[+] Korsyn, Kevin. "Directional Tonality and Intertextuality: Brahms's Quintet Op. 88 and Chopin's Ballade Op. 38." In The Second Practice of Nineteenth-Century Tonality, ed. William Kinderman and Harald Krebs, 45-83. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
Brahms used Chopin's Ballade, Op. 38 as a model for the second movement of his Quintet, Op. 88. Both pieces experiment with directional tonality (beginning and ending in different keys) and show structural correspondences, such as polarity between contrasted thematic segments that extend tonality, tempo, texture, and mood. In both works the second tonality is anticipated by local tonicizations of it in the initial sections; both pieces end with the opening theme, but in the second key. In addition, Brahms's Op. 88 reshapes his earlier Saraband and Gavotte in A Major (ca. 1855). Analyzing that multifaceted process of borrowing, using Harold Bloom's theory of poetic influence and Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of dialogism, shows that it resulted in a dialogic piece, which is tonally more radical than Chopin's Ballade.
Works: Brahms: String Quintet in F major, Op. 88 (48-55, 60-79).
Sources: Chopin: Ballade Op. 38 (47-55,59-68, 71-79); Brahms: Saraband in A, Gavotte in A Major (45-46, 68-70).
Index Classifications: 1800s
Contributed by: Tamara Balter
