The Adagio mesto of Brahmss Horn Trio, op.

40: Romantic Distance, Longing, and Death

Imani Mosley
Introduction
The Horn Trio, op. 40 by Brahms is a piece that has not received a fair amount of discussion. For
hornists, its importance lies in the designation of the natural horn. For musicologists, it can be
found solely within the narrative of the nineteenth-century adagio and in the chamber works of
Brahms. However, at the heart of the work is a beguiling movement: the adagio mesto. The adagio
brings with it its own storied history but the term mesto is an elusive one. A term that became
familiar in Brtoks Sixth String Quartet, it is translated as sad but seems to represent something
more. The pairing of adagio and mesto alludes to something deeply sorrowful and painful and the
combination of the two has only happened once before.
For many, this very emotional and evocative tempo marking is reflective of what is believed to be
the locus of this piece -- the death of Brahmss mother Christiane. This idea comes from Max
Kalbecks biography of Brahms, a work that Brahms scholars are discovering is somewhat flawed.
Because this idea that the Horn Trio is about the death of Brahmss mother only comes from
Kalbeck, its veracity is less certain than previously believed. The lack of this hermeneutical aspect
allows the space to explore why Brahms would choose such a tempo marking. This paper will
explore various aspects of the work and the Adagio mesto movement specifically in order to shine
some light on why Brahms would have used the tempo marking adagio mesto for the third
movement of his Horn Trio.
1
The nineteenth-century adagio
There are many musico-historical reasons surrounding the choice of adagio as a tempo marking.
Notley remarks in Late-Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music and the Cult of the Classical Adagio
that the adagio was seen for many, especially Wagnerites, as a form unto itself that subsumes
sonata form and expresses something different entirely: the Adagio often seems to have
constituted an elevated genre unto itself, distinguished not only by its tempo but also by its
melodic style and quality of expression.
1
To write an adagio after Beethoven (as well as listen to
one) was an experience that, when done properly, could result in some type of musical revelation.
However, there was more to the writing of adagios in the late nineteenth-century than the
experiential. For many, the Classical Adagio stood as a marker for Germaness:
Nohl thus dwelt on the soulfulness of the late-eighteenth-century slow movement while
casually claiming a middle-European repertory as essential German, two intertwining modes
of reception in what appears to have been an intricately textured late-nineteenth-century
cult of the Classical Adagio.
2
Nothing is more a product of the German way than [the] Adagio the Adagio in German
sonata forms belongs to that which is most beautiful not merely in music but in art
altogether.
3
In this sense, the adagio moves far beyond a tempo marking. It becomes a concept, one that does
relate to a tempo (in this case, incredibly slow) but importantly, relates to a particular aesthetic: In
2
1
Notley
2
Notley, 33.
3
Ludwig Nohl as quoted by Notley, 33.
brief, the cult of the Adagio bore the traces of a later generations idealization of an earlier time,
coupled with a perception of its own shortcomings.
4
The importance of the Classical Adagio at this time cannot be overlooked; it was a theme discussed
not just by composers and musicians, but by writers and philosophers as well. German novelists
addressed the theme of the adagio as the aesthetic symbol of melancholy soliloquy and
sentimentally excessive feelings of love.
5
The soliloquy metaphor is an apt one, as the adagio
came to represent an expression of inwardness and internal struggle. These concepts were
translated musically in many ways. On a large-scale level, the adagio represents a form unto itself,
bent on working out singular, internal ideas, closed off to the other surrounding movements. On a
smaller scale, the ideas that are worked out within the adagio are of a melodic nature rather than a
structural. This focus on melody merged nicely for several musicians with that of Wagners
unendliche Melodie:
After Wagner introduced the phrase unendliche Melodie in the essay Zukunftsmusik in
1860, some of the musicians found that that concept conveyed their experience of the
Adagio both as an emotional and/or spiritual revelation -- the latter potentially equivalent to
the former -- and as a musical-textural type whose forms were to be subordinated to a more
fundamental, overriding melodic ideal.
6
3
4
Notley, 34.
5
Ruth E. Mller as quoted by Notley, 35.
6
Notley, 37.
For Ernst Kurth, the Adagio superseded form and structure through melody and theme, allowing
the movement, as it had for others, to become something entirely different rather than taking a new
approach to understanding the Classical Adagio.
Writing an adagio in the 1860s and later was to, in some ways, look back to the adagios of
Beethoven and Haydn and to respond to what seemed to be the loss of the form from the
repertory. Brahms was not the only composer to do so. Many of Bruckners works, notably his String
Quintet and Seventh Symphony, contained adagio movements. And for many opposed to Bruckner
and his compositional style, his adagios were his pieces only saving grace:
The conclusion seems inescapable: the Adagio was a genre unto itself, a special case that
transcended the usual standards of composition. Bruckners Adagio conveyed a sense of the
beyond even to the freethinking materialist Kalbeck.
7
Bruckner, as well as Wagner and Mahler, all approached this Adagio form, employing the same type
of compositional ideas and techniques: a focus on thematic generation and development of that
theme, less priority on overall structure, closed forms, and a somewhat insular nature. Richard
Giarusso points to what he calls a topical focus, the ability to hone in on a theme that will sustain
the interest of a listener through the lengths of an adagio movement.
8
These techniques are
employed by Brahms in the adagios of his First Maturity and would prove to be an attractive
4
7
Notley, 37.
8
Richard Giarusso, 197.
challenge to the young composer. This coupled with the prevailing aesthetic of the time
