自選閱讀原文
Ask any musician who has played both the Op. 51 Quartets for his opinion them, and he will be likely to reply that while musically the C minor is unique and cannot be excelled, the A minor 'sounds better.' To the amateur music-lover this whole matter of 'sounding well' is apt to seem a little bewildering. Are music and sound, he will naturally ask, two different things, and is there some basis in reason for the familiar mot about Tchaikovsky sounding better than he is, and Brahms not so good? Yes, one must answer, the C minor Quartet is precisely a case in point -a piece that does not always sound as good as it is; in the A minor, on the other hand, music and sound are united in a supreme compatibility.
問任何一個演奏過兩首作品51四重奏的音樂家怎麼看，他很可能會回答說，雖然C小調在音樂上是獨一無二的，不能超越，但A小調聽起來更好。 對於業餘音樂愛好者來說，這整個“聽起來不錯”的事情很容易顯得有些困惑。他自然會問，音樂和聲音是兩回事嗎，柴可夫斯基聽起來比他好，而勃拉姆斯不那麼好，這句熟悉的格言有什麼理由嗎？是的，必須回答，C 小調四重奏正是一個例子——一首聽起來並不總是那麼好的作品;另一方面，在 A 小調中，音樂和聲音以極高的相容性結合在一起。
To make this somewhat baffling point concrete, let us set down here a brief quotation, in full score, from each Quartet:
為了具體說明這個有點令人困惑的觀點，讓我們在這裡簡要地引用每個四重奏的全分：
There is no question that the first bit, for all its ingenuity of dove-tailing figures, its harmonic and contrapuntal vigour, is apt in performance to verge on the scratchy, while the second, if one may so express oneself, sounds as beautiful as it is. What can be the rationale of such a paradox ?
毫無疑問，第一部分，儘管它巧妙地使用了鴿子尾巴的圖形，它的和聲和對位的活力，但在演奏中很容易接近沙啞，而第二部分，如果可以這樣表達自己的話，聽起來就像它一樣美麗。這種悖論的理由是什麼呢？
It will be obvious to anyone who ponders the matter that the texture of the string quartet is among the most delicate that music can use; that consequently the art of writing for string quartet involves subtleties seldom to be found in other music, and requires a supreme skill; and that, finally, the amateur listener can hardly hope to understand in detail all the technical problems a composer must resolve in order to write a completely successful quartet. A fortiori is it obvious how impossible it would be to describe adequately here the complexity of such problems. Nevertheless, so essential is some sense of them to a comprehension of the inner beauties of true string quartet writing, that at least the simpler aspects of the most important of them must be here briefly discussed.
任何思考這個問題的人都會清楚地看到，弦樂四重奏的織體是音樂所能使用的最細膩的織體之一;因此，弦樂四重奏的創作藝術涉及其他音樂中很少見的微妙之處，需要極高的技巧;最後，業餘聽眾很難指望詳細理解作曲家為了寫出完全成功的四重奏。更明顯的是，在這裡充分描述這些問題的複雜性是多麼不可能。 然而，對於理解真正的弦樂四重奏創作的內在美感來說，它們的某種意義是如此重要，以至於至少它們中最重要的更簡單的方面必須在這裡簡要討論。
The music-lover who approaches the string quartet (as most of us do) from the point of view of one who plays the pianoforte, even if only a little, hardly realises usually the far-reaching consequences of the simple fact that all his tones on the pianoforte are ready-made, waiting only for him to produce them, while every tone that the violinist is to sound he has first to prepare, by stopping with his left hand the appropriate string in exactly the right place.
