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Robert SchumannS y m p h o n i c E p i g r a m s
Zwickau
Born June 8, 1810
Literary family: father a bookseller and writer
Earliest unpublished compositions date from around 1822
Psalm settings for chorus & orchestra
Piano concertos (begun but not completed)
Heidelberg
Law student in 1829
But music was to be his great passion
Wrote some short piano pieces during this time.
Leipzig
Settled in Leipzig in 1830 to study with Friedrich Wieck, an outstanding piano teacher of the era.
Clara Wieck Schumann
Wieck’s daughter Clara would become both Schumann’s wife (after a long and bitter battle with Wieck), and one of the greatest pianists of the 19th century.
Opus 1
Began working on his Opus 1, the Abegg Variations for solo piano.
Abegg Variations
From the start, a cigar was never a cigar for Robert Schumann.
The “Abegg” refers to Pauline, Comtesse d’Abegg (probably fictional).
The main theme outlines the notes “A-B-flat-E-G-G”.
So it’s a kind of musical cipher.
Also typically, the ABEGG theme stops being less important as the piece progress, more powered by its internal logic then the theme itself.
Abegg Variations
Theme
Clara Haskil, piano
Journalism
By 1831 Schumann was well established as a musical journalist.
He was particularly good about identifying promising new compositional talent.
Journalist: Chopin
“Hats off, gentlemen! A genius”
Journalist: Brahms
“Destined to give ideal expression to the times”
No more Piano
Schumann ruined his piano-playing career via a gizmo called a chiroplast.
He wound up with a nearly useless left-hand middle finger.
Program CyclesWith Schumann’s Opus 2, Papillons, we enter the programmatic keyboard cycles that figure so prominently in his output.
Papillons
Carnaval
Kreisleriana
Davidsbundlertanze
Faschingsschwank aus Wien
The Cast
Eusebius
Florestan
Master Raro
Chiarina
Coquette
The Davidsbündler
The Style
One small idea is typically used in any given piece.
That small idea isn’t really developed: usually it is repeated, maybe with slight variation.
Not a technique conducive to larger development, but highly effective for shorter pieces.
sotto voce
Adagio
5
2424
&bbb 7 77
?bbb
&bbb 7
7
7
?bbb
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
Eusebius
The basic idea
sotto voce
Adagio
5
2424
&bbb 7 77
?bbb
&bbb 7
7
7
?bbb
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
Eusebius
Repeat a step higher
sotto voce
Adagio
5
2424
&bbb 7 77
?bbb
&bbb 7
7
7
?bbb
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
Eusebius
Repeat lower
sotto voce
Adagio
5
2424
&bbb 7 77
?bbb
&bbb 7
7
7
?bbb
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
Eusebius
Add a little finishing figure.
Eusebius
But if you just play it, nothing much happens.
sotto voce
Adagio
5
2424
&bbb 7 77
?bbb
&bbb 7
7
7
?bbb
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
œ œ œ œn œ œ œn œ œ œ œn œ œ œ œ œb œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ˙̇ œ̇ œn œ̇ œ ˙̇
Eusebius
The performer’s imagination & sensitivity are of paramount importance.
It’s all in the nuance, suggestion, and tone coloring.
Played it completely off the cuff, without any foreplanning or really thinking very much about what I’m going to do.
CarnavalA series of portraits of guests at a masked ball
Archetypes and real people combined
Harlequin
Columbine
Pierrot
Schumann himself
Chopin
Paganini
Carnaval
Three selections:
Eusebius
The dreamy, poetic side
Florestan
Impetuous and dynamic
Chiarina
A portait of teenaged Clara Wieck
Song Cycles
Given his literary interests, and his highly subjective approach to composition, it isn’t surprising that Schumann would be a superb composer of lieder, or art songs.
Typically he arranges his songs into cycles—i.e., songs sharing an idea, or telling a complete story.
Dichterliebe
Tells of a “poet’s love”, from initial infatuation to final disillusionment.
The opening song Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, sets the style for the whole—ambiguous, dreamy, ending without any clear resolution.
