String Sextet No. 2 in G Major

Both of Brahms’ string sextets are intimately bound up with his feelings for the strikingly attractive and intelligent singer Agathe von Siebold. After they secretly exchanged engagement rings, Brahms found himself unable to commit to marriage—the two carried the emotional scars for the rest of their lives. When working on his String Sextet No. 2 (1865), Brahms discovered that in an effort to put the breakup behind her, Agathe had taken a job as a governess in Ireland. Deeply upset, he returned to her hometown of Göttingen, where he revisited some of their favourite haunts during their courtship. The resulting impact is made painfully clear when, toward the end of the opening movement’s exposition, the first violin spells out Agathe’s name in music notation, suspended above the notes A-D-E (“Ade” is German for “farewell”) in the bass. This is followed by a hauntingly introspective G minor intermezzo Brahms sardonically describes as a “Scherzo” (“joke”)—he also marks the inconsolable presto ending “giocoso” (meaning “light-hearted” or “merry”)—and a theme and variations in E minor of heartfelt emotional intensity. Even the superficially buoyant dancing of the finale is made bittersweet by the music’s Schubertian clouding of major and minor modes.