Chapter 24: The Romantic Generation / Song and Piano

Schumann's Dichterliebe (1840)

('Poet's Love'). Song cycle, op. 48 (1840), by Schumann for voice and piano, settings of 16 poems by Heinrich Heine. The cycle consists of sixteen songs on poems selected from the more than sixty in Heine's Lyrisches Intermezzo (1823). Neither the poems nor the cycle has an encompassing narrative, but the theme of unrequited love prevails.

Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben (1840)

('Woman's Love and Life'). Song cycle, op. 42 (1840), by Schumann for female voice and piano, settings of eight poems by Adalbert von Chamisso.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

1. Born in Vienna 1797, father was schoolteacher 2. Early music education included Antonio Salieri (he was admitted to Hofkappel chorus as a youth because of his innate talent) 3. In 1808 received full tuition scholarship to Kaiserlich-königliches Stadtkonvikt and music ed was top priority; learns composition, violin, etc. 4. First compositions are as a teenager, including fantasies for piano duet, but in 1814 he has a burst of creative activity (up to 60 bars per day of music on average, including orchestral works) 5. Most well known for his songs, including song cycles Die schöne Müllerin (1823), Winterreise (1827); his 9 symphonies; chamber works (Death and the Maiden quartet, The Trout quintet); 22 piano sonatas, 17 operas/Singspiels. 6. Died in 1828 of complications from syphillis.

nocturne

A 19th- century, Romantic piano piece of a slow and dreamy nature in which a graceful, highly embellished melody in the right hand is accompanied by a broken-chord pattern in the left. The title was first used by John Field, and was taken up by Chopin, whose 21 examples are unsurpassed. In the 20th century the term was also applied to pieces that depicted musically the sounds of night; for example in the fourth movement of Bartók's piano suite Out of Doors (1928), the noises made by insects, birds, and other night creatures are imitated.

Wilhelm Müller (1794-1827)

A German lyric poet. Müller excelled in popular and political songs that attracted great composers, notably Franz Schubert, and also influenced Heinrich Heine's lyric development. Schubert's two song cycles, Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, are based on collections by Müller.

polonaise

A Polish dance. Often of stately, processional character, it was much developed outside Poland in the 18th century. It came to be characterized by the rhythm shown in ex.1 but its origins lie in sung Polish folk dances of simple rhythmic-melodic structure. These dances, in triple metre and built from short phrases without upbeats, were performed at weddings and other festivals with regional variations of character, tempo and function. The folk polonez was adopted by the 17th-century Polish nobility, who transformed it into a more sophisticated dance, suitable for their refined, cultured courts. There are polonaises of transitional character, popular with the minor aristocracy, which retain elements of rural simplicity, but the court polonaise, when sung, employed more sophisticated texts. It became yet more elaborate as it developed into an instrumental piece for dancing at grand society occasions. Through its processional nature the dance assumed martial overtones and its status in Poland promoted its dissemination across Europe. At the end of the 17th century the polonez was becoming popular in the courts of many countries and by the middle of the 18th century it had firmly acquired the French title 'polonaise' even in Polish sources.

Schubert's Impromptus (1827)

A composition for solo instrument, usually the piano, the nature of which may occasionally suggest improvisation, though the name probably derives from the casual way in which the inspiration for such a piece came to the composer. It was apparently first used in 1817 as the title of a piano piece by J.V. Voříšek published in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung. A set of six such pieces by Voříšek appeared in 1821; they are modelled on the eclogues of his master Tomášek, and the title 'Impromptu' appears to have been suggested by the publisher. H.A. Marschner's impromptus opp.22-3 appeared in the early 1820s. Schubert composed his eight impromptus in 1827; the first four, d899, were so named by the publishers, but it is likely that Schubert himself chose the titles of the second set, d935. Only the first of the eight, in C minor, suggests an element of improvisation; the others, particularly the seventh, a set of variations on an original theme in B♭, are highly organized movements. The form is chiefly a ternary one in which the central episode may be of a stormy and vehement character.

