44 / 128
The sonatas mentioned by Schumann (those ‘veiled symphonies’) and those
‘single pianoforte pieces, sometimes demoniacal, of the most graceful
form’, which Brahms performed to introduce himself to his dumbfounded
new hosts in early October 1853, make up the first opus numbers in his
catalogue, and therefore the only works earlier than this decisive encounter.
Their numbering does not strictly respect the chronology of composition,
but rather reflects the choice of Brahms himself when he offered them to
the publishers Breitkopf & Härtel, with a strong recommendation from
Schumann, in the days immediately following the appearance of his article.
On the subject of the Scherzo in E flat minor (op.4, 1851), in which one can
discern faint traces of Chopin’s Scherzo in B flat minor, Clara Schumann
wrote in her diary on 4 October 1853: ‘This Scherzo is a remarkable piece,
rather youthful perhaps, but full of imagination and splendid ideas. Here and
there the sound of the instruments was not suitable to their characters, but
these are trifles in comparison with his rich imagination and feeling.’
44 BRAHMS_COMPLETE SOLO PIANOWORKS