一個音樂愛好者（就像我們大多數人一樣）從一個彈鋼琴的人的角度來看待弦樂四重奏，即使只是一點點，通常也很難意識到這個簡單事實的深遠影響，因為他在鋼琴上的音色是現成的，只等著他產生它們，而小提琴家要發出的每一個音色都是他首先要準備的。 用左手將適當的琴弦停在正確的位置。
Let his finger (which often has to be adjusted within the minutest fraction of a second) fall the minutest fraction of an inch too far this way or that, and the tone will be too sharp or too flat. As an inevitable consequence, jumps that on the pianoforte are perfectly easy range, for the violin, from difficult, through precarious, to impossible. What is ‘violinistic’ in this regard is precisely the opposite of what is ‘pianistic.’ The quick repetitions of one note by viola and 'cello at the beginning of the C minor Quartet, for example, are admirable for those instruments, enabling them to adjust intonation at the start, and then simply to draw the bow easily back and forth . On the pianoforte such repetitions would be uncomfortable: the wrist would tend to stiffen, and the tones to become heavy. On the other hand, though it is possible for a violinist to play the filigree passages on p. 6* of the same score, he can never play them with as little effort as the pianist who obviously conceived them, since he is obliged to create the intonation of about twelve new notes to each measure. Hence, as a principle, subject to all kinds of exceptions, those figures are most violinistic which involve the least jumping.
讓他的手指（通常必須在最微小的幾分之一秒內調整）以這種方式或那種方式下降太微小的幾分之一英寸，音調就會太尖銳或太平緩。不可避免的結果是，在鋼琴上的跳躍是完全容易的，對於小提琴來說，從困難到不穩定，再到不可能。在這方面，“小提琴”恰恰是“鋼琴”的對立面。“例如，在C小調四重奏的開頭，中提琴和大提琴的一個音符的快速重複，對於這些樂器來說是令人欽佩的，使它們能夠在開始時調整音調，然後輕鬆地來回拉弓。” 在鋼琴上，這樣的重複是不舒服的：手腕會變得僵硬，音調會變得沉重。另一方面，雖然小提琴家可以演奏同一樂譜的第 6 頁*的花絲段落，但他永遠不能像顯然構思這些樂章的鋼琴家那樣費力地演奏它們，因為他必須為每個小節創造大約 12 個新音符的音調。因此，原則上，除了各種例外情況外，這些數位是最小提琴的，涉及的 jumping 最少。
Applying this test now to our quoted passages, we can see that the first is a little unfavourable. The viola and the 'cello (and later the first violin) are obliged to make wide jumps, from notes played staccato and therefore less secure than if they were bound together, and sometimes 'across the strings' (passing from one string to another). In the second passage, on the contrary, the viola and the second violin have singing melodies that glide along the string with the utmost advantage of position. This is, of course, not to say that passages like the first are not often necessary, nor that the second is not even in some respects inferior to it; what is meant is simply that the difference between progressing by jumps or quietly along the scale is of great importance in the effects of instruments with fingered strings.
現在將此測試應用於我們的quoted段落，我們可以看到第一個有點不利。中提琴和大提琴（以及後來的第一小提琴）被改寫為從斷奏的音符開始進行寬闊的跳躍，因此不如將它們捆綁在一起時安全，有時是“跨琴弦”（從一根琴弦傳遞到另一根琴弦）。相反，在第二段中，中提琴和第二小提琴的歌唱旋律沿著琴弦滑行，具有最大的位置優勢。當然，這並不是說像第一段這樣的段落通常不是必需的，也不是說第二段甚至在某些方面並不遜色於它;其含義很簡單，在帶有指弦的樂器的效果中，通過跳躍或安靜地沿著音階進行之間的區別非常重要。
The string quartet contrasts with the pianoforte by another far-reaching technical difference : it has no pedal sustainment. The result of this apparently simple fact is that pianists who try to write for string quartet usually find it at first a rather treacherous medium: what sounded so liquid and melting on the pianoforte(thanks to the fusion of the pedal) comes out here dry, hard, and choppy; it is like turning a pastel into a steel engraving. How pathetic in his absurdity is a pianist playing his own quartet (with plenty of pedal) under the illusion that it is going to sound like that! What actually happens on the strings is that only harmonies lasting a certain time build up, through their overtones, something akin to the fluidity of the pedal; rapidly changing harmonies are always sec. We thus discern another superiority, acoustic if not musical, in our second excerpt. In the first, the chords change every half measure, sometimes oftener; any sonority that timidly starts up is promptly knocked on the head by the new chord; and the whole is brittle. In the second, the harmonies are leisurely, and above all, the bass does not change very fast: for virtually two measures it centres on C, and for another two on G. As a result, overtones endue the tonal skeleton with flesh and blood; it no longer rattles like bones, it is soft and yielding, and wears a bloom.
