Review

Reviewed Work(s): Brahms's Choral Compositions and His Library of Early Music by
Virginia Hancock
Review by: Michael Musgrave
Source: Music & Letters , Apr., 1987, Vol. 68, No. 2 (Apr., 1987), pp. 186-189
Published by: Oxford University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/737083

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 As a reference book the work is admirable except for one unfortunate lapse: the lack of
numbering for the song titles quoted in the main text and of any indication as to whether
the songs have music. Consequently, to locate any song mentioned, the reader must first
refer to the table of concordances at the beginning of the book and examine two different
alphabetical lists, one with music and one without. If the song has music it may then be
located in the music edition at the back; if not, it can only be found via the reference
number in Topsfield's edition, an essential companion volume to the present work. But
these irritations apart, there is no doubt that this is an impressive study. It provides ample
material for a deeper discussion of troubadour aesthetics and clarifies a methodology for
discerning levels of music and text relationships which should prove suggestive to students
of the medieval lyric in general.
Carolyn Lee

Brahms's Choral Compositions and his Library of Early Music. By Virginia Ha

229. 'Studies in Musicology', lxxvi. (UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor,
[Bowker Publishing Co.]

Of the many aspects of Brahms's interest in early music, his research

music show him at his most pioneering. Here he seems furthest from th
Romantic composer-pianist and closest to our own age, with its deep d
musicology grounded in his time and his world. Yet while the broad ou
historical interests are reasonably familiar, their details have hitherto be
documented, not least for English readers. Virginia Hancock's study makes ve
amends for this lack by analysing the manuscript copies {Abschriften) which
focus on the subject, as well as the collections of printed music and books on
reveal much more about what music interested him and which sources he used
and?through his annotations?give more precise information about what he fo
interesting, with many other absorbing points along the way. The book also offers cogen
connections from this background to his own considerable output of choral musi
For these purposes, 'early music' is defined as beginning with that of the middle
late Renaissance in Italy and Germany?'men such as Isaak, Senfl, Palestrina, L
Eccard, Praetorius'?and ending with Bach and Handel; there is no evidence that Bra
was interested in earlier figures. However, in order that the Abschriften can be considered
a whole, reference is included to materials?notably his extensive copies from Schub
Lazarus?which are not 'early'; similarly, not all the items are purely choral, as migh
assumed from the title of Dr. Hancock's book. Material such as this invites question
many kinds, and many expectations are likely to be aroused by it, not least concer
Brahms's performances of early music and its influence on his own music. Dr. Han
wisely limits herself to relationships between the evidence of the copies and their marki
and of his own music. That her first thought was to favour the choral music and look f
historical roots is still evident in passing remarks early in her book (as well as in the tit
Brahms constantly invites such connections, despite the pitfalls involved in an assessmen
of'influence'. Yet her focus is firmly on the content and context ofthe copies and editio
and questions of influence are defined with increasing care as she approaches the m
pointed connections in the later part of her book. With no essential problem
methodology to dispute, I concentrate here on how its contents relate to what is general
known already, and on certain issues arising therefrom.
That a study such as Dr. Hancock's is possible stems from the unusual circumstan
the survival, essentially intact, of a great composer's library?one, moreover, that can all
profound insights into its owner's creative personality, so often considered hidden. That
institution that received it?the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna?was also
chief focus of so much of Brahms's own creative activity adds to the authenticity o
environment. The non-musical part of the library has been listed by Kurt Hofmann
Bibliothek von Johannes Brahms, Hamburg, 1974), who included Alfred Orel's listing oft
scores and some theoretical books first published in the Simrockjahrbuch (iii (1930
18-47). Not all the materials are currently present, and some exist which were not l

