CHAPTER 6-ADAGIO MESTO

We arrive now at the core of the Horn Trio. The emotional power of the adagio mesto is tremendous. The listener learns rapidly that the first two movements have served as introduction to this moment, and that the last movement will serve as resolution. If the piece as a whole is "about" anything, it is about this movement.

I have already mentioned the death of Brahms’ mother as an influence in the composition of the Horn Trio, and one feels her presence nowhere as much as in the slow movement. It must be said that there is no absolute proof that Brahms was thinking of his mother while writing the adagio. The evidence is circumstantial, yet I believe it is very strong.

Perhaps most compelling is the fact that Brahms marked the slow movement "adagio mesto" - "sorrowful adagio." This marking is extremely rare. This was, however, a unique time in Brahms’ life, as this was the first piece that Brahms completed after his mother’s death.

The movement is suffused with sorrow, as the tempo marking suggests. As we shall see, it is also filled with a sense of remembrance, of looking back. We have already seen some evidence of this feeling in Brahms’ decision to write a piece for horn, an instrument strongly associated with his childhood.

Let us begin by working our way through the fairly straightforward form of the movement. In table 3, we can see that the movement is in our rather familiar A B A form, with an important departure (marked "X") near the end.

The A section is composed of two basic ideas - theme x and theme 1. Theme x (m. 1) is a soft, brooding, ostinato-like music. Brahms marks this music "una corda," giving the piano a particularly soft color. The rocking motion of the music makes it feel like a slow, dark lullaby. If we think of the movement in terms of the death of Brahms’ mother, a "sorrowful" lullaby is particularly touching, and implies a look back to memories of childhood. It is essential that the pianist not let the sense of swaying motion get lost in the piano rolls: the rolls should add color, not obscure the swing. The pianist must also be careful to play the phrasings as marked - (s)he must feel each measure as a unit and not get bogged down by half-measure groups.

There is an important characteristic of theme x that we shall see throughout the movement - the constant presence of half steps in the melody. The half steps that we have seen brooding in the background in the first two movements become manifest here. They occur continuously in the foreground, in the most immediate, audible ways.

. Form of Third Movement;

Theme 1 (m. 5) makes the most of the half steps, using them for the highest expressivity. Look, for example, at the second half of measure 5 and measure 6, where half step appoggiaturas over an ostinato bass create a tremendous yearning. The musicians must be aware that these moments are the core of the music, both emotionally and thematically. Moving to the second half of each measure to emphasize these appoggiaturas helps maintain the measure long groups that were established by the piano in theme x. In addition, the climax of the phrase occurs in the second half of measure 7, creating a consistently strong, expressive second beat.

Theme 1 closes in measure 9 with more half steps, which overlap with a restatement of the last half of theme x. Theme 1 is then restated in Gb major in measure 11. This minor third modulation, whose importance we have seen in the previous movements, is a tremendously moving change of color that lasts only shortly. We return to eb via a reinterpretation of Fb as Neapolitan (bII) of eb (mm. 14-15).

The Neapolitan harmony returns throughout the movement, as can be seen in table 3. The importance of the Neapolitan is due to its emphasis on half steps - the harmony uses scale degrees b2 and b6, the half steps above the tonic and dominant. In this movement, Brahms consistently resolves the Neapolitan to a V64 harmony, which allows him to resolve the b2 and b6 down by half steps. This is, then, another example of the dark half steps manifesting themselves in very local, audible ways. The Neapolitan is also intimately related to the Phrygian mode, due to the use of b2 and b6, and we shall soon see how that mode appears and affects the music.

The return to eb minor in measure 15 initiates a complete statement of theme x. We can see, then, that theme x functions as a frame: it surrounds and supports theme 1. Each return of theme x should feel like a continuation, not like a fresh start.

Section B begins in measure 19 with a complete change of texture. The piano and violin fall silent and the horn begins a fugue subject. The subject (mm. 19-20) has several noteworthy characteristics. The first four notes of theme 2 are a variation of the opening theme of the first movement. There, a rise of a fifth was followed by a half step lower neighbor tone. Here, a rise of a fifth is followed by a half step upper neighbor. If we remember the importance of the half steps around scale degree 5, both in theme b of the first movement as well as in the key areas of the piece thus far, this variation makes perfect sense.

Another important characteristic of theme 2 is its metric ambiguity. The subject appears in 6/8 time, barred in groups of three eighth notes. There is also a strong implication of hemiola - one can hear the subject as three measures of 2/4 instead of two measures of 6/8. This implication becomes stronger and stronger throughout the section. The duple version first appears unambiguously in diminution when the horn plays sixteenths in measures 23-24.

In measure 26, the conflict of twos and threes is elevated to a higher metric level. Here we get the only 9/8 measure of the movement. The 9/8 is an extension of a two (6/8) into a three (9/8). The 9/8 brings the motion to a pause, preparing a further escalation of the metric conflict. When the music continues, in measure 27, the sense of duples becomes stronger as the piano plays explicit hemiolas under theme 2. Things get even more confused when the horn and violin begin trading off four note groups in measure 30. In measure 32 the piano takes the duples to a lower metric level, with its sixteenth note configuration that implies groups of two sixteenth notes.

