Johannes Brahms: Theme from Symphony No.3, 3rd movement for Clarinet & Piano

Johannes Brahms composed four symphonies in total, and this music comes from his third Symphony. From Beethoven onwards, most composers would write a lively Scherzo for their Symphonic 3rd movements, but Brahms typically used a gentler style of music such as this slow waltz-like movement (marked "poco allegretto") in his 3rd symphony. This theme has captured the imagination of others, to the extent that it has been adapted several times before for use outside of the concert hall in a variety of songs, films and games. One such example is the film score for the movie "Goodbye Again" which was by the French composer Georges Auric. The film was based on a novel called "Aimez-vous Brahms?" and the movie also had this title as released in France and other countries, so it is not surprising that George Auric decided to use music by Brahms in the score. Our mfiles adaptation of this theme is closer in style to Brahms' original, essentially an abbreviated arrangement of Brahms' third movement, with the main melody played on the Clarinet, and much of the original orchestral accompaniment adapted here for the piano. Brahms' 3rd symphony is in F major but this movement itself was originally in C minor. However we have transposed it to G minor to better suit the Clarinet's range. The score and parts can be downloaded from the left-hand menu as can midi and mp3 files, and a variety of play and download options are presented below.

On mfiles we have an alternative version of this arrangement for Violin and Piano, although in this case we leave it in the original key of C minor. There is also an arrangement for Piano Solo.