surrounding the Adagio would be good reasons for Brahms to try his hand at the form.
The adagio mesto of the Horn Trio is one of three adagios written during the period known as
Brahmss First Maturity, a term coined by Donald Tovey.
9
The three adagios (the others in the
Serenade no. 2 op. 16 and the Piano Quartet no. 2 op. 26) represent a break with the adagios
Brahms had previously written:
The adagios in the Second Serenade, the A-Major Piano Quartet (op. 26) and the Horn Trio
(op. 40) sound not only mature but also highly individualized. With their characteristic
concern to examining broad architecture, musicologists have stressed Brahmss innovative
approach to large-scale form in these sightly later slow movements.
10
Notley, however, states that the Adagios of this period may have been motivated more by aesthetic
choices than formal ones:
This melody-centered principle raises the question of whether the large-scale forma novelty
of these Adagios from Brahmss first maturity (Toveys designation for this period) might
be secondary, a complementary by-product of more primary melodic concerns.
11
5
9
Donald Tovey, Brahmss Chamber Music, Essays and Lectures in Music (London, 1949); 243.
10
Notley, 45.
11
Notley, 45.
Regardless of their motivation, these three adagios represent a break from Brahmss previously
written adagio movements.
12
The Adagios focus on thematic generation and development make it a perfect place to work out an
idea, especially one that signifies something internal. If it is to be believed that the Horn Trio,
especially the Adagio mesto, represents Brahmss grief over the loss of his mother, an adagio
movement would be an ideal place to do so. Kalbecks assertion that the theme of the Adagio
mesto (which retroactively becomes the theme of the entire piece) comes from a folksong that his
mother sang to him as a child ties together these separate aspects of the Adagio phenomenon.
This hermeneutical reading of the Adagio becomes problematic when Kalbecks theory is examined
which I will discuss further.
The use of mesto
The Grove Dictionary of Music defines mesto as sad, sorrowful, and dejected, terms that
dont seem to necessarily separate mesto from other sad tempo markings. The definition goes on
to discuss the terms history, noting that it was first used by Zarlino, Bottazzi, and Monteverdi in his Il
ritorno dUlisse (Finita sinfonia in tempo allegro, si inomincia la seguente mesta, alla bassa sin che
Penelope sar gionta in scena per dar principio al canto).
13
There are sparing uses of it throughout
6
12
It is important to note that at this time, the distinction between adagio and andante was not very clear. While the
adagios of the first maturity definitely stand apart due to their size, Brahmss previously written adagios and
andantes do not have such a distinction. Also, as tempo markings, they both seemed to occupy the same speed
range.
13
David Fallows. "Mesto." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed December
8, 2012, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/18501.
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in varying forms (as an adjective and as an adverb) but
nothing that seems to be connected with an extramusical event.
The two examples of the use of mesto before Brahms were both employed by Beethoven, in his
Piano Sonata no. 7 op. 10 in D major (largo e mesto) and the String Quartet no. 7, op. 59, no. 1
Rasumovsky (adagio molto e mesto). In Maynard Solomons Beethoven, Freemasonry, and the
Tagebuch of 1812-1818, he discusses the text written at the bottom of the sketch for the adagio
movement of the String Quartet no. 7, a weeping willow or acacia tree on my brothers grave
which while believed to be a reference to freemasonry, is most likely a note referring to the death of
one of his brothers.
14
Note here the use of both adagio and mesto (adagio molto) to imply the
deepest, most doleful feelings. Between Beethoven and Brahms, mesto rarely appears as a tempo
marking. Ten years after the composition of the Horn Trio, Dvo!k used adagio molto e mesto in his
Trio, op. 21 for Violin, Cello, and Piano in B-flat major. Most notably, Brtok used mesto as a tempo
marking throughout his Sixth String Quartet, a tempo marking he added after the death of his
mother.
While it can not be said with any fair amount of certainty, the connection between mesto and
feelings of deep sadness and loss is a vague yet present one. The choice of mesto as a tempo
marking could further the claim that the Adagio mesto movement is one that signifies the death of
Brahmss mother but it is not a claim that would be able to stand alone.
7
14
Maynard Solomon. "Beethoven, Freemasonry, and the Tagebuch of 1812-1818." Beethoven Forum 8 (2000): 125.
Hermeneutics and the Horn Trio
In Kalbecks biography of Brahms, he attributes the genesis of the work, particularly the Adagio
mesto, to the death of Brahmss mother, Christiane in 1864.
15
He bolsters this claim by citing two
musical sources that he believed were the basis for the piece: the folksong Dort in den Weiden
steht ein Haus and the chorale Wer nur den lieben Gott lt walten. According to Kalbeck, these
melodies can be heard at the end of the Adagio mesto movement and at the beginning of the
Finale movement. He devotes a large section explaining aspects of the piece and why Brahms
chose them which revolves around the locus of his childhood: the two songs were songs Brahms
would have learned as a child and that his mother probably would have known and the instruments
that make up the trio are the instruments of Brahmss childhood. Also, the best way to mourn and
commemorate (according to Kalbeck) the loss of ones mother is to use the songs and sound of the
forest (Wald) which comes from the horn. He also notes that the moment of mourning occurs in the
adagio mesto and that this term is the way in which listeners can grasp Brahmss state of mind.
16
The songs that Kalbeck attributes to the adagio mesto and finale movements of the trio, however,
are somewhat flimsy. His analysis of how these thematic elements work throughout the trio is
correct -- the theme appears in its most complete form at the end of the Adagio and is transformed
at the beginning of the finale -- but the citations seem to be misguided. Examples 1, 2, and 3 show
8
15

