D-Minor Concertos and Symphonies of the Brahms–Schumann Circle in the 1850s

[Alan Howe]

A fascinating study - unfortunately hidden from general public view behind a paywall:

Abstract:
<<This article examines cross-relationships and mutual influences in the D-minor symphonies and concertos written in the 1850s by a close-knit circle of composers: Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, and their friends Joseph Joachim, Julius Otto Grimm and Albert Dietrich. Outlining the overlapping compositional timelines of Brahms's First Piano Concerto (at one point a candidate to become his first symphonic work), the violin concertos of Joachim and Schumann, and the symphonies of Grimm and Dietrich, it demonstrates that the pieces were shared among the composers during their periods of composition and explores musical correspondences indicating mutual influences both among the composers and from other specific works. The musical choices involved in this group of pieces seemto point to an underlying backdrop of Beethovenian influence involving specific works from Beethoven's body of orchestral music, an oeuvre concluding with an unforgettable symphonic work in D minor — to which the younger generation's collection of works may relate symbolically.This study not only emphasizes the central role that Beethoven played in the minds of these composers in the mid-1850s, but also underscores the musical intimacy that extended from the social intimacy of the composers in the Brahms–Schumann circle.>>
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nineteenth-century-music-review/article/dminor-concertos-and-symphonies-of-the-brahmsschumann-circle-in-the-1850s-crossrelationships-and-the-influence-of-beethoven/F5C58966E0773896C5C8EEE72FD17455

[eschiss1]

Hrm. I was going to see if I could round up some works for a sequel just out of amusement, but Volkmann's first was composed too late, as was Rheinberger's (Volkmann was a good friend of Brahms only after composing his first symphony anyway; Rheinberger and Brahms also met in 1864, but composed his symphony perhaps around 1866-68 (according to the Gesellschaft worklist, but as it was published in 1867, this seems a bit odd. Anyhow though, not 1850s.) Gouvy's D minor symphony (1855 first version) fits, but it's unclear whether he and Brahms were friends. Gade was apparently an acquaintance, so leaving his 1852 D minor symphony out.
Sounds like an interesting article, anyhow.
Besides Fifield's book and this article there's an interesting-looking article here on the background- this time of Brahms' Op.68 - in the Autumn 1996 issue of the American Brahms Society newsletter. (It refers to Heinrich Esser's symphony- possibly his no.4 Op.44 (pub.1854, performed around 1853) in D minor? - and refers to the composer as shipwrecked... Correction: the article's quoting a 1855 review of the Esser symphony in so doing.))

[eschiss1]

Tangentially: was having a heck of a time looking for that symphony's premiere in the NZM, but then found that the Gesellschaft, or its current successor organization, has their own archive. This found the concert with the Esser symphony (or an Esser symphony, but probably the 4th) for me. This is probably useful for other purposes too. Do we have a single post with links to the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Vienna Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, NYPO (and Boston Symphony too, I think), etc. concert information archive websites to which this could be added? That's potentially fairly useful.