Romanticism

A movement or, more commonly, period of cultural history. When understood as a period, Romanticism is usually identified with either the first half or the whole of the 19th century. The term is used with reference primarily to the arts, but it can also embrace philosophy, socio-political history and, more widely, the 'spirit' of the era. In literature Romanticism is commonly taken to cover roughly the first half of the 19th century, though the philosophical origins of the movement lie well back in the previous century. Literary Romanticism took its definitive form in the late 18th century in polemical and creative writings by the Schlegel brothers and their circle in Germany, and in the early 19th century by Wordsworth and Coleridge in England, and by Lamartine and Hugo in France. It is usually accepted that Romantic features continued to exert an influence after the middle of the century, but as a period term 'Romanticism' gives way at that point to 'Realism' and 'Symbolism', movements associated initially with French writers. Historians of the visual arts have conventionally adopted a broadly similar chronology, identifying early Romantics such as Géricault and Delacroix in France, Turner in England and Caspar David Friedrich in Germany, and again arguing for a dispersal of the original Romantic impetus following the middle of the century (1863 is a key date, with the death of Delacroix and the Salon des refusés). In music, however, the Romantic movement has often been located somewhat later, beginning in the post-Beethoven era (c1830) and continuing into the early 20th century, though terms such as 'Late-Romantic' and 'Neo-Romantic' are applied by some historians to the later stages of this period. A more sustained application of the term 'Romantic' to music awaited E.T.A. Hoffmann's extended review of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (1810), together with his subsequent article on Beethoven's instrumental music (1813). The major significance of these essays lies in their synthesis of existing aspects of Romantic theory, the transfer of these to the musical sphere, and a prophetic inference that music should be regarded as the supreme Romantic art. The concept of creativity embraced by Hoffmann was already familiar from the Schlegel brothers and was shared by a younger generation of German writers, notably Ludwig Tieck, Wilhelm Wackenroder and Jean Paul. Above all, that concept highlighted the privilege attaching to the individual creative genius. Characteristics that had already been attributed to art in general within philosophical aesthetics of the late 18th century - its capacity to access a plane beyond the real (variously characterized as the transcendental, the inexpressible or the infinite), its power to arouse the strongest emotions, and its value as a mode of intuitive knowledge of the world - were now particularized, referring to the individual creator and the individual (original and 'great') work of art. Moreover, such characteristics were associated specifically with the potency of the creative imagination. The vision or dream-world of the Romantic artist, informed and made aesthetically whole (unified) by his genius, would give the rest of humanity a privileged insight into reality. It is worth stressing the notion of unification here, since Hoffmann supported his central aesthetic insight with detailed technical descriptions of a kind one might today describe as analytical.

concert étude

An instrumental piece designed to develop a particular skill or performing technique. Certain nineteenth-century ____s that contained significant artistic content and were played in concert were called _____ ______. See Chopin and Liszt.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)

Austrian pianist, composer, teacher and conductor. He was considered in his time to be one of Europe's greatest composers and perhaps its greatest pianist. Hummel made rapid progress as a pianist, becoming a pupil of Mozart at some point in 1786. As Johannes tells us, Mozart was so impressed by the young prodigy that he taught him free of charge; and as was often the arrangement at the time, Hummel lived with the Mozarts and became a de facto member of the family. He played billiards with Mozart and tried out his teacher's newest compositions, and the pair were often seen together on the streets of Vienna. While living at the Mozarts' Hummel also had the opportunity to meet, or at least observe, the distinguished guests who frequently visited the Mozart household during this period. These included Lorenzo da Ponte and none other than Haydn, who would sometimes come over to read through string quartets, with Mozart playing viola, Vanhal the cello and von Dittersdorf the second violin. Succeeded Haydn at Eisenstadt.

Carl Czerny (1791-1857)

Austrian piano teacher, composer, pianist, theorist and historian. As the pre-eminent pupil of Beethoven and the teacher of many important pupils, including Liszt, Czerny was a central figure in the transmission of Beethoven's legacy. Many of his technical exercises remain an essential part of nearly every pianist's training, but most of his compositions - in nearly every genre, sacred and secular, with opus numbers totalling 861, and an even greater number of works published without opus - are largely forgotten. A large number of theoretical works are of great importance for the insight they offer into contemporary musical genres and performance practice.

Johann Mayrhofer (1787-1836)

Austrian poet and librettist; bffls with Schubert. Offed himself after unrequited love affair by jumping out of his office window in Vienna.

Nancy B Reich, Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman (2001)

Bio of Clara Schumann

Stephen Foster (1826-1864)

Born in Pittsburg, first song to hit the charts was Oh! Susannah in 1848. Gets contract with NY publisher and is first American to live solely as composer. Famous hits include Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair and Camptown Races.

