Brahms 4th Symphony, 4 Movement

Music Appreciation
Written By Edward Wolfe

Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)

The four symphonies of Brahms each are masterpieces in their own right. My favorite is the fourth symphony, and the last movement (definition 4c) is especially compelling.

This movement is sometimes called a chaconne, an old form of music in triple meter, consisting of a theme (heard right at the beginning of this movement) and variations. The harmony in a chaconne often is repeated. It is a kind of Theme and Variations form, in this case a theme and 30 variations. The emotional sweep and structure of Brahms’s fourth movement is overpowering and beautiful.

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com
Next

Charlie Kirk’s critics