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This dissertation explores the musical uncanny in the piano chamber music of Johannes Brahms. Both Jentsch and Freud explored the notion of das unheimliche, though their definitions are slightly different. Jentsch’s definition emphasizes the emergence of uncertainty (“intellectual uncertainty”), claiming “the emergence of sensations of uncertainty is quite natural, and one’s lack of orientation will then easily be able to take on the shading of the uncanny (Jentsch, 1906: 4). Freud, on the other hand, defines the uncanny as “that class of the terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar” (Freud, 1919: 2). The study of the uncanny has fascinated scholars in fields “from the humanities, through architecture, queer studies, and postcolonial studies, to sociology and urban studies” (Collins and Jervis, 2008: 1). This dissertation contributes to such interdisciplinary discourse by discussing the uncanny in the music of Brahms. Several scholars, such as Cohn, Klein, Smith, Kramer, Petri, Dolan, Cherlin, and Venn, have contributed to the topic of the uncanny in music. Signifiers for the uncanny in music include the use of hexatonic poles (Cohn, 2004: 287), chromatic passages, the Neapolitan, and signifiers related to ombra (Klein 2005: 80). Concerning Brahms, Smith mentions the unheimlich E naturals in his analysis of the Piano Quartet in C minor, but neither Smith nor any others listed above fully develop the idea of the unheimlich nor frame it in a hermeneutical sense. This dissertation begins by defining the uncanny both in and out of music (Chapter 1), then undertakes a general survey of the uncanny in Brahms’s piano chamber music to establish it as a topic in his music (Chapter 2). The remaining chapters consist of three case studies (Violin Sonata in D minor, Piano Quartet in G minor, and Piano Quintet in F minor). To support my analyses, I use Hepokoski and Darcy’s Sonata Theory, Schenkerian Analysis, Lacan’s model of subjectivity, and Derrida’s notion of hauntology. Using these methodologies reveals how Brahms’s Violin Sonata in D Minor is haunted by musical ghosts (Chapter 3). Lacan’s notion of the symptom and the musical déjà vu in analysis of the Piano Quartet in G Minor (Chapter 4) points to a musical persona experiencing a musical narrative with troubling repetitions of material and uncertain pathways. Hauntology and the previous concepts come together in an analysis of the Piano Quintet in F Minor (Chapter 5), showing how the uncanny makes time come out of joint: the Lacanian notion that a symptom comes not from the past but from the future. The music is haunted by its future from its first phrase. The dissertation concludes with a brief indication of future research on the uncanny in Brahms’s music. / Music Theory

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Heinrich Schenker's concept of the auxiliary cadence can be considered as a middleground manifestation of the Ursatz; his definition of the auxiliary cadence caters only to tonal compositions with a single background tonic, such as Brahms's songs. However, there exist compositions in which the a single background tonic cannot be easily ascertained. Such unorthodox compositions, in fact, can be found even prior to Brahms's songs. In such cases, although the opening and closing tonics are different and are often categorized as large-scale auxiliary cadence structured compositions, they do not operate within the single-tonic based tonal paradigm upon which Schenker formed his idea of the auxiliary cadence. Such compositions may be approached as a novel type of auxiliary cadence and described as "process-driven." The thesis presents and contrasts examples of both types of auxiliary cadences in songs by Schubert, Brahms, and Berg.

Although many volumes concerning the life and works of Johannes Brahms have been written, it has been found that the majority of these writings treat the material of the subject in a rather poetic and romanticized fashion. This is especially unfortunate in those volumes where the works of Brahms are analyzed with pragmatic implications, since Brahms himself eschewed the use of extramusical elements in his composition. This investigation, therefore, is an attempt to present a careful analysis of one of these compositions, the Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115, for clarinet and string quartet.