Henry R. Bishop (1786-1855)

British Composer of "Home! Sweet Home!" from opera Clari (1823); became a huge success across the Atlantic.

James P. Clarke (1807-1877)

Canadian composer born in Scotland, first to get Bachelor of Music from North American university; song cycle "Lays of the Maple Leaf" in 1853 is best known work

Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, ed. Walther Dürr et al (Bärenreiter, 1964--)

Critical edition of Schubert's work

waltz

Dance in ¾ time probably deriving from Ger. Ländler which came into prominence in last quarter of 18th cent. both among composers and in the ballroom. Where the latter was concerned, the waltzes of the Viennese composers Johann STRAUSS I and LANNER were popular throughout Europe. Beethoven, Schubert, and Hummel wrote waltzes. Weber's INVITATION TO THE DANCE is in waltz rhythm and is the first 'sophisticated' treatment of the waltz. Chopin's waltzes are fine examples. In symphonic mus. the 2nd movement of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and 3rd movement of Tchaikovsky's 5th sym. are outstanding. Tchaikovsky also wrote great waltzes in his operas and ballets; and those by Johann Strauss II , Richard Strauss (Der Rosenkavalier), Ravel, and others are deservedly cherished.

Muzio Clementi (1752-1832)

English composer, keyboard player and teacher, music publisher and piano manufacturer of Italian birth. 55 years elapsed between the appearance of his sonatas op.1 and his last publication of any consequence - Gradus ad Parnassum, iii. The diversities in his musical style are no less marked than the great span of his career would suggest. The keyboard works describe a spectrum extending from the simplest galant writing to the rhetorical passion of Romantic piano music - from something like Alberti to something approaching Chopin.

Beethoven, *An die ferne Geliebte*

First song cycle ever written. Obviously had a huge impact on Romantic song composers.

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

German composer and music critic. While best remembered for his piano music and songs, and some of his symphonic and chamber works, Schumann made significant contributions to all the musical genres of his day and cultivated a number of new ones as well. His dual interest in music and literature led him to develop a historically informed music criticism and a compositional style deeply indebted to literary models. A leading exponent of musical Romanticism, he had a powerful impact on succeeding generations of European composers.

Fanny Mendelssohn Hansel (1805-1847)

German composer, pianist and conductor, sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn. She was the eldest of four children born into a post-Enlightenment, cultured Jewish family. Of her illustrious ancestors, her great-aunts Fanny Arnstein and Sara Levy provided important role models, especially in their participation in salon life. Her paternal grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, was the pivotal figure in effecting a rapprochement between Judaism and German secular culture. In Fanny Mendelssohn's generation this movement resulted in the conversion of the immediate family to Lutheranism. Despite baptism, however, Fanny retained the cultural values of liberal Judaism. An important element in the family circle was her special relationship with her younger brother Felix (1809-47). In close contact their entire life, they stimulated and challenged each other musically and intellectually. Fanny played a major role in shaping some of Felix's compositions, notably his oratorio St Paul (completed in 1837), and advised him on musical matters. Felix, likewise, encouraged her compositional activities, but he discouraged publication. Although his attitudes echoed his father's views and reflected the prevailing cultural values, they may have been motivated by jealousy, fear of competition, protectiveness or paternalism. In any case, these negative aspects exacerbated Fanny's own feelings of ambivalence towards composition. She depended on Felix's good opinion of her musical talents, as expressed in a letter to him of 30 July 1836, where she speaks of a Goethe-like demonic influence he exerted over her, and said that she could 'cease being a musician tomorrow if you thought I wasn't good at that any longer'. But after Felix's marriage in 1837, their relationship became less intense. In 1846 Fanny embarked on publication without her brother's involvement, as she declared in a letter of 9 July 1846 regarding a forthcoming project that became her collection of Lieder op.1 (both letters in Citron, 1987). Her pointed avowal of independence suggests pent-up frustration on this sensitive issue.

Heinrich Dorn (1804-1892)

German conductor, composer and journalist. He studied the piano, singing and composition in Königsberg, made several long journeys throughout Germany, during which he met Weber in Dresden, and completed his studies with Ludwig Berger, Bernhard Klein and Zelter in Berlin, where his first opera, Rolands Knappen, was produced successfully in 1826. At the same time he became a co-editor of the Berliner allgemeine Muzikzeitung, for which he wrote a spirited defence of the beleaguered Gaspare Spontini.

Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805)

German dramatist, poet, aesthetician and historian. The son of an army officer, he had an unsettled childhood and youth. Schiller was no musician, and indeed there is little evidence that he understood or appreciated music to any great extent. His tastes were conservative; Gluck alone among his great contemporaries found a ready appreciation from him. However, he stated that 'a certain musical state of mind [Gemütsstimmung]' was for him the precursor of poetic inspiration. Much of Schiller's verse has a kind of musicality, as well as rhythmic élan - qualities found in his lyrics and ballads as well as in the great dramatic dialogues and monologues. Incidental music plays a modest part in most of Schiller's plays; in one, Die Braut von Messina, he strove to recreate the mood and conditions of Greek classical tragedy, with an important role for the chorus.

Johann Gottfried von Herder, *Volkslieder* (1778-1779)

German man of letters, philosopher and theologian. Among those who set Herder's lyrics are Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Neefe, Schubert, Richard Strauss and Weber. While despising much in contemporary German opera, he nevertheless conceived of a unified theatrical work in which poetry, music, action, décor and dance would become one. Gluck was the opera composer against whose achievements he measured all others, but Gluck did not accept Herder's invitation to set his Brutus (it was actually set by J.C.F. Bach). Herder considered music to be a cosmic and natural force as well as the more conscious product of individual genius; reason could not account for it, just as in ancient poetry that quality he called aerugo ('rust') was a sign of age and naturalness, defying the analysis of the pedant yet immediately recognizable as a hallmark of true art.

Clara Schumann (1819-1896)

German pianist, composer and teacher. One of the foremost European pianists of the 19th century and the wife and champion of the music of Robert Schumann, she was also a respected composer and influential teacher.

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)

German poet and music critic. Heine's poetry was set by almost all the major composers of the 19th century (beginning with Schubert, whose six settings were posthumously published in Schwanengesang, 1829) and by a host of minor figures as well. While his verses remained popular as vehicles for music well into the 20th century, the previous century alone witnessed the production of approximately 8000 lieder on Heine texts. Schumann launched his 'year of song' (1840) with a Liederkreis (op.24) on a poetic cycle from the 'Junge Leiden' section of the Buch der Lieder. For the ever-popular Dichterliebe, he selected 16 (originally 20) poems from the Lyrisches Intermezzo. Altogether Schumann set 43 of Heine's verses. Other settings include those of Robert Franz (68), Mendelssohn (7), Loewe (9), Liszt (7), Brahms (6), Wolf (18), Grieg (8), Richard Strauss (6) and Berg (3).

Achim von Armin *Das Knaben Wunderhorn* (1805)

German poet and novelist, leading figure in the Romantic movement. ("The boy's magic horn: old German songs") is a collection of German folk poems and songs edited by Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, and published in Heidelberg, Baden. The book was published in three editions: the first in 1805 followed by two more volumes in 1808. The collection of love, soldier's, wandering and children's songs was an important source of idealized folklore in the Romantic nationalism of the 19th century. Des Knaben Wunderhorn became widely popular across the German-speaking world; Goethe, one of the most influential writers of the time, declared that Des Knaben Wunderhorn "has its place in every household".

Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty (1748-1776)

German poet, especially known for his ballads. Many of Hölty's poems were set to music by composers including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

German writer and statesman. His words were used all over the place in Romantic Lieder and elsewhere in the 19th c.

Fanny Mendelssohn's Das Jahr

Her impressions of the first Italian trip are inscribed in ___, a set of 12 character-pieces that combine musical and autobiographical motifs.

