Johannes Brahms

Although opus numbers can be misleading (in that they don't always indicate order of composition), it is worth noting that Johannes Brahms used the pianoforte as the backbone of each of his first ten compositions -- there are works for piano solo, song-sets for voice and piano, and one piano trio (Op. 8). It was only after composing the four ballades for solo piano, Op. 10, that Brahms felt sufficiently comfortable with his powers to move away from the piano; perhaps this was because the four works of Op. 10 in some ways represent a peroration of his musical processes up to that point (1854) -- four corners that describe a square: something closed, after which the best and most fruitful course was a new one. The first of those four corners, the Ballade for piano in D minor, Op. 10, No. 1, is based on the ballad-poem "Edward" by Johann Gottfried Herder (adapted from a Scottish folk-ballad).

The Ballade in D minor, Op. 10, No. 1, is by no means, however, a tone poem in any real sense of the word: Brahms took only general elements of ambiance and, to a certain degree, shape from the 14-stanza poem, allowing them to inform but not define the simple, compact ternary form of the musical work. The music opens almost as would a song to Herder's text -- the words of the first couplet fit Brahms' melody syllable-to-note (the cry "Edward! Edward!" in plaintive descending octaves), and one can make a case for the second couplet as well. After this, however, the treatment is freer and follows no such text-setting plan. The music of the opening section is purely homophonic, almost chorale-like, and appropriately archaic sounding, quiet, and tense. The central D major portion is by contrast rich and warm, with pulsating triplets and a noble rising melody in the low register. One might argue that such a dramatic change of mood is utterly unjustified by the poem (as is the ternary structure), but perhaps Brahms was imaginatively delving underneath the poetic surface to create his own vision of the characters' (Edward and his mother) complex nature and history. This robust central section makes its way seamlessly back into the opening music, which gradually simmers down into a mire of tragedy, dismay, and drudgery -- the curse Edward places on his mother finds frighteningly apt expression in Brahms' music.