Five slow movements from the symphonies Brahms‑B4
arranged for piano
- No. 1 Andante sostenuto from Symphony No. 1 in C minor op. 68
- No. 2 Adagio ma non troppo from Symphony No. 2 D major op. 73
- No. 3 Andante from Symphony No. 3 F major op. 90
- No. 4 Poco Allegretto from Symphony No. 3 F major op. 90
- No. 5 Andante moderato from Symphony No. 4 E minor op. 98
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1.
| Reger-Werkausgabe | Bd. III/6: Bearbeitungen für Klavier zu zwei Händen I, S. 234–266. |
| Herausgeber | Knud Breyer und Stefan König. Unter Mitarbeit von Christopher Grafschmidt und Claudia Seidl. |
| Verlag | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart; Verlagsnummer: CV 52.824. |
| Erscheinungsdatum | Februar 2026. |
| Notensatz | Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart. |
| Copyright | 2025 by Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart and Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe – CV 52.824. Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind gesetzlich verboten. / Any unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. / All rights reserved. |
| ISMN | 979-0-007-34486-3. |
1. Composition and Publication
When Reger took up his post as the director of the Meiningen Court Orchestra in December 1911, he encountered a deeply rooted tradition of performing the music of Johannes Brahms that went all the way back to the composer himself. Brahms had conducted the orchestra in the first performance of his Fourth Symphony op. 98 in 1885, and Meiningen’s court conductors Hans von Bülow (1880–1885) and Fritz Steinbach (1886–1903) had both been especially energetic in promoting his music. Reger continued this tradition. He included the Third Symphony in the program of his inaugural concert and conducted over 30 performances of Brahms’s symphonies with the Meiningen Orchestra, also on his numerous tours with them. It was the Second and Third Symphonies that he conducted the most often.1
By late August 1914, ill health had caused Reger to resign from his position as Court Kapellmeister in Meiningen, and he now reminded Wilhelm Graf, the attorney of his new, principal publishing house N. Simrock, of a project that had been suggested by Simrock’s former director, Hans Simrock, who had died in 1910: “[He] once spoke to me to say I should make a selection from the slow movements of Brahms’s chamber music and arrange them for piano solo; I didn’t get around to it back then! But now I’d have the time to do it! We could bring them out in a single brochure or in several such brochures one by one that could contain my arrangements of those slow movements that are suitable for it! What do you think of this good idea? [...] For example, you could also put the slow movements of the 4 symphonies in a single volume!” (letter of 27 August 1914 from Reger to his publisher N. Simrock). The publisher expressed their interest and Reger made concrete plans for the project, though he no longer gave priority to the chamber music arrangements as originally suggested by his publisher, but instead focused on the symphonic arrangements that he himself had proposed. Reger’s plan ran thus: “1.) a volume with the slow movements of the 4 symphonies, and only then the slow movements of the chamber music in further volumes – all arranged for piano solo. [...] The slow movements of the 4 symphonies will go very well; however, I strongly advise against doing the slow movements of the concertos (piano or violin or double concerto); such arrangements would by their nature naturally turn out too difficult! In general, I will only take those slow movements that are suitable for being arranged thus2 and above all that would be as playable as possible!” (letter of 11 September 1914 to N. Simrock) With these arrangements, Reger wanted to capitalise on the enforced hiatus in concert activity that had been occasioned by the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. With regard to his notorious pace of work, he reassured his publisher: “What’s more, don’t be afraid that I’ll be delivering these arrangements to you so quickly – a considerable amount of time will pass before I can get around to making the slow movements of the 4 symphonies, i.e. until I have arranged them, as I still have other things to arrange first! But I now have a nice opportunity to play through the pieces myself, which is very useful for the arranging that is still to come”. (letter of 17 September 1914 to N. Simrock (Wilhelm Graf)) The “other” arrangements that occupied Reger in the autumn of 1914 were his orchestrations of songs by Franz Schubert (Schubert-B3) and Robert Schumann (Schumann-B4, lost) as well as a two-piano transcription of his own Mozart Variations for orchestra (op. 132a). Above all, however, from October onwards he was absorbed by work on his Latin Requiem for soloists, mixed choir, orchestra and organ (WoO V/9), which he halted in December in the middle of the Dies Irae.
