#robertschumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was a German composer of Romantic music, particularly piano and orchestral works, as well as over 250 songs or lieder. He was also a musical critic and founded his own magazine. His wife Clara Schumann (1819-1896), a concert pianist and composer of renown in her own right, inspired Robert to attempt larger-scale works such as symphonies.

Schumann's work was not especially popular in his own lifetime, and he was continuously troubled by the spectre of mental illness. He attempted suicide, and, suffering from hallucinations, he ended his days in an asylum. Robert Schumann is today considered one of the greatest exponents of Romantic music, where emphasis is given to personal artistic expression and experimentation, often with inspiration coming from art, literature, and nature.

Early Life

Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony, on 8 June 1810. His father, August Schumann, was a bookseller, but his interest went far deeper than merely selling literature, for he translated into German the complete works of Lord Byron (1788-1822) and Walter Scott (1771-1832). This perhaps explains Robert's life-long passion for literature, especially the work of Romantic writers like Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825), his personal favourite. Robert studied at the Zwickau Lyceum in an uneventful youth in terms of academic achievement.

Robert's life turned upside down when his father died in 1826 after suffering some sort of inner mental turmoil. There was further family tragedy when Robert's sister Emilie, who had also been troubled by mental problems, committed suicide. Robert thereafter lived in perpetual fear that he, too, would one day succumb to such an illness. Spoilt by his mother, Robert was "allowed to indulge in such expensive tastes as champagne and cigars while still at school" (Arnold, 1647). Robert had written his own music while still a child, and his skills merited taking private piano lessons in Leipzig where he also studied law from 1828. Unsettled in his studies – it was his mother who had pushed for him to study law – Robert moved on to the University of Heidelberg in 1829. Still not impressing his tutors and still showing little interest in law, which he described as "chilly jurisprudence with its ice-cold definitions", Robert decided to go on a grand tour to see the cultural sights of Switzerland and Italy (Steen, 400).

Schumann did not particularly impress with his piano playing. His hopes of becoming a concert pianist were, in any case, dashed early on in a bizarre accident involving a device he himself designed to strengthen his fingers. That is, at least, the traditional view. Some more modern historians present the theory that the injury came about as a result of a mercury treatment for syphilis (which is noted in his medical records). Whatever the real cause, Schumann certainly suffered a debilitating and permanent hand injury. Instead, then, Schumann turned to music criticism and creating his own compositions. Here he was to have much more success. At last, he had found his vocation. As Schumann himself remarked on completing his first compositions: "On sleepless nights I am conscious of a mission which rises before me like a distant peak" (Schonberg, 182).

Robert Schumann's Birthplace

Unknown Artist (Public Domain)

Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in a minor op. 54

My first post for Valentine’s week is about the first piece that I think of when it comes to romantic love. Clara and Robert Schumann’s marriage is a legendary one, and despite all the heartfelt letters, journal pages and pieces dedicated to each other, their last years together are still controversial among music historians. Robert met Clara (née Wieck) during his years of studying with Friedrick Wieck.  The father did not approve their marriage, so the young couple had to flee and get married in secret. The year of the wedding is often called Liederjahr (year of songs), because the love for Clara inspired him writing wonderful song cycles.

In the next year, 1841, Robert Schumann composed a single movement fantasy for piano and orchestra, which later became the first movement of the piano concerto. The finished piano concerto in a minor was premiered in 1854 with Clara Schumann being the soloist and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy the conductor. He dedicated the concerto to his wife.

It consists of three movements, with the last two being played attacca (he uses a similar structure in the Cello Concerto in a minor):

I. Allegro Affettuoso

This movement, despite following the traditional sonata form, mixes it with fantasy-like freedom. It is a monument for early struggles in their relationship, with all the passion and youthful hope. It is interesting how many different ways we can hear the Clara-motif (C-H-A-A, the H being the German equivalent of the note B).This motif reminds me of the medieval soggetto cavato technique: it is subtracted from the letters of Clara’s name. For a similar reason, the clarinet solos have an important part in this movement.

If the exposition’s passionate themes represent Florestan (Robert’s heroic alter ego) the lyrical middle section in A flat major is just like the peaceful and emotional Eusebius (one of his other alter egos he used when writing).

II. Intermezzo: Andantino Grazioso

Between the two fast movements, we can hear a gentle song in F major, a bridge between the emotional first movement and the intensly joyful finale.

III. Allegro Vivace

Following the classical, more precisely Beethovenian traditions, the finale is a rondo form, and composed in A major. The rondo theme is born from the rhytmic patterns of the Intermezzo, and for the whole movement the key element is the rhytmic variety.

There are many debates on what illnesses Robert had in his final years, and I am not a specialist to invent my own theory about this topic. Afer his mental health started to deteriorate, Robert Schumann was reffered to the sanatorium in Endenich. Despite Clara not visiting him in his last two years, after Robert’s death she worked a lot to keep his oeuvre in its well deserved place in music history.

My favorite recording of this concerto is with Martha Argerich. She stated in many interviews that Schumann’s works are the closest to her, and I think in her interpretations we can hear the Romantic spirit and the freedom that this music demands.

Mozart: shit Beethoven: UwU smol angy man hehe asdfghjkl

Bach: 19 kids and counting 

Liszt: hot🔥😍singles💇🏻👸🏼in your area🗺📌!!!!!!

Chopin: tuberculosis bitch 

Brahms: sonic the hedgehog 

Handel: fat 

Shostakovich: omgstalinomgsiegeofleningradomgtorturedgeniusomgstalinomgdissidenceomgsuicidenoteomginterptetationomganxietyomgwhATDOESITMEEEEEAN

Paganini: literally satan 

 Vivaldi: praaaaaaise-a Jesus-a 

Tchaikovsky: gay 

 Bartók: isn’t that the bat from Anastasia  

Clara Schumann: we are gay 

Robert Schumann: Hand job gone wrong 

Bruckner: in jail 

Grainger: bruckner’s cellmate 

 Wagner: no ❤️  

Mahler: M̷̛̎è̴̚ ̷̀̌h̵̍͘é̶̈́ả̴̈́ṙ̸̕t̷̅̕ ̸̽̂m̶͌̓e̵͛̒ ̷͂̈́k̷̈́́i̷̎̅d̴̀͌s̶̄̓ 

3. Robert Schumann: Waldeszenen

If I had to use only one word to describe Robert Schumann’s music, I would chose the word ’personal’. His music is often inspired by his own inner world, his loved ones, or literature. In this suite short pieces follow each other, like reading through chapters of a novel, while the author guides us into an enchanted forest, showing us its hidden treasures.

We do not hear exact sounds taken from nature or their imitation: everything is seen through the eyes of a poet, the ways certain scenes make him feel.

This suite was published in 1850-1851, and contains 9 pieces with the following titles:

Entry

Hunters on the lookout

Lonely flowers

Haunted place

Friendly landscape

Wayside inn

Bird as a prophet

Hunting song

Farewell

In detail I would like to write about the third piece, called Lonely flowers, which is a tiny gem and my personal favorite form Waldeszenen. It is barely 3 minutes long (depends on the performer), but it still has a story to tell, with beautiful melodies, subtle poliphony and sudden harmonic changes from major to minor keys. Flowes are an interesting element from nature to write music about, since they do not make a sound, the composer has the freedom to express his own emotions he experienced while seeing them, so here we can hear a piece of Robert Schumann’s soul.

For this suite I chose Clara Haskil’s interpretation. She was a Romanian-Jewish pianist, an excellent performer of Scarlatti’s and Mozart’s works, but she played early romanticism era repertoire too during her career.