Performance Practice Review

Volume 2
Number 1 Spring

Article 3

Brahms's Pianos and the Performance of His Late

Works
Camilla Cai

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Cai, Camilla (1989) "Brahms's Pianos and the Performance of His Late Works," Performance Practice Review: Vol. 2: No. 1, Article 3.
DOI: 10.5642/perfpr.198902.01.3
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Concerning Romantic Pianos

Brahms's Pianos and the Performance

of His Late Piano Works
Camilla Cai

We can gain fresh insight into Brahms performance by studying his

keyboard works in relation to the pianos contemporary with and relevant
to him. Such an undertaking can reveal a different expectation of sound
and way of understanding this music than what we have become
accustomed to. Listening to pianos built during the second half of the
19th century provides an impression of a sound ideal clearly different
from the one now accepted in the twentieth century. Brahms knew
1.
My information concerning 19th-century pianos derives from a study of the
pianos at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (I thank Gerhard Stradner for his
generous help), and from the collection of Edmund Michael Frederick and Patricia
Frederick in Ashburnham, Massachusetts (to the Fredericks I extend my heartfelt
appreciation for giving of their time and knowledge). For further details concerning late
19th-century pianos see Edwin M. Good, Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982). Rosamond E. M. Harding in The PianoForte: Its History Traced to the Great Exhibition of 1851 (Cambridge: University Press,
1933) considers the piano only to about 1850. Concerning Brahms's pianos specifically
see Stephen Brady and George S. Bozarth, "Brahms's Pianos," American Brahms Society
Newsletter 6,2 (Fall, 1988). Two studies in progress might be mentioned: Robert Winter's
book on 19th-century pianos, The Romantic Piano: Its Makers and Its Music (reported in
Nineteenth- Century Music 9,1985, p. 80), and Stephen Brady's study of pianos relevant to
Brahms (University of Washington thesis). I am indebted to Mr. Brady for his helpful
comments in regard to my own studies.

58

Brahms's Pianos 59
German and Austrian pianos better than American, French, or English
ones. His frequent travelling in middle Europe, especially as a younger
man, acquainted him at first with a limited spectrum of instruments.
For example, he used a local make from Hamburg, a Baumgardten &
Heins, as a student and in his early concerting. Later, on his tours he
played Viennese makes; in Graz he used a Streicher (Nov. 11,1867), and
then three days later in the same hall, a Bosendorfer (Nov. 14,1867), and
in Budapest another Bosendorfer (Nov. 9, 1881). In Bonn he used
German pianos, a Steinweg Nachfolgern (Jan. 22, 1880) and later a
Bliithner (Jan. 18, 1883). He played a Bechstein, the popular German
piano from Berlin, in Wurzburg (Dec. 6, 1872), Cologne (Dec. 9, 1872),
and Amsterdam (Jan. 31, 1881). Occasionally he encountered pianos
from the United States: a Steuvway in Neustadt (Feb. 19, 1876) and
Hannover (Feb. 3, 1883) and a Knabe (from Baltimore) in Breslau
(March 23,1876).
Although Brahms's ideal of piano sound probably developed from his
acquaintance with the whole range of pianos in the German-Austrian
sphere, he had strong leanings to the more conservative pianos, the
Stretchers and Bosendorfers. Already in 1864 Brahms had told Clara
Schumann of his fondness for the Streicher. "I have a beautiful grand
from Streicher... He [Streicher] wanted to share [his] new
achievements with me . . .
He performed often at the J.B. Streicher
Salon, and in other concerts he regularly chose Streichers as late as the
spring of 1869. Around that time Bosendorfer began to take control of
the piano market in Vienna, and November 29, 1874 seems to mark
Brahms's last solo public performance on a Streicher. Brahms had
performed on Bosendorfers from his earliest days in Vienna (1863), but
only after 1880 did he shift his public allegiance to them.
While Viennese concert programs do not record that he played public
concerts on other Viennese pianos, Brahms knew the Ehrbar well from
2.
Brahms did, of course, play the French Erard and English Broadwood at
Clara's house. See Florence May, The Life of Johannes Brahms, 2 vols. (London, 1905),
vol. 1,197-98.
3.
Specific information concerning Brahms's public concerts derives from my
study of concert programs at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna.
4.
Max Kalbeck, Johannes Brahms, 2nd-4th ed., 4 vols. (Berlin, 1912-21; Tutzing,
1976), vol. 1, 35,196,255.
5.
Kalbeclc, Brahms, vol. 3, 493. Edmund M. Frederick in a personal
communication, May 1986, points out that some German manufacturers adopted
innovations, but they also built conservative pianos until the end of the century.
6.
"Ich habe einen schonen Fliigel von Streicher. Er hat mir eben neue
Erningenschaften dadurch inittheilen wollen . .." Berthold Lttzmann, Clara Schumann,
ein Kunstlerteben: nach Tagebuchem und Briefen, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1902,1905,1908), vol. 3,
167-68.

