Brahms and Clara Schumann... Too Hot to Handle?

The nineteenth century saw a rise in the transcription of music by many of the great composers. In 1877, Johannes Brahms transcribed Bach’s Chaconne from the Partia No. 2 in D minor for solo violin into a piano piece (Edel, 47). This work exemplifies an interesting transcription as well as a work that is written solely for the left hand. Brahms sent this transcription to Clara Schumann, and correspondence between the two shows their close artistic relationship as well as his feelings towards the piece. In this paper I will examine the piece in terms of Brahms’ interest in Bach’s music and the function of a piano work written for one hand. The correspondence of Brahms and Clara Schumann will illustrate both the meaning of the piece and the nature of their relationship.
While Brahms created many new ideas with his music, he also loved to study the work of his predecessors; this allowed him to redefine and recreate old genres (Burkholder, 78). Brahms was particularly enthralled with Bach’s Chaconne and transcribed the piece for his dear friend and lifelong correspondent, Clara Schumann. In a letter included with the piece, Brahms refers to Bach’s original as “one of the most wonderful, incomprehensible pieces of music.” Brahms was interested in the effect of the voice produced by a solo violin. “On a single staff, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feelings” (Avins, 515). In order to maintain these powerful feelings in his transcription, Brahms confined the piece to one hand. Brahms also left the harmonic structure implied, as it would be on a violin, this is in contrast with the transcription done of the Chaconne done by Ferruccio Busoni which fills out the harmonies (Edel, 7). When describing the act of playing the piece, he stated, “the similar difficulties, the type of technique, the arpeggios, they all combine—to make me feel like a violinist! (Avins, 516)” Brahms concluded his letter with a few useful tips to Clara for performing the piece, stating that the left hand should not be strained and it should be played “mezza voce ” with “easy and convenient” fingering (Avins, 516). The transcription stays loyal to Bach’s original piece, although there are additions in reference to phrasing and dynamics.
Brahms transcription of this piece arose out of a desire to play like a violinist, though works for one hand only also serve more practical purposes. In the Romantic period, composers began to write and transcribe pieces for one hand only to accommodate pianists who had lost the use of one of their hands (Edel, 7). Coincidentally, the day Clara Schumann received the work; she had strained her right hand. In her response to Brahms, she states that the Chaconne was a “glorious refuge” from her injured state (Edel, 47). She also acknowledges the difficulty the piece; pianist’s right hands are normally much stronger than their left and pieces like these are often used as a technical devise to strengthen the left hand.


Works Cited

Johannes Brahms to Clara Schumann, 1877, in Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters, trans.
Eisinger and Avins. ed. Styra Avins, 515. New York: Oxford University
Press,1997.

Burkholder, Peter J. “Brahms and 20th Century Classical Music,” 19th Century Music,
vol. 8, no. 1. (Summer, 1984), pp. 75-83)

Edel, Theodore , Piano Music For One Hand. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2001, p. 7-48.