Piano Quartet No. 3 (Brahms) - Second Movement

Second Movement

The second movement is a tempestuous scherzo (ternary form) in compound duple meter in C minor, the same key as the first movement. Donald Francis Tovey argues that Brahms puts the scherzo in the same key as the first movement because the first movement does not sufficiently stabilize its own tonic and requires the second movement to " the tonal balance unprovided for by the end of the first movement." Although it is the shortest scherzo of Brahms's piano quartets, it is formally and tonally very complex.

The movement begins with an opening motif of a descending octave on G and a rising minor second to A♭ stated by the piano, followed by a falling diatonic line accompanied by the strings. The first theme, which clearly derives from the opening motif, is immediately by the solo piano played after this and Brahms uses the technique of developing variation to expand this theme. Most melodic ideas can be traced to the opening motif or the ascending minor second of the opening motif, which, notably, is the inversion of the descending sighs of the introduction of the first movement. This scherzo is very chromatic and unstable tonally, although it does actually move to a secondary phrase on the dominant and returns to the tonic with frequency. The scherzo ends with a pedal on the tonic C minor.

The middle section is not demarcated by the title of trio as are the middle sections of the scherzi from Brahms's previous two piano quartets. Moreover, this middle section serves more as a section of contrasting material than as a structural contrast - it maintains the same key signature, time signature, and tempo as the scherzo, is not musically marked off in any clear way, and even develops the same themes as the scherzo. One may argue whether it is in fact a trio at all, as nineteenth century composers knew it. Nonetheless, the middle section begins with a new theme, an ascending line in quarter notes in the strings, accompanied by a descending triplet figure played by the piano. This instrumentation is soon reversed and earlier themes from the scherzo become further developed. The transition back to the scherzo develops and rhythmically diminishes the opening motif of the scherzo and is the most chromatic, rhythmically complex, loud, and dramatic section of the movement. The scherzo is repeated almost entirely, however, the section immediately preceding the tonic pedal is omitted and replaced with a climactic dominant chord in a very high register in the strings, ending with a tierce de picardie on C major with three loud declamations of the tonic major chord.