This section, then, contains all sorts of metric conflicts on all sorts of levels. With this information in mind, how should the performers play theme 2? Should they play two groups of three, three groups of two, or change from one to the other? To my mind, the metric interest of this passage lies in the conflict of the groupings and metric implications, and not in any resolution. This conflict can best be emphasized if the hornist and violinist play their music in 6/8 (two groups of three), while letting the piano’s hemiolas and sixteenths give a conflicting interpretation. The one exception is when the horn has its duple sixteenths in measures 23-24, and here the horn player can let the duples shine through. This overall strategy highlights the metric play.

Brahms’ choice of a fugal texture implies a look back in time. Since the Baroque period, the fugue has generally been considered an old form, and its use has generally had a somewhat archaic connotation. This association is strengthened by the repeated use of plagal cadences (measures 24, 25, and 26, for example) and the color of the phrygian mode (b2 and b6 in measures 30-31). The plagal cadence and phrygian mode, even more than the fugue, have archaic implications. There is here a very strong sense of memory and age. The plagal and phrygian colors also have strong associations with religious music. This is particularly interesting given the possibility that the movement might have served Brahms as a miniature requiem for his mother.

Throughout the B section, we can see the continued importance of half steps. A quick look at the violin and horn parts will reveal how important half step dissonances are to the texture. The musicians must savor these expressive dissonances, as they are the key to the grief that lies behind the music. The passage closes in measures 40-42 with a repeated half step dissonance in the horn, which finally resolves and leads us to the return of section A. Just as section B opens with the horn playing scale degree 5 colored by b6, it ends with the horn resolving b6 to 5.

The return of the A section in measure 43 begins with an interesting twist. The violin plays theme 2, ppp quasi niente, over the piano’s theme x. The softer the violin can play, the better. This should be a hushed whisper, a ghostly echo, a faint memory.

The return of the A section continues essentially unchanged until the very end. In measure 57, the piano repeats the violin music of measure 56, strongly confirming Fb, which was only a passing key in the first A section. Fb is reinterpreted as the Neapolitan of the tonic, to which we return in measure 59.

The tonic here appears in major, for the first time in the movement. It is a stunning moment that initiates what I have called section X. Section X begins with a new theme (theme 3, m. 59), which, although related to the earlier theme 1, is a strikingly different music. I call this passage section X, and not C, because the music feels like a visit from another place, or perhaps an elevation to another place. It is a music of revelation, of realization, as if a long closed door has been opened. We have descended through all the pain and grieving and are finally awarded a moment of clarity and peace. The feeling of suspension is largely due to the incredibly slow harmonic rhythm - each harmony lasts for two slow measures.

This is also a music of remembrance. It is now generally accepted that the melody is a variation of the lower Rhenish folk song In den Weiden steht ein Haus, which Brahms learned from his mother as a child. If true, this is fairly conclusive evidence that Brahms was thinking of his mother while writing the third movement. Whether or not one can prove with absolute certainty that this was Brahms’ conscious intention is, to my mind, not crucial. What is important is recognizing the feeling behind it. The music feels like a sudden remembrance of a long forgotten song, a song that you learned as a child from the beloved mother you just lost. We have discussed the importance of departures and returns in the piece, and this is the ultimate return, the return to childhood memory. For the performers, conveying this feeling is of the utmost importance. This moment is the centerpiece of the movement, which is in turn the core of the entire piece.

Section X begins with an alternation between theme 3 in the horn and violin and the familiar theme 2 in the piano. Theme 3 is played in horn fifths, which, like the plagal cadence and phrygian mode, have a somewhat archaic connotation and emphasize the feeling of looking back. The second statement of theme 3, in measure 63, is an echo - the memory is moving away. Theme 2 then takes over (m. 65), getting louder and faster. The opening fifth and half step get repeated four times in the piano (mm. 67-68), strongly emphasizing the half step of scale degrees 5-b6. Further, this build up occurs in the key of d, a half step below the tonic. The half steps, then, are the driving force that banishes theme 3 and pushes us, intensely, to the passionata climax.

The climax (m. 69) is based on theme 1. It is intense and forceful, and the performers should play with abandon. The music contains multiple Neapolitan harmonies, the most important of which moves the music to the fortissimo climax in the second half of measure 73. The half steps, then, are present both melodically and harmonically, driving the climax as they drove the build up. And half steps return us, in the cool down of measure 76, back to theme x and the closing music of the movement.

The rocking of theme x continues throughout the close. Half steps are everywhere. There is a slight harmonic exploration, with double half step appoggiaturas alternating between the instruments. The half steps also appear repeatedly in the left hand of the piano, where they shift down by half steps. There is one last push to a miniature climax in measure 83 and the return of the tonic via a final, plagal cadence (a quite literal, closing "amen", as is familiar from church music). The last motion, which ends the piece, is the oscillating half step in the left hand of the piano. The dark half steps seem finally to have spent themselves and come to rest.

