Brahms and the Scherzo

Professor Ryan McClelland is Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Canada.

• 1: Introduction; 2: The Early Minor-Mode Scherzos; 3: Minuets, Scherzos, and Neoclassicism; 4: The Pastoral Scherzos; 5: Some Intermezzos; 6: The Late Minor-Mode Scherzos; 7: Waltzing Away with the Minuet; 8: Three Imposters; 9: The Case of the Fourth Symphony and Some Concluding Thoughts

'McClelland has proved himself to be a tremendous musician and analyst in this audacious project...' Music Theory Online 'McClelland provides a thorough and enormously useful consideration of Brahms's approach to a specific set of compositional problems... In describing this process, McClelland has illuminated a unique approach and provided a set of analytical tools that can be employed in Brahms's instrumental output as a whole. Another significant contribution elucidates the correspondence between generic movement types and the structural and stylistic strategies employed by the composer. This includes the most sophisticated description of Brahms's intermezzo-influenced inner movements to date, particularly their penchant for greater thematic variety than most scherzos. Perhaps most important, the book supports recent recognition of the continuing validity of generic distinctions during the mid-and late nineteenth century, by implication refuting Carl Dahlhaus's claim of generic relativism in late romanticism... McClelland's book is unquestionably an essential milestone in Brahms studies that will surely be lasting and much cited.' Notes