Brahms-Tragic Overture cover (Simrock, 1881)
This week, I will look at Brahms’ Tragic Overture in D minor, op. 81. I had assumed that it would sound more familiar to me that it did upon my first listenings.
Brahms wrote both of his overtures, the Tragic and the Academic Festival in 1880, when he was halfway through his symphonic writing (having finished his second in 1877, with the third to follow in 1883). The Tragic is not meant to lead into any particular work, and has been frequently presented as the lead-in to longer works on symphonic concerts worldwide.
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