Lieder

In the 19th century the German vernacular song developed into an art form in which musical ideas suggested by words were embodied in the setting of those words for voice and piano, both to provide formal unity and to enhance details; thus in Schubert's Gretchen am Spinnrade (19 October 1814 - a date usually taken to mark the birth of the German Romantic lied) the image of the spinning wheel in the title evokes the recurrent circling semiquavers of the accompaniment, while the text later suggests (by its exclamation and repetition) the cessation and resumption of the semiquaver figure at the climax of the song. The genre presupposes a renaissance of German lyric verse, the popularity of that verse with composers and public, a consensus that music can derive from words, and a plentiful supply of techniques and devices to express that interrelation. The lied thus defined essentially began with its greatest poet, Goethe. But minor poets like Hölty and Müller and gifted amateurs like Mayrhofer had their importance. The seminal quality of the new verse was not its literary merit but its emotional tone, which blended both higher and lower lyric styles. The former expressed mid-18th-century sentiment in classical metres, in such poems as Klopstock's Die Sommernacht (1776). At the same time Claudius and others of peasant stock were writing simple popular lyrics like Abendlied in rhymed folksong couplets or quatrains. Primitive, national or traditional verse of all kinds and from all lands was a growing influence strongly fostered by Herder (Volkslieder, 1778-9) and a source of resurgent interest in the BALLAD. Classical and popular styles, metres and themes are found together in the verses of Hölty (d 1776), who wrote fluently in either style and could also combine the two, as in his anacreontic or elegiac verses. All these styles and forms were practised by Goethe and Schiller, who both added a further dramatic dimension to lyric verse by writing songs for plays (e.g. Faust and Wilhelm Tell). This lyric renaissance, though multi-faceted, has a discernible central theme: personal, individual feeling is poignantly confronted with and affected by powerful external forces, whether of nature, history or society. The human being and the human condition are typically conceived as isolated yet significant (as in the landscape painting of Caspar David Friedrich).

characteristic music

Instrumental music that depicts or suggests a mood, personality, or scene, usually indicated in its title.

John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age" (1997)

Introduction to Schumann's life and work

Richard Kramer, *Distant Cycles: Schubert and the Conceiving of Song* (1994)

Kramer on Schubert's song conception

R. Larry Todd, Mendelssohn: A Life In Music (2003)

Mendelssohn biography

Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte

Mendelssohn composed eight books of ___--each containing six pieces for piano solo--between 1829 and 1845; all but the last two books went into print during his lifetime. The first set, Op. 19, published in London in 1832, was simply entitled Original Melodies, and the same year Mendelssohn offered it to Simrock and Romances for the Pianoforte, only later referring to it as ____, an appealing title that stuck. The pieces are not unlike preludes or etudes in that each pursues a consistent pattern of accompaniment of a songlike melody.

program music

Music of a narrative or descriptive kind; the term is often extended to all music that attempts to represent extra-musical concepts without resort to sung words. The term 'programme music' was introduced by Liszt, who also invented the expression SYMPHONIC POEM to describe what is perhaps the most characteristic instance of it. He defined a programme as a 'preface added to a piece of instrumental music, by means of which the composer intends to guard the listener against a wrong poetical interpretation, and to direct his attention to the poetical idea of the whole or to a particular part of it'. Very few of the programmes of Liszt's own symphonic poems are of a narrative character. He did not regard music as a direct means of describing objects; rather he thought that music could put the listener in the same frame of mind as could the objects themselves. In this way, by suggesting the emotional reality of things, music could indirectly represent them. Such an idea - already familiar in the writings of Rousseau - was also expressed by Beethoven when he described the Pastoral Symphony as 'mehr Ausdruck der Empfindung als Malerey' ('more the expression of feeling than painting'). Programme music, which has been contrasted with ABSOLUTE MUSIC, is distinguished by its attempt to depict objects and events. Furthermore, it claims to derive its logic from that attempt. It does not merely echo or imitate things which have an independent reality; the development of programme music is determined by the development of its theme. The music moves in time according to the logic of its subject and not according to autonomous principles of its own. As Liszt wrote: 'In programme music ... the return, change, modification, and modulation of the motifs are conditioned by their relation to a poetic idea .... All exclusively musical considerations, though they should not be neglected, have to be subordinated to the action of the given subject' (Schriften, iv, 69).

Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy (1822)

Nickname for Schubert's Fantasia in C for pf. ( 1822 , D760), so called because the adagio section, or movement, is variations on a passage from his song Der Wanderer ( 1816 , D493). Liszt arranged it for pf. and orch. some time before 1852 and for 2 pfs. after 1851 .

