Deryk Barker <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>How exactly did he influence Schoenberg in your opinion?

I believe Schoenberg himself noted that Brahms was an important influence
in his development as a composer, at least in terms of structural design.
Though I couldn't find any direct quotes from Schoenberg as I perused my
modest literature on the subject, here is some secondary source material
from the liner notes of the recent Brendel recording of the Schoenberg
Piano Concerto (coupled with the Kammersymphonien) on Philips:

   "In all these works, as well as in the Second Chamber Symphony,
   the composer continues to explore new harmonic worlds and to combine
   dissonant chords with traditional triads and tonal effects.  Schoenberg
   never regarded himself as a revolutionary but as a composer who took
   up and developed the art of Mozart and Brahms."

and speaking of the Second Chamber Symphony...

   "The fourth bar already brings with it an inversion of the beginning,
   with the theme subjected to thematic transformation.  It is this,
   more than anything else, that indicates what is so emphatically novel
   here: developing variation as a structural principle inherited from
   Brahms."

Also, Virgil Thompson described the Piano Concerto as "Brahmsian" on first
hearing it (though later pundits have their doubts).

Granted that sometimes I'm a little hard pressed to find any obvious Brahms
influences peeking out behind the corners of a twelve-tone row (or even his
less challenging pieces); but his work progresses from the luxurious and
somewhat decadent Verklarte Nacht to the much leaner structures of his
middle period music fairly quickly.

Anyway, I humbly submit these tidbits for your consideration...

--ev clark
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