Brahms, Rhapsody Op 79 No 2

Brahms and the ladies he met

In love affairs, not everything was Clara Schumann for Brahms, 
Following, a brief recount of the ladies he was interested in.

Agatha
When he was 25 years old (two years after Schumann's death and Clara was alone and had to be supported) he was attracted by the beautiful voice of a singer, Agata von Siebold. He wrote some songs for her, they began to see each other frequently and their friends were already predicting an early courtship when the relationship ended in an unforeseen cooling off.

Julie
Thirty years later, his assiduous presence at Clara Schumann's house naturally led him to fix his eyes on her daughter Julie, which annoyed Clara. But Julie married someone else and Brahms found nothing better than to write her a wedding song, which annoyed Clara again.

Elisabeth

A little more mature, in 1863, the thirty-year-old composer met a girl in Vienna who wanted to take lessons from him. Elisabeth Stockhausen was her name, and such was her disturbing beauty that Brahms could not thread a simple phrase in her presence. Much less could he give lessons to her. Therefore, he referred her to a colleague, Julius Epstein, who reportedly suffered the same drawbacks.

Ten years later Elisabeth had married, precisely to a composer, and was now called Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, and had become a remarkable pianist and composer.

Rhapsodies opus 79

Johannes Brahms, in 1879

To this remarkable pianist, Brahms would send a couple of short piano works composed during a stay in Pörtschach in the summer of 1879. As soon as he finished them, he sent the manuscript to Elisabeth, who in an encouraging letter by return mail recommended a new and fairer title for them: Rhapsodies should be called Rhapsodies and not simply Klavierstücke (piano pieces) as Brahms had titled them.

If it was difficult to talk to Elisabeth, it was even more difficult to contradict her, so despite not being fully convinced of the change the author did not disregard her advice, and so they were published the following year: Two Rhapsodies for piano, opus 79, dedicated, as could be foreseen, to Elisabeth von Herzogenberg.

Rhapsody No 2

Both pieces, in one movement, are composed in the form of a mini-sonata. Presented here is Rhapsody No. 2, in G minor, marked Molto passionato, ma non troppo allegro, Elisabeth's favorite, as she herself told Brahms.

The performance is by the German pianist Ragna Schirmer.