Between melancholy and exuberance

During his summer vacation in 1891 Brahms composed six vocal quartets which would appear in print later that autumn. This set, to become Brahms’s opus 112, clearly falls into two groups. The first two in the melancholic tone of the poems Sehnsucht (Longing) and Nächtens (At Night) by Franz Kugler come upon four Zigeunerlieder (Gypsy Lieder) bursting with vitality and power. The first public performances of the work were very positively received. Even while Brahms was still alive, the work was performed not only by the four solo voices originally intended, but also by choruses. Breitkopf & Härtel’s new practical edition of the Quartette follows the music text of the critical edition of the Johannes Brahms Complete Edition.

Urtext based on the new Complete Edition (G. Henle Verlag) edited by Bernd Wiechert