Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83

Composer: BRAHMS, Johannes
  • Brahms composed this concerto in 1881. He dedicated it to Eduard Marxsen, who had been his piano and theory teacher for much of his childhood and teen years.1
    • Marxsen was so impressed with the child Brahms that he taught him free of charge.
    • Marxsen’s instruction helped Brahms develop his love of Bach and of Viennese classicism.
  • Brahms performed the premiere of this concerto on Nov. 9, 1881 with the Budapest Philharmonic.2
  • This concerto became an important part of Brahms’s performance repertory as a pianist. In 1881-2, he performed it 22 times in 22 different cities.3
  • Brahms conducted this concerto, and his D minor piano concerto, during his last public appearance as a conductor. The occasion was a concert in January 1896 in Berlin, with Eugene d’Albert as piano soloist.4
  • The slow movement is unusual in that an obbligato cello has the main theme, rather than the piano, which serves instead as accompaniment to the cello. The cello theme resembles the opening of a Lied that Brahms would write in 1886, “Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer” (“My Sleep Grows Ever Quieter”).5

Sources

  1. George S. Bozarth and Walter Frisch, “Brahms, Johannes,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed February 18, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051879.
  2. “Piano Concerto No. 2, Op.83 (Brahms, Johannes),” IMSLP, accessed February 18, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.2%2C_Op.83_(Brahms%2C_Johannes).
  3. George S. Bozarth and Walter Frisch, “Brahms, Johannes,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed February 18, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000051879.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Calum MacDonald, “Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat major, Op 83,” Hyperion (2016), accessed February 18, 2021, https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W7693_134152.

Cut IDs

40671 48598 18632 19203 19205 20003 19679 20697 21281 22049