# Most Joyful Brahms Works



## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

What are some of Brahms' most joyful works?


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

Piano Trio No. 3
Cello Sonata No. 2
String Sextet No. 1
String Quintet No. 1
Piano Quartet No. 1
Symphony No. 2
Hungarian Dances
Serenade Nos. 1 & 2


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

It's a matter of just listening: to the symphonies, the concertos, the whole œuvre. Last movement of the PC#2, first movement of the Symphony #2, the Haydn Variations, the Academic Festival, the last movement of the violin concerto. Tons of stuff. Actually little gloom in Brahms's music. Agitation, _Sturm und Drang_, yes, but gloom? not so much.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

The only thing left to add for me is the last movement of the first symphony and the third movement of the fourth.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Piano concerto No. 2 is joyfully exuberant

And the final movement of the Violin concerto is pure joy


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

Besides what has been already mentioned, the final bars of PC 1 3rd movement are pure joy too (at least for me).


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

The finale of the trio for violin, horn, and piano.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

both Serenades.......


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I agree with the third movement of the Fourth Symphony and the final movement of the Violin Concerto and also there is the wild, exciting, gypsy-like coda at the end of the second String Quintet.

However, I do not approach Brahms when looking for joy, but instead, for wistful sadness and loneliness that pervade his late piano pieces, his chamber music, his two clarinet sonatas and clarinet quintet, etc;

For me, that is Brahms at his best.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

I would tend to disagree, for the most part, that there is a lot of joy in Brahms' work -- or at least, that of the unrestrained, clearly felt variety. His works are almost always ambiguous, full of dichotomy (I'm not saying that's a bad thing, he tends to convey such with great profundity and feeling, better than almost any composer). Even when expressing cheer/joy/etc on one hand, his work is usually fraught with a torturous, monumental sense of effort or agitation, as if its momentum is being pressed rigidly forth by a strenuous, heavy contemplation. In other words, his work shows a great effort to be happy and free, unlike that of, say, Mozart or Haydn or Bach. That said, he was incredible and unique at expressing his own tumultuous, lyrical, emotionally dynamic world.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

AfterHours said:


> I would tend to disagree, for the most part, that there is a lot of joy in Brahms' work -- or at least, that of the unrestrained, clearly felt variety. His works are almost always ambiguous, full of dichotomy (I'm not saying that's a bad thing, he tends to be convey such with great profundity and feeling, better than almost any composer). Even when expressing cheer/joy/etc on one hand, his work is usually fraught with a torturous, monumental sense of effort or agitation, as if its momentum is being pressed rigidly forth by a strenuous, heavy contemplation. In other words, his work shows a great effort to be happy and free, unlike that of, say, Mozart or Haydn or Bach. That said, he was incredible and unique at expressing his own tumultuous, lyrical, emotionally dynamic world.


Perhaps our views of Brahms are colored by what we see in our mirrors. Beyond the agitation, I see the joy, as happy and free as that of Mozart or Haydn or Bach, but perhaps bought with somewhat more effort.


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## AfterHours (Mar 27, 2017)

Strange Magic said:


> Perhaps our views of Brahms are colored by what we see in our mirrors. Beyond the agitation, I see the joy, as happy and free as that of Mozart or Haydn or Bach, but perhaps bought with somewhat more effort.


Regardless of how I look in the mirror in the morning, Brahms' music conveys what it conveys, unless I'm humming it in the shower! :lol: Nice try at flipping the cause and effect of the matter though  :tiphat:


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Heck148 said:


> both Serenades.......


Agree, with the double concerto.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

AfterHours said:


> I would tend to disagree, for the most part, that there is a lot of joy in Brahms' work -- or at least, that of the unrestrained, clearly felt variety. His works are almost always ambiguous, full of dichotomy (I'm not saying that's a bad thing, he tends to convey such with great profundity and feeling, better than almost any composer). Even when expressing cheer/joy/etc on one hand, his work is usually fraught with a torturous, monumental sense of effort or agitation, as if its momentum is being pressed rigidly forth by a strenuous, heavy contemplation. In other words, his work shows a great effort to be happy and free, unlike that of, say, Mozart or Haydn or Bach. That said, he was incredible and unique at expressing his own tumultuous, lyrical, emotionally dynamic world.


Indeed. Now, one's emotional experience of a piece of music is subjective, but I have much the same thing as the above: his works often strike me as emotionally ambivalent or complex. Some are indeed even quite enigmatic (the third symphony comes to mind). I often find them tremendously emotionally arousing, but it is difficult to say what exactly the emotion is! It's a kind of emotion that really only exists in music.

Take, for example, that tremendous orchestral outburst in the first movement of the violin concerto, just before the violin first appears: what exactly is that? Anger? Joy? Drama? What kind of drama? It's a piece that never fails to make me break out in goosebumps, but I'm at a loss as to what exactly it really is that it makes me feel. Something similar happens in the second movement of the second piano concerto: it's tremendous and majestic, and uplifting, but in the sense of being lifted and carried away by a huge wave.

As for joyful work, the Liebeslieder waltzes come to mind: Brahms wrote quite a bit of relatively light and cheery music. though even in that there is often something of his trademark bittersweet thing going on.

Beethoven and Tchaikovsky carry their heart on their sleeve (and more often than not smash you over the head with it too); Mozart and Brahms are far more subtle and understated. One way is not better than the other; just different.


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## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

Most joyful... Maybe the ecstatic 1st movement of the 1st Serenade. Or some bits from 2nd and 4th symphony. Overall, I agree with people saying Brahms is not so much about joy and happiness. But OTOH it's hard name any composer who is.


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