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deficiencies arising from the nature of Brahms's bequests and the circumstances of his will.
But there has hitherto been no systematic listing of the copies and printed editions (nor of
occasional related materials from other libraries), and material in English has been limited
to a couple of articles of a general nature by Karl Geiringer ('Brahms as a Reader and
Collector', The Musical Quarterly, xix (1933), 158-68, and, with Irene Geiringer, 'The
Brahms Library in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Wien', Notes, xxx (1973-4), 7-14).
Dr. Hancock proposes three reasons for Brahms's copies: that as a young man he could
not afford to buy music; that editions were not easily available; and that this was a good
way of learning about the music and the process of transcription to simpler forms?a
traditional mode of learning. In later years he could afford to buy editions from which he
had copied, and in those cases he simply recorded small passages for specific purposes.
Thus there is some overlap, though it is right that the Abschriften are considered first, since
they are the more interesting and were clearly the focus of Dr. Hancock's work; indeed, her
own listing of some of them has become part ofthe archive itself. Copies made for Brahms
by Clara Schumann, Joachim and Grimm, or commissioned professionally, reflect his hard
times; later copies, not sought by him, came as presentations, some from grateful choral
organizations. These are briefly discussed separately. The copies comprise some 228 pages
(shelf-numbers A 128-37). They range from a single sheet?an 'Ave Maria' attributed to
Arcadelt?to a collection of 62 sheets including Palestina's Missa Papae Marcelli and other
Renaissance and Baroque works, as well as canons (13 sheets) and folksongs (54 sheets).
Dr. Hancock divides the printed editions into five categories; pre-1800 editions, including
pedagogical works; folksong collections; journals; works of individual composers, including
complete editions; and collections of works by different composers, including Denkmdler.
Only a small part ofthe manuscript copies has been known in detail to English readers:
the seven-page collection 'Octaves and Fifths'. This is familiar from Schenker's facsimile
edition of 1933 with commentary and was also published in part by Geiringer (1933: see
above); a comprehensive transcription and annotation was published by Paul Mast in the
Music Forum (v (1980), 1-196). Although so brief, it gives an indication ofthe extraordinary
amount of music Brahms studied, from current and repertory works, such as Bizet's Carmen
and Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream music, back to distant sources. They point to a
range of interests which is more fully revealed in the varied collections of earlier music.
That containing Palestrina's Marcellus Mass (A 134), dated 1856, includes some very
obscure items, perhaps most notably a 'Salve regina' by Giovanni Rovetta. Two areas
relate directly to strong predilections of Brahms the composer: the writing of canons and
the arrangement of folksongs or setting of folk texts. Many ofthe texts are familiar from his
own settings, whether secular?taken from his favourite collection, by Kretzschmer and
Zuccalmaglio?or sacred, many of which he took from D. G. Corner's Gross Catholisch
Gesangbuch. The copies also have links with performances. For example, he copied Hans
Leo Hassler's four-part setting of 'Mein G'mut ist mir verwirret' as early as 1854,
subsequently performing it with the Hamburg Frauenchor between 1859 and 1862; two
harmonizations ofthe same chorale melody, 'Es ist genug', by J. R. Ahle and J. S. Bach
(from Winterfeld's Der evangelische Kirchengesang and the Bach complete edition respectively)
were to serve for performances with the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde over a decade later,
in 1873.
The scope of the printed editions Brahms owned is better known, as a consequence
his major performances. The most notable are the complete editions of Bach (especially the
cantata volumes) and Handel (from which he took various oratorios and the Dettingen
Deum); there are also other pioneering works, such as Winterfeld's Johannes Gabrieli und
Zeitalter, from which he took for performance Schiitz's 'Saul, Saul' and a twelve-p
Benedictus by Gabrieli. He was intimately connected with many of the major edition
either as a participant (as with the new complete editions of Mozart, Schubert, Schum
and?with Chrysander for the Denkmdler der Tonkunst?the edition of Couperin's keyboard
works) or through acquaintance with the editor (as with the Schutz edition of Chrysander
and Spitta). The interest in folksong is again apparent, though not only through the books
from which he took his favourite texts: the collection Deutsches Liederhbrt incensed him
much that he planned to write a polemic against it in the last years of his life. His friendsh
with contemporary scholars is especially clear in his collection of pedagogical books

