Some Aspects of Innovation in Brahms's F Sharp Minor Piano Sonata

Abstract

Brahms was commonly introduced as the successor to the classicism, while some consider him one of the most distinctive German composers of the 19th century. Among Brahms's oeuvre of various genre of orchestral, chamber, piano, and vocal music, large-scale works demonstrate the most obvious inheritance of classical style, however, they exhibit revolutionary qualities in specific technical aspects. This article explores some innovative features of Brahms's F sharp minor piano sonata in treatment of motive, tonal and syntax, to show that the progressive consciousness was emerging already in his early works.