16
Kalbeck, . Die eigentliche Totenklage tnt uns aus dem Adagio entgegen, das besonders mit mesto
bezeichnet ist. Auf diese einzige Andeutung beschrnkt sich, was der Komponist der Welt von seinem
Gemtszustande persnlich verraten wollte.
a. Mm. 59-61

the musical times Spring 2011 21
2. Max Kalbeck: Johannes
Brahms (second edition,
Berlin, 1908), vol.2, pp.182
84.
3. Deutsche Volkslieder mit
ihrem Original-Weisen,
compiled by Professor
Dr. Mamann, AW von
Zuccalmaglio & August
Kretzschmer (Berlin,
1838; repr. Hildesheim,
1969). Brahms refers
to his possession of the
anthology in his letter to
Clara Schumann of 25 June
1858. See, e.g., Richard
Litterscheid: Johannes
Brahms in seinen Schriften und
Briefen (Berlin, 1943), p.161.

recognisable in the second half-phrase of the second movement, as shown
by the Xs in ex.4. And the haunting opening theme of the rst movement
can easily be seen as a major-key adumbration of the second element, as
shown by the Xs in ex.5. (The fth BbF is associated with the minor sixth,
Gb, a bit later, in bars 1620.)
Given the intensity with which these themes are developed in their
respective movements, it is not a great exaggeration to say that the majority
of the motivic material of the entire op.40 Trio is derived from the theme that
is heard in its clearest and simplest form at the beginning of the Finale.
Max Kalbeck, Brahmss close friend and early biographer, asserted that
the theme of the op.40 Finale was derived from the German folksong Dort
in den Weiden steht ein Haus, whose beginning is given as ex.6.
2
It does
not require remarkable musical insight, however, to see that the folksong
and the theme do not match up particularly well. One is major, the other
minor. And the highly characteristic omission of the fourth scale-degree,
suggesting a pentatonic collection, and the prompt return to the tonic in
Brahmss theme are not found in this folksong. And from the other side, the
neighbour-note motion between D and Eb that avour this folksong is not
at all present in Brahmss Finale theme.
Even less convincing is Kalbecks reference to the chorale Wer nur den
lieben Gott lt walten (ex.7) as a source of Brahmss melodic material in
op.40. Brahms did know Dort in den Weiden steht ein Haus: it is found in
the anthology of German folksongs compiled by Mamann, Zuccalmaglio,
and Kretzschmer that he owned,
3
and he arranged the song at least four

_
Allegro
_
,
,
,
p
,

x
,

x
,

x
,

x
,

x
,

x
(1)
,

x
,

x
,

_
_
Andante
_
,
,
,
x
p dolce espress.
,
x
,
,

,
x x
,
,

,
(2)
,
,

,
x
,
,

,
,
,

,
x x
,
,

,
x
,
_
_ _
,
,
Dort in
,

den
,

Wei
,
,
den
,
,
- steht
,
,
ein Haus,
,
,
,
steht
,
,
ein Haus,
,
,
,
_
,
,
steht
,
,
ein
,
,
Haus,
,

,
da
,
,
schaut
,

die
,

Magd
,
,
zum
,
,
Fen
,
,
ster
,
,
- nhaus,
,

,
zum Fen
,
_ ,
ster
,
- nhaus!
,
Ex.4
Ex.5
Ex.6
Thematic transformation, folksong and nostalgia in Brahmss Horn Trio op.40 22
4. Twice for voice and
pianoforte (WoO32, no.12;
WoO33, no.31), and once
each for chorus SATB
(WoO35, no.8) and SSAA
(WoO38, no.3).
5. Deutsche Volkslieder, vol.2,
p.540, no.310.
times.
4
Paging further through the Mamann-Zuccalmaglio-Kretzschmer
anthology, however, one eventually comes to another folksong that is an
exact match and must have been Brahmss source for the rst theme of
the Finale: Es soll sich ja keiner mit der Liebe abgeben, which is given in its
entirety as ex.8.
5
What is striking here, of course, is that the opening of Brahmss Finale
is identical to the rst half of the folksong in interval structure, rhythm,
metrical orientation, and even note repetition. Only the passing note at the
end of bar 2 in the folksong is omitted in Brahmss theme. Furthermore,
the downward movement through scale degrees 876, which sets up the
second element of Brahmss theme, is found at the beginning of the second
half of the folksong (bars 56). I think that there can be no doubt that Es soll
sich ja keiner mit der Liebe abgeben was the source of Brahmss Finale theme
and, thus, of most of the motivic material in his Horn Trio op.40
And what of the words to this folksong? Here is my translation:
No one should have anything to do with love.
It has brought many a ne lad to kill himself.
Today my buxom wench promised me her love.
I accused her! I accused her!
In a comic vein, it sounds quite a bit like many remarks about love and
marriage made by Brahms, the conrmed bachelor, up to and including his
famous frei aber froh.
Kalbeck wished to interpret Brahmss purported, but now disproven,
quotation of Dort in den Weiden steht ein Haus with a reference to the words
of that song, believing that, by alluding to the melody, Brahms referred,
with melancholy nostalgia, to the house of his childhood and his associated
memories of his mother. In this way, Kalbeck made the op.40 Trio into an
expression of Brahmss deep sorrow at his mothers death, which occurred
shortly before the completion of the work. The high spirits of the Finale,
alone, should have inspired scepticism about this hypothesis, but most
_
,
Wer

