Schumann’s 3 Romances, Op 94, date from the end of 1849. Originally scored for oboe and piano, they are performed here on clarinet by Julian Bliss. All three are in ternary form, though the first, a wistful piece in A minor, has only a brief scherzando exchange before the opening phrase returns. The central piece in A major has “innig” (intimate, heartfelt) in the tempo indication—a quality often present in Schumann’s music. Here the middle section is more agitated and passionate. The final piece in A minor begins with a questioning phrase which returns three more times. Again the middle section brings a contrast in mood.

From the group of six lieder published as Clara Schumann’s Opus 13 (1840-3), the first is a setting of a poignant text by Heinrich Heine—Ich stand in dunklen Träumen—and is among her most eloquent songs. The verse begins “I stood in dark dreams and gazed at her portrait …” and ends “I cannot believe that I have lost you!” The situation of temporary separation, causing the lover to stand in contemplation of the other’s portrait, would have been familiar to Clara and Robert, who had experienced fierce opposition to their marriage from Clara’s father. Clara ends this Heine setting with a short postlude for piano, a touching feature which Robert also favoured in many of his songs.

Schumann originally scored the Fantasiestücke, Op 73, for clarinet and piano while simultaneously providing alternative arrangements for violin or cello. The three pieces are melodically interrelated, creating a unity which is emphasised by their respective keys—1) A minor moving into A major, 2) A major and 3) again A major. Sometimes Schumann composed at obsessive speed, the two days required for these pieces, in February 1849, being a prime example. Fantasy was an essential part of his musical personality and not restricted to those several compositions to which he gave that specific title—such as the set of eight Fantasiestücke for piano, Op 12, and the Fantasy (or Phantasie) for violin and orchestra, Op 131. The first piece of the Op 73 group—in A minor and marked 'Zart mit Ausdruck' ('tender or delicate, with expression')—is gently melancholic, the piano’s triplet figuration maintained almost throughout. Its middle section blossoms into arpeggio-like writing, with contrary motion between the instruments. Belatedly the minor key resolves into A major. The more animated central piece has as its main theme a piano phrase from bar 3 of the opening movement. In the F major middle section the duo exchange phrases based on a little ascending figure. The final piece is urgent and impetuous, with a slightly calmer middle section. A substantial coda includes two increases of tempo and a recall of the opening phrase of the central movement, before crescendoing to the exuberant final bars.

Schumann’s Minnespiel, Op 101 (1849), is a sequence of eight settings—four solo songs, two duets and two quartets, to verses by Friedrich Rückert. No 4 of the eight songs is Mein schöner Stern!. Here Ruckert’s poignant words 'My lovely star! I beg of you, / O do not let / Your serene radiance / Be dimmed by / Dark clouds in me' reflect Schumann’s devotion to Clara but also his bouts of depression and early signs of mental illness. The expansive character of this song is established by the rising fifths in the first phrase and reinforced by the octaves in the piano’s bass line—octave leaps as well as octave doubling.

Schumann’s set of Zwölf Gedichte, Op 35 (1840), is known as the 'Kerner Lieder' because the poems are by Justinus Kerner. No 10 is Stille tränen. Here the “miraculously blue” sky follows a night in which the same sky had been “weeping down tear after tear”, just as “in the silent night many a man weeps out his sorrow”. The melody, above pervasive repeated-note crotchets, has a broadly sustained sweep requiring fine breath control, and a postlude in which Schumann liberates the piano, introducing a melodic line, more animated movement in the bass and a new turn figure.

Clara Schumann was not only one of the outstanding concert pianists of her day, but also a composer of more than fifty works, including a piano concerto, a piano sonata and nearly thirty songs. She wrote “I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this desire; a woman must not desire to compose—there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?” This pragmatic, self-effacing acceptance reflects the competing demands upon her time: she gave birth to eight children and sustained a career as a travelling virtuoso, often playing her husband’s compositions. She was also very influential in steering away from the fashionable preoccupation with virtuosity towards recital programmes of greater substance and seriousness. Clara’s Three Romances, composed for the great violinist Joseph Joachim in 1853, begin with an expressive D flat major piece in 3/8 which intensifies (animato) as the piano part becomes increasingly florid. The second piece in G minor has a recurring feature of an octave leap and a light-hearted middle section in G major. The passionate final piece has an animated piano part of rippling arpeggios, later transformed into delightful staccato figuration.

From Schumann’s Lieder und Gesänge, Op 96, (1850) the first song, Nachtlied, is a setting of Goethe, still, serene, dignified and unadorned. Bare on the page, this song is an amalgam of rapture and quiet majesty. Schumann’s connection with Goethe’s texts began tentatively when he was eighteen, but became a consistent preoccupation, culminating in the large-scale choral work Scenes from Goethe’s Faust (1844-53).

Schumann’s Abendlied, Op 85 No 12 (dating from 1849), is the last of a sequence of Twelve Pieces for piano four-hands, “for small and large children”. During a 4-5 year period Schumann composed four works for children: The Song Album for the Young, Op 79 (April/May 1849), comprised twenty-nine songs; four months later he composed Op 85, then in June 1853 he wrote Three Piano Sonatas for children, Op 118. In September of that year he composed a set of six dances for four hands—the Kinderball, Op 130. The Op 85 children’s pieces were technically well within the ability of Schumann’s seven-year-old daughter Marie. Actually No 12, Abendlied, is written for three hands, the single hand playing the melody. All twelve pieces became popular in the nineteenth century, when domestic music-making flourished, but especially the final piece, which exists in numerous arrangements. In 1861 Joseph Joachim adapted it for violin and orchestra, then around 1880 Busoni made an arrangement for clarinet and string quartet. Schumann’s considerable amount of music for four hands, much of it very characterful, is among the most neglected areas of his large output.

Of Clara’s 3 Lieder, Op 12, the second is a setting of Rückert’s poem Liebst du um Schönheit. Rückert’s Liebesfrühling, a cycle of several hundred poems, was a celebration of the delights of conjugal love. Having read these poems soon after their marriage, Robert wrote in a joint diary which he and Clara kept: “The idea of publishing a volume of songs together with Clara inspired me to set to work … now Clara should also compose some songs from the Liebesfrühling.” Ultimately Robert’s nine songs and three of Clara’s were chosen to be published together as Opus 37/12 (Op 37 being Robert’s.) The heartfelt message of Clara’s Liebst du um Schönheit is that genuine love for love’s sake transcends the seductive attractions of mere beauty or youth. A constant flow of quavers in the accompaniment underpins the eloquent simplicity of the melody.

Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, Op 70, dates from one week after he had composed his Fantasiestücke, Op 73. For him 1849 was a fruitful year, during which he composed about twenty important works. Schumann originally intended his Op 70 for the new valve horn. In the dreamily romantic Adagio the frequency of intervals of a semitone contributes to a special emotional intensity, yet this is also among the most tender movements in all of Schumann’s music. The radiant coda of the Adagio gives way to the Allegro’s leaping, joyful main theme in 12/8. This breaks the spell cast by the foregoing music with the kind of extreme mood-change which came naturally to Schumann. Here he adopts rondo form, the second of the two episodes being in a slower tempo ('Etwas ruhiger'—somewhat calmer). In both episodes Schumann derives some of his material from the opening Adagio. A faster tempo is marked for the 9-bar coda. All the arrangements recorded here (other than Op 94 and Op 73) are by Julian Bliss.

Phillip Borg-Wheeler © 2024