Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Brahms' First Symphony has been hailed as Beethoven's Tenth. Its controversial status and relationship in the Beethovenian tradition is considered alongside other important issues in the early reception history of this key work in the symphonic repertory. In this 1997 book, David Brodbeck begins with an account of the lengthy genesis and complicated background to the writing of the symphony, before providing a thorough critical reading of the work, movement by movement. In particular, the author reveals a dense web of extra-compositional allusions - references in the music to works by J. S. Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and Robert Schumann - in which, the author argues, much meaning resides.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 Frustrated efforts
• 2 Completion, first performances, and publication
• 3 Structure and meaning in the first movement
• 4 The middle movements
• 5 Structure and meaning in the last movement
• 6 Early reception

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

It has taken the 100th anniversary of his death to prompt it, but serious scholarly attention has at last come in fitting abundance to Brahms and his music, the symphonies in particular. This latest offering by Brodbeck (Univ. of Pittsburgh) is a compact, informative, and engaging study that begins with a long discussion of the genesis of the First Symphony, perhaps because Brahms himself struggled with it for an unusually long time. Appropriately, the core of the book is a detailed study of the music itself, including its complex network of extramusical allusions. A final chapter briefly considers the work's early reception, in particular the controversial status of Brahms's First as a successor to Beethoven's Ninth. Brodbeck's approach is detailed enough to satisfy the musically trained, yet the style is not much beyond that of concert program notes, which layman will appreciate. He includes numerous helpful examples, tables, plates, notes, a selected bibliography, and a complete index. His book both complements and supplements two recent volumes on all four of Brahms's symphonies: Walter Frisch's Brahms, the Four Symphonies (CH, Apr'97) and Raymond Knapp's Brahms and the Challenge of the Symphony (CH, Oct'97). Highly recommended for all music collections. M. Meckna; Texas Christian University