Contrary to
Kerman'sinterpretation then, this peculiar pro-
77Joseph Kerman, "A Romantic Detail in Schubert's
Schwanengesang," in Schubert: Critical and Analytical
Studies, ed. Walter Frisch (Lincoln, 1986),p. 52.
gression seems to symbolize (forthis song only) DILLON
the emotional state of the male protagonist. PARMER
Brahmsand
Furthermore,that the disfigured cadential ges- Song Quotation
ture occurs unchanged at both the beginning
and end of the song suggests that "the mind
whose experience the music is" recollects the
situation as a painful experience remembered
but not surpassed.78
This "trope of experience remembered but
not surpassed" figures in how the Adagio of
Brahms'sTrio itself unfolds. The movement is
cast as a ternary form in B major. The opening
section, a tonally closed melancholic dialogue
between piano and strings, occupies mm. 1-32.
The putative Schubert allusion initiates the
contrasting B section (mm. 33-58) in E major,
itself a miniature ternary;for after mm. 42-49
present contrasting material, the Schubertian
melody returns in varied form (mm. 50-58).
Although it is a closely related key, the arrival
at the subdominant is disjunctive enough to
mark the possible existence of what Carolyn
Abbate argues ought to be called narrative.79
Indeed, the sudden appearanceof the Schubert
melody with pizzicato accompaniment suggests
an "unsung voice," but what this awkward if
fashionable locution may offer an analysis is
not entirely clear. A varied reprise of the open-
ing (mm. 58-82) promises a conventional con-
clusion, but at m. 82 the piano preempts the
cadential phrase that closed the first section
(mm. 25-32) with a codalike segment that trans-
figures the violin's melody from mm. 4-7 into
an exuberant Allegro doppio movimento (ex.
10). Promising an affirmative conclusion for
the movement, the newfound energy culmi-
nates in triumphant chords at mm. 133-35. But
the accumulated energy quickly dissipates
across mm. 136-38 into an echo of the Schubert
song (mm. 139-48). Insteadof following through
with the implied apotheosis, the movement
returns to the melancholic opening by reinstat-
ing the previouslyabortedcadentialphrase(mm.
149-57). Unlike the song, which presents only
experience remembered but not surpassed, the
78Iam of course quoting EdwardT. Cone, The Composer's
Voice (Berkeleyand Los Angeles, 1974),p. 5.
79Forone accountof narrativein music, see CarolynAbbate,
Unsung Voices: Operaand Musical Narrative in the Nine-
teenth Century (Princeton,1991),pp. 3-29.
187
 19TH a. mm. 1-8.
CENTURY
MUSIC Adagio non troppo M.M. J = 63

pp espressivoe semprelegato

y-:# <*#
o i -'r is ^ rF r r r^J i" F - l l
3'
lfE>#pp espressivolegato c Z - - rr
Adagio non troppo M.M. J = 63

($#####(,8t F^<Un
itt
f
F^
tr _ -

_ -

_
-

F S^ t F: F0
p p sempre legato

####^i ii i; i i i - -
-

4i ii i t
una corda

b. mm. 82-86.
Allegro(doppiomovimento)

A,_ ,.orl oI- I I 1i 1'

J J j I Ji
v #h\#i rj
pj- _ J{
rfP~~~~~ cresc.
J
-
J J"

Allegro (doppio movimento)

i#####-?, 29->, - #--J"^-^ ;- n"-

r " n''j
cresc.

(v?###, ^? J j- j #Jj .1 ^~J~^ \ J~- -fvr(

Example 10: Piano Trio in B Major,movt. III.

Adagio attempts to overcome the melancholic Nevertheless, the continued circulation of the
A section through expressive transformation. original Trio as a published opus has encour-
But the effort is insufficient to the task, and aged numerous commentators-from Kalbeck
memory, embodied as an echo, returns the mu- to the present-to hear the Schubertian source
sical discourse to its original state. The failure in the Adagio's contrasting theme.80 Surpris-
of the Adagio to overcome its initial melan- ingly, no one has offered an explanation of the
choly is compoundedin the ensuing tragicfinale movement's most problematic area, the Alle-
when the second theme, the Beethoven refer- gro, in light of that source.81 The foregoing
ence, fails to bring about the conventional apo- analysis suggests that when listeners recognize
theosis.
No documentary evidence directly suggests
that Brahmsintended a Schubertianallusion as 80The Schubertian theme is noted in Schauffler, The Un-
he most certainly did the Regenlied and folk- known Brahms, p. 383; Musgrave, The Music of Brahms,
song references. That he deleted both the p. 196; and MacDonald, Brahms, p. 78.
Schubert and Beethoven allusions, however, 8"Questioning the insertion of this Allegro, Karl Geiringer
asserts that it endangers the "unitary character of the move-
indicates that he may have recognized them ment" in Brahms: His Life and Work (2nd edn. London,
but did not want them discovered by others. 1947), p. 226.

