Johannes Brahms

The title Ballade was first used for a piano piece by Chopin with the publication in 1836 of his Ballade in G minor, Op. 23. Eventually he would compose four such works, in which the form is based on discursive thematic development organized in a rather free, rhapsodic manner. Some find a narrative intention in Chopin's Ballades, although the composer never mentioned any literary connections. Brahms, on the other hand, indicated a specific literary inspiration for the first of his Four Ballades, Op. 10. The piece's heading reads, "After the Scottish ballad 'Edward' in Herder's Stimmen der Völker (Voices of the Folk), leading Paul Mies to suggest that Brahms originally intended to compose a vocal work but abandoned this idea. (In 1877, Brahms would again treat the "Edward" catastrophe by setting the poem in his Four Ballads and Romances for two voices, Op. 75, No. 1.) Unlike Chopin's Ballades, Brahms' feature clear formal structures.

Composed during the summer of 1854, the Four Ballades, Op. 10, were published in 1856 by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig. Brahms dedicated the set to lifelong friend Julius Otto Grimm.

Brahms was concerned with harmonic unity in the layout of the entire set. Opening in D minor, Ballade No. 1 closes in D major, the key of No. 2. The central section of No. 2 is in B major, which bears a relationship to B minor (the relative minor of D major), the opening key of No. 3, which itself closes in B major, the key of No. 4.

Mies' assertion that Brahms intended the first of the Four Ballades, in D minor/major, to be a vocal work is supported by the fit between the opening melody and the first line of the ballad "Edward," which Brahms gives as the inspiration for the piece. Similarly, the melody of the slow movement from the Op. 2 sonata fits the words of a German Minnelied, "Mir ist leide."

Cast in an overall three-part (ABA') structure, the Ballade features divisions within its larger sections. For example, section A consists of a two-part melody, the first marked Andante and the second Poco più moto. This complex sounds twice but with some important changes the second time. Whereas the first Andante phrase prepares for the tonic, D minor, but moves deceptively to B flat major for the Poco più moto segment, the repeat of the Andante phrase actually closes on the dominant of B flat, creating a genuine move away from the tonic. Furthermore, the ensuing repeat of the Poco più moto phrase becomes harmonically ambiguous; its stop on the final tonic chord does not sound like a return to the tonic, in part because the chord consists of only D naturals and A naturals-no third-preparing for the sudden shift to major for the central section. As in the A section, the B section melody is built from moving chords, but at a faster tempo. Growing intensity has led one writer to claim that the central section describes the "Edward" tragedy. A return to D minor ushers in material that is a variation of the Andante melody, which quietly sneaks in, featuring a new accompaniment, just before the close of the piece, bypassing the Poco più moto phrase.