Brahms and Elgar

By Judith Eckelmeyer

(GRACE WOODS MUSIC SESSION FEBRUARY 16, 2026)

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Brahms in 1853

The life and early career of Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is for a considerable time bound up with the world of Robert and Clara Schumann and their children. Brahms had left his home region in north Germany, travelling through central Germany as a pianist, and gathered several important friends. Among them was violinist Joseph Joachim, through whom in 1853 Brahms met the Schumanns. He and Robert (1810-1956) became friends very quickly, with Robert not only Brahms’s personal friend but his mentor as well. Brahms’s friendship with Clara (1819-1896) began to blossom only in 1854, when Robert’s mental health began deteriorating and Clara took on the management of the family, assisted by Brahms. ​

In that familial situation Brahms is thought to have fallen in love with Clara; after Robert’s death in a mental asylum 1956, however, their relationship didn’t develop further as lovers, but the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.

But Brahms’s ties with the Schumann family extended also to Robert and Clara’s eight children, the third of whom was Julie (1845-1872). Julie, with poor health, spent time in warmer southern regions where she met Count Vittorio Amadeo Radicati di Marmoritoin. Brahms had developed romantic feelings for Julie but characteristically never revealed them. So Julie and the count were married in 1869; Brahms served as her best man, and for a wedding present composed a unique work: it would be known as the Rhapsody for Alto Voice, Male Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 53. The text is drawn from Goethe’s poem Harz Reise im Winter (Winter Journey in the Harz [Mountains]).

Brahms Alto Rhapsody Op. 53 (Ger/Eng/Spa subtitles) Sara Mingardo
Andris Nelsons and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Maureen Buja’s online article on the Alto Rhapsody in Interlude (May 2, 2022) gives this synopsis of Goethe’s 88-line free verse poem:

In 1777…Goethe was traveling in the Harz mountains in the winter. He ascended the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz, arriving at midday, and gazed out on a white world, with the landscape below him obscured in cloud.  The trees at the summit would have been cloaked in snow, forming hulking shapes against a brilliant blue sky. Goethe used the experience as the inspiration for his poem Harzreise im Winter.

…The poet imagines himself as a vulture, hovering above the earth. The next 4 stanzas use the landscape to describe those who are lucky and those who suffer from misfortune. From this external view point, the poet next looks inside himself to see distress and hate and asks how it can be relieved. Invoking the ‘Father of Love’ and the ‘Brothers of the Hunt,’ the poet/traveller seeks to clear himself of pain. /At the end he reaches the summit and, gazing about, sees how the spectacle of nature outweighs all these considerations. Metaphorically, the poet ascends the mountain to confront the oracle of nature about his own fate: condemned to a difficult life (?) or could he be redeemed by love?

Here’s the section of the longer poem set by Brahms (my adaptation of the translation):

1. (Recitative, continuing from preceding lines): But who is that aside? His path disappears in the bushes; behind him the branches strike together, the grass stands up again, the barren land devours him.
2. (Aria): Ah, who heals the pains of one for whom balsam became poison? Who drank the hatred of humanity from the abundance of love? First scorned, now a scorner, secretly he feeds on his own merit in unsatisfying selfishness. (*See note below.)
3. (Hymn-like aria with male chorus): If there is on your Psalter one tone audible to his ear, Father of Love, so refresh his heart! Open his clouded sight to the thousand springs next to the thirsting one in the wilderness!

Brahms’s choice of this text suggests a great struggle within him, hopefully resolved by a healing sound. Early letters between him and friends refer to his loneliness, which was perhaps reawakened when Julie’s marriage removed any chance of his courting her. It may seem a bit strange that this, of all possible messages, was his wedding present to her. 

*I am reminded of a passage in Louise Penny’s How the Light Gets In, p. 36, in which a poem by the novel’s eccentric poet, Ruth Zardo, is quoted: 
“Who hurt you once/so far beyond repair/that you would greet each overture/with curled lip?”

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Elgar, c. 1900

Edward Elgar (1857-1934), although self-taught and somewhat outside the circle of “recognized” English composers of the late 19th century, is nonetheless quite as well-known and esteemed today (and even later in his own time) as a highly gifted composer, along with his younger contemporaries Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1957) and Gustav Holst (1874-1834). This trio of English luminaries defined the “English sound” of the Victorian era and after. Elgar’s upbringing as a Roman Catholic of modest means set him apart from the influential Anglican well-to-do class. However, his struggle for artistic recognition and financial stability was eventually satisfied due to the success of several of his early works, the symphony/cantata The Black Knight (1889-93) and the cantata Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf (1896). But it was the Variations on an Original Theme, popularly known as the Enigma Variationsof 1898-99,that helped established his reputation both in England and internationally.
Dedicated to “my friends pictured within”, the 14 variations were depictions of his friends’ character and often personal quirks. The “theme” from which the variations were derived began the work, as is usual. However, this “theme” was not the principal idea for the work; rather, it was a counterpoint which Elgar wrote against an inaudible theme, which he declared was “well known”. This inaudible Theme is the core of the “enigma”. Elgar , a great puzzle enthusiast, never divulged just what the melody was—or even if it was a melody (it may have been cipher)! The secret Theme is thus the enigma.

