#soparano

[rebeccalouisenicholson]

Jill Brookes musical theatre show 2018✨

[maestrolittle]

Op. 20

Brahms composed his Drei Duette Op. 20 in 1860. It is a set of three duets for soprano and alto with piano accompaniment. The names of the duets are Weg der Liebe I, Weg der Liebe II, and Die Meere. The first two duets have text by Johanner Herder, while the third's is by Wilhelm Muller. All three of these songs are written in a 6/8 time signature  The first movement moves at brisk Allegro, as the soprano and alto alternate between singing together and singing contrapuntally. I also find it interesting that Brahms sometimes writes the alto part as high as the soprano part, for what I assume is for a timbre difference. The second song has the same title as the first, and from what I assume is a continuation of the same text used in the first song. This song is slower, and is marked Poco adgaio molto espressivo. This song is incredibly beautiful, as Brahms does a good job with voicing the soprano and alto. The soprano has the melody, while the alto has a counter melody. Despite being a three verse strophic song, it contains a lot of passion in the two vocal lines. The third movement goes slightly faster, as it is marked Andante. This song opens with four bars of piano that just sounds distinctly Brahms in character. It is very passionate in the way it gradually ascends and descends in the phrase. It also ends with a nice coda.

So far, this is my favorite set of songs written Brahms. I would love to see a live performance of these.