弦樂四重奏與鋼琴強音的對比是另一個影響深遠的技術差異：它沒有踏板延音。這個看似簡單的事實的結果是，試圖為弦樂四重奏作曲的鋼琴家起初通常會發現它是一種相當危險的媒介：在鋼琴上聽起來如此流暢和融化的東西（多虧了踏板的融合）在這裡變得乾燥、堅硬和斷斷續續;這就像把粉彩變成鋼版畫。一個鋼琴家在他的荒謬中是多麼可悲啊（有很多踏板），幻想著它聽起來會是那樣的！琴弦上實際發生的情況是，只有持續一定時間的和聲才會通過它們的泛音建立起類似於踏板的流動性;快速變化的和聲總是秒的。因此，我們在第二段選段中發現了另一種優勢，即使不是音樂性的，也是聲學的。在第一部分，和弦每半小節變化一次，有時更頻繁;任何膽怯地開始的響亮都會立即被新的和弦敲打頭部;而且整體很脆。在第二小節中，和聲是悠閒的，最重要的是，低音的變化不是很快：幾乎有兩小節以 C 為中心，另外兩小節以 G 為中心。結果，泛音賦予了音調骨架血肉之軀;它不再像骨頭一樣嘎嘎作響，它柔軟而豐滿，並開著花朵。
Finally, looking at the whole matter a little more in the large, it is both the limitation and the special glory of the quartet that un mere volume its contrasts must fall far short of those of the orchestra, or even of strings and pianoforte, but that for this very reason they are obliged to achieve their artistic aim by far more subtle means. In the orchestra you can oppose a choir of wind or of brass to your strings, or you can divide your many strings into opposing groups, and get a trenchant contrast that will strike the dullest listener. In the quartet you have only four instruments-at every moment of your piece, those four only. No easy mechanical oppositions for the bungler , here. Even if you invent a good contrast, it is no simple matter to tie its two terms together, but requires the most ingenious dove-tailing. And your contrasts have all to make up in subtlety what they lack in salience. Instead of a trombone against a flute, you have the G string of the violin against the A of the 'cello, or even the D of the violin against its own A, or even the identical notes in the second violin you have just had in the first. Minute differences of range become crucial: here an instrument has to come forward as leader; there to subordinate itself as second; there again to obliterate itself in useful, necessary accompaniment.
最後，從大體上看，四重奏的局限性和特殊榮耀在於，它的對比必須遠遠低於管弦樂隊，甚至弦樂和鋼琴的對比，但正是由於這個原因，他們不得不通過更微妙的手段來實現他們的藝術目標。在管弦樂隊中，你可以將管樂或銅管合唱團與你的琴弦相對，或者你可以將許多弦樂分成對立的組，並獲得一個鮮明的對比，這將使最沉悶的聽眾感到震驚。在四重奏中，你只有四種樂器——在你的 作品的每一刻，只有這四種。這裡沒有簡單的機械對立 即使你發明瞭一個好的 contrast，要把它的兩個術語 tog ether 聯繫起來也不是一件容易的事，而是需要最巧妙的 dove-tailing。而你的對比必須以微妙的方式彌補它們在顯著性上的不足。不是長號與長笛相抗衡，而是小提琴的G弦與大提琴的A相抗衡，甚至小提琴的D弦與它自己的A相抗衡，甚至是你剛剛在第一小提琴中得到的第二小提琴中的相同音符。音域的微小差異變得至關重要：在這裡，樂器必須作為領導者出現;在那裡，將自己從屬於第二;在那裡，又在有用的、必要的伴奏中抹去了自己。
And so we note still a third superiority of our second excerpt, in the precise sense it shows of contrasts so delicate and elusive that only the keenest, most highly trained imagination can use them. For while, in the first, each instrument is well employed, and all produce an effective if hardly a striking texture, in the second each is so peculiarly happy, so 'in its element' as we say, that the four together create a unique, a delicious, an unforgettable sound. Viola and second violin carry the melody, in gemüthlich thirds and sixths, the viola on top colouring the tune with its individual sober feeling. 'Cello plucks just the right notes to give the rhythm clearness without obviousness, and to infuse the whole sonority with a delectable lightness. First violin embroiders, touching at crucial points the notes needed as high-lights, thus illustrating how even the habitual leader need not always sing, but can be used by a master for purposes of background. And the whole sonority is as individual as it is acoustically faultless.
