Symphony No. 3, Op. 90

1. 0:01
   Opening theme, cellos

   The cellos play the melody high in their range, softly, in C minor. Above them the two violin sections alternate in triplet figures, and the double basses play pizzicato. The phrasing of the melody crosses the bar lines of the three-beat metre.

2. 0:48
   Cello entry in major

   Before the cadence in C minor has finished, the cellos begin a phrase in major, marked dolce. The first violins join them a sixth above. The bass holds C while the melody runs across the bar lines.

3. 1:10
   Wiesbaden, summer 1883

   In the summer of 1883 Brahms interrupted a trip along the Rhine and rented rooms in Wiesbaden to finish the Third Symphony. He was fifty. Six years had passed since the Second.

4. 1:53
   Tied wind chords, bars 54–⁠61

   In bars 54–⁠61 the winds hold their chords across the bar lines, so the upbeat is heard as the downbeat. A♭ minor alternates with A♭ major. Between the chords the cellos play a syncopated descent from A♭ to E♭.

5. 2:27
   String passage in B major

   The winds stop. The strings play a swaying melody in B major, and the downbeat is clear again. As the phrase rises, the double basses play with the bow for the first time in the movement, after playing only pizzicato until now.

6. 3:00
   First performance, Vienna, 1883

   Hans Richter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in the première on 2 December 1883. According to the critic Eduard Hanslick, Richter had called the new symphony “Brahms’s “Eroica”” shortly before. All four movements end quietly, this one included.

7. 3:36
   Reprise, solo horn

   A solo horn plays the opening theme again in C minor. Beneath it the cellos, no longer carrying the melody, play wide rising arpeggios.

8. 4:03
   Melody in the solo oboe

   After the horn, a solo oboe takes the melody that the first violins played the first time. Below it the cellos continue their wide upward arpeggios. The violins now divide the rippling triplets between them.

9. 5:04
   Melody in violins and cellos

   At bars 139–⁠149 the first violins and cellos play the melody across three octaves. The clarinets join the accompaniment, and flute, oboe and horns take the shorter subsidiary phrases.

10. 5:29
    Coda, bars 150–⁠163

    The wind chords from the middle section return, still crossing the bar lines. This time they lead back to C minor. After a final swell, the strings play pizzicato beneath the held last chord.

Joins

1. 1:50
   A♭ minor interrupts the C minor cadence

   An A♭ minor chord follows the C minor cadence within the same bar. The winds hold across the bar line, and the cellos play a syncopated descent towards E♭. The written metre remains 3/8, but the chord changes put the stress on the upbeats so that they sound like downbeats.

2. 3:34
   Opening motif rises in sequence to C

   Clarinet and bassoon play the song’s first three notes in A♭ minor, then in B♭ minor, over chromatic string chords. The sequence reaches C minor. Flute and oboe lengthen the notes and the horns hold C. The solo horn then plays the complete melody above new cello arpeggios.

3. 5:30
   The wind chords return

   In bars 150–⁠163, after the song’s C minor cadence, the winds play again the chords that led into the middle section. Their harmony takes an A♭ minor colouring, then moves back towards C. The strings join them on a diminished seventh. A rising phrase extends across the 3/8 bars, and three descending chords close the passage.