In his lieder inspired by Klaus Groth’s “Es hing der Reif”, Brahms highlights both the dreamy and nightmarish aspects of fixating on love by floating in-between the relative keys of A minor and C major, introducing foreign “problematic” harmonies and chord members, and implying a strong sense of irony when concluding lines and stanzas.
By never truly establishing a key until the very last lyrical statement, Brahms keeps the piece suspended in a dreamy uncertainty. This is evident even as early as the first piano introduction, where a sighing figure first implies C major (m. 1), and then is repeated in the dominant of A minor (m. 3). This sighing figure is apparent through the entirety of the lieder, often bringing priority to the minor implications …show more content…
This is evident in the first stanza whenever the passing tone G# is utilized. Whenever we see this tone used, it is for the purpose of a quick transition from C major to A minor. For example, when the protagonist is noticing the brightness of the light, an attempt to cadence in C major is used; however, the G passes through G# creating an augmented harmony (m. 15), and ends up lading back in A minor. Brahms demonstrates that it only takes one note to change a happy ending to a negative one, much like how it only takes one mistake for the protagonist to fall back into a nightmare. The unexpected key of Ab major is introduced (m. 37-41), representing that whenever the character could see the woman for who she really was, she was not what he expected to see. Even though Ab major can be interpreted as a positive key, all of the tonic chords are in second inversion. These harmonies emphasis the dissonant side of the key rather than the consonance our hero desires. Brahms then uses an unusual transition of three distinct unresolved viio42 chords in a row (m. 42-43), expressing the character attempting to force the woman once again into his pleasurable C major
By never truly establishing a key until the very last lyrical statement, Brahms keeps the piece suspended in a dreamy uncertainty. This is evident even as early as the first piano introduction, where a sighing figure first implies C major (m. 1), and then is repeated in the dominant of A minor (m. 3). This sighing figure is apparent through the entirety of the lieder, often bringing priority to the minor implications …show more content…
This is evident in the first stanza whenever the passing tone G# is utilized. Whenever we see this tone used, it is for the purpose of a quick transition from C major to A minor. For example, when the protagonist is noticing the brightness of the light, an attempt to cadence in C major is used; however, the G passes through G# creating an augmented harmony (m. 15), and ends up lading back in A minor. Brahms demonstrates that it only takes one note to change a happy ending to a negative one, much like how it only takes one mistake for the protagonist to fall back into a nightmare. The unexpected key of Ab major is introduced (m. 37-41), representing that whenever the character could see the woman for who she really was, she was not what he expected to see. Even though Ab major can be interpreted as a positive key, all of the tonic chords are in second inversion. These harmonies emphasis the dissonant side of the key rather than the consonance our hero desires. Brahms then uses an unusual transition of three distinct unresolved viio42 chords in a row (m. 42-43), expressing the character attempting to force the woman once again into his pleasurable C major