3
,
nur
,
den
,
lie
,
ben
,
- Gott
,
ltt
,
wal
,
ten
,
-

Es
Sie
,
soll
brcht
,
sich
ja
,
ja
so
,
kei
man
,
ner
che
,
-
-
mit
sch
,
,
der
ne -
Lie
Ker
,
,
,
be
le
,
-
-
ab
ums
,
ge
Le
,
- ben,
ben.
,
-
-
Heut
,
hat
,
mir
,
mein
,
_

Trut
,
schel
,
- die
,
Lie
,
be
,
- ver
,
sat,
,
- ich hab
,
,
,
sie
,
ver
,
klat,
,
- ich hab
,
,
,
sie
,
ver
,
klat.
,
-
Ex.7
Ex.8
Example 1: Brahms, Horn Trio in E-flat, op. 40, Adagio mesto main motive
Example 2: Dort in den Weiden steht ein haus
Example 3: Wer nur dein lieben Gott lt walten
the motive in the Adagio movement compared to both quotations that Kalbeck claims to be the
source material. Kalbeck also states in the biography that these themes can be found in others of
Brahmss work (Six Lieder, op. 94, no. 4 Dort in den Weiden) and also in the second movement
of Mendelssohns String Quartet, op. 12 in E-flat major (1829). Surprisingly, Kalbeck cites these
other examples as a way to bolster his argument about the underlying connective tissue of these
themes, as if to say that their appearance in these other works proves that Brahms used them in the
Horn Trio and used them to represent the allusions that Kalbeck suggests.
9
Thematic transformation, folksong and nostalgia in Brahmss Horn Trio op.40 22
4. Twice for voice and
pianoforte (WoO32, no.12;
WoO33, no.31), and once
each for chorus SATB
(WoO35, no.8) and SSAA
(WoO38, no.3).
5. Deutsche Volkslieder, vol.2,
p.540, no.310.
times.
4
Paging further through the Mamann-Zuccalmaglio-Kretzschmer
anthology, however, one eventually comes to another folksong that is an
exact match and must have been Brahmss source for the rst theme of
the Finale: Es soll sich ja keiner mit der Liebe abgeben, which is given in its
entirety as ex.8.
5
What is striking here, of course, is that the opening of Brahmss Finale
is identical to the rst half of the folksong in interval structure, rhythm,
metrical orientation, and even note repetition. Only the passing note at the
end of bar 2 in the folksong is omitted in Brahmss theme. Furthermore,
the downward movement through scale degrees 876, which sets up the
second element of Brahmss theme, is found at the beginning of the second
half of the folksong (bars 56). I think that there can be no doubt that Es soll
sich ja keiner mit der Liebe abgeben was the source of Brahmss Finale theme
and, thus, of most of the motivic material in his Horn Trio op.40
And what of the words to this folksong? Here is my translation:
No one should have anything to do with love.
It has brought many a ne lad to kill himself.
Today my buxom wench promised me her love.
I accused her! I accused her!
In a comic vein, it sounds quite a bit like many remarks about love and
marriage made by Brahms, the conrmed bachelor, up to and including his
famous frei aber froh.
Kalbeck wished to interpret Brahmss purported, but now disproven,
quotation of Dort in den Weiden steht ein Haus with a reference to the words
of that song, believing that, by alluding to the melody, Brahms referred,
with melancholy nostalgia, to the house of his childhood and his associated
memories of his mother. In this way, Kalbeck made the op.40 Trio into an
expression of Brahmss deep sorrow at his mothers death, which occurred
shortly before the completion of the work. The high spirits of the Finale,
alone, should have inspired scepticism about this hypothesis, but most
_
,
Wer

3
,
nur
,
den
,
lie
,
ben
,
- Gott
,
ltt
,
wal
,
ten
,
-

Es
Sie
,
soll
brcht
,
sich
ja
,
ja
so
,
kei
man
,
ner
che
,
-
-
mit
sch
,
,
der
ne -
Lie
Ker
,
,
,
be
le
,
-
-
ab
ums
,
ge
Le
,
- ben,
ben.
,
-
-
Heut
,
hat
,
mir
,
mein
,
_

