JOHANNES BRAHMS | Four Ballades, Opus 10 (originally for piano solo), published 1854 | instrumentation for horn, double bass and piano
FILE FORMAT: PDF | 600 dpi (48 pages)
RELEASE: final
INCLUDED PARTS: Piano (score), horn, double bass
DOUBLE BASS TUNING: GDAE only
SOURCE: N. Simrock, revised edition, 1888
COMMENT: Brahms’s first printed compositions have fascinated me for many years. The level of maturity he achieved as a composer at the age of just twenty is astonishing. Several works from this period seemed adaptable for the double bass. The Four Ballads, Op. 10, are another major composition from this stage that had been on my mind for a long time.
I had made a number of drafts and sketches for an instrumentation for double bass and piano, but I was never entirely sure that it would work convincingly. Meanwhile, I completed several larger projects involving Brahms’s music, during which I became increasingly aware of how often his writing contains leitmotifs built on characteristic horn intervals—or even entire melodies that are idiomatic to the horn. When I later returned to the Four Ballads, Op. 10, I suddenly had a breakthrough: throughout the entire cycle, I recognized the same intervals typical of the natural horn. At that moment, I realized what had been missing all along—the most important instrument in my original plan: the French horn.
This insight led to the idea for a new instrumentation: of a “Horn Trio No. 2” by Brahms—using music that Brahms himself had written, with only minimal contribution on my part to make it as natural as possible for instruments the Brahms family knew so well: horn and double bass were the two instruments Johannes Brahms grew up with, as his father, Jacob Brahms, played both.
The keys of D major / D minor and B major / B minor are omnipresent throughout this cycle and had a decisive influence on its structure. For readers interested in this aspect, I recommend exploring the subject further—there is a wealth of information available online.
After spending several years passively testing ideas, I began actively working on this instrumentation. Following multiple performances—always with fantastic musicians—the arrangement underwent withinn six months three complete revisions, involving substantial improvements, changes, and optimizations, until the score reached its final form in the version released today.
I am absolutely thrilled that pianist Maria Sofianska and I were able to record all four ballads together with an amazing musician and at the same time one of the world’s greatest horn players, Radovan Vlatković. The video production will be released on my YouTube channel as first next. What you see here is an unlisted test video—a teaser for what is to come—featuring a short excerpt from the Ballade in D major, Op. 10, No. 2:
Editing of the full video with ca 23 minutes of exquisite music by Brahms in this instrumentation are scheduled for December 2025 / January 2026 and I hope to be able to share it with you soon. Now is already first step completed: PDF music is available, as well for the whole cyclus, as for the single ballades.
ATTENTION: please make sure to click at your desired version of PDF music:
Full version, all four Ballades Op. 10:
*22 EUR | Buy now:
Single ballades:
"Scottish" Ballad Op. 10, No. 1 in D minor:
*8 EUR | Buy now:
Ballad Op. 10, No. 2 in D major:
*8 EUR | Buy now:
Intermezzo Op. 10, No. 3 in B minor:
*8 EUR | Buy now:
Ballad Op. 10, No. 4 in B major:
*8 EUR | Buy now:
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