60 Camilla Cat
many rehearsals and private recitals at the Ehrbar Salon, and he must
have thought highly of the Schweighofer because he appeared at the
centennial celebration honoring that firm in 1892, not the kind of official
event he otherwise attended willingly.
His private allegiance remained with the Streicher; when an 1868
Streicher grand, no. 6713, was given to him by the company in 1873 it
must have been an especially welcome gift because it stayed with him at
his home in Vienna until the end of his life. This Streicher, now lost,
could have given a very good idea of the conservative piano still
appreciated by Brahms in his old age. Instead, its surviving relative from
1870, no. 7011 at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, will have to stand in for
a description of its type. This piano, built only two years later, was
probably quite similar to Brahms's, and although it is not in particularly
good repair, elements of its original character still exist, for example the
light touch and delicate sound. In all ranges its sound is quiet but welldefined. The three main ranges bass, middle, and treble have
distinct timbres, and, as the volume increases, those timbres change quite
significantly. These features contrast markedly with the prized evenness
of timbre on a modern piano. The Streicher's frame, consisting of only
two cast-iron tension bars bolted to the metal string plate, supports the
straight-strung mechanism and the sound board. This fairly weak,
incomplete metal frame requires stringing the piano to a slightly lower
tension than that possible on the full, single-piece, metal frame available
on technologically more advanced pianos. The Streicher's resulting
"woodwind" sound lacks the brilliance, the slightly metallic tinge and the
volume of sound found in pianos with a one-piece metal frame. The
straight-strung feature means that the Streicher has shorter, thicker bass
strings than a comparably-sized cross-strung piano. Probably because of
this shorter length and greater thickness, these strings have few upper
partials. The resulting bass sound is of special clarity, openness, and
lightness.
7.
Kalbeck, Brahms, vol. 3,178, 298,451,455,457. Otto Biba, Johannes Brahms
in Wien (Vienna, 1983), 68-69, item 227; an exhibition catalogue.
8.
Kalbeck, Brahms, vol. 2,409.
9.
The Kunsthistorisches Museum's Katalog der Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente, part I, Saitenklaviere (Vienna, 1966; reprint 1978), pp. 55-56, indicates that these
two pianos were of very similar construction. Edmund M. Frederick (in a personal
communication, May 1986) adds that Stretcher did redesign some of its parallel-strung
pianos after 1868 to enlarge the soundboard and strengthen the ribbing.
10. Good, Giraffes, 13, 178; Edmund M. Frederick, The Big Bang," The Piano
Quarterly, CXXVI (Summer, 1984), 33. Cross-stringing, which permits longer, thinner,
more flexible strings, provides additional mixing of partials for further richness of timbre.
Direct comparison with other pianos is problematic because of additional variables: as
the frame construction increases in size and gains strength, so do the possibilities for
increased length and thickness of string.

