Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

's Fantasiestücke, Op. 12, are eight pieces for piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, written in 1837

1837 in music

- Events :*June 11 – Prussian Copyright Act protecting for the first time performances of concert music*Pauline Viardot makes her concert debut at the age of sixteen.- Published popular music :...

. Schumann titled the work inspired by the 1814 collection of novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

s Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier by his favourite author, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and dedicated it to Fräulein Anna Robena Laidlaw (1819–1901), an accomplished and attractive 18-year old Scottish pianist with whom Schumann had carried on a brief flirtation.

Schumann composed the pieces with the characters Florestan and Eusebius in mind, representing the duality of his personality. Eusebius depicts the dreamer in Schumann while Florestan represents his passionate side. These two characters parlay with one another throughout the collection, ending self-reflectively with Eusebius in "Ende vom Lied".

Details

1. "Des Abends" ("In the Evening") in D-flat major / Sehr innig zu spielen (Play very intimately)

Schumann, after completing the work, then gave the piece its title, which introduces the character of Eusebius, who serves as a symbolic representation of Schumann's dreamy self. He intended the imagery to be a "gentle picture of dusk."

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2. "Aufschwung" ("Soaring", literally "Upswing") in F minor

F minor

F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....

 / Sehr rasch (Very rapidly)

Schumann conceived of "Aufschwung" as a depiction of the character Florestan (from Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of... 's Fidelio Fidelio Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora... ) indulging in his desires, and as the Norton Anthology of Western Music describes "at the height of his passions."

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3. "Warum?" ("Why?") in D-flat major / Langsam und zart (Slowly and tenderly)

The title "Why?" was intended by Schumann to signify Eusebius's reflection on the excesses of Florestan in "Aufschwung". The piece proceeds with "gentle questioning" and ends with an "inconclusive answer."

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4. "Grillen" ("Whims") in D-flat major / Mit Humor (With humor)

With its whimsical, quirky nature, this piece solely represents Florestan and his eccentricities.

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5. "In der Nacht" ("In the Night") in F minor / Mit Leidenschaft (With passion)

The two characters of Florestan and Eusebius (the interaction of which Schumann was attempting to represent within the Fantasiestücke) unite for the first time in this piece, which has both "passion together with nocturnal calm." Schumann is said to have perceived in "In der Nacht" the story of Hero and Leander Hero and Leander Hero and Leander is a Byzantine myth, relating the story of Hērō and like "hero" in English), a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Dardanelles, and Leander , a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. Leander fell in love with Hero... , albeit not until after writing it.

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6. "Fabel" ("Fable") in C major

C major

C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

 / Langsam (Slowly)

Like the previous piece, this also juxtaposes both the passionate and dreamy side of Schumann within the same work (as opposed to representing each separately, as in the first subset). The key of C major breaks from the pattern of D-flat major/F minor established by the previous pieces. In this piece, the whimsical nature of Florestan is set against the ethereal tranquility of Eusebius, resulting in a "placid narrative together with rich veins of humor."

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7. "Traumes Wirren" ("Dream's Confusions") in F major

F major

F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...

 / Äußerst lebhaft (Extremely lively)

The title is implicative of the struggle between the dreams and the passions within Schumann. In this piece the dreamy quality of Schumann, represented by the character of Eusebius, becomes entangled by the passions of Florestan, who symbolizes Schumann's more emotional side. Like the previous piece, this piece also departs from the established D-flat major/F minor key signature scheme, as it is written in the key of F major which is also the key of "Ende vom Lied", the next piece. The piece is rhythmically intense and a rapid pulse permeates it.

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8. "Ende vom Lied" ("End of the Song") in F major / Mit gutem Humor (With good humor)

Schumann described this piece as a combination of wedding bells and funeral bells. In a letter to Clara Schumann Clara Schumann Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era... , his wife, he wrote about this last piece: "At the time, I thought: well in the end it all resolves itself into a jolly wedding. But at the close, my painful anxiety about you returned."

External links

• Free score at kostenlose-klaviernoten.de
• Notes at Naxos Records
  Naxos Records
  Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
  
  
• "Fabel" and "Traumeswirren" from Fantasiestücke played by Arthur Rubinstein
  Arthur Rubinstein
  Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
  
  at Internet Archive (Open Source Movies)