Carnival (Schumann)

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Carnaval, op. 9 is a piano cycle by Robert Schumann consisting of 23 (or 22 sounding) short character pieces . The first edition was published in 1837 by Breitkopf & Härtel with a dedication for the Polish violinist Karol Lipiński .

background

The Carnaval subtitled Scènes Mignonnes composées pour le piano sur quatre notes originated in the years 1834 / 1835 . This was preceded by Schumann's enthusiasm for “Schubert's Waltz”. On March 2nd, 1829 he noted in his diary: "[...] then happy fantasy about the waltz of longing". In 1833 and 1834, three drafts of drafts for "Scenes musicales" and "Scenes mignonnes" called variations on the waltz of longing followed. In September 1834 Schumann discovered that the letters A-Es-CH and As-CH corresponded to the Bohemian hometown of Asch of his fiancée Ernestine von Fricken , the adopted daughter of a Bohemian baron . The execution of the Scènes musicales sur un thème connu de Fran. Schubert left Schumann unfinished. He only adopted the introductory piece entitled Moderato , modified in the prelude to the following cycle, called Préambule , which implements the letters A-Es-CH and A-CH as tones in the miniatures. The entire composition revolves, so to speak, around the Lettres dansantes , called Sphinxes , inserted in the middle section , to which the combination Es-CHA belonged (the only letters from Schumann's surname that can be converted into tones). These sphinxes are not played, they are used for decoding and as a turnstile: In the first part of the work, the tone sequence A-Es-CH is consistently (usually right at the beginning of a miniature), and the notation As-CH is integrated in the second half of the work.

The cycle was actually supposed to be given the German title “Fasching”, which also includes the tone letters A-Es-CH or A-CH. The subtitle should read “Schwänke auf four notes”. In the word “Schwank”, as in “Schumann”, one finds Es-CHA. But Schumann complied with the publisher's wishes. According to the fashion, the title was Frenchized to Carnaval, Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes .

The Carnaval is also related to the thoughts of the Bundestag members. One piece is titled Estrella (Davidsbündler name Ernestine von Frickens). Chiarina is the Davidsbündler name Clara Wiecks , Eusebius and Florestan are the Davidsbündlernames Robert Schumanns, and the march of the Davidsbündler against the Philistines , which concludes the cycle, corresponds in its title to the artistic aim of the Davidsbündler . The miniatures with the titles Chopin and Paganini are the exceptions in the style of the notation described. The tone sequences As-CH only appear incidentally, but not as a theme. Some of the 1,834 originally for the Carnaval miniatures incurred were not included in the final cycle, but in the later compiled collections Colorful battery black op. 99 (no. 6 Albumblatt III ) and Album Leaves op. 124 (no. 4 Walzer , no. 11 romance and No. 17 Elfe ).

On New Year's Day 1836, Schumann finally separated from Ernestine von Fricken. Carnaval was first published in Germany in August 1837 by Breitkopf & Härtel. In the French first edition of July 39, 1837 by Schlesinger in Paris, some pieces were omitted at the request of the publisher, and some were given different titles. Ernestine is not named as the dedicatee on the title pages of both publications, but the Polish violinist Charles Lipiński.

The miniatures

  • Préambule: Quasi maestoso - Più moto - Animato (- Vivo) - Presto . Motif As-CH (H notated as Ces) in the Animato Vivo part (in the bass sforzato)
  • Pierrot: Moderato . Motif A-Es-CH (H = Ces) in the bass (piano), in contrast to Es-CB (forte)
  • Arlequin: Vivo . Motif A-Es-CH
  • Valse noble: Un poco maestoso . Motif A-Eb-HC
  • Eusebius : Adagio - Più lento . Motif A-Es-CH plays around with secondary notes
  • Florestan : Passionato . Motive A-Es-CH interrupted by adagio quotations from the Papillons Op. 2
  • Coquette: Vivo . Motif A-Es-CH processed in the theme with dots
  • Repeat: L'istesso tempo . Postscript to the Coquette without the Sphinx
  • Sphinx. Motifs Es-CHA, As-CH and A-Es-CH. These notes are not meant to be played.
  • Papillons: Prestissimo . Motif A-Es-CH (H = Ces)
  • ASCH - SCHA (Lettres dansantes): Presto . Motif As-CH
  • Chiarina: Passionato . Motif As-CH
  • Chopin : Agitato . Motif hidden in the two final bars: in the melody HC, final note As
  • Estrella: Con affetto - Più presto . Motif As-CH
  • Reconnaissance: Animato . Motif A-CH, the melody is played in octaves in the right hand, in the lower register in sixteenth staccato, in the upper register in eighth notes
  • Pantalon et Colombine: Presto . Motif As-CH
  • Valse allemande: Molto Vivace . Motif As-CH
  • Paganini : Presto . An interlude to the Valse allemande. Virtuoso counter-rotating and metrically offset staccato sixteenth-note figures. Motif As-CH in measure 25
  • Aveu: Passionato . Motif As-CH
  • Promenade: Con Moto . Motif As-CH, in No. 3 of the Davidsbündlertänze op. 6 a motif from this is quoted
  • Pause: Vivo . Resumption of the Vivo part from the second part of the Préambule , motif As-CH (H notated as Ces) in the Vivo part (sforzato in the bass)
  • Mark of the "Davidsbündler" against les Philistins: Non Allegro - Molto più vivo - Animato - Vivo - Animato molto - Più stretto . Motif As-CH, quotations from the Papillons op. 2 and from molded parts from the Préambule ; brilliant ending.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Boyle: Epilogue to Robert Schumann: Variations on a theme by Schubert. Longing waltz variations. Reconstructed from the manuscripts and supplemented by Andreas Boyde . Friedrich Hofmeister Music Publishing: Hofheim, Leipzig 2000.
  2. ↑ a b c Irmgard Knechtges-Obrecht: Robert Schumann op.9 . In the Schumann portal .
  3. ^ A b Ernst Hettrich: Foreword to Robert Schumann: Carnaval Opus 9 . (Remagen, autumn 2004), G. Henle Verlag: o. O., o. J.