Music born of longing

03/24/11 11:18
(http://www.klassa.bg/)

by Petar PLAMENOV

28 March (Monday), 19:00
Robert Shuman - The piano poet
Piano recital by Svetoslav Lazarov
Boris Hristov Music Center
Address:
Sofia, 43 Tzar Samuil Str.
Phone: 02 987 35 92
Entrance: 5 BGN

• In the program: Fantasy Pieces, Forest Scene, Kids Scene

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) is great German composer, famous critic and music journalist. He was one of the driving forces of the young Romantic movement in Germany.Like many in his generation, Robert Schumann did not seem destined to become a composer, let alone one who would be so influential in the development of a new style. He was the son of a bookseller, and had a love of music and literature. However, at his mother's insistence, he went to Leipzig to study law.

While there, he also studied piano with an ambitious teacher by the name of Friedrich Weick, whose daughter he would one day marry. He soon convinced his family of the futility of further law study and turned his full attention to music. Physical problems with his hands prevented him from continuing as a pianist, and he turned to composition and criticism. Schumann's piano music has always had a place in the concert hall. His wife, Clara, was an accomplished pianist, as was he. For many people, it's the only Schumann they know.

Schumann's music is often enigmatic and personal. He liked to hide names (spelled out in note names) in his pieces, and he often imbued pieces with their own personalities. An example of this is his set of short piano pieces, Carnaval. These are pseudonyms that Schumann wrote under in his journal, and each depicts an aspect of his personality, the first being more flamboyant and the second more controlled. He represents these in the music, making each a short character piece.

Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) Op.15 (1838) - This is a set of 13 solo piano pieces, includes Traumerei (Dreaming), possibly the most famous Schumann piece of them all. They represent the adult Schumann recalling nostalgically his childhood.

Carnaval Op.9 (1834-1835) is a festival before Lent, and this is a series of 22 short piano pieces representing masked revellers at the festival. Carnaval uses small character pieces to create the idea of a costume ball. In the piece Schumann introduces storybook characters (Harlequin and Colombine, for example) as well as real ones (including Chopin and Paganini). Three of the characters are especially personal: Eusebius (Adagio) was Robert's quieter, introspective side. This piece demonstrates Schumann's lyric gift. Florestan (Passionato) represented the Romantic side of Schumann's personality. The quickly changing moods of this short piece suggest a rather mercurial state of mind. Chiarina (Passionato) is Clara Wieck (fourteen or fifteen at the time). Although Schumann was at that time engaged to another woman (Ernestine von Fricken), he knew Clara well from his studies with her father. Although the movement is marked "passionate," the music suggests more grace and youthful exuberance than passion.

At the same time, Schumann explored the other extremes of Romantic ideals: size and experimentation with form. His symphonies, especially, are large works in which the lyrical tendencies of his style seem to push against the constraints of form. His piano concerto broke new ground by having all the movements based on transformations of a basic theme. In all these ways, and in his mixing of literary and musical ideals, Robert Schumann was a true Romantic.