Pieces › Johannes Brahms

Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

II. Andante moderato

Johannes Brahms · 1884–85 · E major · 118 bars · 121 chords analysed

Ends with a passacaglia: thirty variations over a theme borrowed from a Bach cantata.

Brahms waited until he was 43 to publish a symphony — he felt Beethoven's shadow too keenly. The four he then wrote between 1876 and 1885 are warm, dense and tightly argued; every theme seems to grow out of another. A symphony is a large work for orchestra, usually in four movements: a dramatic first movement in sonata form, a slow movement, a dance (minuet or scherzo) and a fast finale. With strings, woodwind, brass and timpani all taking part, the harmony is spread across the whole orchestra — the numerals under the score read it all at once.

Keys visited: E major, E minor, B major, B minor.