ROBERT SCHUMANN
1810 - 1856
​
ROMANTIC ERA
​
​
LISTEN TO HIS MASTERPICES
German Romantic composer renowned particularly for his piano music, songs (lieder), and orchestral music. Many of his best-known piano pieces were written for his wife, the pianist Clara Schumann.
1.
Happy Farmer
2.
March
4.
Hunting Song
5.
The Poor Orphan.
3.
First Loss
Album for the Young, Op. 68
Kinderszenen Op.15
"Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15"
1
No. 1 "Von fremden Ländern und Menschen"
"Of Foreign Lands and Peoples"
by Vladimir Horowitz
The piece, written in G major and in a simple three-part form, is very gentle, but at the same time optimistic. A bit of sad intonation appears only in the middle section.
The energetic, vigorous music written in D major, despite its three-beat size, resembles a march of fairy-tale characters. From time to time, a lyrical image appears, but this is not for long, like a change in the mood of a child.
by Nelson Freire
A very expressive melody, characterized by some mystery, creates a mood of calm and serenity.
by Martha Argerich
2
No. 2 "Kuriose Geschichte"
"A Curious Story"
by Daniil Trifonov
3
No. 7 "Träumerei"
"Dreaming"
4
No. 10 "Fast zu ernst"
"Almost Too Serious"
by Alfred Brendel
5
No. 13 "Der Dichter spricht"
"The Poet Speaks"
This is the most popular piece from the cycle, which is very often included in the program of various concerts. Delicate and touching music makes an enchanting impression on the listeners.
The poet reflects on the meaning of life and how different judgments are in youth and adulthood.
"Scenes from Childhood" -
the history of which is clearly reflected in one of the composer's messages to his girlfriend. Robert wrote to Clara that all his thoughts are filled only with memories of her. Reflecting on the romantic moments of their relationship, he was inspired by her words that sometimes he acts like a child. This recollected statement gave rise to the composer's idea of creating a cycle, later called ""Scenes from Childhood".
.png)
Clara Schumann
Dichterliebe, Op. 48
"A Poet's Love"
1
#1 Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
"In the wondrous month of May"
In the wondrous month of May,
When all the buds burst into bloom,
Then it was that in my heart
Love began to burgeon.
​
In the wondrous month of May,
When all the birds were singing,
Then it was I confessed to her
My longing and desire.
by Jonas Kaufmann
The first song of the cycle "In the glow of warm May days" is like a short introduction. It introduces the poet's spiritual life, the world of poetic visions, love dreams, painful dreams. With the exquisite subtlety of artistic techniques in a small sketch, Schumann conveys the fragility of the awakening feeling, his fusion with the delicate beauty of spring nature. A short piano introduction outlines the musical image of the song. The thematic material of the introduction forms the basis for further development.
2
#7 Ich grolle nicht
"I bear no grudge"
I bear no grudge, though my heart is breaking,
O love forever lost! I bear no grudge.
However you gleam in diamond splendour,
No ray falls in the night of your heart.
​
I’ve known that long. For I saw you in my dreams,
And saw the night within your heart,
And saw the serpent gnawing at your heart;
I saw, my love, how pitiful you are.
I bear no grudge.
by Jonas Kaufmann
"I bear no grudge" - first dramatic climax. The harsh monochromaticity of the C-major key, enhanced by the dense chord texture and the ostinato of the rhythm, should, apparently, express the courage of detachment. However, the low VI sound, which forms the melodic peak of the opening phrase of both stanzas, the alteration of individual chords, and finally the deviation into a parallel minor obscures the "purity" of the C-dur. The movement towards the minor key, heard from the very first phrases of the song, reveals some inner instability.
Despite the restraining beginning, coming from the rhythmically even bass moves, the inner excitement grows steadily, reaching its maximum intensity by the end of the second stanza.
The pathos of the climax cannot be softened by the twice repeated words "I bear no grudge" Moreover, the short piano postlude, the harsh asceticism of its diatonic music, and the dryness of the unrestrained final beats add to the drama of the entire song.
In the next group of songs, the suppressed feeling of despair is gradually intensified and finally concentrated in the tragic climax of the cycle -"The bad old songs"
​
3
#11 Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädche
"A young man loves a girl"
by Jonas Kaufmann
A boy loves a girl
Who chooses another;
He in turn loves another
And marries her.
​
The girl, out of pique,
Takes the very first man
To come her way;
The boy is badly hurt.
​
It is an old story,
Yet remains ever new;
And he to whom it happens,
It breaks his heart in two.
The song is clearly of a household style with a characteristic "guitar" accompaniment, a playful tongue twister in the vocal part - an attempt in an ironic light to present the story of love collisions.
4
#16 Die alten, bösen Lieder
"The bad old songs"
by Jonas Kaufmann
The bad old songs,
The bad and bitter dreams,
Let us now bury them.
Fetch me a large coffin.
​
I have much to put in it,
Though what, I won’t yet say;
The coffin must be even larger
Than the vat at Heidelberg.
​
Do you know why the coffin
Must be so large and heavy?
I’d like to bury there my love
And my sorrow too.
