Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 ‘Werther Quartet’ – Johannes Brahms

Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 ‘Werther Quartet’ by Johannes Brahms

German composer Johannes Brahms completed this quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello in 1875 with the premiere performance being given in November the same year in Vienna. The work is nicknamed the ‘Werther Quartet’ after the novel ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ by poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Communication between Brahms and his publisher indicates that the work was meant to express the anguish of a man contemplating suicide, as indeed the central character in the Goethe work does. Some suggest the nomination of this particular work, a story about a man in love with a married woman who despairs at his situation, is a parallel for the feelings of Brahms towards Robert and Clara Schumann.

This quartet is comprised of four movements:
I. Allegro non troppo
II. Scherzo: Allegro
III. Andante
IV. Finale: Allegro comodo