因此，我們仍然注意到第二段摘錄的第三個優越之處，從確切的意義上講，它所展示的對比是如此微妙和難以捉摸，以至於只有最敏銳、最訓練有素的想像力才能使用它們。因為，在第一首中，每種樂器都得到了很好的運用，並且都產生了一種有效的（即使很難說是引人注目的）質感，但在第二部分中，每一種樂器都是如此特別的快樂，正如我們所說的，如此“在其元素中”，以至於這四種樂器一起創造了一種獨特、美味、難忘的聲音。 中提琴和第二小提琴承載旋律，在 gemüthlich 三度和六度中，頂部的 中提琴以其獨特的清醒感覺為曲調增添了色彩。“大提琴恰到好處地撥動正確的音符，使節奏清晰而不明顯，併為整個聲音注入了令人愉悅的輕盈感。首先，小提琴刺繡，在關鍵點觸及作為亮點所需的音符，從而說明即使是習慣性的領唱也不需要總是唱歌，而是可以被大師用作背景。整個聲音既獨特又在聲學上沒有故障。
In the very interest of stating these contrasts there lurks, no doubt, the danger of exaggerating their importance; and it is as well to be on our guard against taking them with a too narrow literalness, and especially against dogmatically translating 'different' into ' better ' and 'worse.' No doubt the A minor Quartet is more agreeable, in its purely physical sounds, than the C minor; but it would be a sad error to jump from that to the conclusion that it was 'better,' or that Brahms 'ought' to have written the other differently. The two quartets, we might rather say, are different musical beings, and had to be differently written. The C minor is far the more profoundly conceived, is more tragic in its feeling, more contrapuntal in its striving melodies, more severe in its search for musical unity；it could not possibly have had the grace, the ease, the charm of the A minor, and yet have remained itself. We do not expect a stormy autumn day, with its heavy clouds allowing only glints of pale sunshine, to woo our sense as Indian summer does with its warm sun and genial air; yet we should not willingly exchange either experience for the other.
毫無疑問，為了陳述這些對比，隱藏著誇大它們的重要性的危險;我們同樣要警惕，不要用太狹隘的字面意義來理解它們，特別是要避免教條地將“不同”翻譯成“更好”和“更差”。毫無疑問，A 小調四重奏在純粹的物理聲音上比 C 小調更令人愉快;但是，如果從這一點跳到結論說它“更好”，或者勃拉姆斯“應該”以不同的方式寫另一個，那將是一個可悲的錯誤。我們更願意說，t wo 四重奏是不同的音樂生物，必須 以不同的方式創作。C 小調的構思更深刻，情感更悲劇，旋律更對位，尋求統一的統一性更嚴謹;它不可能沒有 A 小調的優雅、輕鬆和魅力，卻仍然保持著它自己。我們不能像印度夏天溫暖的陽光和和煦的空氣那樣，想像一個暴風雨的秋日，沉重的秋日只允許一縷蒼白的陽光。然而，我們不應該心甘情願地用這兩種經驗來交換其他經驗。
In its musical content the A minor Quartet displays the same easy charm as in its tonal setting. Viennese gemüthlichkeit is more evident in it than North German earnestness. Yet if it has none of the severe cyclical unity of the other, it achieves an extraordinary unity of its own, through its peculiarly spontaneous yet exact imagination. Indeed, its very casualness is a little misleading: we are apt to think that nothing so easy can be remarkable; but the more we study it the more we see that its ease is that of a master diverting himself, and that within its smiling humour a rigorous mind is at work.
