Brahms’ cello sonatas are probably amongst the most beautiful that has ever been written for this instrument. The publication of the two works in the new Brahms Complete Edition has prompted us to publish a new Urtext edition of the Sonata in F major. This classic work in our catalogue has now been newly engraved and reflects current scholarly findings. Johannes Behr has also provided extensive details regarding its genesis and the edition. Both the piano and cello parts have fingerings, but there is also an unmarked part for the cello.
Content/Details
- Violoncello Sonata F major op. 99
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Preface
We do not know when Johannes Brahms (1833–97) began work on his Cello Sonata no. 2 in F major, op. 99. But we do know that he finished work on it in the summer of 1886 when he was in Thun in Switzerland. The date at the close of the extant autograph score confirms this, and in his pocket diary for the year, Brahms entered the work (along with several other finished pieces) … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer

Johannes Brahms
His significant output comprises chamber music, piano works, numerous choral compositions and songs (including settings of folk-song lyrics), as well as large-scale orchestral works in the 1870s and 1880s. His compositions are characterized by the process of developing variation. He is considered an antithesis to the New German School around Liszt, and an advocate of “absolute” music.
1833 | Born in Hamburg on May 7, the son of a musician. His first piano instruction with Willibald Cossel at age seven, then with Eduard Marxen; first public performances from 1843. |
1853 | Concert tour through German cities; he meets Schumann, who announces him as the next great composer in his essay “Neue Bahnen” (“New Paths”). A lifelong, intimate friendship develops with Clara Schumann. |
1854–57 | Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15. |
1857–59 | Choir director, pianist, and teacher at the royal court in Detmold. |
1859–61 | Director of the Hamburg Women’s Choir. |
1860 | Manifesto against the New Germans around Liszt. |
1863 | Cantata “Rinaldo,” Op. 50. |
1863–64 | Director of the Wiener Singakademie. |
1868 | Partial performance in Vienna of “A German Requiem,” Op. 45 (the complete work premiered in Leipzig in 1869) |
1871–74 | Artistic director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of Friends of Music) in Vienna. |
1873 | Haydn Variations, Op. 56a, for orchestra. |
from 1877 | His symphonic output begins with the Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 (begun 1862); composition of the Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73; the Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 (1883); and Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 (1884–85): cantabile themes, chamber-music-like style. |
from 1878 | Travels in Italy. |
1878 | Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, for Joseph Joachim. |
1881 | Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83, with a scherzo movement. |
1886 | Honorary president of Vienna’s Tonkünstlerverein (Association of Musicians). |
1897 | Four Serious Songs, Op. 121. Dies in Vienna on April 3. |
About the authors
Selbstverständlich sind auch hier gute Lesbarkeit, gute Wendestellen und ein verlässlicher Notentext (der auf der neuen Brahms-Werkausgabe fußt). (...) Eine Neuedition, die höchsten Ansprüchen genügt (...) und nachdrücklich empfohlen sei!