Johannes Brahms
Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra in A minor, op. 102

Clara Schumann described the Double Concerto by her friend Johannes Brahms, after an initial reading rehearsal in 1887, as a “work of reconciliation”, intended to smooth over the tensions between the composer and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Since early adulthood, the two had shared a close artistic and personal friendship. Over the decades, Joachim took part in the premieres of no fewer than ten of the composer’s works. He also belonged to the small circle of confidants whom Brahms regularly consulted for assessments and advice before publishing his music.

In the early 1880s, however, there was a rupture: when the notoriously jealous violinist accused his wife, Amalie, of an affair with the publisher Simrock, Brahms took sides. In a letter to Amalie, he expressed the hope that Joachim “might give up his mistaken and dreadful delusions”. Since his wife submitted the letter as evidence in divorce proceedings, the violinist had, as it were, official confirmation of his once intimate friend’s judgment. Both made efforts to continue their artistic collaboration, but had not seen each other for several years before the first rehearsal of the Double Concerto. It is likely that Brahms originally intended to write a solo concerto for the cellist Robert Hausmann, with whom he had premiered his Second Cello Sonata in 1886. The addition of a second solo instrument reflected the wish to involve Joachim more closely in his creative work once again.

As unusual as the scoring is, so too is the beginning of the concerto: the orchestra first intones only the beginnings of the two main themes. The dramatic first theme, in the minor key, is answered initially by the cello with a melancholy meditation. Then both solo instruments reflect on the second, lyrical theme, characterised by sighing figures, in the major key. Only then does the orchestra present both themes in their entirety. The full-bodied sound of the double-stop passages and the figuration, exploiting the entire range of the string section, inspired the music critic Max Kalbeck to the notion that Brahms had combined both instruments into an “eight-stringed giant violin”. This description, however, overlooks the essentially dialogical nature of the concerto. The dramatic exchange of the first movement is followed by a tone of reconciliation in the Andante: violin and cello intone the reverent first theme in like-minded unison. And in the folk-inspired, dance-like passages of the rondo finale, both instruments are allowed to unfold their full virtuoso potential.

There is no indication that the deeply discreet Brahms ever intended, in the Double Concerto, to translate his friendship with Joachim – or indeed Joachim’s marital drama – into music. And yet, the work remains a musical dialogue with his admired violinist; some passages in the finale even call to mind Joachim’s Hungarian homeland.