Seven fragments for orchestra in memoriam Robert Schumann
Seven fragments for orchestra in memoriam Robert Schumann (1988) is a work by Aribert Reimann on Robert Schumann's last work " Theme with Variations in E Flat Major " for piano (February 1854) (also called " Ghost Variations "). It is a commission from the Hamburg State Opera . It premiered on September 25, 1988 in Hamburg with the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Gerd Albrecht .
Emergence
In 1988, after the death of his wife, Reimann received from his uncle Dietrich Rühle the progress report of Schumann's illness and stay from 1854–1856 in the mental hospital Bonn Endenich . For his part, Rühle had the notebook with the entries from the widow of a son of Schumann's doctor, Dr. Franz Richarz and had told him about it since the late 1960s. As Reimann himself says, he lived with this secret for decades. However, he was not allowed to publish it due to the confidentiality of the doctor, which he would have gladly done "to draw a line". Since his apartment seemed too unsafe to store this document, he gave it to the director of the archive of the Academy of Arts, Berlin, Dr. Wolfgang Trautwein .
At the same time Reimann was in the process of writing a composition Seven Fragments for orchestra . These fragments should be very short. The material of the first section reminded him of the last composition of Schumann's theme with variations .
The piece
The piece consists of seven related fragments. A performance lasts about 14 minutes. The score is notated in C. Each fragment is briefly described below.
The lyrical character of Schumann's original is retained. However, the theme is quoted in three fragments (III, V, VII).
occupation
|
1 piccolo |
4 horns in F 12 violins I |
Fragment I.
The fragment begins as if you were entering a situation and you have to imagine what has gone before. In bar 14, second sequences appear in the trumpets, which can also be found in the second part of the Schumann theme. A descending thematic gait of two horns becomes audible from bar 24.
Fragment II
A delicate string of harmonics from Violin I and a cluster field from the strings open the fragment. At the end of the woodwinds, the accent as in preparation of the E-flat insert the theme in fragment III.
Fragment III
Fragment III begins with an original harmonized phrase of the theme in the horns, which is then continued in the woodwind with the second phrase. After an ascending cluster of violas and cellos, the first phrase appears again, but shortened by the final note.
Fragment IV
Opened with a harp motif, a cantilena of the cor anglais soon forms in the fourth fragment. The motif cis-e-fis-e-cis emerges in horns 3 and 4. It ends with accents of brass and woodwinds.
Fragment V
Three bursts of quotes from the topic form the core of this fragment. First, bars 1–3 are quoted, leaving out the target note es , then bars 5–7 and finally 9–12.
Fragment VI
This fragment, with horn accents on clusters and ostinat third movements in the bassoon and contrabassoon, is completed with accents from the harp and ends in an E flat major chord as a preparation for the last fragment.
Fragment VII
The last fragment consists of quotations from the upper parts of Variation V of the Geistervariationen and ends with rotations of the piccolo by gaf with three insertions of the wind instruments in which all 12 notes are played simultaneously.
Literature and individual references
- ↑ a b Score (Schott Music)
- ↑ Aribert Reimann: Foreword . In: Robert Schumann in Endenich (1854–1856): medical records, letters and contemporary reports, ed. by the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and the Robert Schumann Research Center, Düsseldorf, by Bernhard R. Appel , Schott 2006, 607 pp., page 9, ISBN 3-7957-0527-4 . Robert Schumann Research Center: Foreword ( Google Books )
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Burde: Reimann, Leben und Werk, Schott Musik International, Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-7957-0318-2 (pp. 65, 99-103) ( Google Books )