Brahms' Waltz Op. 39, No. 16 - Listener's Guide

The 16 piano waltzes that Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) put into his Op. 39 are still popular among classical music enthusiasts. Brahms himself arranged these pieces from his own original four-hand piano versions.

Here is a listener's guide for Op. 39, No. 16.

Character
The meter is 3/4, and the key is C-sharp minor. The tempo indication is the same as that for the preceding waltz in the set, a dotted half note (one full measure) at 42 beats per minute, or 126 quarter notes per minute.

At first hearing, this subdued, contrapuntal waltz seems like an odd ending to a set that includes the dramatic fireworks of Nos. 1, 6, and 14, and the melodious beauty of Nos. 2, 12, and 15. The work is labeled espressivo ("expressively" in Italian), but, placed in the abstruse musical environment of invertible counterpoint, the expressiveness has an impact that is secondary to the intellectual elements in the music.

On reflection, however, the listener will realize that this is a perfect ending. The fireworks have already been set off, and the pretty melodies have already been sung. The final thing that needs to be expressed is the single factor underlying all of the surface multiplicities heretofore offered in the set: a pure conception of the waltz-a timeless mental waltz.

Form
Waltz No. 16 has an unusual binary (two-section) form, AB.

Section A consists of two 8-measure phrases. The first, phrase a, has two simultaneous melodies, and the music modulates from the C-sharp-minor tonic (i) to the relative major (III), E major. The second phrase, b, harmonically inverts the two melodies, so that the upper melody becomes the lower, and the lower becomes the upper. Section A = ab, with 16 measures.

Section B consists of a single phrase, c. It draws on motives from both melodies and moves from III back to the tonic. The phrase then repeats exactly. Section B = cc, with 16 measures.

Therefore, the overall form with respect to phrases is abcc, and the total number of measures played is 32 (16 in A, and 16 in B).

With more details, the form is as follows:

Aa (8 measures), V7 - III
Ab (8 measures), V7 - III
Bc (8 measures), V of III - i
Bc (8 measures), V of III - i

What to Listen For
Aa. Both melodies are played by the right hand. The upper melody, melody 1, is very narrow in range, only a fifth. The lower melody, melody 2, is wider, an octave and a minor third. The left hand plays a stylistically neutral staccato quarter-note broken-chord bass.

Ab. Melody 1 goes down an octave to the tenor range, played by the left hand. Melody 2 goes up an octave and is played mostly in octaves by the right hand. This type of counterpoint, designed so that the lines can be reversed in vertical position, is called invertible counterpoint. When applied to two parts, as in this case, it is called double counterpoint, specifically, because of the two-octave shift, double counterpoint at the fifteenth.

Because of the wider range and greater leaps in melody 2 and its presence in the top line, this inverted version of the melodies has a greater expressiveness than phrase Aa has.

Bc. The right hand is based on motives from melody 1, melodically inverting the principal motive in measures 1, 3, 5, and 6. The left hand is based on motives from melody 2.

In phrases Ab and Bc, the aura of antiquity evoked by the narrow, repetitive melodies and by the contrapuntal procedure is reinforced by the left hand's pattern of arpeggiated (as if strummed by a lute) chords on the first and third beats.

Finally, in the last measure, the music and set end on a weak beat in C-sharp minor, fading quietly and thoughtfully away.
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Brahms, Johannes. Op. 39, Waltzes for the Piano. Schirmer's Library of Musical Classics, vol. 1260. New York: G. Schirmer, Inc.