Like his "Album Leaves." I am not certain, but I suspect that Shumann wrote many of these for his piano students. They are too slight and brief to be useful as concert pieces.
Perhaps one of the reasons he is seldom mentioned is because most of his pieces look and sound very easy abut are actually very difficult to play (a characteristic he shares with Brahms), and the ideal piece as we all know are the ones that look and sound difficult but are actually very easy to play.
i was just relistening to his concerto again... its great.gonna start finding his sheet music...
Not much to talk about? Schumann, the only romantic composer, the one who fathered Brahms, the one who propelled the poetic in music from the ruins of Beethoven's legacy into the constellations? Schumann, the creator of a tightly knit vocabulary of musical references, the trinity of genius, host of Florestan, Eusebius and Maestro Raro? The decadent and the visionary. Is that the Schumann there is little to talk about?You caught me in the mood. Let's just do a little bit of Kinderszenen. It looks very much like a collection of short tone poems (or is it a suite?). Down to the knitty-gritty, you will find variations on at least two themes (the first an ascending sixth followed by a decesending scale, the other, the name of no other than Bach). At the same time, there is a fairy tale being told in the background, from there was once upon a time to and they lived happily ever after, complete with a boogie-man, toy riding horse, a game of tag, a tantrum rewarded by a new gift, etc.Layer upon layer of literary references, references to other works (really, signs placed carefully for the amusement and understanding of his inner circle), and the obligatory invocation of Beethoven right at the end, as if weaving Bach invisibly through the piece was not enough.All child's play.
It is difficult to come up with another composer with such a multi-layered, complex music, and yet it looks and sounds deceptively simple on the surface. It is possible to write volumes on each single piece by Schumann if one decides to investigate all the links with literature, personal history, music itself and so on. Schumann is absolutely satisfying in all levels: emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual.
I completely agree. An area of Schumann's music that i have recently become intrigued in is his links with German literature of the time. In particular the inspiration behind Kriesleriana. Kriesleriana is in fact inspired by the writing of E.T.A Hoffmann in his book The life and opinions of the Tomcat Murr. In the book the story teller narrates the story of Kapellmeister Kriesler however the storytellers cat is also writing his own autobiography and uses the storytellers manuscript as blotting paper. The result is a very fragmented book that continually moves from the story of Kriesler to that of the cat. The depth of the inspiration is quite amazing, Krielseriana actually reflects the structure of the book, if you look at the music carefully it is very fragmented. Another idea brought up in the book is that of the split personality and the Doppelganger, this of course relates to Schumann's own Floristan and Eusebius, in fact the character of Kriesler is very similar to that of Schumann. Another character in the book goes by the name of Chiara, she is a young woman who is hald captive and made to perform magic tricks by the magician Severino. It is almost certain that Schumann related Chiara to Clara Wieck. Especially as at the time Clara's father wouldn't let them marry.The links between book and music don't end there, there are many more, for example descriptions in the book of Kriesler improvising which resemble very much the music of Kriesleriana.
... just thought it might be interesting!
KrEIsler, not KrIEsler!
He is a very deep thinker, it would seem. I find myself to have much compassion for him and for his life. Actually, he he, I even cried when I realized this stuff.I
me too. i read a lot about schumann lately. his life is very interesting. his son wrote a biography about his life and family life, would be an interesting read but this book is hard to get. in amazon it's out of stock.his music is so original! and beautiful!
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1878156012/qid=1128200354/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-6068987-5146230?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
I'm glad to hear of so many Schumann fans. When I look over concert programs, I come to the conclusion that he must be rather"out of fashion today". As if fashion means anything. One of the best recordings of Carnaval is by Casadesus, especially at the end. My favorite piece by Schumann is Vogels al Prophete (sp?) absolutely ethereal,from the Waldscenen.
Casadesus is an extraordinary Schumann interpreter imo. Have you heard his Papilons and Etudes Symphoniques? You should if you haven't, you will enjoy them too. I think Scumann is out of fashion too, he doesn't show up much on programs lately; don't worry, the pendulum will swing back....
Topic: schumann. 