Brahms's Pianos 61
The Streicher's Viennese action with its soft, leather-covered hammers
differs in weight, but not design, from the actions Nanette Streicher
made in the 1810s and 20s. This design, completely different from the
double-escapement repetition actions of English pianos, produces an
especially crisp attack of sound followed by an immediate, very rapid
decay. Because the action is lighter weight than a modern repetition
action, the key feels very responsive. For a pianissimo effect the stroke
may seem to require extra pressure, but any increase in dynamics needs
only the most minute adjustment of pressure. In addition, the shallow
key depth needs only short finger strokes. Overall, the piano seems to
require that the fingers move with small, quick, and delicate motions.
Two other Streichers in good repair, now in Edmund M. Frederick's
collection an 1868 straight-strung made only months before Brahms's
piano and an 1S7S cross-strung confirm the light, clear sound and the
delicate touch necessary to play them.12
It is such pianos that Brahms knew, and in a rare moment of openness
he speaks unambiguously about his compositional process for them. He
indicates that he intimately understood the possibilities of the instrument
and could confidently translate that knowledge to the written page. In
his struggle to write the violin part of the Double Concerto, op. 102, he
complains to Clara:
It is quite a different matter to write for instruments whose
characteristics and sound one only incidentally has in one's head and
which one can only hear mentallythan to write for an
instrument which one knows through and through, as I know the
piano. There I always know exactly what I write and why I write one
13
way or another.

11. Good, Giraffes, 201. Both Ehrbar and Bosendorfer pianos Brahms
performed on regularly continued to use the Viennese action well into the last
quarter of the century. See also Good, 144 and /Catalog (Kunsthistorisches Museum), 5659.
12. The 1868 straight-strung piano, number 6668, was probably made only a few
months before Brahms's own.
13. "Es ist doch etwas anderes fur Instrument schreiben, deren Art und Klang
man nur so beilaufig im Kopf hat, die man nur im Geist hort oder fiir ein Instrument
schreiben, das man durch und durch kennt; Wie ich das Clavier, wo ich durchaus
weiss, was ich schreibe und warum ich so oder so schrcibe." August, 1887. Litzmann,
Clara Schumann, ein Kunstlerleben, vol. 3, 493-94, or with slight differences, Kalbeck,
Brahms, vol. 4,68.

62 Camilla Cai

Brahms's 51 Exercises for the pianist show how clearly he understood

pianistic problems.
These exercises probably derive from Brahms's
own pianistic capabilities and were undoubtedly written to fit the pianos
of his time. Brahms obviously understood their difficulty for others
because he suggested, facetiously we assume, that his publisher Simrock
provide a cover design of torture instruments especially thumb screws
and the iron maiden colored in blood red and flaming yellow.
Through a variety of finger-wrenching drills to be played in all keys they
prepare the pianist to balance the sounds within one hand, to produce
equal fingers, to control the thumb (particularly on the black keys), to
use the left hand equally with the right, and especially to control finger
motion while the hand stays in a spread-out position. In all, these
exercises cover problems of touch, articulation, phrasing, balance, and
hand coordination that occur frequently in Brahms's piano music.
Because these exercises were gathered and published in the same year as
ops. 118 and 119 (1893), they may have been on Brahms's mind as he
worked on these particular piano pieces.
The textures Brahms chooses for the late piano pieces (ops. 116,117,118
and 119) reveal his clarity of intent to produce a defined, balanced piano
sound. The importance of this textural balance reveals itself m many
ways, for example, in Brahms's frequent tenor melodies, in his distinctive
handling of the bass range, and in the use of symbols and words that
indicate, among other things, touch and articulation. All of these
elements can be shown to have been influenced by the properties of the
nineteenth-century piano and need to be understood in respect to its
capabilities.
Dame Ethel Smyth writes illuminatingly of Brahms's own playing style
for tenor melodies: "lifting a submerged theme out of a tangle of music
he used jokingly to ask us to admire the gentle sonority of his 'tenor
thumb'."
These characteristic tenor or cello melodies have been
colloquially dubbed by some pianists as "thumb melodies." Such
melodies generally circle around middle c or fall within the c' to c"
octave. They often lie between the pianist's two hands and as such
require special pianistic control to balance and bring out the melody
notes properly.

