JOHANNES BRAHMS--"TRAGIC" OVERTURE, Op. 81
by Kelly Dean Hansen
College of Music, University of Colorado
Allegro ma non troppo
2/4 Meter ("cut time"). D Minor
The "Tragic" overture, Op. 81, is the dramatic counterpart to the festive "Academic Festival" Overture, Op. 80, composed by Brahms in 1880 after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Breslau. The "Tragic" has never been one of the composer's most popular works, although it is one of his most innovative uses of sonata form. Quite unlike any of his symphonic movements, it also has a larger orchestra than any of the four symphonies, utilizing both piccolo and
tuba, but eschewing the percussion of the "Academic Festival."
The principal theme group contains at least five distinct elements: (1) the two
hammer-like opening chords, (2) the opening tune, a rising and falling arpeggio, (3) A clipped dotted-rhythm figure that follows the arpeggio, (4) another rising and falling figure beginning with a longer note, and (5) a rising scale in triplets serving to introduce the dotted-rhythm figure again. This is an unusually diverse "first subject" complex for Brahms, and it provides several seeds for the development section later on.
Syncopated strings lead to the transition passage, which features a series of descending wind figures that are curiously similar to the opening of Mahler's First Symphony (which dates from about a decade later). These are actually derived
from the two opening chords. It is this passage that introduces both piccolo and tuba. The secondary theme in F major is a broad violin tune with many notes crossing the bar lines over arpeggiated low strings. Before long, the "tragic" mood returns for an intensely dramatic closing section drawing from both subjects.
The end of the exposition veers back to the tonic D minor as the opening "hammer" chords return. They leave an extended tympani roll exposed as fragments of the opening arpeggio tune serve as a transition to the development. The piccolo makes its second appearance here, again in a transition. The development section itself is quite extraordinary. The tempo is cut in half, and the dotted-note rhythm is developed into a slow march, beginning in the winds, and later moving to the strings. The march is in the keys of A minor and B minor.
The development ends in B minor, which is relative to D major. Brahms uses this relationship to circumvent D minor by going directly to the "Mahler-like" transition passage. The descending figures are now given in both winds and strings.
The first subject tries to assert itself, but the music becomes chorale-like, and the trombones play a very solemn version of the main arpeggio theme. This passes directly into the second subject, now in D major. Brahms has thus "slipped" into his recapitulation, almost completely circumventing the formerly huge first subject as well as its minor key. The second theme, however, is close to its exposition presentation, and D minor returns for the dramatic closing section.
The hammer blows return again, introducing the coda, which at first intensifies
the tension at the end of the recap. Trumpet and horn fanfares seem to signal the end, but Brahms has one more surprise in store. Just as it seems he is going to close with a huge chord, he suddenly tapers down to quiet string tremolos.
The clarinets and other winds present shy hints of the main theme before the real closing flourish interrupts decisively with the dotted figure and triplet scale, finishing firmly in the minor key.
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