Charles Rosen, *Romantic Poets, Critics, and Other Madmen* (1998)

On Romanticism and literature in the 19th century

John Daverio, *Nineteenth Century Music and the German Romantic Ideology* (1993)

On Romanticism in the 19th century

Charles Fisk, *Returning Cycles: Contexts for the Interpretation of Schubert's Impromptus and Last Sonatas*

On Schubert's piano music

Daniel K.L. Chua, *Absolute Music and the Construction of Meaning* (1999)

On absolute music and program music in the 19th c

Carl Dahlhaus, *The Idea of Absolute Music* (1989)

On absolute/program music

James Parakilas, *Piano Roles*

On the role of the piano in the 19th century

Carnavale

Op. 9, a work by Robert Schumann for piano solo, written in 1834-1835, and subtitled Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes (Little Scenes on Four Notes). It consists of 21 short pieces representing masked revelers at Carnival, a festival before Lent. Schumann gives musical expression to himself, his friends and colleagues, and characters from improvised Italian comedy (commedia dell'arte). The four notes are encoded puzzles, and Schumann predicted that "deciphering my masked ball will be a real game for you."[1] The 21 pieces are connected by a recurring motif. In each section of Carnaval there appears one or both of two series of musical notes. These are musical cryptograms, as follows: A, E-flat, C, B - signified in German as A-S-C-H A-flat, C, B - signified in German as As-C-H E-flat, C, B, A - signified in German as S-C-H-A. The first two spell the German name for the town of Asch (now Aš in the Czech Republic), in which Schumann's then fiancée, Ernestine von Fricken, was born. The sequence of letters also appears in the German word Fasching, meaning carnival. In addition, Asch is German for "Ash," as in Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lastly, it encodes a version of the composer's name, Robert Alexander Schumann. The third series, S-C-H-A, encodes the composer's name again with the musical letters appearing in Schumann, in their correct order.

études for piano

Piece for piano meant to improve technical skills (a study). In the 19th century, the ___ rose from pure technical exercise to the brilliant virtuosity and lyricism of Liszt and Chopin. The French equivalent of 'STUDY', widely adopted for fairly short pieces whose principal aim is the development or exploitation of a particular aspect of performing technique, such as Chopin's ____ op.25. The term ____ was also used as a title by some 20th-century composers, usually to indicate a piece exploring a specific aspect of the composer's craft (e.g. Stravinsky's Four Etudes for Orchestra, 1928-9).

mazurka

Polish folk dance from the Mazovia region.The basic mazurka rhythm (ex.1) shifts the accent to the weak beats of the bar within a triple metre. Triple metres became dominant in Polish folk music in the 17th and 18th centuries, while the displacement of the accent may have its origins in the paroxytonic accent in the Polish language. Mazurka rhythms occur in dances of differing tempos. The fastest is the OBEREK or obertas, a rapid whirling dance for couples; the mazurka itself (or mazur) is somewhat slower but still of lively character, while the KUJAWIAK is a dance of more moderate tempo, with longer phrase lengths. Within 'field' Mazovia the oberek exhibits local variations. It prevails in the central area, with the kujawiak more popular in the western regions. Basic rhythm: eighth-eighth quarter quarter 3/4 meter with accents on the second third beat; dotted figure on the downbeat. Heavy use of rubato.

Peter Ostwald, Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius (1985)

Problematic bio of Schumann that talks about his mental illness

modified strophic form

Schubert used this form quite often in his Lieder; for the most part, music is strophic but reflects slight changes in the text

Eric Frederick Jensen, Schumann (2001)

Schumann biography

Schumann's Phantasiestüke, Op. 12

Schumann gave each piece in this set a whimsical title, and the element binding them together is the free flight of imagination. Grillen (Whims) is typical of Schumann's approach to composition in the late 1830s. It is built entirely of four-measure phrases that join to form five distinct musical periods or modules, which recur in the rondo-like pattern ABCBA DE ABCBA Although the periods are subtly linked through rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic motives, they are essentially independent blocks of music. When the recur, they remain intact and unvaried (aside from transposition) and can be joined front to back or back to front--that is, A may proceed to B, or B to A, and similarly with C and B.

