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During the summer of Schumann became engaged to year-old Ernestine von Fricken, the adopted daughter of a rich Bohemian-born noble. In August , he learned that Ernestine von Fricken was born illegitimate, which meant that she would have no dowry. Fearful that her limited means would force him to earn his living like a "day-labourer," Schumann made a complete break with her toward the end of the year. He felt a growing attraction to year-old Clara Wieck. They made mutual declarations of love in December in Zwickau, where Clara appeared in concert. His budding romance with Clara was disrupted when her father learned of their trysts during the Christmas holidays.
He summarily forbade them further meetings, and ordered all their correspondence burnt. Schumann begins nearly every section of Carnaval with a musical cryptogram , the musical notes signified in German by the letters that spell Asch A, E-flat, C, and B, or alternatively A-flat, C, and B; in German these are A, Es, C and H, and As, C and H respectively , the Bohemian town in which Ernestine was born, and the notes are also the musical letters in Schumann's own name.
Eusebius and Florestan, the imaginary figures appearing so often in his critical writings, also appear, alongside brilliant imitations of Chopin and Paganini. The work ends in joy and a degree of mock-triumph.
In Carnaval , Schumann went further than in Papillons , by conceiving the story as well as the musical representation and also displaying a maturation of compositional resource. On 3 October , Schumann met Felix Mendelssohn at Wieck's house in Leipzig, and his enthusiastic appreciation of that artist [11] was shown with the same generous freedom that distinguished his acknowledgement of the greatness of Chopin and other colleagues, and later prompted him to publicly pronounce the then-unknown Johannes Brahms a genius.
These variations were based on a theme by the adoptive father of Ernestine von Fricken. The work—described as "one of the peaks of the piano literature, lofty in conception and faultless in workmanship" [Hutcheson] — was dedicated to the young English composer William Sterndale Bennett , for whom Schumann had had a high regard when they worked together in Leipzig.
Schumann credited the two sides of his character with the composition of the work the more passionate numbers are signed F. Florestan and the more dreamy signed E.
The work begins with the "motto of C. The Bund was a work of Schumann's imagination, members of which were kindred spirits as he saw them such as Chopin, Paganini and Clara, as well as the personalized Florestan and Eusebius. It has been the favourite encore of several great pianists, including Vladimir Horowitz. Melodic and deceptively simple, the piece is "complex" in its harmonic structure.
Johannes Kreisler was a fictional musician created by poet E. Hoffmann , and characterized as a "romantic brought into contact with reality. He never surpassed the searching beauty of the slow movements Nos. The Fantasie in C , Op. Schumann intended to use proceeds from sales of the work toward the construction of a monument to Beethoven , who had died in The first movement of the Fantasie contains a musical quote from Beethoven's song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte , Op.
It must suffice to say that it is Schumann's greatest work in large form for piano solo. After a visit to Vienna , during which he discovered Franz Schubert 's previously unknown Symphony No. Most of the joke is in the central section of the first movement, which makes a thinly veiled reference to La Marseillaise.
Vienna had banned the song due to harsh memories of Napoleon 's invasion. The festive mood does not preclude moments of melancholic introspection in the Intermezzo. From to , Schumann wrote almost exclusively for piano, but in alone he wrote at least songs. Indeed, the Liederjahr or year of song is highly significant in Schumann's musical legacy, despite his earlier deriding of works for piano and voice as inferior. Had they waited another day, they would no longer have required her father's consent.
Their marriage supported a remarkable business partnership, with Clara acting as an inspiration, critic, and confidant to her husband. Despite her delicate appearance, she was an extremely strong-willed and energetic woman, who kept up a demanding schedule of concert tours in between bearing several children. Two years after their marriage, Friedrich Wieck at last reconciled himself with the couple, eager to see his grandchildren. Prior to the legal case and subsequent marriage, the lovers exchanged love letters and rendezvoused in secret.
Robert often waited for hours in a cafe in a nearby city just to see Clara for a few minutes after one of her concerts. The strain of this long courtship and its consummation may have led to this great outpouring of Lieder vocal songs with piano accompaniment. This is evident in Widmung , for example, where he uses the melody from Schubert's Ave Maria in the postlude in homage to Clara.
Schumann's biographers attribute the sweetness, doubt, and despair of these songs to the emotions aroused by his love for Clara and the uncertainties of their future together. Robert and Clara had eight children, Emil — , who died at 1 year; Marie — ; Elise — ; Julie — ; Ludwig — ; Ferdinand — ; Eugenie — ; and Felix — His chief song-cycles in this period were settings of the Liederkreis of Joseph von Eichendorff , Op. The songs Belsatzar , Op. In he wrote two of his four symphonies, No.
He devoted to composing chamber music, including the Piano Quintet in E-flat , Op. In he wrote Paradise and the Peri , his first essay at concerted vocal music, an oratorio style work based on Lalla-Rookh by Thomas Moore. After this, his compositions were not confined to any one form during any particular period. The stage in his life when he was deeply engaged in setting Goethe's Faust to music —53 was a critical one for his health. He spent the first half of with Clara on tour in Russia. On returning to Germany, he abandoned his editorial work and left Leipzig for Dresden , where he suffered from persistent " nervous prostration ".
As soon as he began to work, he was seized with fits of shivering and an apprehension of death, experiencing an abhorrence of high places, all metal instruments even keys , and drugs. Schumann's diaries also state that he suffered perpetually from imagining that he had the note A5 sounding in his ears.