188
the citation, the resulting indirect literary ref-
erence may provide a framework for making
sense of the disruption of the ternary plan: the
Allegro represents an attempt to transform the
melancholic opening into an exuberant, but
ultimately futile, conclusion. Although current
prejudice against the nineteenth-century view
of music as autobiographywill characterizethe
connection between this expressive trajectory
and the historical Brahms as facile, when un-
derstood in the light of his relationship to the
Schumanns, particularly Clara, the two allu-
sions mark this composition as another monu-
ment to the Dusseldorf years, what Kalbeck-
speaking of the Piano Quartet op. 60-has
dubbed Brahms's "Wertherzeit."82
V cussed in this study exhibit characteristics of
In spite of the antiformalism characterizing
what Kramer has labeled "postmodern musi-
cology," critiques of absolute music still de-
pend on the formalist separation of an
extramusical from a purely musical domain, a
conceptual division that actually enables the
antiformalist agenda, as well as the foregoing
study.83 The opposition proposes that at one
extreme is instrumental music without overtly
specified external associations-an "absolute
music" the aesthetic superiority of which has
for too long been believed and is all too easy to
discredit.84At the other end is programmusic,
a loosely used term that best refers to works
with an authorially prescribedexternal text that
supposedly leads listeners to a fuller under-
82Kalbeck,Brahms, I, 231.
83SeeKramer,"The Musicology of the Future,"Repercus-
sions 1 (1992), 5-18.
84Currentdefinitions can be found in Ralph P. Locke, "Ab-
solute music," The New HarvardDictionary of Music, ed.
Don M. Randel (Cambridge,1986),p. 1; and RogerScruton,
"Absolute music," The New Grove Dictionary of Music
and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1980), vol. 1,
pp. 26-27. A thorough account is developed in Dahlhaus,
The Idea of Absolute Music, trans. Roger Lustig (Chicago,
1989). An example of a typical critique appearsin Susan
McClary, "Narrative Agendas in 'Absolute' Music: Iden-
tity and Difference in Brahms'sThird Symphony,"in Mu-
sicology and Difference: Gender and Sexuality in Music
Scholarship, ed. Ruth A. Solie (Berkeleyand Los Angeles,
1993), pp. 326-44.
standing.85Between the two extremes are nu- DILLON
merous compositions with varying degrees of PARMER
Brahmsand
extramusical association.86 Song Quotation
According to the received view, Brahms's
instrumental output is generally classified un-
der the first type, but recent discussions have
found enough extramusical connections in his
oeuvreto warrant placing that output between
the two extremes.87I have already noted the
overt and covertpoetic mottos, literaryadjuncts,
and suggestive titles. In addition to the cipher
encoding Clara's name and the Beethoven ref-
erence to some distant beloved, there are cryp-
tograms for Agathe von Siebold and Brahms's
supposed motto "frei aber froh," as well as
motifs symbolizing death, Fate, tears, and
dreaming.88The instances of song reference dis-
both extremes. Except for the op. 5 Andante,
none of Brahms's works containing song allu-
sion is connected to an explicit external text.
In this respect, they might be deemed
nonprogrammatic, understood here as music
free of an authorially specified extramusical
association. Yet, the foregoing discussion sug-
gests that instrumental music with references
to vocal antecedents may approach the status
of program music when listeners both recog-
nize resemblances to songs as oblique refer-
ences to verbal texts and use those texts con-
85Liszt, "Berlioz und seine 'Harold-Symphonie'," in
Gesammelte Schriften, IV, 50. Current definitions appear
in Locke, "Programmusic," The New HarvardDictionary
of Music, pp. 656-59; and Scruton, "Programmemusic,"
The New GroveDictionary, vol. 15, pp. 283-87.
86Thisconceptualframeworkis developedin WalterWiora,
"Zwischen absoluter und Programmusik,"in Festschrift
Friedrich Blume zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. Anna Amalie
Abert and Wilhelm Pfannkuch (Kassel, 1963), pp. 381-88.
In a future study, I will argue that the traditional opposi-
tion of absolute and programmusic is founded on a false