Despite this workload, from November 1914 onwards Reger indeed found time to make his arrangements of movements from Brahms’s symphonies.3 He confirmed having completed them in a letter of 27 December 1914 to his friend and supporter Hans von Ohlendorff.4 Reger transcribed not just the second movements in each case (the Andante sostenuto from op. 68, the Adagio non troppo from op. 73, the Andante from op. 90 and the Andante moderato from op. 98), but also the Poco allegretto that is the third movement of the Third Symphony, which he deemed to be another “slow movement”. On 15 January 1915, Reger sent his manuscript to Berlin to serve as the engraver’s copy; with it, he included the manuscript of his Three Suites for cello solo op. 131c that he had composed around the turn of the year and that was similarly intended as the engraver’s copy. He proposed a fee of 300 marks for each work. (see letter) In the months that followed, his publisher gave priority to Reger’s extensive piano reductions of his Patriotic Overture op. 140 and his Mozart Variations op. 132 as well as his version of the latter for four hands at two pianos, op. 132a. Simrock’s production capacity was also being curtailed by the ongoing war. Reger’s extant correspondence with Simrock does not mention these Brahms arrangements again until 13 April 1916. The return of the proofs by Reger is documented, who remarked: “not much is lacking – so no new set of proofs is necessary for me!” (letter) The first print run of the Five slow movements from the symphonies did not appear until July 1916,5 almost two months after Reger’s death.
Simrock was the “Brahms publisher par excellence”,6 so it is surprising that they agreed to Reger’s proposal to put the slow movements of Brahms’s symphonies onto the market in arrangements for the piano. Their publishing programme already included arrangements of all four symphonies for piano duet, piano solo, and eight hands at two pianos. Their piano duet versions – with the exception of no. 3 – had been made by Brahms himself, who had also made arrangements for four hands at two pianos of nos. 3 and 4. The versions for piano solo and for eight hands were the work of Robert Keller, a longstanding editor at Simrock with whom Brahms had worked closely.7 Any demand for such arrangements was thus already covered, but Reger’s reputation as a composing successor to Brahms,8 along with his having conducted Brahms with the Meiningen Court Orchestra, probably aroused Simrock’s interest in his arrangements. We do not know whether or not Reger oriented himself on Keller’s piano solo arrangements when making his own. In any case, Reger’s arrangements are clearly different in texture from those of Keller, who had focussed on the greatest possible fidelity to Brahms’s text. In the opinion of Paul Mies, “Reger’s principles when transcribing for the piano involve a highly emphatic foundation in the bass, a refusal to add flute octaves, and a desire to bring together several lines in one hand with full, sonorous textures”.9
It seems likely that Reger used his conducting scores of Brahms’s symphonies (here No. 1) as the source for his arrangements. With their copious expression and dynamic markings and their amendments to the orchestration, these scores can provide us with information about Reger’s Brahms performances in Meiningen.10 Some of Reger’s interpretative decisions, especially regarding the dynamics, also had an impact on his arrangements (see the Critial Report). Above all, however, the latter served as piano reductions for domestic use.11 Reger’s decision to restrict himself to the more easily playable slow movements also emphasises his focus on this particular target audience.
2.
Translation by Chris Walton.
1. Reception
At present, there are no records of performances in Reger's time.
1. Stemma
2. Quellenbewertung
Der Edition liegt als Leitquelle der Erstdruck zugrunde. Als Referenzquelle dienten die Stichvorlagen. Darüber hinaus wurden auch die Vorlagen, Regers Meininger Dirigierpartituren der Brahms-Symphonien (s.u.), konsultiert. Stellen, an denen die Leitquelle auf Ebene des reinen Notentextes substanziell von diesen abweicht, wurden im Lesartenverzeichnis aufgeführt und, wo nötig, diskutiert. Bei erläuterungsbedürftigen Lesarten wurden auch die Klavierauszüge von Brahms für Klavier vierhändig bzw. für zwei Klaviere1 herangezogen.
3. Sources
- Engraver's copy (SV)
- First edition no. 2 – op. 68 (ED)
- First edition no. 2 – op. 73 (ED)
- First edition no. 4 – op. 90 (II. movement) (ED)
- First edition no. 4 – op. 90 (III. movement) (ED)
- First edition no. 5 – op. 98 (ED)
Read more in RWA Online…
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Object reference
Max Reger: Five slow movements from the symphonies Brahms‑B4, in: Reger-Werkausgabe, www.reger-werkausgabe.de/mri_work_00968.html, version 4.1.0, 7th August 2026.
Information
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