Ghost variations
The Ghost Variations ( theme with variations in E flat major for piano) WoO 24, composed in 1854, are the last work by Robert Schumann before he was admitted to the mental hospital in Bonn-Endenich. “In those days Schumann believed himself to be surrounded by ghosts who offered him partly 'wonderful', partly 'horrible' music, which promised him the 'most glorious revelations' but also threatened to 'throw him into hell', as the [ ...] worried wife noted. "
Emergence
Clara Schumann in her diary: “[On the night of February 17th to 18th] Robert got up again and again and wrote a topic that the spirits of Schubert and Mendelssohn sang for him, and about which he wrote for me [the notes of Clara Schumann and according to Ruppert Beckers probably on 22./23. February] made variations that were as touching as they were poignant. ”During this composition, on February 27th, all of a sudden and only half dressed, he plunged into the ice-cold Rhine, from which he was rescued and brought back home. After surviving the suicide attempt, he continued working on it. A day later, he finished his dramatically interrupted work and sent the manuscript to his wife, who had gone to see an acquaintance the previous evening on the advice of a doctor.
Aribert Reimann is certain that Schumann's jump into the Rhine took place between the fourth and fifth variations, since the last variation was structurally completely different from the previous ones, and he noticed that the theme was already similar in Schumann's Violin Concerto .
Quoted in the following works
- Johannes Brahms : Variations on a Theme by Schumann in E flat major for piano four hands , op.23 (1863)
- The "ghost variations" were the last thing that Clara had left of Robert Schumann, while he plunged into the Rhine and dreamed of ghosts, which is why her Johannes Brahms Schumann's ghost theme varied.
- Adolf Jensen : Op. 33. No. 1, "Widmung" / "Dedication" / "Hommage" for piano 2 hands, E flat major (1866)
- Aribert Reimann : Seven fragments for orchestra in memoriam Robert Schumann (1988)
- Tori Amos : Your Ghost (2011)
expenditure
- Henle , Urtext edition, 1995, edited by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert / fingering by Klaus Schilde, ISMN 201804828, HN-482, HENLE01114
literature
- Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, Robert Schumann's theme with variations in E flat major, called "Ghost Variations", in: Festschrift Reinhold and Roswitha Schlötterer, 1998
- Preface to the Henle edition by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert (PDF file; 82 kB)
- Comments on the Henle edition (with an explanation of the sources given in the foreword) (PDF file; 266 kB)
- Beck, Walter: "Schumann and his ghost variations: a life report with notation and new documents / Walter Beck", Schneider, 1992 ISBN 3-7952-0712-6 , 59 pages: Ill
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, foreword to the publication of Thema mit Variationen by Robert Schumann, Munich 1995
- ↑ a b lernzeit.de - Variations on Variations by Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck and Johannes Brahms ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Preface to the Henle edition by Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, Munich, autumn 1995 ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Wolfgang Burde: Reimann, life and work. Schott Musik International, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-7957-0318-2 , p. 65
