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Schenker Documents Online: Oktaven und Quinten u. A.
A facsimile edition of Brahms's handwritten compilation
of parallel (consecutive) octaves, fifths, and related progressions, in music from the
16th to the 19th century, with commentary on some of the examples by Schenker, published
by Universal Edition of Vienna. Brahms's manuscript is
preserved in the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in
Vienna.
The Brahms manuscript seems to have come to Schenker’s attention in October 1913. The
lessonbook for December 18 states “Weisse … brings the
photographic reproductions of sketches for the Intermezzi by Brahms, as well as the
collection of interesting passages,” and the diary for that date records: “Weisse brings
Brahms’s ‘collection of interesting passages’; beyond all expectation, the master shows
himself immersed in the most intensive work and effort in his research into voice-leading
problems.” On the 29th and 30th of the month, Schenker shows “Brahms’s studies in Oktaven
und Quinten” to two others of his pupils. It is therefore possible that Hans Weisse drew this work to Schenker’s attention; or,
perhaps more likely, that Schenker heard of it and asked Weisse to collect photographs of
it. Schenker’s surprise at Brahms’s “most intensive work” is striking. It is remarkable
that it would be twenty years before Schenker would produce the edition – at the time of the
centenary of Brahms's birth.
Bibliography
Johannes Brahms, Oktaven und Quinten u. A.
(Vienna: Universal Edition, 1933)
"Brahms's Study, Octaven u. Quinten u. A., with Schenker’s
Commentary," annotated translation by Paul Mast, The Music Forum, V (1980), pp. 1‒196