在其音樂內容中，A 小調 Quartet顯示出與其 tonal 設置相同的輕鬆魅力。維也納的 gemüthlichkeit 比北德的認真更明顯。然而，如果它沒有他者那種嚴重的週期性統一性，那麼它就會通過其獨特的自發性而又精確的想像力來實現自己的非凡性。事實上，它的隨意性有點誤導：我們很容易認為，沒有那麼容易的事情會是非凡的;但是，我們越是研究它，就越能發現它的輕鬆就像一個大師轉移自己的注意力，在它的微笑幽默中，一個嚴謹的頭腦在起作用。
Take, for instance, the motive of four notes, the raison d'etre of the whole movement, which starts off with such disarming naïveté in the first violin: A, F, A, E, a combination of Joachim's 'Frei aber einsam' with Brahms's own 'Frei aber froh' motive (or its inversion). For all its apparent casualness, it soon develops most unexpected and entertaining variants. First, at the end of the exposition, p. 7 of the Eulenberg score, it appears in major instead of minor, imitated from second violin to viola and then to 'cello. Next, sounded by the 'cello near the top of p. 9, it combines with a totally different theme, which we have already heard but at first had supposed to have nothing to do with it, but which now turns out to have been born as a counter-subject for it. When, at the bottom of that same page, the recapitulation begins, we find it altered so as to keep the viola busy with an inversion of the original motive (now F, A, F, B flat). Finally, there exists another kind of imitation of a theme, practiced by the old contrapuntists, in which it is not literally inverted but turned back-foremost as if seen in a mirror (as in the scholastic' Spiegel-Canons '). Well, hold p.14 of the score, the coda of the movement, in front of a mirror, and you will see reflected to you the theme, in the second violin thirteen measures from the end, and in the 'cello four measures later, while it will be visible without mirror in the viola and first violin in adjacent measures. What delectable fooling!
以四個音符的動機為例，這是整個樂章存在的理由，它以第一小提琴中如此令人放鬆的 naïveté 開始：A、F、A、E，約阿希姆的 “Frei abereinsam” 與勃拉姆斯自己的 “Frei aberfroh ”的組合' 動機（或其倒置）。儘管它表面上很隨意，但它很快就發展出了最出乎意料和有趣的變體。首先，在闡述的結尾，即 Eulenberg 樂譜的第 7 頁，它以大調而不是小調出現，從第二小提琴到中提琴，然後到大提琴。接下來，由第 9 頁頂部附近的大提琴發聲，它與一個完全不同的主題相結合，我們已經聽說過，但起初以為與它無關，但現在事實證明，它已經作為它的反主題誕生了。當在同一頁的底部開始重述時，我們發現它被修改了，以便讓中提琴忙於對原始動機的倒置（現在是降F、A、F、B）。最後，還有另一種對主題的模仿，由老的對位論者實踐，其中它不是字面上的倒置，而是像在鏡子中看到的那樣向後翻轉（就像在經院哲學的“明鏡-卡農”中一樣）。好吧，按住 p。樂譜的 14 部分，樂章的尾聲，在鏡子前，你會看到主題反映在你面前，在第二小提琴中從結尾開始十三小節，在大提琴中則晚四小節，而在中提琴和d 第一小提琴中相鄰小節中將無鏡可見。多麼可笑的愚蠢！
The Andante moderato movement is the most serious of the four. Its nobly eloquent theme, with moving bass not only highly characteristi
Andante moderato 運動是四個運動中最嚴重的一個。其高貴雄辯的主題，動人的低音不僅極具特色。c in itself but adding at salient points to the expressiveness of the upper melody (see Ex. 2), recalls the exalted mood of that of the Andante
本身，但在突出的點上增加了高旋律的表現力（見 Ex. 2），讓人想起行板的崇高情緒 in the G minor Pianoforte Quartet*, but without the false notes in style by which that was marred. Here all is Brahms's own, even in t
