Despite being the second piano sonata to be published by Brahms, the Sonata No.2 in F sharp minor is in fact the first complete piano sonata that Brahms composed. The piece is in four separate movements with a four note motive taken from the first four notes of German Minnesang "Mir ist leide" connecting the first three movements. The first movement is in a Sonata-Allegro form. The second movement is a short set of variations set to the melody of “Mir ist leide”. There is an attacca into the following movement, with the third movement being a scherzo and trio. Finally, the final movement is in sonata form with a slow introduction and slow coda bookending it.
During Brahms’s first visit to the Schumann household, Brahms performed this sonata along with a few other pieces for Robert and Clara Schumann. Schumann was so struck with Brahms’s music at this time that he wrote the following about Brahms:"[He] is one of those who comes as if straight from God.He played us sonatas, scherzos etc. of his own, all of them showing exuberant imagination, depth of feeling, and mastery of form ... what he played to us is so masterly that one cannot but think that the good God sent him into the world ready-made. He has a great future before him, for he will first find the true field for his genius when he begins to write for the orchestra.”
It seems that Schumann was particularly taken by Brahms’s music from this period. While it does contain strong “Brahmsian” elements, something about the way the music is structured might have appealed to Schumann’s schizophrenic nature. The music has a tendency to jump from one idea to another with very little connection. This is unlike any music composed by Brahms from his middle period onwards. Nevertheless, this piece is most certainly one of the more underappreciated works of Brahms and deserves to be ranked alongside his other great masterworks.Christopher Janwong McKiggan
Classical Music | Piano Music
Johannes Brahms
Piano Sonata No. 2 in F-Sharp minor, Op. 2 Play
Recorded on 10/15/2014, uploaded on 04/06/2015
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Despite being the second piano sonata to be published by Brahms, the Sonata No.2 in F sharp minor is in fact the first complete piano sonata that Brahms composed. The piece is in four separate movements with a four note motive taken from the first four notes of German Minnesang "Mir ist leide" connecting the first three movements. The first movement is in a Sonata-Allegro form. The second movement is a short set of variations set to the melody of “Mir ist leide”. There is an attacca into the following movement, with the third movement being a scherzo and trio. Finally, the final movement is in sonata form with a slow introduction and slow coda bookending it.
During Brahms’s first visit to the Schumann household, Brahms performed this sonata along with a few other pieces for Robert and Clara Schumann. Schumann was so struck with Brahms’s music at this time that he wrote the following about Brahms: "[He] is one of those who comes as if straight from God. He played us sonatas, scherzos etc. of his own, all of them showing exuberant imagination, depth of feeling, and mastery of form ... what he played to us is so masterly that one cannot but think that the good God sent him into the world ready-made. He has a great future before him, for he will first find the true field for his genius when he begins to write for the orchestra.”
It seems that Schumann was particularly taken by Brahms’s music from this period. While it does contain strong “Brahmsian” elements, something about the way the music is structured might have appealed to Schumann’s schizophrenic nature. The music has a tendency to jump from one idea to another with very little connection. This is unlike any music composed by Brahms from his middle period onwards. Nevertheless, this piece is most certainly one of the more underappreciated works of Brahms and deserves to be ranked alongside his other great masterworks. Christopher Janwong McKiggan
More music by Johannes Brahms
Capriccio in d minor, Op 116, No. 7, from Seven Fantasies
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Paganini variatons
Capriccio in c-sharp minor, from Eight piano pieces, Op. 76
Intermezzo in E Major, Op. 116, No. 4, from Seven Fantasies
Schicksalslied, Op. 54
Intermezzo in A Major, from Eight piano pieces, Op. 76
Intermezzo in e minor, Op. 116, No. 5, from Seven Fantasies
Intermezzo in b minor, Op. 119, No. 1
Klavierstücke op. 118 - VI. Intermezzo
Performances by same musician(s)
Firebird Suite (arr. Agosti)
Classical Music for the Internet Era™
Courtesy of International Music Foundation.