Alto Rhapsody

A lonely, acutely sensitive soul who, half-scornfully, hides his true feelings from others—that’s the kind of man depicted in the Goethe poem set by Brahms in his Alto Rhapsody(1869). Brahms’ friend, confidante and probably Platonic lover Clara Schumann was in no doubt that in composing it, Brahms had created a self-portrait. Although Brahms was a true product of German Romanticism, he normally shrunk from direct self-revelation in his music—but this is very different. The anguish and desolation of the opening section anticipate Mahler, while the beautiful aria that follows offers a rare glimpse of how a Brahms opera might have sounded. Brahms loved the alto voice and, in combination with Goethe’s words, it drew from him this anguished musical confession. There is hope of consolation in the final section however, where a male chorus joins the soloist in a moving prayer for the relief of the sufferer’s pain. Brahms claimed to be an atheist, but there’s little doubt that his heart was in that prayer.