在 G 小調鋼琴四重奏*中，但沒有在風格上受到損害的假音符。這裡一切都是勃拉姆斯自己的，即使在 the
他 dramatic, but not melodramatic, Hungarian
戲劇性，但不戲劇性，匈牙利語-flavoured
味 middle part, with the tremolo accompaniment, where the balance between energy and contemplation is nicely calculated. At the end of that, and before the return of the main theme, there is a striking example of how freely the mature Brahms conceived t
中間部分，在顫音伴奏下，能量和沉思之間的平衡得到了很好的計算。在那的結尾，在主題回歸之前，有一個引人注目的例子，說明成熟的勃拉姆斯是多麼自由地構思he device of
he 設備 'preparation.' Why, at letter F near the bottom of p. 17, do we suddenly r
“準備。”為什麼，在第 17 頁底部附近的字母 F 處，我們突然 remember the
e記住theme, and feel it to be about to
主題，並感覺它即將 return? The
返回？這 melody is completely different, and in a different key (F sharp major), although haunting the same notes, C sharp and D. This is not what makes us
旋律完全不同，並且在不同的調性（升 F 大調）中，儘管縈繞在相同的音符中，升 C 和 D。這不是我們的原因think of the theme, however, but rather the whiff of three notes only of the original bass part which we now get at the beginning of each measure. Led toward the theme thus we grow 'warmer,' as children say in their games, when the opening four notes of the theme itself begin to be heard at G on the next page, sometimes in their original inflection, sometimes inverted. All this leads by pleasantly urgent gradations to the actual return of the theme. But why is this return in F major, instead of in the original key of A
然而，想想主題，而是我們現在在每個小節的開頭聽到的原來的低音部分的三個音符的味道。因此，正如孩子們在遊戲中所說的那樣，當主題本身的開頭四個音符開始在下一頁的 G 處聽到時，我們變得“溫暖”，有時是原來的音調，有時是顛倒的。所有這一切都以令人愉快的緊迫的漸變引領著主題的實際回歸。但是為什麼這個返回是 F 大調，而不是 A 的原始調major ?
阿喬爾 ？ To answ
至 answer
的 this question intelligently will help us to an insight into the composer's m
這個問題將幫助我們巧妙地洞察作曲家的 Methods in the
ethods 在broader lay-out of his piece. He wishes for the fourth and last appearance
他的作品的更廣泛佈局。他希望第四次也是最後一次出現 of his theme to
他的主題give it the most poignant em
給它最淒美的 embodiment of all,
身體， letting the 'cello sing it on the A string while the other three instruments tr
讓大提琴在 A 弦上演唱，而其他三種樂器 translate to higher
anslate 到更高 register the expressive chord
記錄富有表現力的和弦s originally used
s 最初使用 below it (compare letter I o
在它下面（比較字母 I on p.19, with
n p.19，與letter A on p. 15). This must obviously be in A major both to gain the best r
第 15 頁的字母 A）。這顯然必須在 A 大調中既能獲得最佳的 register of
的註冊人‘cello
大提琴A string and to establish good tonal equilibrium in the piece as a whole. But if the previous statement is also in A major, that key will now be dull and stale. In order to make
一根弦樂，並在整首曲子中建立良好的音調平衡。但是，如果前面的語句也是 A 大調，那麼這個調現在就會變得沉悶和陳舊。為了使 it fresh here, Brahms chooses for the preceding appearance a key, F, which is closely
它在這裡新鮮，勃拉姆斯為前面的出現選擇一個鍵 F，它非常接近 related
相關to A, but quieter and less brilliant.
