About this work
The Scherzo Op. 4, written in 1851, is the earliest work Brahms chose to publish with an opus number. Rasch und feurig—fast and fiery—describes an E-flat-minor motif that leaps through chords and octaves, punctuated by rests that sharpen every return. The drive depends on those gaps; filling them with pedal immediately makes the rhythm heavy.
Its design is broader than an ordinary scherzo. Two trios introduce distinct characters: one broadens the line and the other settles into a more mysterious repeated texture. Returns of the opening material are not copies. Register, dynamic level and preparation alter the tension until the last pages concentrate the accumulated energy in broad chords.
Practise the principal motif without pedal and release the arm during rests. In octaves, lead with the upper note and let the thumb follow without striking. Establish a separate touch for each trio before rehearsing transitions back to the main section. One common pulse should nevertheless remain perceptible, preventing the twelve pages from breaking into fragments.
What the document containsDocument: The document contains 12 pages in PDF format. No MIDI file is currently attached to this historical record. The 12-page PDF preserves the complete Scherzo, both trios and every return of Rasch und feurig.The historical record marks the work and file as public domain but does not document the editor or exact provenance of this copy. The file preserved by LesPartitions.info can be compared with the reference catalogue. Following that check, LesPartitions.info separates established facts from information that remains incomplete.