The Tragic Overture comprises three main sections, all in the key of D minor.
1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Molto … See more

The work is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba See more

• Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (Brahms): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Orrin, Howard. Program Notes: Tragic Overture, Op. 81 (archived 2016)
• Hansen, Kelly Dean (October 14, 2008). "Listening Guide: … See more

Theorists have disagreed in analyzing the form of the piece: Jackson finds Webster's multifarious description rather obscurist and prefers to label the work's form as a "reversed sonata design" in which the second group is recapitulated before the first, with See more

• Pascall, Robert, ed. (2008). Brahms: Biographical, Documentary and Analytical Studies. Cambridge University Press. ISBN See more