The Finales

Chapter 5 is a detailed study of the final movements of Brahms’s three violin sonatas. How do the finales function as separate movements? How do the finales complete the musical narratives of each entire sonata? Concerning the G-major Sonata, the chapter explores how the finale wraps up the sonata-long narratives, and how the sonata as a whole relates to the death of Brahms’s godson Felix Schumann. Concerning the A-major Sonata, the analysis looks at the ways the last movement wraps up the sonata-long narratives of how the personas of the violinist and pianist interact. In the case of the D-minor Sonata, attention is on the ways that the final movement differs dramatically yet relates to the earlier movements in the sonata.