Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 was written in the summer of 1883 at Wiesbaden, nearly six years after he completed his Second Symphony. In the interim, Brahms had written some of his greatest masterpieces, including the Violin Concerto, the two overtures, and the Second Piano Concerto. The Symphony comprises four movements which take around 40 minutes in total to perform:
- Allegro con brio (F major)
- Andante (C major)
- Poco allegretto (C minor)
- Allegro (F minor, ends in F major)
The premiere performance was given on December 2, 1883 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Hans Richter who proclaimed the Symphony to be Brahms' Eroica. The famous theme from the third movement appeared in the film Aimez vous Brahms? by Anatole Litvak, the BBC documentary The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis. The melody appears in several works of popular music, including the songs "Baby alone in Babylone"' by Serge Gainsbourg, "Love of My Life" on Carlos Santana's album Supernatural, and in the final instrumental track of the album A Glorious Lethal Euphoria by the surf-rock band The Mermen.
References
- Walter Frisch. Brahms: The Four Symphonies New Haven: Yale University Press (2003): 91 - 114
External links
- Symphony No. 3 was available at the International Music Score Library Project.
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No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 · No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 · No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 · No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 |