Trut
,
schel
,
- die
,
Lie
,
be
,
- ver
,
sat,
,
- ich hab
,
,
,
sie
,
ver
,
klat,
,
- ich hab
,
,
,
sie
,
ver
,
klat.
,
-
Ex.7
Ex.8
Example 4: Es soll sich ja keiner mit der Liebe abgeben
However, John Walter Hill in Thematic transformation, folksong and nostalgia in Brahmss Horn Trio
op. 40 points to another song as the source for these motives, the folk song Es soll sich ja keiner
mit der Liebe abgeben.
17
Example 4 shows the excerpt of the folksong that Hill believes to be the
source material for the Trios main thematic motive. Just as the Kalbeck themes held extramusical
meaning, so they do for Hill. He believes that it represents the breakup of the relationship between
Brahms and Agathe von Siebold in 1859. He makes the jump that many years later, this would still
be with him which at first seemed too much of a stretch. However, the recent discovery of a piano
work now entitled Albumblatt which contains the molto meno allegro theme from the second
movement of the Horn Trio makes this seem plausible. The piece was written in Gttingen in 1853
and it was also in Gttingen a few years later that Brahms would meet and fall in love with Agathe,
signifying that all of the concepts of the piece may have been place for quite some time. Hill
furthers his claim that the Horn Trio is about Agathe rather than Christiane by looking at the text of
all three quotations, citing that only one of them has thematically appropriate text:
Kalbeck wished to interpret Brahmss purported, but now disproven, quotation of Dort in
den Weiden steht ein Haus with a reference to the words of that song, believing that, by
alluding to the melody, Brahms referred, with melancholy nostalgia, to the house of his
10
17
John Walter Hill, Thematic transformation, folksong and nostalgia in Brahmss Horn Trio op. 40. Musical Times,
22.
childhood and his associated memories of his mother. In this way, Kalbeck made the op. 40
Trio in an expression of Brahmss deeps sorrow at his mothers death with occurred shortly
before the completion of the work But now that Es soll sich ja keiner mit der Liebe
abgeben, with its comically misogynist words, has been brought forward, we certainly must
dispense with the myth of this Trio as homage to the composers late mother.
18
However, this seems to be circular logic on the part of Hill. This claim that the text reinforces the
idea of Es soll sich ja keiner mit der Liebe abgeben as source material for the motive forces the
conclusion that this folksong is indeed the correct quotation. And while there is a convincing
argument to be made that this is the case, it seems that here, Hill is putting the cart before the
horse.
For Hill, the trio tells the story of love lost and accepted with the adagio at the end of the
relationship. He also connects the Second String Sextet to the Horn Trio because it contains the
cryptogram a-g-a-d-h-e to represent von Siebold and the two should be thought of as
complements. How does one reconcile this with what the terms adagio and mesto signify? Beller-
McKenna touches upon this in Distance and Disembodiment: Harps, Horns, and the Requiem
Idea in Schumann and Brahms, a review of Daverios Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and
Brahms.
19
For Beller-McKenna, the adagio is purely funereal rather than something that represents
the Requiem Idea which involves a consolation or resolution after grief: Thus it might serve our
present purposes by providing an example whereby we can distinguish between the merely
11
18
Hill, 22.
19
Daniel Beller-McKenna "Distance and Disembodiment: Harps, Horns, and the Requiem Idea in Schumann and
Brahms." The Journal of Musicology, 22, no. 1 (2005)
mournful and the Schumann/Brahms Requiem Idea.
20
Interestingly, Beller-McKenna does not
mention the harp-like passages at the beginning of the adagio mesto, a figure that fits well into the
Requiem Idea. He also does not note the relationship Kalbeck makes between this piece and the
Four Songs for Womens Chorus, Two Horns and Harp, op. 17:
Nicht nur in der Tonart (es-moll) berhrt sich das Adagio mit der Heldenklage des letzten
Intermezzos aus den Klavierstcken op. 118, es sind dieselben schauerlichen, mit dem
Geisterreich kommunizierenden Klnge, und die gebrochenen Akkorde des arpeggierenden
Klaviers erinnern dabei an die drei Lieder fr Frauenchor mit Hrnern und Harfe op. 17, um
Ossiansche und Eichendorffsche Stimmungen hervorzuzaubern.
21
He does however mention the Intermezzo op. 118 no. 6 which is also marked mesto and is in E-flat
minor, a key Beller-McKenna says becomes associated with death for Brahms in later works:
One might even speak of an E-flat minor mood in a cluster of pieces from op. 40 onward,
works that deal with death in its most purely romantic sense, as an unattainable respite from
the sultry languor of life.
22
But for Beller-Mckenna, neither the Adagio mesto nor the Intermezzo move beyond their mourning
and grief:
12
20
Ibid, 84.
21
Kalbeck, . Notley also discusses the opening of the Adagio mesto movement, comparing the arpeggios in the
piano to that of a small folk harp.
22
Beller-McKenna, . Interestingly, Brahmss Intermezzo, op. 117 no. 1 is in the key of E-flat major and was prefaced
by a poem collected by Johann Gottfried von Herder that notes a mother comforting her child over the
abandonment by his father. While this is not as strong of a connection to the feeling of loss and death exhibited by
the E-flat minor works, it is an interesting parallel.
But these works (including Wagners) all convey redemption through some transcendence of
the minor mode. The same can not be said for the third movement of the Horn Trio or the
Intermezzo, op. 118 no. 6: Neither piece uses the obscure key of E-flat minor as a foil or a
departure point from which to transcend its grief Brahms is even less willing to let go of