14. Johannes Brahms, Complete Transcriptions, Cadenzas and Exercises for Solo
Piano, edited by Eusebius Mandyczewski (Leipzig, 1927; New York, 1971); Collected
Works, vol. 15,126-78.
15. Johannes Brahms, Briejwechsel (Berlin, 1919; Tutzing, 1974), vol. 12,107.
16.
Ethyl Smyth, Impressions Thai Remained: Memoirs, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (London,
1919), vol. 1,266.

Brahms's Pianos 63

Many selections in Brahms's 57 Exercises, and in certain unpublished

exercises as well, prepare a pianist for these melodies by aiming at
thumb versatility.
Ex. 1. Brahms, Miscellaneous Fragments, folio 2(r) New York Public
Library
V AP-t

>

* i*

t
E

g* [
i

S A**

- *

-* t

~iW
t

1 .

1*

<

- *

'

(With the thumbi)

.*u,FfoTtfrrftrr
*5F

The thumb learns to make small, precise, quick motions, yet balances its
sound against notes played simultaneously by other fingers within the
hand. Such a sure, versatile, well-controlled thumb assumes a particularly important role for smoothly playing a middle-range melody as it
crosses from one hand to the other.
The tenor range melody in the middle of the texture in Ex. 2 (the B
section of op. 116, no. 7) demonstrates particularly the importance of the
thumb.18

17. I wish to thank the New York Public Library for permitting this transcription
from the autograph in their possession.
18. This and the remaining examples are taken from Johannes Brahms, Complete
Shorter Works for Solo Piano, edited by Eusebius Mandyczewski (Leipzig, 1927; New York,
1971); Collected Works, vol. 14.

64

Camilla Cat

Ex. 2. Tenor Melody in Op. 116, no. 7, mm. 21-36.

c

24

D
stmprt ben Ugato

Brahms's Pianos 65

33

66 Camilla Cai
In mm. 21-28 the thumbs play pitches that serve both as melody notes
and as endings for textural arpeggios (the fingerings suggested by me are
placed in brackets). Brahms encourages this particular fingering by
writing-in rare fingering numbers (the unbracketed numbers); the two
thumbs in succession must balance and connect with each other
particularly well. The melody moves out of the tenor range in m. 29, but
thumb balance remains critical because the widely spaced arpeggios still
give the melody an interior, surrounded, and covered quality. In
particular, the melodic leap from b' down to the e' for the left-hand
thumb in m. 29 needs special care because the listener expects c"-b'-a' on
the basis of the melody of m. 21. The sudden tenor-range return in
m. 36, d'-c'-b, after the dramatic highpoint of m. 35 again requires a clear
left-hand thumb entrance to bring back the tenor-range color and
prepare for the return of the C section (m. 37 begins like m. 21).
The problem of delineating such middle-range melodies lies not just with
the pianist. However smoothly he plays them, however prominently he
brings them out, if he works on a modern piano, the technical approach
to bringing out the sound and the final balance of sound will probably
remain significantly different from Brahms's own. The modern pianist
will, most likely, work harder than Brahms and achieve less clarity of
sound. On the pianos of Brahms's time the three main registers, bass,
middle, and treble, show clear differences of sound quality and timbre.
The distinctive middle range particularly around and below middle
C sounds full, mellow, and prominent, and it easily dominates the
treble and bass ranges. (On a modern piano this mid-range tends to be
fuzzy and bland, covered by a rich, thick bass and a brilliantly-edged
treble.) A Brahms melody, then, placed in the middle range of a piano
of his own era, would stand out with no special effort and would require
only the understanding of where the melody line lay to coax out a warm,
melodic tone for it; the nature of the instrument's sound supports the
melody. Brahms undoubtedly heard this middle area as the richest on
the piano, and therefore chose to exploit it in his piano pieces.
One of the most common complaints about Brahms's music and one
directly related to the difficulty of bringing out tenor melodies concerns
the thickness or "muddiness" of Brahms's bass parts, the number and
kind of notes he writes in the low range. However, the sound of the
conservative German or Austrian piano from the second half of the
nineteenth century supports the conclusion that this particular concern
may not have existed for Brahms. The clear, light sound of the low
strings resembles the timbre of a piano from the 1820s more than that of
a modern instrument. Few interfering overtones muddle the tone

