A Study Of Brahms’s 《Piano Concerto No.2》 Op.83

The subject of the thesis is Johannes Brahms’s 《Piano Concerto No.2》 Op.83. Based on the formal analyses on texts, the author attempts to investigate Brahms’s personal music language, aesthetic tastes and compositional perspectives. Further, the piece is returned to the timeframe of composition to demonstrate various social meanings, through interchanging the by-then historical background, social statues and cultural thoughts of meantime. Also, the incidence of "Brahms versus Wagner" is discussed on top of the prior findings.During the process, the author incorporates the angle and methodology from cultural anthropology, which based an analysis on historical development, yet considers multi-layered and multi-angled thoughts. This thesis is constructed around the analysis of musicology.This thesis consists of prologue, body and conclusion:Chapter 1 observes the historical and cultural foundation from two directions-macro cultural visions and partial artistic environment. Chapter 2 focuses on formal analysis of music. Through summarization and categorization, multi-faceted detail analysis is conducted to reflect the composer’s personalized tactics as well as aesthetic values. Chapter 3, after sound perception and logical analysis, extends beyond original text, to explore discursive messages that convey perceptional insights. On the one hand, historical position is determined through the review of musical form of concerto; revealing the social and cultural factors that had led to the diminishing presence of concerto during 2nd half of 19th century in Deutsch territories. On the other hand, further examination of text discover the connection between "classical" music tradition and the by-then "anti-trend" composition perceptions and aesthetic inspirations of Brahms; as such, the characteristics and inclinations of musical tastes of Deutsch Romantic Music during 2nd half of 19th century are clearly indicated. The comparison and contrast between Brahms and Wagner in terms of their respective musical visions and the interesting differences identified through pieces raised artistic controversies. Chapter 4 intends to point out potential causes of the previously mentioned artistic controversies between Brahms and Wagner, through various angles such as history studies, sociology and even psychology.