Brahms Second Symphony Summary

Even though Johannes Brahms is well-known as a master of the symphonic genre, he composed only four symphonies in his lifetime. His four symphonies are not only decisive works to the history of the symphony, but also the essential repertoire for concert and recording. In particular, one of Johannes Brahms’ symphonies, Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 is renowned one and also enjoyed listening to the audience frequently and simultaneously, this is an enigmatic and problematic work. In 1995, German musicologist, Reinhold Brinkmann published the new book for his research regarding the Brahms’ second symphony with Harvard University Press. The author claims that “…problematic one, included the question of a disparity in value between the first two movements and the last two movements was always acute. This critical perplexity was the what prompted and

In the preface of this book, the author claims that “The technical musical analysis must not become too detailed and certainly not too professional-theoretical, while the historical and interdisciplinary context will be just “touched on” in its ground-lines, and not extensively traced back and account for.” (p. ix) Conversely, these chapters contain too detailed analytical materials as the Walter Frisch’s theoretical book, Brahms: The Four Symphonies so that these chapters make me think it like other professional theoretical books. Even though these chapters comprise the detailed analysis, he also mentions and adds other aspects of the second symphony regarding theme, melancholy, and the middle movements. Further, in these chapters, he sets the selection of the musical examples and the tables appropriately. In addition, he uses the arrows and underlines clearly on the musical examples to present his arguments so that it guides to his points