Brahms's Pianos 67
quality, and the bass notes, while initially forceful, have a very fast decay
rate. As a result, the strings produce a purer, softer sound than do those
of the modern piano. Because a tone fades quickly, its sound does not
run into the next tone, and the notes can be heard individually. This
openness of the low pitches creates an illusion of sustained, connected
sound because the listener clearly identifies which pitches have been
played. As a result, harmonic implications, melodic imitations and other
effects that Brahms placed in low ranges can stand out in sharp relief.
An understanding of this distinctive 19th-century bass timbre might
change the common perception that Brahms's pieces inherently require a
struggle on the part of the pianist in order to balance the texture.
These low sonorities figure prominently in Brahms's compositions for
piano: he particularly favored the low-positioning of a third in a chord.
Ex.3. Texture
a. Op. 118, no. 5, m.5

b. Op. 119, no. 4, mm.16-18

16

1-j -In

-m

fcfes
\>*<\ * a
u
-m

Pi

I
i

68 Camilla Cai

c Op. 119, no. 3, m.25

d. Op. 118, no. 6, mm.7-8

Brahms's Pianos 69
These textural placements may involve block chords with thirds in the
low range, as in Ex. 3a (op. 118, no. 5, m. 5, beats 2 and 5). At other
times Brahms selects four-note chords in close position in low range that
duplicate chords in the right hand, as in Ex. 3b (op. 119, no. 4, mm. 1618). And he also writes low-lying octave doublings of melodies that
darken the overall texture, as in Ex. 3c (op. 119, no. 3, m. 25). Finally,
quick harmonic or melodic motion may occur in the low range; in Ex. 3d
the descending bass line (op. 118, no. 6, mm. 7-8) produces a motion that
is conventionally characterized as "thick and difficult to hear." All these
instances seem more transparent, more audible, and more balanced on
Brahms-period pianos than on modern ones. The low-lying pitches seem
intended, not to convey an undifferentiated romantic wash of sound, not
to give the impression of thick filler notes, but rather to stand out as
unusual, interesting, and well-balanced parts of the texture.
Also intimately tied up with the nature of the conservative late
nineteenth-century piano are issues of touch and articulation.
Since
that piano's keystroke is short, the action light and responsive, and its
bass clean and distinct, the possibility for a great variety of sounds
emerges. Brahms demonstrates his sensitivity to these possibilities for
nuance by including in almost every passage of the late piano pieces
symbols or words to clarify his intentions. His language to indicate
various styles of playing includes three indicators of touch, legato,
leggjiero, and marcato, and two kinds of articulation, slur marks and
staccatos.
Distinct patterns reveal what Brahms probably means by these terms and
symbols, and the patterns in turn disclose more about performance
practices than the signs alone can reveal. For example, because these
words occur in only a limited number of places, their positioning alone
suggests that they refer to special or unusual conditions. They are often
combined with a distinctive articulation that seems to further enhance a
particular touch.
Brahms's 51 Exercises can act as studies for these categories of touch and
provide excellent preparation for similarly marked passages within his
pieces. In the exercises he seems to distinguish five styles of playing,
including the three mentioned above. A few labeled ben marcato and
containing many staccato dots suggest the most emphatically detached
style. The exercise labeled staccato and also containing written-in
staccato dots, suggests a less sharply-defined style of detached notes.
19. Experiments of touch and articulation were made in March, 1986 on an 1868
Streicher, no. 6668, and an 1875 Stretcher, in the Edmund M. Frederick Collection.