Symphonies
G Minor “Zwickau”
No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”
No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61
No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97 “Rhenish”
No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120
“Zwickau”
Written around 1832.
Definitely the work of a raw but nonetheless stupendously gifted composer.
Starts out with a bang, with an impetuous primary theme that leads well into a more subdued secondary theme, and a nicely-hued closing theme.
Symphony No. 1Written in a wave of euphoria (Clara was pregnant with their first child).
Written (typically) very quickly.
Inception: January 23, 1841
Tryout: March 26
Premiere: March 31
Sold for publication: April 8
But not until 1853 did the score reach its final version.
Symphony No. 1
The famous “goof” in the opening.
Schumann had written it for the (valveless) horns, but gave them notes they couldn’t play at the volume he requested.
Fortunately, Felix Mendelssohn (conductor) stepped in and had him move them up a third—and in that guise they became an important “motto” theme for the entire work.
Symphony No. 1
(More or less) the way Schumann originally wanted it.
Symphony No. 1
The way it wound up.
Symphony No. 1 “Spring”Wolfgang Sawallich
Staatskapelle DresdenFirst Movement Recapitulation & Coda
Symphony No. 2
Inspired by the premiere of the Schubert Ninth Symphony, on December 9, 1845.
Actually written after the first version of Symphony No. 4 in D Minor.
Schumann was recovering from a low end of his bipolar disorder.
I sketched it out while suffering severe physical pain; indeed, I may well call it the struggle of my mind, which influenced this, and by which I sought to beat off my disease. The first movement is full of this struggle, and is very peevish and perverse in character.
Symphony No. 2
The third movement is particularly worthwhile.
In standard A-B-A aria form, the two “A” sections contain phrases ‘a’ and ‘b’.
The ‘B’ section is a short quasi-fugue.
A
BQuasi-fugue. Mostly strings with wind support.
A
CodaVariations of phrase ‘a’, mostly violins
aC Minor
Violins
bE-flat Major
Horns
a1
F Minor
Winds
a2
C Minor
Violins
a3
C Minor
Flutes & Oboes
bC Major
Flute,Violin & Horn
a4
C Major
Clarinet, Oboe
a5
C Major
Violins
Symphony No. 2Wolfgang Sawallich
Staatskapelle DresdenIII: Adagio espressivo
Symphony No. 3
“Rhenish” in E-flat Major
Dates from December 1850, when the Schumanns had moved to Düsseldorf, where Schumann had accepted the conductor’s position of the orchestra.
He was never to be much of a conductor, but at first he was inspired and energized by his new position.
Symphony No. 3
Exactly how much the “Rhenish” has to do with the Rhineland, or to Cologne (apparently one of the inspirations), remains a matter of conjecture.
The fourth movement is a “solemn ceremony” apparently inspired by a processional at Cologne Cathedral.
Symphony No. 3 “Rhenish”Wolfgang Sawallich
Staatskapelle DresdenV: Lebhaft
The Orchestrator
Was Schumann as terrible an orchestrator as some commentators seem to think?
Most of the “improvements” conductors and arrangers make are in the matter of dynamics and thinning out some of the extra doublings, nothing more.
Even Gustav Mahler’s reworkings don’t change the originals all that much.
Conductor
However, there is no question but that he was a terrible conductor.
Some of the orchestration problems in the 4th symphony stem from his attempts to “fool-proof” the work so even his hamhanded conducting couldn’t ruin it.
Illness
Schumann’s bipolar disorder grew worse in the early 1850s.
He was admitted to a sanitorium in Endenich, on the outskirts of Bonn.
His mental condition slowly deteriorated and his physical state along with it.
Illness
The actual cause of his death remains uncertain.
Tertiary syphilis still remains a possibility.
The many medications may have played a part.
He stopped eating almost altogether during the last two months.
Illness
Schumann died in the sanitorium on July 29, 1856.
He was 46 years old.
The last of Robert and Clara’s children, Eugenie, died in 1938.
Symphony No. 4Wilhelm FürtwanglerBerlin Philharmonic
II: Romanze