dichotomy. The present study, however, accepts the terms
of tradition.
87Therevisionist claim can be heard in Hull, Brahms the
Allusive, p. 11;andBozarth,"Brahms'sLiederohne Worte,"
p. 377. For other examples of revisionist scholarship, see
Floros,Brahmsund Bruckner,pp. 71-151; SiegfriedKross,
"Brahmsund Schumann,"Brahms-Studien4 (1981), 7-44;
A. Peter Brown, "Brahms'sThird Symphony and the New
German School," Journalof Musicology 2 (1983), 434-52;
and Christopher Reynolds, "A Choral Symphony by
Brahms?"this journal9 (1985),3-25.
88Thepublic status of these motifs is questioned in my
"Between Public and Private:Symbolic Motifs in the Mu-
sic of Brahms"(forthcoming).
189
 19TH vincingly to explain aspects of the alluding
work.
CEMNUTsURY Of course, three case studies are hardly
sufficient groundsto make such a generalclaim
about Brahms's use of song allusion; but they
are enough to suggest that some instances may
point to a hidden programwhen listeners grasp
the allusive connection.
If works with song allusion approach the
condition of programmusic, they are certainly
not identical to works of actual programmusic
in any orthodox sense. With respect to sym-
phonic poems and program symphonies, be-
cause the textual adjunctis generally known or
supplied before listening to the musical work,
listeners are "programmed"to hear the music
in terms of the external association from the
outset. In works with song allusion, however,
the putative programmatic text becomes in-
volved in the cognitive process only after the
song allusion is recognized during listening,
playing, or score study. Although there is no
documentary evidence to confirm it, the allu-
sions in the op. 5 Andante and the op. 78 finale
may immediately summon up the song texts
for listeners familiar with Verstohlen geht der
Mond auf and Regenlied. But it seems more
likely that the vocal texts can only be drawn
on and used as an interpretive aid in an act of
informed reflection, as in the case of the Trio,
op. 8.
This difference points to another factor that
distinguishes works of conventional program
music from works with song allusion: whereas
composers supply the external text for the
former, the recognition and deployment of a
vocal text as a program for the latter depend
entirely on listeners. Of course, composershave
a hand in the process, for they incorporate a
citation into the work in question, but it is up
to listeners to recognize the citation and use its
190
text in their experience of the work. This pro-
cess might resemble the more ad hoc, but no
less valid, intertextual correlation of musical
compositions with specific literary works set
forth in Kramer'sMusic and Poetry. Here mu-
sical works and literary texts are "read" to-
gether only because they exhibit analogous ges-
tures and not because an author or composer
has linked them. The composer-defined, but
listener-dependent, textual association that re-
sults in song allusion, however, differs from
such melopoetic analysis in that the oblique
textual reference generatedby citation is delib-
erately built into the composition even though
the onus lies on listeners to activate the con-
nection between the musical work and the ver-
bal text. Although this study suggests one pos-
sible theoretical framework in which other ob-
lique references to vocal music-not just in
Brahms'smusic, but also in the music of other
nineteenth-century composers-can facilitate
the interpretation of instrumental music with
song allusion, the discussion also heightens the
awareness of an "audience as an entity
indissociablefrom the notion of artistic texts."89
For if the cognitive impact of an oblique liter-
ary reference depends on its recognition, incor-
porating listener response into an understand-
ing of works with vocal citations may trans-
form compositions allegedly free of external
texts into programmusic. How paradoxicalthat
the one nineteenth-century composer to allude
so persistently to song is supposed to be ^,
'
a champion of absolute music.
89SusanR. Suleiman, "Introduction:Varieties of Audience-
OrientedCriticism," in The Readerin the Text: Essays on
Audience and Interpretation, ed. Susan R. Suleiman and
Inge Crosman(Princeton,1980),.p. 4.