String Sextet No. 2 (Brahms)

Johannes Brahms' String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Opus 36 was composed during the years of 1864–1865 (although it drew on material from earlier times) and published by the firm of Fritz Simrock. It was first performed in Boston, Massachusetts on October 11, 1866, with the European premiere following the next month in Zurich.[1] The work is scored for two violins, two violas, and two celli, and has four movements:[2]

  1. Allegro non troppo (G major)
  2. Scherzo – Allegro non troppo – Presto giocoso (G minor)
  3. Adagio (E minor)
  4. Poco allegro (G major)

Brahms did most of the composition in the comfortable country surroundings of Lichtental, near Baden-Baden. According to Brahms' biographer Karl Geiringer, it conceals a reference to the first name of Agathe von Siebold (with whom he was infatuated at the time) in the first movement, bars 162–168, with the notes a-g-a-h-e.[3]

The work is characterised by its exotic sounding opening of the first movement, by innovative chord structures and its many contrasts both technical and melodical.

Arrangements

Brahms himself arranged the work for piano (four hands). Theodor Kirchner arranged it for piano trio.[4]

Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg arranged the sextet for string orchestra[5] in 1939.

The first movement of this sextet is prominent in the last sequence of Bertrand Blier's 1979 film Buffet froid.

References
  1. Keller, James M. (2011). Chamber Music: A Listener's Guide. New York: Oxford University Press US. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-19-538253-2. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  2. "Streichsextett Nr. 2" [String Sextet No. 2] (in German). Klassika. October 28, 2011. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  3. Geiringer, Karl. Brahms: His Life and Work New York: Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-80223-6, pp 60, 91, 230–231
  4. String Sextet No.2, Op.36 (Brahms, Johannes), imslp.org, accessed 25 November 2019
  5. Atterberg: Cello Concerto; Brahms/Atterberg: Sextet / Mork, Järvi; Review by David Hurwitz "Atterberg certainly knew what he was doing... the work sounds very beautiful and entirely natural in its larger guise." www.classicstoday.com, accessed 7 December 2019


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