Introduction
Books on analysis of tonal music sometimes begin with debates on terminology and whether words such as development, section and subject imply definite things of such solid significance that they may distort one's awareness of subtle procedures such as the continuous development of motifs towards which this movement aspires. Surely it is important to adopt a labelling system (and to recognise it as nothing more or less than a geographical aid) to assist in identifying features to which reference is made, and the more traditional the system, the more likely it is to be comprehensible. It is in this spirit that terms such as exposition, second subject, codetta and the letters A, B and C are used herein.
What was to be Brahms' last sonata begins with a movement in straightforward sonata form, with an exposition consisting of two subjects and a codetta related to both, followed by a development section, recapitulation of both subjects and codetta, and a coda based on material from both subjects and the development. There is hardly anything unexpected or unconventional about the form, the only obvious deviation being in the recapitulation, when the second subject begins in the "wrong" key.
What is surprising is the minimal amount of contrast between the elements of this piece: first and second subjects are both quiet and lyrical, each making a complete statement before any variation in volume occurs; and the codetta, whilst loud, has by reason of its smaller intervals and fewer rests an even stronger cantabile quality than the subjects. It is no use looking for competing ideas that may be described as masculine and feminine, or aggressive and calming: the driving force or motivation behind this movement lies in the relationships between its constituents, not their differences.
Nor is it any use looking for what used to be called the leonine Brahms, the piano virtuoso and composer of rousing or striving statements such as the finale of his first symphony or the beginning of his third. One way in which the triumph of quiet and lyrical expression over the bombastic is emphasised is the fact that the only trace of the latter element of the composer's character - four bars of leaping octaves for piano during the preparation for the second subject - disappears after being referred to early in the development, and out of the material in the exposition is the only item omitted from the recapitulation and coda
. Furthermore in the coda, when the idea that led to the leaping octaves recurs, the crescendo leads to a sudden piano: tranquillity must prevail.
Throughout the movement the balance of volume is weighted carefully in favour of the quiet: the total dynamic range is from the quietest possible to a single brief nuance above forte at the end of the distinctive material of the codetta, and passages of never less than twelve bars of quiet music and never more than nine of loud music answer each other throughout (see graph). Indeed, in the development the quiet music extends to more than twenty bars at a time, and only the recapitulation of the codetta stops the loud passages getting progressively shorter. After this, the final twenty-eight bars are quiet, incorporating the resolution of two elements: the crescendo explained in the preceding paragraph and, three bars from the end, a final crescendo and diminuendo to and from forte, which is part of the final affirmation of the tonic and also demonstrates that the place for the loud is in the context of the quiet.
This concentration on peaceful and lyrical expression may be attributed to the coming together of at least three factors: the relatively intimate nature of the medium of chamber music for woodwind instrument and piano; Brahms' mood in the late stage of his life, when he had virtually given up composing; and the stimulus of the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld's playing, renowned for its polish, sensitivity, refinement and warmth of tone, which inspired the composer to write his last four works of chamber music for instrumental ensemble.
This movement exhibits a high degree of motivic cohesion in a satisfying, unified structure in which all the material evolves as a continuous flow of ideas that belong together and grow naturally from each other. There is no special transitional material: preparations for new sections always derive from that which precedes them. The next few paragraphs examine some of the ways in which this is achieved.