grief in the Adagio mesto of the Horn Trio Thus for all its somber tone, the Horn Trio
does not partake of the Requiem Idea.
23
And while Beller-McKenna doesnt say so in regards to the Horn Trio, he does talk about the piece
that does commemorate Christianes death: the German Requiem. This piece, for Beller-McKenna
and Daverio, represents the ideal Brahmsian form that would deal with death, loss, and grief. Why
would Brahms commemorate his mother so well in the German Requiem (written in the same year
as the Horn Trio) and so ineffectively in the Horn Trio?
Beller-McKenna goes on, analyzing various aspects of the trio from idea of Romantic distance
represented by the horn itself to the manipulation of the main motivic theme into a fugue. Overall,
Beller-McKenna places an emphasis on stagnation, a concept that directly conflicts with the
Requiem Idea. Notley, however, discusses this very idea of stagnation in regards to the classical
adagio. The adagio, as its own form within a larger structure, focuses more on melody and the
development of a singular idea. And while there may be thematic continuity, harmonic and
structural continuity is not as necessary:
Monothematicism -- or at least the unmistakable reappearance of motives from the opening
in other themes -- seems to have had a higher value in Adagios than in other movement
13
23
Beller-McKenna, 84.
types, an apparent consequence of conceptualizing an Adagio as the generation of one
melody representing a single inner experience.
24
This type of singular focus applies to harmony as well. While Beller-McKenna sees Brahmss inability
to transform or move beyond the key of E-flat minor, Notley sees it as another example of the
Adagio style. Brahms explores B-flat Phrygian in the fugato section of the movement (a section that
Beller-McKenna decries) while avoiding any motion to a dominant key. His use of 6/4 chords and
evasive cadences are, for Notley, central to the Adagio aesthetic.
25
The aspects of the Horn Trios
Adagio mesto movement that Beller-McKenna mentions seem to be the ones that best represent
the late-nineteenth-century Classical Adagio style, something to which Beller-McKenna makes no
mention. Is it possible, then, that this bolsters Hills claim that the Horn Trio, especially the Adagio
mesto, is not representative of the type of loss and grief found in pieces that contain the Requiem
Idea and that, in fact, it is the grief over the loss of a relationship rather than a death? These various
theories do not seem to intersect with each other specifically. They do, however, raise some
suspicion that Kalbecks analysis of the piece was misguided.
The Romantic horn and the Waldhorn
The natural horn played a large part in German Romantic literature as a representative of many
types of distance: temporal, physical, and spiritual. Temporal distance can reference a horn call
coming from far away or evoking a space between past and present while spiritual distance, for lack
of a better work, can signify the space between the living and the dead. Distance can also represent
14
24
Notley, 57.
25
Notley, 55.
a wandering or listlessness, usually a wanderer separated by time and or space. This figures into the
Romantic notion of Sehnsucht, one that is often related to the horn in several ways. Enclosed in this
is the idea of the horn as evocative of the forest (Wald) which also carries many signifiers in German
Romantic literature, poetry, and philosophy. Eichendorff wrote often of the Waldhorn in relation to
the German forest and it was a popular German Romantic trope. Many believe that these signifiers
were the main reason that Brahms specified Waldhorn (natural horn) instead of valved horn.
Other Romantic composers use the horn (or textual imagery of the horn) to represent these varying
types of distance. Schumann discusses spiritual distance in his 1840 review of Schuberts Great
Symphony, D. 944:
There is a passage in it where the horn is calling as if from afar; this appears to me as if it
had come from another sphere. Here everyone is listening, as if a heavenly guest were
creeping through the orchestra.
26
In a footnote, Berthold Hoeckner compares Schumanns description to other Romantic clichs found
in literature, specifically Ludwig Tiecks Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen which references the sound
of distant horns emerging from deep within the forest, playing with the listeners idea of time,
distance, and reality.
27
Similarly, the horn evokes the mystery of the German forest in Webers Der
Freischtz. In Schuberts Die Post from Winterreise, horn call figures are simulated in the piano to
15
26
Schumann as quoted by Berthold Hoeckner, Schumann and Romantic and Distance. Journal of the American
Musicological Society, 50, no. 1 (1997); 74.
27
Suddenly they heard from the distance the touching play of intricate horns out of the forest; standing still they
strained to hear whether it was imagination or reality; but a melodic singing flowed toward them through the trees
like a rippling rill, and Franz thought that the spirit world had suddenly opened up, that perhaps, without knowing it,
they had found the great magic word (ed. Alfred Anger [Stuttgart: Reclam, 1966], 221-22).
evoke the Posthorn, another type of natural horn. However, this horn call represents the distance
between the Wanderer and his beloved, a distance that is not bridged by the arrival of a letter. Just
as the Classical Adagio has both literary and musical functions, so does the natural horn.
In John Ericsons article Brahms and the Orchestral Horn, he states that in the Horn Trio this use
of the natural horn was at least in part to create a nostalgic mood, retrospective, one looking
toward the past and into memories.
28

