Brahms: Symphony No. 3

Brahms's third symphony boasts one of the most beautiful romantic themes ever written: the allegretto in C minor, which with its easy three-beat chords resonates with most discerning people. In modern times, it became known as the theme of the Ingrid Bergman film Do you like Brahms... (1961) after Françoise Sagan's short story Aimez-vous Brahms? as it is more affectionately called in the original. Brahms's third symphony was inspired by nature, he created best with the greenery in the knots. He had inherited the strategy of Beethoven and other predecessors: work as a pianist, musician and teacher from fall to spring, compose in the summer. For Brahms it became a way of life. Mahler followed the same model. Originally, Brahms had intended to spend the summer in Bad Ischl, but plans changed when he found seclusion and inspiration in the German city of Wiesbaden, an old health resort, where he arrived after a journey along the Rhine. It is clear that Brahms wrote the symphony under happy circumstances this summer of 1883. Was he in love? Always in Clara Schumann. After playing through the symphony in the version for two pianos, she wrote to Brahms: "All the movements seem to form a unity, like a heartbeat." The symphony is a salute to her and a tribute to her late husband Robert Schumann, Brahms' mentor and friend. The very introduction to the symphony - which opens up like a wonderful view when one reaches a high altitude after a long hike among pines and firs - is not a little reminiscent of the introduction to Schumann's "Rhine Symphony" (the third). The mentioned allegretto also has similarities with the romance in Schumann's fourth symphony, which Brahms published in the original version at his own expense after the composer's death. Brahms also makes an ironic comment on the ongoing feud between Brahms followers (traditionalists) and Wagnerians (new German school) - three notes in horn and oboe at the end of the first movement. Do you recognize it? That's right, Tristan and Isolde. Wagner had died in February of that year…