"The god of my own youthful adoration was Brahms, and I wrote flagrantly in the manner of the immortal Johannes"

--Georges Enescu

"It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table"

--Brahms (on quartet writing)

Brahms destroyed some twenty string quartets before arriving at what he considered his "first" quartet, which then went through almost twenty years of revising, polishing and fussing before he allowed it to be published. This same fussing also compelled him to wait until he was 43 to finally produce his First Symphony Op. 68 in 1876. This on-going agony was due to the monumental shadow Beethoven had stretched over the whole of the 19th century. The legacy of Beethoven forced every composer -- even to this day -- to measure their work on the models set by Beethoven in genres of the sonata, string quartet and symphony.

The B Flat quartet was the last of Brahms three string quartets, completed during a pleasant summer vacation spent near Heidelberg. This quartet is said to be the most lighthearted of Brahms� chamber music, though at the time of its composition, he was laboring on his First Symphony, which had an even longer gestation period and harder labor than the quartets. When he appeared on the music scene, as a young man, he was hailed as the successor to Beethoven. The mantle became a straitjacket and the crown a crown of thorns for Brahms. Nonetheless, after reworking his ideas until they were perfected, Brahms produced three of the most beautiful quartets to be written after Beethoven.

On hearing the quartet read by Joseph Joachim�s ensemble, Clara Schumann wrote to Brahms, "I am especially pleased with the third and fourth movements and cannot decide which delights me more, the melodious viola solo in the third or the charming theme with its delicate tracery in the fourth. The theme with its playful ending is pure joy."

The first movement engages the ear immediately with its horn call theme, a little reminiscent of Mozart�s "Hunt" Quartet, in 6/8 meter, which alternates with a jaunty little tune in 2/4 time. Brahms later combines the two meters, as he was often to do in his late piano music, producing his characteristic effect of "two against three". After a bustling transition a new theme appears, often considered a type of "Czech Dance." The development, involving both themes, is framed by a new and delicate sotto voce theme. Toward the end of the movement, Brahms cleverly combines double and triple rhythmic patterns in some very original ways.

The lyrical second movement opens with a lovely, long-lined melody with some most elegant harmonizations. It is interrupted by chordal outbursts, which do not succeed in breaking the spell of the melody, as it continues on to its peaceful conclusion.

In place of a scherzo, Brahms offers as a third movement an unusual Agitate. The main section features the Cinderella instrument -- the viola -- in a warm and rich melody. (The violins and cello are muted , but the viola is not.) The Trio section blends the four instruments, and the music becomes gradually intensified before returning to the more placid main section.

Biographer Karl Geiringer considers the fourth movement to be the quartet�s center of gravity. It is formed by a poised and classic theme with eight imaginative variations. The theme is derived from the opening hunting horn call of the first movement. Brahms then combines the fourth movement theme with the first movement theme from which it was derived, to bring the work to a close. This, Geiringer points out, "... leads the joyous movement to its climax."

The B flat major quartet was first performed in Berlin on June 4, 1876.