The Black Knight, Cantata for chorus and orchestra Op. 25 (1889-93)
Scene I 'Twas Pentecost (0:00) Scene II (a) To the barrier of the fight (6:12) (b) When he rode into the lists (9:00) Scene III (a) Pipe and viol call the dances (12:58) (b) Doth with her the dance begin Scene IV (a) To the sumptuous banquet (21:33) (b) 'Twixt son and daughter (c) Each the father's breast embraces (28:27) (d) Woe! the blessed children (32:06)
​London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox

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Elgar: Scenes from The Saga of King Olaf (Radio Broadcast)

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Edward Elgar - Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma), Op. 36 (1898)
00:00 Theme (Enigma: Andante) 02:18 Variation I (L'istesso tempo) "C.A.E." 04:12 Variation II (Allegro) "H.D.S-P." 05:04 Variation III (Allegretto) "R.B.T." 06:30 Variation IV (Allegro di molto) "W.M.B." 07:14 Variation V (Moderato) "R.P.A." 09:55 Variation VI (Andantino) "Ysobel" 11:24 Variation VII (Presto) "Troyte" 12:37 Variation VIII (Allegretto) "W.N." 14:46 Variation IX (Adagio) "Nimrod" 19:36 Variation X (Intermezzo: Allegretto) "Dorabella" 22:02 Variation XI (Allegro di molto) "G.R.S." 23:09 Variation XII (Andante) "B.G.N." 26:47 Variation XIII (Romanza: Moderato)  30:19 Variation XIV (Finale: Allegro) "E.D.U."
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra Jacek Kaspszyk - conductor

And of course, this secret generated many attempts over the decades to unveil the mysterious foundation on which Elgar built his contrapuntal exposed (pseudo?) theme. Among those who offered “solutions” were of course composers and various musicians and music historians, but also others such as an architectural acoustician, and a policeman and amateur cryptologist. Among the unsuccessful “well-known” tunes offered were “Twinkle, twinkle little star”, “God save the Queen”, “Home, Sweet Home”, “Loch Lomond”, works by Purcell, Arne, Mendelssohn, Pergolesi, and the melody of the second movement of Beethoven’s fifth symphony. The game is still on, for those who would like to try!
Who are the subjects of the 14 variations? Here they are:

1. Caroline Alice Elgar, Elgar’s wife.
2. Hew David Steuart-Powell, amateur pianist and player of chamber music.
3. Richard Baxter Townshend, Oxford don who portrayed a grumpy old man in amateur plays.
4. William Meath Baker, benefactor of public buildings, who had a habit of “hurriedly leaving a room with an inadvertent bang of the door and the teasing attitude of some of his guests”. (Wikipedia article on Enigma Variations)
5. Richard Penrose Arnold, poet Matthew Arnold’s son, amateur pianist who played in “as self-taught manner, evading difficulties but suggesting in a mysterious way the real feeling”. (Ibid.) His serious conversations were interrupted by “whimsical and  witty remarks”. 
6. Isabel Fitton, Elgar’s viola pupil.
7. Troyte Griffith, architect and stalwart friend of Elgar, enthusiastic but incompetent pianist.
8. Winifred Norbury. Secretary of the Worcester Philharmonic Society of sedate ladies; her characteristic laugh leads the variation.
9. “Nimrod”, the “mighty hunter”, a play on the name of August Jaeger, whose last name in German means hunter; music editor with Novello & Co., who encouraged Elgar to continue composing in times when Elgar was discouraged. 
10. Intermezzo. Dorabella Penny with a stutter. 
11. George Robertson Sinclair, organist of Hereford Cathedral, whose bulldog Dan had numerous adventures. 
12. Basil George Nevinson, amateur cellist who played chamber music with Elgar.
13. Romanza: Moderato. * * *  The asterisks replace the name of a woman who at the time was on a sea voyage. Later understood as Lady Mary Lygon, sponsor  of a local music festival. Elgar may have been superstitious about linking this friend with the number 13.
14. Finale: Allegro. E.D.U., standing for “Edoo”, Elgar’s wife’s name for him.

Judith Eckelmeyer ©2026