Among the in-depth psychological miniatures of the cycle, the final one "The bad old songs" stands out for its epic scale and the very spirit of the narrative. The character of the song is determined by its piano introduction - the impressive first chord beat, descending in wide quarter-fifth moves of octave unison. The melody of the song grows out of these turns. Persistent and persistent accentuation of strong beats gives the rhythmic structure volitional elasticity.
The unexpected intrusion of a diminished seventh chord stops all movement, after which the phrase sounds especially meaningful: "They shall bear the coffin away,And sink it deep into the sea." This is where the epic part of the story essentially ends. The tragic sorrow of the afterword “I’d like to bury there my love
And my sorrow too.”- prepares the contemplative lyricism of the piano postlude, which concludes the entire song cycle:
Thus ends the cycle "The Love of a Poet" - one of the most beautiful and profound works of Schumann.
History of creation
"The Poet's Love" is the most famous vocal cycle of Schumann. He was born in the "year of songs", 1840 - one of the happiest in the life of the composer. After years of grueling struggle, he finally merged with Clara Wieck, who was Schumann's only great love.
1840 discovered Schumann as a vocal composer.
In the "year of songs" the composer found his own poets, among whom the main place was taken by Heinrich Heine, who was so close to him in spirit.
Heine was the most prominent of the German romantic poets. Schumann was attracted by Lyric Intermezzo (1822-1823). The composer selected 16 related t. o the love tragedy experienced by young Heine. The love story unfolds sequentially: from the inception in the beautiful month of May of yearning and delight, echoed by flowers and stars, betrayal of a loved one, her wedding with another, to persistent memories, tragic dreams and bright fabulous visions, culminating in a grandiose burial of love at the bottom of the sea, not devoid of irony.
​
​
Music
The most characteristic features of Schumann's vocal style are concentrated in "The Poet's Love": exclusive attention to the poetic word, the desire to convey the melody of the verse, the subtlety of psychological experiences that amaze with unprecedented complexity and contradictions, the deepest immersion in them, leading to an almost complete ignorance of the external world. This is facilitated by new expressive means: not song, but declamatory melody, continuously developing free form, almost without repetitions and pictorial details, sophistication of harmony.
​
In Schumann's romances, the role of the piano increases to a value equal to the voice, and in some cases the accent moves to the piano part, and by means of instrumental sound, Schumann conveys what a word cannot express.
From this basic creative premise follows the exceptional significance of the piano intros and especially the conclusions in the songs. The introduction introduces into the emotional atmosphere, into the general coloring of the song (there are not so many introductions in the cycle of introductions), while the conclusion complements, finishes, and these sayings often contain the psychological grain of the whole song.
Piano part role
Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op.54
The piano concerto a-moll is the most significant in this genre in German music of the mid-19th century. Schumann conceived it "as a cross between a symphony, a fantasy and a concert."
1st movement
by Arthur Rubinstein
The composition of the concert is based on the transformations of the initial theme, which is first heard by the orchestra after the opening phrase of the soloist. Melancholy in the main part, calmly lyrical in the side part, in the development it acquires the features of a nocturne, and in the code - a march. The second part is a small intermezzo. It goes on without interruption into a bravura finale, where the main theme is again developed in a dancing spirit.
​
Schumann's concert requires high technical skill from the soloist, but virtuosity does not come to the fore here. Even the solo cadence in the first movement is devoid of external showiness. The symphonic development and the focused-personal type of utterance put Schumann's concert in a special place among the romantic examples of the genre.
Symphony No.4 In D Minor, Op.120
Romanze
Wiener Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan
Second Movement, Romanze - His poetic melody in the spirit of a folk ballad is sung by the solo oboe and cello. The melodious theme of the introduction sounds like a natural chorus of a ballad. A contrasting middle section is formed by patterned variations on the introduction in major performed by a solo violin.
The Fourth Symphony is the most innovative not only in the work of Schumann, but in general in the German romantic symphony of the first half of the 19th century. The author called it "symphonic fantasy" and thought of it as a one-part composition of five episodes (introduction and four sections), which follow without interruption and are united by common themes. These themes, the most personal and lyrical of all Schumann's symphonies, masterfully vary, demonstrating the most varied possibilities, right up to the birth of contrasting images, like Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony.
Waldszenen, Op. 82
"Forest Scenes"
Forest Scenes, op. 82, written by Schumann in 1848-49. These were the years of the last takeoff of the composer's creative genius.
The forest plays a special role in the art of the German romantics. Romantics discover the beauty of a German folk tale that inhabits the world with mysterious fantastic creatures - sylphs and elves (air spirits), salamanders (fire spirits), undines (water spirits) and gnomes (earth spirits) live next to everyday reality. In the forests, in the "green heart of Germany", the heroes of the German epic were born and grew up.
In Forest Scenes, Robert Schumann continues this romantic tradition of "dual" magic, which the German sentimentalist writer Jean Paul called "the moonlight of the miraculous" ...
Forest Scenes is one of Schumann's most romantic works. The solemn and mystical sounds of "Bird as Prophet", the ominous "Haunted Place", the openly cheerful "Hunting Song" - all the necessary attributes of romanticism, representing the real and fantastic worlds.
1
#1 Eintritt (Entry)
by Jörg Demus
2
#6 Herberge (Wayside Inn)
Jörg Demus
3
#7 Vogel als Prophet
(Bird as Prophet)
by Jörg Demus
_jfif.jpg)