In contrast, the Fourth is written in the same key of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, Chopin's Piano Concerto no. 1 and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony - a lyrical and romantic key. From its very beginning, the Fourth Symphony features something more intimate and profound than Brahms's other symphonies. An atmosphere of melancholy, loneliness, yearning and submission permeates the notes of the simple main theme, which hovers over a monotonous accompaniment in the cellos and violas. The secondary theme section presents a jumpy, determined Brahmsian theme of dotted rhythm, together with a delicate and lyrical melody in the cellos and horns. The main theme of the second movement, in rondo-sonata form, appears alternately in minor and major. When it is in minor, like in the four opening bars, it is played forte and sounds like a painful cry. When the same theme is heard in the movement's key of E major, it is soft ( piano) and sounds like a quiet and introvert march. In the secondary theme section, a motive of emphasized triplets is played by the entire orchestra, creating a feeling of pressure and distress, and immediately the tension is dissolved with a simple and pure melody, one of the most beautiful tunes ever written by Brahms. The third movement is the only scherzo in all of Brahms's symphonies. Unlike the symphony's other movements, it is completely void of melancholy or tragedy. This movement is a bright and colorful feast, seasoned with German pompousness and humor. The phrase "The Three Great Bs" - Bach, Beethoven and Brahms - which was coined by Brahms's friend, conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow, entailed protests from those who claimed that the comparison is unfitting. Nevertheless, although his historic influence is somewhat lesser than that of Bach and Beethoven, none other than Brahms is more worthy to be considered their successor, and no other musical piece demonstrates this better than the Fourth Symphony's last movement. Like the concluding movements of Beethoven's Third and Ninth Symphonies, this special movement is also set in theme and variation form. However, Brahms did here something that no one had done before: he built this symphonic movement with variations in the form of a Baroque passacaglia. The first variations, dramatic and energetic, are followed by a group of slow variations, in which time seems to stand still. In the following variations, in a kind of recapitulation, we return to the tragic reality of the beginning of the movement. Brahms's Fourth and last symphony was completed twelve years before his death, in 1885. A similar case can be seen in Beethoven's last Piano Sonata, written six years before the composer's death, with the concluding variation movement, which is divine. Brahms, too, reached such perfection in the Fourth Symphony, that seems to have discouraged him from writing another symphony. Gilad Israeli
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