Davidsbündlertänze

Schumann's op. 6 (1837), a set of 18 character pieces for piano. The low opus number is misleading: the work was written after Carnaval, Op. 9, and the Symphonic Studies, Op. 13. The work is widely regarded as one of Schumann's greatest achievements and as one of the greatest piano works of the Romantic era. Robert Schumann's early piano works were substantially influenced by his relationship with Clara Wieck. On September 5, 1839, Schumann wrote to his former professor: "She was practically my sole motivation for writing the Davidsbundlertanze, the Concerto, the Sonata and the Novellettes." They are an expression of his passionate love, anxieties, longings, visions, dreams and fantasies. The theme of the Davidsbündlertänze is based on a mazurka by Clara Wieck.[1] The intimate character pieces are his most personal work. In 1838, Schumann told Clara that the Dances contained "many wedding thoughts" and that "the story is an entire Polterabend (German wedding eve party, during which old crockery is smashed to bring good luck)." The pieces are not true dances, but characteristic pieces, musical dialogues about contemporary music between Schumann's characters Florestan and Eusebius. These respectively represent the impetuous and the lyrical, poetic sides of Schumann's nature. Each piece is ascribed to one or both of them. Their names follow the first piece and the appropriate initial or initials follow each of the others except the sixteenth (which leads directly into the seventeenth, the ascription for which applies to both) and the ninth and eighteenth, which are respectively preceded by the following remarks: "Here Florestan made an end, and his lips quivered painfully" and "Quite superfluously Eusebius remarked as follows: but all the time great bliss spoke from his eyes." In the second edition of the work, Schumann removed these ascriptions and remarks and the "tänze" from the title, as well as making various alterations, including the addition of some repeats. The first edition is generally favored, though some readings from the second are often used. The suite ends with the striking of twelve low C's to signify the coming of midnight.

Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin (1823)

Song‐cycle by Schubert , D795, comp. 1823 , for male v. and pf. to 20 poems by Wilhelm Müller ( 1794 - 1827 ) from Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten ( 1821 ). Songs are: Das Wandern (Wandering); Wohin? (Where to?); Halt; Danksagung an den Bach (Grateful address to the millstream); Am Feierabend (After the day's work); Der Neugierige (Curiosity); Ungeduld (Impatience); Morgengruss (Morning greeting); Des Müllers Blumen (The Miller's Flowers); Tränenregen (Rain of Tears); Mein (Mine); Pause; Mit dem grünen Lautenbande (With the Lute's green ribbon); Der Jäger (The Huntsman); Eifersucht und Stolz (Jealousy and Pride); Die liebe Farbe (The beloved colour); Die böse Farbe (The hated colour); Trockne Blumen (Dry flowers); Der Müller und der Bach (The Miller and the Millstream); Des Baches Wiegenlied (The Millstream's Lullaby).

Schubert's Winterreise (1827)

Song‐cycle for male v. and pf. by Schubert (D911), settings of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller (pubd. 1823 and 1824 ). Comp. ( 1827 ) and pubd. ( 1828 ) in 2 instalments, each of 12 songs. The titles of the individual songs, in Schubert's (not Müller's) selected order are: I. Gute Nacht (Good Night), Die Wetterfahne (The Weathervane), Gefrorne Tränen (Frozen Tears), Erstarrung (Frozen Rigidity), Der Lindenbaum (The Lime‐Tree), Wasserflut (Flood), Auf dem Flusse (On the River), Rückblick (Backward Glance), Irrlicht (Will‐o'‐the‐Wisp), Rast (Rest), Frühlingstraum (Dream of Spring), Einsamkeit (Loneliness); II. Die Post (The Post), Der greise Kopf (The hoary head), Die Krähe (The Crow), Letzte Hoffnung (Last Hope), Im Dorfe (In the Village), Der stürmische Morgen (The Stormy Morning), Täuschung (Delusion), Der Wegweiser (The Sign‐post), Das Wirtshaus (The Inn), Mut (Courage), Die Nebensonnen (Phantom Suns), Der Leiermann (The Hurdy‐Gurdy Man).

absolute music

The term 'absolute music' denotes not so much an agreed idea as an aesthetic problem. The expression is of German origin, first appearing in the writings of Romantic philosophers and critics such as J.L. Tieck, J.G. Herder, W.H. Wackenroder, Jean Paul Richter and E.T.A. Hoffmann. It features in the controversies of the 19th century - for example, in Hanslick's spirited defence of absolute Tonkunst against the Gesamtkunstwerk of Wagner - and also in the abstractions of 20th-century musical aesthetics. It names an ideal of musical purity, an ideal from which music has been held to depart in a variety of ways; for example, by being subordinated to words (as in song), to drama (as in opera), to some representational meaning (as in programme music), or even to the vague requirements of emotional expression. Indeed, it has been more usual to give a negative than a positive definition of the absolute in music. The best way to speak of a thing that claims to be 'absolute' is to say what it is not.