到 A，但更安靜，不那麼明亮。Thus
因此 the three 'cello solo when it does come prod
三把大提琴獨奏 當它真的來的時候 produces its maximum effect.
最大效果。
The minuet is the first full-fledged example, in the chamber music, of a new type of light movement to which Brahms at this period became much addicted and which he uses not only in pieces like the A major Violin Sonata, but even in his symphonies. It is adumbrated slightly in the Scherzo of the G major Sextet, where the dainty opening theme is set over against a Presto giocoso section of peasant-like boisterousness. The means for unifying so bold a contrast is uniformity of pulse, that metrical continuity which Brahms is apt to cling to even in his most daring rhythmic transformation-indeed, especially in them. In the Sextet, one measure of the Presto giocoso equals one beat of the Allegro non troppo (as is proved by the first four measures on p. 40 of the score)；and by this equivalence Brahms is enabled to associate in a single movement themes so strongly contrasted as to be, but for that, almost mutually exclusive.
這首小步舞曲是室內樂中第一首正式的室內樂作品，勃拉姆斯對這種新型的輕樂章非常著迷，他不僅在《A大調小提琴 S onata》等作品中使用了這種樂章，甚至在他的交響曲中也使用了這種樂章。它在 G 大調六重奏的諧謔曲中略顯低調，其中精緻的開場主題與 Presto giocoso 部分的豌豆t 般的喧鬧相映成趣。統一如此大膽對比的手段是脈搏的均勻性，這種計量的連續性，即使在他最大胆的節奏轉換中，勃拉姆斯也很容易堅持這種連續性——事實上，尤其是在它們中。在六重奏中，Presto giocoso 的一個小節等於 Allegro non troppo 的一個節拍 （樂譜第 40 頁的前四個小節證明瞭這一點）; 通過這種等價性，勃拉姆斯能夠在一個樂章中將主題聯繫起來，這些主題是如此強烈地對比，以至於幾乎是相互排斥的。
In the present movement the Minuet in its languorous grace and the headlong mischievous Allegretto vivace are even more saliently contrasted-yet still are reconciled by the equivalence of their beats. What is now boldly and completely different is the building up of the beats into higher organisms. Carried out probably with the unconsciousness of genius, organization could not have been more systematic had Brahms been consciously putting into practice his knowledge that the most graceful of all rhythms is the triple, the most energetic the duple. In the Minuet (see Ex. 3a) all the groupings are by threes. The beat itself is made into an exquisitely graceful triplet by the upper instruments in the second bar, imitated a bar later, with equal grace, by the 'cello. The beats are themselves grouped in threes in the aristocratic dignity of the traditional minuet movement. And finally, the three of these measures instead of the mores usual two or four are combined to make the phrase: how much of the charm of the whole is due to the three-measure phrases will be realised but gradually. Only in the return of the theme in the third 'Part' (for the Minuet is also in three-part form) is the dominance of triple grouping relaxed, and a lovely contrast obtained by the two chords to a beat of the high strings floating like a captive balloon anchored by the fifths of the 'cello.