Let us now take a look at the key areas of the movement. The adagio is notable for the keys that are not important. Unlike the first two movements, there is no important use of B (Cb) or A here, the keys a half step above and below scale degree 5. These keys, remember, functioned as a background manifestation of the dark half steps of theme b from the first movement. Why then, are they absent here?

The answer is that what was in the background has come to the foreground. In the first two movements, the dark half steps appeared in the foreground to a certain extent, but were more important in their background manifestations. The third movement concerns the release of these dark elements, with the result that they are no longer hanging out behind the action. They come forward and become the action. In terms of key, they are manifested in the foreground relation of one key area to the next, not in the rather abstract background relation of key areas to the tonic. For example, notice the shifts from Fb to eb in measure 15, from d to eb in measure 32, from Fb to Eb in measure 59, and from d to Eb in measure 69.

Another notable key area that is not present is the key of G. In this movement, unlike the previous ones, the important key areas spell out only the eb minor triad, and not the Eb major triad. It seems that the sorrow of the movement has banished the background spelling out of Eb major. The appearance of Eb major in measure 59 is all the more powerful, as it has not been prepared by a background manifestation. This major tonic at section X, then, really is a memory of another world that has not existed in the third movement, a memory back to the earlier movements. It is also a foreshadowing of the last movement, in terms of key as well as theme - as we shall soon see, theme 3 becomes the main theme of the finale.

Let us turn now to questions of tempi. The movement is marked adagio, which means "at ease." The most important question is whether the 6/8 should be felt in 6 or in 2. To my mind, the answer lies in the idea that this is a sort of lullaby. If the music feels like it is in six, the rocking motion that is so important will be lost. Performances that are in six easily feel too heavy and dirge-like. There is a sweetness behind the pain of this music that is essential, and that can get sacrificed if the tempo is too slow. The musicians should, then, feel the music in two, albeit a slow two.

Another hint that the music should not be too slow lies in Brahms’ phrase marks. Remember that the first four measures of the piece have measure long phrase marks. It is tremendously difficult to feel these groups in a very slow tempo. Similarly, the subject of the fugue (mm. 19-21) and theme 3 (mm. 59-60) are both marked as two measure units. This is virtually impossible to communicate if the movement is in a slow six.

There are two important tempo changes that are worth discussing. The first is the poco stringendo that begins in measure 32. "Poco" is the operative word, of course. A good strategy for making the stringendo work is for the horn and violin to feel like they are pushing each other. Each four note group initiates a responding four note group, and each answer can push a little more, escalating the tempo and intensity. It is almost as if the instruments are interrupting each other, vying to have their say.

The other tempo change occurs in measure 67, with the poco accelerando that leads to the climax in measure 69. Again, the word "poco" is very important. Here, the driving force of the accelerando is the repeated three note figure in the left hand of the piano. Each repetition is an escalation, and can push the tempo and intensity forward. With the last repetition there is a change in the figure: the last two pitches are a half step higher. There can be a slight pulling back here, before the passionata music is released with all its force. Similarly, the last three sixteenths of measure 73 can pull back slightly, in order to prepare measure 74, the moment of highest climax.

Let us close by examining the effect of a natural horn performance on the music. The movement as a whole contains many stopped notes, which give it a dark color appropriate to the emotion of the music. There are, however, some important uses of open horn that are noteworthy. The fugue subject (mm. 19-20) has only one stopped note (written eb). The open color, unaccompanied, is striking and powerful. The fact that the eb is stopped highlights the relationship of theme 2 to the opening of the first movement. In both cases, the open fifth is presented with open tones, and the half step neighbor note is a stopped tone.

Theme 3 (m. 59) is, similarly, mostly open tones, with only the last two pitches stopped (written b and a). This open color contributes to the feeling of the music coming from another world. When the horn plays theme 3’s accompaniment in measure 63, the written f#’s and a’s are all stopped, adding substantially to the feeling of echo.

The climax of the movement in measure 74 is entirely open for the first two measures. This has, primarily, a utilitarian function. It allows the horn player to play as loudly as (s)he needs to for an effective, intense climax. It also foreshadows the importance of open tones in the finale, where the open notes of the harmonic series will become a battle cry against the dark half steps.

There is one more interesting use of hand horn technique that we should examine. We have seen how, in measures 40-42, the horn plays scale degree b6 resolving to 5. The written ab is very difficult to play on natural horn (which accounts for the written option of playing it an octave higher). The hornist must lip the g up a half step, and the result is a strained tone. When the ab resolves to the g, the tension is released, both physically and tonally. This strongly highlights the importance of this resolution. It is worthwhile for a valve horn player to play this passage as if (s)he were playing natural horn, in order to hear and feel the intense tension of the ab, and how beautifully it relaxes into the g.

The resolution of the half step is, in a sense, what the whole movement and piece are concerned with. In the final measures of the adagio mesto, it feels as if our pain, like the half steps, has been resolved through catharsis. As we shall see, however, the sorrow of the third movement will remain an immediate memory that cannot be completely forgotten in the joy of the finale. The half steps will return for a final battle, and their presence will affect every area of the last movement.

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