It was not necessary for Brahms to ask for a natural horn rather than a valved one; the trio was
composed in 1865, the same year that Wagner composed Tristan und Isolde which calls for valved
horn. At the time that Brahms was composing the Horn Trio, hornists favored the valved horn over
the natural horn for its ease and flexibility and the instrument was popular and established enough
that it wouldnt have been necessary to write for natural horn. In Eva Heaters article, Why Did
Brahms Write His E-Flat Trio, Op. 40, for Natural Horn?, she discusses the sonic implications of the
natural horn over a valved one.
29
The techniques involved with a natural horn produce a very
distinct sound, one very different from its valved cousin. In a letter published in the Beilage zur
Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung, Brahms wrote the following about the sound of the natural horn:
[] if the performer is not obliged by the stopped notes to play softly, the piano and violin
are not obliged to adapt themselves to him, and the tone is rough from the beginning.
30
16
28
John Ericson, Brahms and the Orchestral Horn. http://www.public.asu.edu/~jqerics/brahms-natural-horn.html,
2012.
29
Eva Heater, Why Did Brahms Write His E-Flat Trio, Op. 40, for Natural Horn? American Brahms Society
Newsletter, 19, 1. 2001, 2.
30
Selmar Bagge. "Important review of Johannes Brahms Trio for violin, horn and piano, op. 40." In Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung 2 (1867): 15-17, 24-25.
The timbre is quieter and more mellow but, more specifically, produces a different timbre in
different key areas. Heater explains these technical aspects well, citing a change in timbre in the
molto meno allegro theme in the second movement but Heaters main focus is on that of the
Adagio mesto movement. For Heater, the way that the natural horn handles the key of E-flat minor
is crucial and influences the way listeners might hear the movement:
Again in the third movement (adagio mesto), the selection of key offered Brahms an
expressive opportunity, for choosing E-flat minor meant that the horn has many partially-
stopped notes, creating an effect in keeping with the somber emotional quality of the
movement as a whole Measure 83 in the third movement, if played on a natural horn,
produces a unique and stunning effect: the held sforzando E-flat in the horn part (concert G-
flat), which must be played on the natural horn with the hand partially stopping the bell,
creates a stinging sound This held sforzando on the climatic plagal cadence decays
rapidly to a piano for the final three measures of the movement. The unusual impact of this
passage cannot be achieved when the note is played on a valve horn, for without the hand
technique, all of the notes sound open. This was a deliberate expressive effect on Brahmss
part.
31
Notley also speaks about this plagal cadence, noting that only a performance on natural horn that
Brahms stipulated can produce the full effect here.
32
For Heater and Notley, this aspect is
important, both sonically and harmonically. This sforzando highlights the plagal cadence in a
movement filled with previously evaded cadences. Notley discusses the importance of this cadence
in her paper Plagal Harmony as Other: Asymmetrical Dualism and Instrumental Music by Brahms.
17
31
Heater, 2.
32
Notley, 55. Notley also discusses the timbral quality of the stopped tones in Plagal Harmony as Other:
Asymmetrical Dualism and Instrumental Music by Brahms.
This plagal harmony that acts as the underpinning of the movement is highlighted by the sound of
the natural horn. But what was Heater referring to when she mentioned the somber emotional
quality of E-flat minor played on a natural horn? In reading various writings on natural horn, it
seems that this quality referred to by Heater is one that is understood when heard. Rather than
having a specific cultural or historical reference, it lies within the instruments timbre, therefore
making it difficult to describe. However, others have pointed to the timbre as reflecting some notion
of German Romanticism:
Aside from its suggestion of the Wald, the chase and the mystical significance attached
by Tieck and other Romanticists to Waldeinsamkeit, the horn seems to me to owe its
popularity, at least in part, to its tone-color.
33
It seems clear that whatever this tone color signified it was something that Brahms actively sought
out for both sonic and representational reasons.
The choice to use natural horn was not solely representational. As mentioned earlier, the use of
natural horn helped to cement a harmonically and formally unified structure. Both Michael
Musgrave and Malcolm MacDonald write that Brahms was constricted to a particular harmonic
series by specifying that a natural horn be used but as Joshua Garrett points out in his dissertation
Brahmss Horn Trio: Background and Analysis for Performers, this is not the case:
What is interesting about the use of hand horn in the Horn Trio is, with few exceptions, the
use of the stopped notes and not the use of the open notes. A piece with no stopped
18
33
Lambert Shears, The Romantic Waldhornlied, Monatshefte fr Deutschen Unterricht, 27, no. 1 (1935); 310.
tones, as MacDonald and Musgrave mistakenly suggest the trio is, would thus lack exactly
the quality that Brahms sought out.
34
Garrett goes on to discuss the use of E-flat (both major and minor) as a the focal point of the piece,
echoing statements by Notley about the form and structure of each movement and of the piece as
a whole:
Another possible reason for the retention of E-flat throughout is that Brahms wanted to
intensify the feeling of harmonic departure and return. As written, the tonic in each
movement is reinforced by the open tones of the horn. The farther away the music gets
from the tonic, the more chord tones are stopped, and the closer the music is to the tonic,