His state of unease and neurasthenia is reflected in his Symphony in C , numbered second, but third in order of composition, in which the composer explores states of exhaustion, obsession and depression, culminating in Beethovenian spiritual triumph. Also published in was his Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. It is one of the most popular and oft-recorded of all piano concertos; according to Hutcheson "Schumann achieved a masterly work and we inherited the finest piano concerto since Mozart and Beethoven". In , he felt he had recovered. In the winter, the Schumanns revisited Vienna, traveling to Prague and Berlin in the spring of and in the summer to Zwickau, where he was received with enthusiasm.
This pleased him, since until that time he was famous in only Dresden and Leipzig. His only opera, Genoveva , Op. The text is often considered to lack dramatic qualities; the work has not remained in the repertoire. As early as the possibilities of German opera had been keenly realized by Schumann, who wrote, "Do you know my prayer as an artist, night and morning? It is called 'German Opera. And in his notebook of suggestions for the text of operas are found amongst others: Nibelungen , Lohengrin and Till Eulenspiegel.
The music to Byron 's Manfred was written in , the overture of which is one of Schumann's most frequently performed orchestral works. The insurrection of Dresden caused Schumann to move to Kreischa , a little village a few miles outside the city. In August , on the occasion of the centenary of Goethe's birth, such scenes of Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust as were already completed were performed in Dresden, Leipzig and Weimar. Liszt gave him assistance and encouragement. The rest of the work was written later in , and the overture which Schumann described as "one of the sturdiest of [his] creations" in From to , Schumann composed in a wide variety of genres.
Critics have disputed the quality of his work at this time; a widely held view has been that his music showed signs of mental breakdown and creative decay. More recently, critics have suggested that the changes in style may be explained by "lucid experimentation".
Famous piece for horn and piano. Musikalische Haus- und Lebens-Regeln. Schumann had considerable influence in the nineteenth century and beyond, despite his adoption of more conservative modes of composition after his marriage. Music Lists are as unique as the musician! And in his notebook of suggestions for the text of operas are found amongst others: You can also download at any time in your Digital Library. Robert Schumann Number of Pages:
According to Harold C. Schonberg , in his The Great Conductors: There is something heartrending about poor Schumann's epochal inefficiency as a conductor. By the end of that year he completed his Symphony No. In he revised what would be published as his fourth symphony. From to he visited Switzerland, Belgium and Leipzig. On 30 September , the year-old composer Johannes Brahms arrived unannounced at the door of the Schumanns carrying a letter of introduction from violinist Joseph Joachim. Schumann was not at home, and would not meet Brahms until the next day. Brahms amazed Clara and Robert with his music, stayed with them for several weeks, and became a close family friend.
He later worked closely with Clara to popularize Schumann's compositions during her long widowhood. During this time Schumann, Brahms and Schumann's pupil Albert Dietrich collaborated on the composition of the F-A-E Sonata for Joachim; Schumann also published an article, "Neue Bahnen" "New Paths" in the Neue Zeitschrift his first article in many years , hailing the unknown young Brahms from Hamburg, a man who had published nothing, as "the Chosen One" who "was destined to give ideal expression to the times.
Two years later at Schumann's request, the work received its first English performance conducted by William Sterndale Bennett. He suffered a renewal of the symptoms that had threatened him earlier. Besides the single note sounding in his ear possibly evidence of tinnitus [ citation needed ] , he imagined that voices sounded in his ear and he heard angelic music. The theme was one he had used several times before: In the days leading up to his suicide attempt, Schumann wrote five variations on this theme for the piano, his last completed work, today known as the Geistervariationen Ghost Variations.
In late February , Schumann's symptoms increased, the angelic visions sometimes being replaced by demonic ones. He warned Clara that he feared he might do her harm. On 27 February, he attempted suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the Rhine River his elder sister Emilie had committed suicide in , possibly by drowning herself.
Rescued by boatmen and taken home, he asked to be taken to an asylum for the insane. Franz Richarz's sanatorium in Endenich , a quarter of Bonn , and remained there until he died on 29 July at the age of During his confinement, he was not allowed to see Clara, although Brahms was free to visit him. Clara finally visited him two days before his death. He appeared to recognize her, but was able to speak only a few words.
Given his reported symptoms, one modern view is that he died from syphilis , which he could have contracted during his student days, and which could have remained latent during most of his marriage. Another possibility is that his neurological problems were the result of an intracranial mass.
A report by Janisch and Nauhaus on Schumann's autopsy indicates that he had a "gelatinous" tumor at the base of the brain; it may have represented a colloid cyst , a craniopharyngioma , a chordoma , or a chordoid meningioma. Schumann heard a persistent A-note at the end of his life.
It was a form of tinnitus, or perhaps an auditory hallucination related to his major depressive episode. At times, he had musical hallucinations that were longer than just the single A, but his diaries include comments about hearing that annoying single note.
After Robert's death, Clara continued her successful career as a concert pianist, which supported the family. C4-Bb5 Piano Accompaniment Scorings: F Major Product Type: The Arrangement Details Tab gives you detailed information about this particular arrangement of Kinderszenen Op. Not the arrangement you were looking for? Robert Schumann Number of Pages: C4-Bb5 Piano Accompaniment Scoring: The Related Products tab shows you other products that you may also like, if you like Kinderszenen Op. View All Product Type: There are no reviews written for Kinderszenen Op.
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