70 Camilla Cai
Passages marked legato or ben legato, are designed to teach the fingers to
make this smoothest of sounds. Brahms distinguishes between this
extremely smooth touch and an especially light touch labeled leggiero.
The leggiero exercises also sometimes contain slurs. This lightest of all
touches also appears as an alternate marking: an exercise may be
labeled ben legato (o leggiero) to indicate the two possible ways of
practicing it. Brahms also asks for combinations of touch by indicating
that one hand play legato with slurs while the other plays similar notes
leggiero without slurs. In some exercises the two touches are required
simultaneously within one hand. The final and largest category within
the exercises include studies that notably lack any verbal indications,
though some of these include slurs and staccato marks. This group of
exercises apparently teaches finger patterns and proper articulation, but
not within a specialized touch, and seem, therefore, to contrast with
those containing the extra verbal indications (pen marcato, staccato,
legato, leggiero). A moderately detached playing style should probably
distinguish them, but one seeks in vain for helpful comments from
Brahms on this extremely important matter.
Brahms's late piano pieces follow remarkably similar patterns of usage
for these touch indicators and marks of articulation. The majority of the
music, as with the exercises, lacks words to indicate a distinctive overall
touch but has copious and carefully marked slurs and staccatos. If these
sections were played in a moderately detached style, then sections
singled out with the word legato could provide a real contrast of touch
and sound. Probably to encourage such an extra smooth interpretation
of legato sections, Brahms sometimes places particularly large groups of
notes under one slur mark. In op. 116, no. 4, m. 44 (Ex. 4a) Brahms
additionally stresses the smoothness of ben legato by coupling it with col
Ped.. Legato, then seems to mean extra finger connection, sometimes
with additional pedal, for further smoothing of sound. Leggiero, the
contrasting, extremely light and detached touch appears well
demonstrated in the A section of op. 119, no. 3 (Ex. 4b); this piece needs
almost no staccatos or slurs to further intensify its delicate style. Finally,
the strongly detached touch expected from a marcato indication applies
to sections in various dynamic ranges; in Ex. 4c (op. 119, no. 4, mm. 15367) the term seems to encourage a special forcefulness of finger stroke to
the pianissimo (pp) return of the A section, a masterful example of
emphatic understatement.

Brahms's Pianos
Ex.4. Touch
a. Op. 116, no. 4, mm.44-47

44

47

b. Op. 119, no. 3, mm.1-5

,

bm legato

Giaaioso e giocoso

71

72 Camilla Cat
c. Op. 119, no. 4, mm.153-55

All these markings of touch and articulation must be considered in

relation to the pianos Brahms knew. Because these pianos have a much
lighter action than the modem piano keys go down more easily, and
the stroke is significantly shallower the keyboard feels markedly
different. It requires only a small, light, or quick finger action for even
the most vigorous of these articulation effects; such a keyboard easily
permits Brahms's wide range of touch strokes and produces realistic,
audible contrasts among them.
Brahms did not use his expression signs casually. His careful, relevant
markings and his many corrections to them during the editorial process
attest to this. Though various placements may now reflect transmission
errors some by Brahms, some by his copyist, yet others by his
engraver the marks still provide vital information for the
interpretation of the piano pieces.
With a more accurate understanding of Brahms's terminology, coupled
with an awareness of Brahms's special piano textures, the performer
could produce a performance relevant to Brahms's own style even
lacking a nineteenth-century piano. Best of all, however, the performer
might try these pieces on a properly restored, conservative, late
nineteenth-century piano. Such an experience would allow the pianist to
experience momentarily the world of sound as Brahms knew it and to
reexamine these miniatures in a context close to their original one. The
knowledge gained, if sensitively and thoughtfully applied, might bring
forward lost aspects of the music and thus enrich our understanding of
Brahms's last piano pieces.