Chamber music is a major area of neglect in the study of the double bass, and the instrument has also suffered from a scarcity of chamber music literature written by major composers. As bassists focus predominantly on solo and orchestral repertoire, the purpose of this study is to enrich the double bass literature and increase awareness of chamber music as a tool for bassists to develop as artists by providing a transcription of Johannes Brahms’s Trio in A minor, Op.114 for double bass, clarinet, and piano. The transcription adds to the literature for double bass from the Romantic era, giving players the chance to work on their technical and musical skills in a chamber music setting. In addition, performance of this transcription will enhance double bassists’ understanding of the style of one of the most important nineteenth-century composers.

Of Brahms' choral output, a few works seem to be studied, performed, recorded more or, in general, more popular than others. Brahms' cantata Rinaldo, composed between 1863 and 1868, is a relatively unknown and neglected work worthy of study and performance.For the cantata Rinaldo, Brahms chose a poem by Goethe that is derived from Torquato Tasso's epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata (Jerusalem Delivered), which recounts the mystical tale of the Crusader Knight Rinaldo (a solo tenor) who is persuaded by his crew (the men's chorus) to leave the enchantress Armida and return to war. In this study, I will demonstrate that Brahms' cantata Rinaldo, a work unfamiliar to many American choral conductors, includes two well-crafted choruses that can be extracted from the cantata as independent movements, and used as repertory for men's choirs. In order to accomplish this, I will focus on the origination and comparison of Torquato Tasso's tale and Goethe's own adaptation of the story. I will also examine Brahms' early life, his acquirement of Goethe's text, and provide an in-depth look at two of the choruses from the cantata: "Zuruck nur!" and "Auf dem Meere."Since these movements have not been published as independent choral octavos, an important and primary component of my project will be to create a new edition of these movements. The source material I used to create the editions is Brahms' original manuscript scores of Rinaldo. Additionally, a complete translation of Rinaldo, an IPA pronunciation guide for the edition, and a complete transcription of an interview with Maestro Helmuth Rilling concerning Rinaldo are included in the appendices of this document.

This dissertation develops an analytical model for studying the specific nature of "themes of return" in the instrumental music of Brahms. Such a formal type, whose most familiar examples are the period and the small ternary, is distinguished by the presence of a "return," that is, the restatement, after intervening material, of its initiating material, which performs the same function as it did in its first appearance. / Brahms' return structures are analyzed according to four parameters: cadence, return, phraseology (which combines aspects of grouping, accentuation and rhythmic activity) and variation of tension (produced by the combined action of such factors as the curve of the melodic line, dynamics and surface and harmonic rhythms). / Brahms' use of cadence and return differs fundamentally from that of classical composers. His cadential gestures are subjected to a looser categorization and articulate broader tonal relations than those found in classical practice. With respect to his treatment of return, he differs from classical composers largely in the influence of underlying factors, such as greater continuity in texture or a tendency to avoid an over-predictibility in cadential organization. The study of cadences and returns thus leads to the identification of formal traits characteristic of Brahms, including the use of structures beginning off tonic harmony. / Both the phraseology and the variation of tension in Brahms' themes exhibit a striking diversity in organization. For example, the phraseology may feature a grouping hierarchy based on a binary division combined with an irregular pattern of accentuation, an additive structure associated with a regular accentuation, or asymmetrical groupings. Variations in tension are often organized around a climax; however, the size and range of the fluctuations in tension can vary considerably, the accumulation of intensity which prepares the climax may be accomplished by different combinations of parameters, and each climax may occupy a different position within a given segment. / Return structures, so abundant in the Brahms' instrumental music, feature a great variety in their organization. This abundance and diversity is due to the structural type's ready adaptability to the particular demands of Brahms' musical style.

One of the remarkable features of Brahm's B-flat major Intermezzo for piano, Op. 76, no. 4 is the ambiguity of its tonal definition. The work disclosed a contrapuntal tension between its fundamental structural-harmonic organization, which is based on an incomplete harmonic progression (V7-I), and its more remote intermediary tonal areas, which Brahms implies throughout the Intermezzo but to which he never wholly commits. / The aim of this investigation is to illustrate how tonal ambiguity is achieved though recurrent "incompletions" of the expected (or at least the more likely) harmonic progressions. The thesis undertakes a detailed study of Brahms' Intermezzo, Op. 76, no. 4, in B-flat major, with additional reference to the openings of Opp. 118, no. 1 (A minor); 118, no. 6 (E-flat minor); 119, no. 1 (B minor); 117, no. 2 (B-flat minor) and 76, no. 8 (C major). The study combines a Schenkerian linear-reductive approach with observations based on phenomenology--after Leonard Meyer and David Lewin--and narrative, after Edward T. Cone.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of Rochester, 1947. / Typewritten. Bibliography: p. 72-73. Digitized version available online via the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music http://hdl.handle.net/1802/4632

Dissertation (D.M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by George Kiorpes; submitted to the School of Music. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Aug. 25, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-125).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1933. / Typescript. Author's middle name is handwritten in on t.p. Musical examples: leaves 59-88. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58).

Thesis (M.M.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1944. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-88).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1986. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 93). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center