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journals, which he freely annotated. The details concerning his books on the theory of
music?a wide range, including works by Albrechtsberger, Kirnberger, Mattheson and
Marpurg?are extremely interesting and important for the light they throw on the vexed
question of the attitudes of Romantic composers to traditional theory.
The perspectives into which this diverse material is placed are necessarily varied,
ranging from such purely practical matters as the relationships between separated sheets,
or sheets copied at the same time, to critical issues concerning Brahms's underlying
preoccupations. An important dimension in the restoring of related sheets is the possibility
of dating hitherto undatable works or passages. Another, related perspective is provided by
reference to Brahms's correspondence and information established elsewhere in the
literature. Dr. Hancock delves extensively into such material to present a rounded picture
of each item or to outline the extent of the problems when a picture is still not clear.
Perhaps the most critical field is the identification of sources, pointing us to the scope ofthe
research from which this material arises. 'Octaves and Fifths' is unusual in providing a
number of sources for Brahms's quotations; we may never know how he found some
particularly interesting printed or manuscript source. But this study goes a long way
towards delimiting the field, even if it means tracing three possible sources for one work, as
in the case of two 'Crucifixus' settings, in ten and twelve parts, published by Rochlitz, Bote
& Bock and Schlesinger.
Much of the material throws light on performing practice?the ways Brahms marked
his copies and things he noted. Some evidence, including photographic plates, is already
available in Imogen Fellinger's study of Brahms's dynamic markings {Uber die Dynamik in
der Musik von Johannes Brahms, Berlin, 1961). Although it is not the purpose ofthe present
book to explore this subject per se, it does include important information in passing; Dr.
Hancock has pursued aspects of this subject more specifically in her recent article
'Brahms's Performances of Early Choral Music' {19th Century Music, viii (1984?5), 125-41).
Another subject which can be only briefly touched upon is one that perhaps underlies this
material most profoundly: the extent to which Brahms's choices were determined by some
unstated aim. Schenker certainly thought that the examples in 'Octaves and Fifths' were
more than mere contrapuntal sports and embodied a definite view regarding the principles
of part-writing that certainly influenced his own emerging theories. Others have seen in the
collection an incipient theoretical book; this also seems to be Dr. Hancock's view, though
there is no occasion to explore the matter in her book.
Inevitably, such rich material brings new evidence to light to modify our views?even
our knowledge of Brahms's total output. Thus, we learn in passing of three bars of a
discontinued song in C minor, apparently 'Aus meinem Vaterland verbannt', while the
song 'In stiller Nacht', generally regarded as part-traditional, part-Brahms (on the basis of
Max Friedlaender's views, explained in some historical detail in Brahms' Lieder, Eng. trans.,
London, 1929, p. 242), seems to emerge as a genuine folksong; the jewel ofthe 49 deutsche
Volkslieder for solo voice and piano is thus true to its genre. And as Brahms's historical
inclinations are placed in perspective, it is reassuring to know that he did not scrutinize
with equal rigour every thing that came his way: Dr. Hancock shows that his published
comment to Spitta that he did not always read the Vierteljahrsschrift fur Musikwissenschaft is
nicely confirmed by the evidence of the relevant volume in the library?it is uncut.
Discussion of Brahms's own choral music is tied very closely to the evidence of his
library and is handled in two stages; the first reviews the more general connections, the
second focuses on specific technical features. Both have careful introductions concerning
the determination of periods, the chronology of works and the kinds of detail that
characterize Brahms's annotations of manuscript copies and printed editions. Although the
author claims 'no striking new solutions' to the questions of'influence' familiar from other
work in the field, there is no doubt that the much fuller context in which she is able to place
Brahms's music sharpens the focus greatly. Thus, she not only confirms reasonably obvious
parallels?such as those between the motet 'Es ist das Heil', Op. 29 No. 1, and Bach's
Cantata BWV 4, 'Christ lag in Todesbanden'?but also points up much less likely stimuli.
The less familiar of the Op. 29 motets, 'Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz', is shown to
have many parallels with Andreas Hammerschmidt's setting of the same text; although
Brahms did not copy the latter, he must have known it from the several printed sources