Schubert's Moments Musicaux (1823-28)

The title given by the publisher to Schubert's set of six piano pieces op. 94 d780 (1823-8), shown on the original title page as Momens musicaux. The term has been adopted by other composers for character pieces for piano.

Schubert's 8th Symphony (Unfinished)

There are many unfinished syms. (e.g. by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Elgar, Shostakovich) but this title is generally taken to refer only to Schubert's No.8 in B minor ( 1822 , D759). His 7th in E was also left incomplete. No one knows why the 8th was left unfinished—2 movements were completed and sketches exist for the scherzo. Romantic solutions have been invented, but the truth seems to be that Schubert either forgot about it or abandoned it because he could not find comparable inspiration for the 3rd and 4th movements. F.p. Vienna, Dec. 1865 , cond. Herbeck. Among 'completions' of the sym. are those by G. Abraham ( 1971 ) and B. Newbould .

parlor songs

Tradition of song that grew in North America, paralleling that of the German Lied and the British ballad. These were sung in the home as well as in the theater, usually in strophic or verse-refrain form, and more traditionally in homophonic style (where piano supports the voice) rather than the more complex accompaniment styles of German Lieder.

Schubert's Piano Sonatas

Wrestled between song structure and extended form of sonata; themes typically don't develop, but are placed into new musical contexts. Sonata form movements use 3 keys in exposition instead of only 2, slow movements resemble impromptus, and his sonatas in C minor, A major, Bb major carry the stamp of Beethoven

lyric

a short, strophic poem on one subject expressing a personal feeling or viewpoint. The ultimate models were the lyric poets of ancient Greece and Rome, such as Sappho and Horace.

Clive Brown, A Portrait of Mendelssohn (2003)

bio of Mendelssohn

Brian Newbould, *Schubert: The Music and the Man* (1997)

biography of Schubert

Elizabeth Norman McKay, *Franz Schubert: A Biography* (1996)

biography of Schubert

John Reed, *Schubert* (1997)

biography of Schubert

Dana Gooley, The Virtuoso Liszt (2004)

biography on Liszt

Derek Watson, Liszt (2000)

biography on Liszt

Larry Todd, ed. Ninteenth-Century Piano Music, 2004

collection of essays on 19th c piano music

Charles Rosen, *The Romantic Generation* (1995)

combines a study of musical forms and styles of composers active in the 1830s with an exploration of the attitudes and literary background of Romanticism

Lawrence Kramer, *Franz Schubert: Sexuality, Subjectivity, Song* (1998)

cultural context of Schubert's songs, including how he crafted sexual desire and identity thru song

Alan Walker, Franz Liszt (1987-97)

definitive bio on Liszt

John Daverio, *Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms* (2002)

discusses intersections between three major composers (schubert, schumann, brahms)

John Reed, *The Schubert Song Companion* (1985)

guide to all of Schubert's Lieder

Michael Hall, *Schubert's Song Sets* (2003)

guide to schubert's song sets

Tad Szulc, Choopin in Paris: The Life and Times of the Romantic Composer (2000)

on Chopin's musical life in Paris and the cultural and social environment of the city

William Atwood, The Parisian Chopin (1999)

on Chopin's musical life in Paris and the cultural and social environment of the city

Lawrence D. Snyder, *German Poetry in Song: An Index of Lieder* (1995)

on Lieder

Berthold Hoeckner, *Programming the Absolute: Nineteenth-Century German Music and the Hermeneutics of the Moment* (2002)

on absolute/program music

James Parson, ed. *The Cambridge Companion to the Lied* (2004)

on the Lied

Pierre H. Azoury, Chopin through His Contemporaries: Friends, Lovers, and Rivals (1999)

perspectives from Chopin's own time

R. Allen Lott, From Paris to Peoria: How European Piano Virtuosos Brought Classical Music to the American Heartland (2003)

recounts the North American concert tours of legendary pianists such as Leopold de Meyer, Henri Herz, Sigismund Thalberg, Anton Rubinstein, Hans von Bülow

Jim Samson, Chopin (1996)

standard bio on Chopin