在當前的樂章中，慵懶優雅的小步舞曲和任性的、頑皮的快板活潑地形成了鮮明的對比——但仍然被它們的節拍的對等性所調和。大膽而完全不同的是，節拍被建立成更高的有機體。也許是天才的無意識，如果勃拉姆斯有意識地將他的知識付諸實踐，他的所有節奏中最優美的是三重奏，最有活力的二重奏，那麼組織就不可能更系統了。在小步舞曲中（見 Ex. 3a），所有的分組都是由 3 組成的。節拍 itself 被 secon d 小節的高樂器製作成一個精緻優雅的三連音，後來由 'cello' 以同樣優雅的方式模仿一個小節。節拍本身被分成三部分，具有傳統小步舞曲運動的貴族尊嚴。最後，這三個小節而不是通常的二四個被組合成短語：the whole 的魅力在多大程度上是由於三個小節短語將逐漸實現。只有在第三部分的主題回歸時（因為 Minuet 也是三部分的形式）才放鬆了三重分組的主導地位，兩個和弦與高弦的節拍形成了可愛的對比，高弦的節拍像一個被大提琴五度固定的俘虜氣球一樣漂浮著。
Now turn to the Allegretto vivace (Ex. 3b). With the change of mood from grave to gay, everything except the value of the beat changes. The beat is now itself divided into four fleet and coy sixteenth-notes, staccato; or a little later at B into two eighths not quite so fleet but even more coy. The same energy, acting in wider span, builds the beats into two-beat measures and the measures into two-measure groups, a heavy followed by a light; and even the phrases last usually through four or eight main accents-it is sometimes hard to be sure which. Like a good workman, Brahms is careful to alternate the two schemes often enough (even if in the middle he gives us only six measures of the Minuet) so that we shall feel, spurred by contrast, the full grace of his threes and the full energy of his twos. In the Finale the Hungarian flavour of the middle part of the slow movement returns. It is a hilarious rondo on two themes, one of which Kalbeck compares to a czardas, the other to a ländler. Plastically speaking its chief interest lies in the imagination with which the czardas-like main theme is varied. In Ex. 4 are set down five of the variants, which it is worth our while to savour. In (a) we have the first estate of the theme, headlong but also possessing a certain grace through its three-measure phrasing. At (b) the three-measure phrases are set off by single interpolated measures in which their cadences are playfully imitated; (c) is a vigorous form, with boldly figured counter-subject; (d) is in major and takes the form of a free canon between 'cello and first violin. In the last version, (e), the final sprint, the theme is appropriately diminished to two measure. It is hardly necessary to insist on the fertility and freedom of imagination shown in all these modifications of a single theme: to such mastery the very material of music seems to become fluid.
現在轉向 Allegretto vivace（出埃及記 3b）。隨著情緒從嚴肅到同性戀的變化，除了節拍的價值之外，一切都發生了變化。節拍現在本身被分為四個艦隊和靦腆的十六分音符、斷奏;或者稍後在 B 處分成兩個八分音符，雖然不那麼艦隊，但更加靦腆。同樣的能量，作用在更寬的跨度中，將節拍構建成兩拍小節，將小節構建成兩小節組，一個重小節和一個輕小節;甚至短語通常持續到四個或 eight 主要重音——有時很難確定是哪個。就像一個優秀的工匠一樣，勃拉姆斯小心翼翼地經常交替使用這兩種方案（即使在中間他只給了我們小步舞曲的六個小節），這樣我們就會在對比的刺激下感受到他的三小節的充分優雅和他的二小節的全部能量。在終曲中， 慢樂章中間部分的匈牙利風味 ret urns。這是一首關於兩個主題的搞笑迴旋曲，其中一個是 Kalbeck 將它與 czardas 相提並論，另一個是 ländler。從造型上講，它的主要興趣在於想像力，這種想像力使 czardas 般的主題發生了變化。在Ex. 4中列出了其中的五種變體，值得我們花時間細細品味。在 （a） 中，我們有主題的第一部分，一意孤行，但通過其三小節的措辭也擁有一定的優雅。 在 （b） 處，三小節樂句由單個插值小節觸發，它們的節奏被俏皮地模仿;（c） 是一種充滿活力的形式，具有大膽的反主體;（d） 是大調的，採用 大提琴和第一小提琴之間的自由卡農形式。 在最後一個版本 （e） 中，即最後的sprint，主題被適當地減少到兩個小節。幾乎不需要堅持在對一個主題的所有這些修改中所表現出的豐富性和想像力的自由度：為了如此掌握，音樂的材料似乎變得流動起來。