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available to him. Yet even this connection does not explain perhaps the most striking
feature of the work, its canon by augmentation between the outer parts in the first section;
this example epitomizes the care that must be taken when making specific attributions of
model or major influence in the case of a composer whose syntheses of inherited procedures
with his own were so natural. Yet, even where statements are necessarily generalized?as
with the role of double choirs in some ofthe more 'archaic' secular choral works?a greater
awareness of the sheer breadth of Brahms's historical vantage-point must necessarily
enrich the experience of listener and performer familiar with both the old and the new.
Faced with the clearest technical parallels, the author is sensitive in interpreting the
nature of Brahms's historical interests and actual annotations of early music. To what
extent did his choices reflect his strong natural inclinations or existing interests? What,
indeed, was his historicist 'norm'? How aware was he of the decisions of the editors on
whose editions he was mainly dependent? These issues have a direct bearing on any valid
reading of the rebarrings, additional accidentals, added dynamics and so forth.
Unfortunately, in only one case, Gallus's 'Ecce moritur quomodo moritur justus', can we
directly observe Brahms as editor of an early source; he transcribed the piece from
part-books into score with modern clefs, transposed it and added expression marks for a
specific performance. Yet, setting aside such imponderables, which would require a
separate study, there remain enough significant parallels between Brahms's historically
inclined choral works and the objects of his studies to provide much illumination, and these
Dr. Hancock systematically outlines, referring helpfully and acutely to the existing
literature. Her starting-point is an extract from Brahms's copy of Mattheson's Kern
melodischer Wissenschaft?which he underlined?concerning the need for melody in all the
parts of a choral composition, and reflecting its importance for him in all his music.
Considerations of part-writing lead, via a discussion of his skill in canonic writing, to the
subject of dissonance, with pointed parallels between his own work and his markings of
other music, not least by Bach and Handel. Like strong dissonance, harmonic
cross-relations are a familiar Brahmsian feature, and here too the links are notable,
particularly with Hassler and Schutz. If, in the modal sphere, Brahms's preference for the
Dorian is characteristic of his period, it must inevitably prompt interest that he noted
examples of the Phrygian in early music. Finally, cross-rhythm, the most marked link
between past and present in Brahms, is observed in various examples of phrasing across the
bar and of hemiola patterns.
It is inevitable that so detailed a study of such a fundamental aspect of a composer's
interests should leave the reader eager for further enquiry, not only into the kinds of issue
already mentioned (e.g. the origins of Brahmsian hemiola, or exploring just how far back he
went, bearing in mind Geiringer's observation of the parallels in form between 'Sumer is
icumen in' and the canon Op. 113 No. 13: see Brahms: his Life and Work, 2nd edn., London,
1948, p. 295) but also into broader connections, both to Brahms's larger, 'free' works and to
his status in relation to other composers of historical bent. Still, the book offers the basis
from which such issues can be much better pursued, since the information it provides,
amply expanded by numerous careful footnotes, touches on virtually everything of
relevance to a broader picture of the composer. And its limitations?in matters of revised
datings and the use of other recent scholarship)?are slight compared with those of other
writings that appeared just before the spate of 1983-inspired work. Dr. Hancock's research
(originally presented as a thesis and here slightly revised and expanded) was an important
source for the relevant parts ofjohannes Brahms: thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis by
Margit L. McCorkle (Munich, 1984). Only in lacking firsthand access to the Missa canonica,
published in Otto Biba's edition for Doblinger (with the Kyrie in G minor, with continuo),
is her book significantly out of date. Indeed, the lack of any modern book on the choral
music in English is likely to give it a broader audience than its original context suggested:
not only readers seeking a general introduction to the choral music and its background,
historical as well as documentary, but also students of historicism in nineteenth-century
music. The former may well find the price exorbitant, since there are only manuscript
examples and no plates, while the latter will find connections made slightly harder by a not
always comprehensive index; but such things apart, this is a major and most welcome
addition to Brahms scholarship. Michael Musgrave

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