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Johannes Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 1,completed in 1858, is a stormy work of tu-

multuous Romanticism, closely related in itsexpression to the ideals of his mentor, RobertSchumann. The work was politely receivedat its premiere, but five days later, in Leipzig, as Brahms wrote to his friend, the violinistJoseph Joachim:

No reaction at all to the first and secondmovement. At the end, three pairs of handstried slowly to clap, whereupon a clear hiss-ing from all sides quickly put an end to anysuch demonstration. … For all that, one day,when I’ve improved its physical structure,this concerto will please, and a second onewill sound very different.

He was right on both counts: the First Con-certo would indeed go on to please, and theSecond Concerto would be a different kettle offish altogether when it came into being twodecades later. Brahms actually began writinghis Piano Concerto No. 2 during a vacation hetook to Italy in the spring and summer of 1878.He was mostly working on his Violin Concertojust then, but while he was away he also foundtime to sketch a scherzo, which he returned tothree years later when he devoted himself inearnest to the Second Piano Concerto. Wherethe first was hypercharged in its drama, theSecond is considerably more Apollonian; it sug-gests a more serene, warmhearted (and in its fi-nale, downright charming) landscape, drawingheavily on the dulcet tones of the supreme Ro-mantic instrument, the French horn. Where theearlier work had stressed the drama of humanpassions and the “tragic sentiment of life” thatthe Romantics found irresistible, the SecondPiano Concerto regards the breadth of humanemotions from a more knowing remove. Itsounds like a work of ripe maturity in a way theearlier piece does not.

This is not a “tiny, tiny piano concerto with atiny, tiny wisp of a scherzo,” as Brahms, evergiven to irony, reported in a letter to a friend,but rather an immense four-movement workthat some pianists cite as the most difficult con-certo — conceptually, and in certain respectstechnically — in the active repertoire. Onemight go so far as to view Brahms’s Piano Con-certo No. 2 as a sort of symphony for piano andorchestra — a conflation of two of the principalgenres that Brahms felt still held plenty of cre-ative opportunities for an up-to-date Romanticcomposer of the late 19th century.

Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 83

Johannes Brahms

IN SHORT

Born: May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany

Died: April 3, 1897, in Vienna, Austria

Work composed: sketched in late spring 1878,completed July 7, 1881, at Pressbaum, near Vienna; dedicated to the composer’s friend andteacher, Eduard Marxsen

World premiere: November 9, 1881, in Budapest, by the orchestra of the National Theatre, Alexander Erkel, conductor; Brahms had previously played it in a private run-throughwith the Meiningen Orchestra, Hans von Bülow, conductor

New York Philharmonic premiere:December 9, 1882, Theodore Thomas, conductor, Rafael Joseffy, soloist; this performance marked the U.S. premiere

Most recent New York Philharmonic performance: July 5, 2015, at the ShanghaiSymphony Hall, Shanghai, China, Charles Dutoit,conductor, Emanuel Ax, soloist

Estimated duration: ca. 49 minutes

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Catching Up with the Master

In the winter of 1881–82 a British pianist named Florence May, who had studied with Clara Schumann andBrahms in 1871, was in Berlin and read with delight that Brahms was coming to town on tour with the Meinin-gen Orchestra, conducted by Hans von Bülow. “Brahms,” shereported, “was to take an active part only in the second and thirdconcerts. Their respective programmes included a new pi-anoforte concerto still in manuscript (No. 2 in B flat), to beplayed by the composer, with von Bülow as conductor.”Brahms had changed since she had studied with him.

As I gazed at him, knowing him to be Brahms, I was utterlyunable to recognize the man I had known ten years previ-ously. There, indeed, was the great head with the hairbrushed back as of old, though less tidily than in formerdays; but his figure had become much heavier, and bothmouth and chin were hidden by a thick moustache andshaggy, grizzled beard that had completely transformed hisappearance.

Of the performance of the Second Piano Concerto, she wrote:

I did not think Brahms’s playing what it had been. His touchin forte passages had become hard, and though he might,perhaps, be said to have mastered the difficulties of his part,he had not sufficiently surmounted them to execute themwith ease. … I knew, however, that I had listened to a mag-nificent work of immense proportions, and longed for op-portunity to hear it again that I might assimilate it.There was a scene of tumultuous enthusiasm at the close

of the work. The public applauded wildly, and shouted itselfhoarse; the band joined in with its fanfare of trumpet anddrum; Brahms and von Bülow were recalled again and againseparately and together; and in the moment of the com-poser’s triumph I saw the earlier Brahms once again stand-ing before me, for whilst his eyes shone and his face beamedwith pleasure, I recognized in his bearing and expression theold familiar look of almost diffident, shy modesty which hadbeen one of his characteristics in former days.

Brahms in 1883 (top), and as student Florence May mighthave remembered him, ca. 1871

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Angels and Muses

At the head of the Piano Concerto’s score Brahms in-scribed a dedication “to his dear friend and teacher Ed-uard Marxsen.” Both Brahms and his brother, Fritz, hadtaken piano lessons from Marxsen during their child-hood in Hamburg and, recognizing the family’s strait-ened circumstances, Marxsen never charged them forhis services. He was more than just Brahms’s pianoteacher: he broadened his pupil’s perspective on allsorts of things and, after Brahms moved away, contin-ued to keep an eye on the family’s needs. The composer keenly appreciated the fact that, but

for Marxsen, Brahms might not have developed intoBrahms, and he remained devoted until his old teacherdied, in late 1887. Earlier that year, Brahms instructedhis publisher: “When the new things appear, you willtake care, won’t you?, that Frau Schumann and Ed.Marxsen receive a copy right away!” Few dedicationscan have given Brahms more pleasure than the one heattached to his Second Piano Concerto.

Brahms was born in this Hamburg home (shown in 1891),where his family occupied space on the first floor.

Instrumentation: two flutes (second doublingpiccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bas-

soons, four horns, two trumpets, timpani, andstrings, in addition to the solo piano.

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