The Grundgestalt (Ger: 'basic shape') is a term coined by Arnold Schoenberg to describe the basis for coherence within a musical composition. Although neither precisely defined, nor adequately supported by examples from his literature, the Grundgestalt remains an important facet of Schoenbergian theory. Composed of several gestalten that occur repeatedly, Schoenberg's Grundgestalt functions as a germinating factor within a piece that allows its motivic, thematic, and rhythmic information to become more accessible through their frequent repetition and diverse presentation. In addition to Schoenberg's definition, the first part of this dissertation discusses the individual findings of Schoenberg's pupils Josef Rufer and Rudolf Réti. Subsequently developed by the contributions of David Epstein, Walter Frisch, Patricia Carpenter, Michael Schiano, and Brent Auerbach, their combined efforts then attempt to illustrate the organicism of the Grundgestalt, to clarify its terminology, and to refine the framework of its analysis. Based upon the framework described in the previous chapter, the second half of this dissertation presents the criteria for the determination of the Grundgestalt. Beginning with a derivation of Brent Auerbach's proto-Grundgestalt analysis that catalogs the various voice-leading strands of a given composition into a summary chart that tracks the frequency of each motive's occurrence within its underlying musical segments, the analysis then evaluates the basis for each motive's hierarchy through a relative valuation according to the principles of cardinality and individuality. Following a subsequent expansion of the rules governing the organic map that Auerbach proposed to provide a visual representation of the hierarchy described in the proto-Grundgestalt analysis, summary chart, and relative valuation, Part III this dissertation uses that data to specify the location of the Grundgestalt in Johannes Brahms' Trio, Op. 114. A subsequent analysis of Brahms' Quintet, Op. 115 then provides the information necessary to qualify the Trio as emergent Grundgestalt archetype, and the Quintet as a cyclic Grundgestalt archetype.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

Different sections or movements of a piece are associated with each other and contain the composer essential thought. A vague affinity of mood and a resembling theme or form testifies to the relationship. However, the evidence is insufficient to reveal the unification of the different sections or movements since these are under restraint of external music proofs. In order to figure out the relationship, thus, identical musical substance should be discovered. In the study the substantial evidence, which can be called unity or unification, is mainly discussed. The unity is illustrated with Brahms's Horn Trio, Op.40 that is one of the Brahms's significant works. The unity found in the Horn Trio is based on the internal structure and structural voice-leading notes. The unity in the Horn Trio is the fundamental structural unity that is divided into initial ascent and voice exchange, and fundamental voice-leading motive. The fundamental unity seriously affects the master piece and penetrates the movements as a whole. Further, it reveals the hidden connections to the historical background of the Horn Trio and the philosophy of Brahms for the music. Even though a piece consists of several sections or movements, the entire piece presents homogeneity. The identity of the composer's underlying philosophical thought suffices to discern the musical unity in a piece. Thus, the investigation of unity is one of the critical ways to understand not merely a piece but also the philosophy of a composer. The study will help to enhance the audience's interpretation of music.

Recognizing the challenges small groups have to program a major work, in 2010, Joachim Linckelmann created a chamber ensemble arrangement of Johannes Brahms's "Ein deutsches Requiem." In 1869, J.M. Reiter-Biedermann published Brahms's four-hand piano arrangement of "Ein deutsches Requiem." Brahms's arrangement serves as an excellent comparison to the chamber ensemble version by Linckelmann, since it can be assumed that Brahms chose to highlight and focus on the parts he deemed the most important. This study was a comparative analysis of the two arrangements and was completed in three stages. The first stage documented every significant change in Joachim Linckelmann's recent chamber arrangement. The second stage classified each change as either a reduction, reorganization, or elimination. The final stage of the analysis was to compare the choices made by Linckelmann to those made by Brahms. The results show that Linckelmann's choices for reduction, reorganization, and elimination closely align with those of Brahms. The only differences between the arrangements can be attributed to Linckelmann's focus on retaining the original orchestral timbre and Brahms's focus on providing the original vocal parts.