the more chord tones are open. By keeping the same tonic for each movement, and by
consistently reinforcing this tonic with the open tones of the horn, the key structure and
form are particularly highlighted, and the sense of harmonic return to the home key is
particularly strong.
35
The natural horns ability to highlight key harmonic and structural moments, especially in the adagio
movement, seems to play a large part in an understanding of the piece. This knowledge of the horn
would have been completely within Brahmss purview: he studied natural horn as a child and his
father was a professional hornist. Kalbeck uses this knowledge as a connection to Brahmss youth,
furthering the idea that this piece represents longing and reminiscence but it seems more likely that
Brahms was just drawing on his own experience to evoke a particular idea. This does not mean that
the horns Romantic signifiers are not bound up within the construction of this piece -- I believe that
19
34
Joshua Garrett, Brahmss Horn Trio: Background and Analysis for Performers. 1998, 33.
35
Garrett, 33.
they are -- however, it is more likely that they are representative of a particular aesthetic at the time
rather than specifically about the death of Brahmss mother. Those signifiers are intertwined with the
actual sound of the natural horn (horn call fifths, dynamics, and timbre) and I think that they are
related in this piece in a very important way. Brahmss insistence on the use of a natural horn over a
valved horn -- he asked for hornists to play on natural horn for weeks before the performance to
become accustomed to it and always used natural horn whenever he performed the work -- seems
to signify more than just a composers prerogative.
Conclusion
Revisiting Kalbecks writing about the Horn Trio reveals some holes in his argument. The passage on
the Horn Trio in his biography of Brahms is surprisingly long, given the status the piece has in
Brahmss oeuvre. Also surprising is the depth in which Kalbeck explains how the piece came about.
While it cant be proven that any of the reasons given by Kalbeck are indeed correct, it does lead
one to believe that there is something there behind this work, something more than just the
motivation of the times to write large-scale adagio movements.
This paper, however, was never meant to be a probing of Brahmss life outside of this work in order
to alter the way we hear or understand the piece. I believe that no matter what the reason (if there
is one) that the sentiment is achieved. This is mostly accomplished by Brahmss compositional
prowess. An overall feeling of mourning and sadness seems to be built into the work, especially
played on natural horn. What this paper tried to achieve was an understanding of how the culture
surrounding Brahms at the time (as well as aspects of his own life) could have led to such a choice.
20
The writing of an adagio movement is fairly straightforward but its pairing with mesto colors the
adagio in a way that possibly no other tempo marking could. All of the individual aspects of the
piece from the choice of natural horn, to the use of mesto, to the adagio itself lend themselves to
some sort of tantalizing hermeneutical reading. And whether a definitive answer will ever arise is
unseen but it does shed some light on the complexity of even some of Brahmss lesser-known
works.
21
Bibliography
Bagge, Selmar. "Important review of Johannes Brahms Trio for violin, horn and piano, op.
40." In Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung 2 (1867): 15-17, 24-25.
Beller-McKenna, Daniel. "Distance and Disembodiment: Harps, Horns, and the Requiem Idea
in Schumann and Brahms." The Journal of Musicology, 22, no. 1 (2005): 47-89.
Botstein, Leon. The Compleat Brahms: A Guide to the Musical Works of Johannes Brahms.
W.W. Norton and Company: New York, NY. 1999.
Brinkmann, Reinhold. Late Idyll: The Second Symphony of Johannes Brahms. Harvard
University Press: Cambridge, MA. 1995.
Brodbeck, David. "Medium and meaning: new aspects of the chamber music." The
Cambridge Companion to Brahms. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1999.
Garrett, Joshua, 1998. Brahmss Horn Trio: Background and Analysis for
Performers. [Doctor of Musical Arts], Juilliard.
Giarusso, Richard, 2007. Dramatic Slowness: Adagio Rhetoric in Late Nineteenth-Century
Austro-German Music. [Doctor of Philosophy], Harvard University.
Heater, Eva M. "Why Did Brahms Write his E-flat Trio, op. 40 for Natural Horn?" American
Brahms Society Newsletter (2001): 105-107.
Hill, John Walter. "Thematic transformation, folksong and nostalgia in Brahms's Horn Trio op.
40." Musical Times, 152 (2011): 10-24.
Hoeckner, Berthold. "Schumann and Romantic Distance." The Journal of the American
Musicological Society 50, no. 1 (1997): 55-132.
Kalbeck, Max. Johannes Brahms 1833-1894. Deutsche Brahms-Gesellschaft: Hamburg, 1914.
MacAuslan, John. "'The Artist in Love' In Brahms's Life and in his 'German Folksongs'." Music
and Letters 88, no. 1 (2007): 78-106.
MacDonald, Malcolm. Brahms. New York: Schirmer Books, 1990.
Musgrave, Michael. The Music of Brahms. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985.
Notley, Margaret. "Late-Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music and the Cult of the Classical
Adagio." 19th-Century Music, 23, no. 1 (1999): 33-61.
22
------------------------- Lateness and Brahms: Music and Culture in the Twilight of Viennese
Liberalism. Oxford University Press: Oxford. 2007.
Sisman, Elaine. "Brahms's Slow Movements: Reinventing the 'Closed' Forms." Brahms
Studies: Analytical and Historical Perspectives. Clarendon Press: Oxford. 1990.
Smith, Peter H. "Brahms and the Shifting Barline: Metric Displacement and Formal Process in
the Trios with Wind Instruments." Brahms Studies, vo. 3. University of Nebraska Press: Lincoln.
2001
Solomon, Maynard. "Beethoven, Freemasonry, and the Tagebuch of 1812-1818." Beethoven
Forum 8 (2000): 101-146.
23