Reverie

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Träumerei is the title of a piano piece by Robert Schumann , which as No. 7 forms the center of the thirteen-part piano cycle Children's Scenes . The "little thing" was created on February 24, 1838 and is today considered the epitome of the romantic piano piece.

Emergence

Robert Schumann first mentioned the reverie in a diary note dated February 24, 1838:

"Saturday, d. 24. [...] - composing the little thing »Träumerei« - [...] "

Previously were in late 1837 sketches and designs for small piano pieces and, since February 12, 1838 more small pieces emerged that the Schumann in a letter dated 17 March 1838 Clara Wieck, his future wife Clara Schumann , called "on the 30 cute little things ”are counted. In this letter, Schumann explicitly named these little piano pieces as children's scenes and listed a few titles. The daydream was followed on February 25, 1838 by the “Children's scene” in F major, which is identified with Am Kamin .

All these little piano pieces and with them the reverie belong to the circle of the same composed Kreisleriana , Op. 16, and especially the Noveletten op. 21 to as its Annex children's stories called Kinderszenen were temporarily provided. As recorded in Robert Schumann's diary and letters, Robert Schumann linked the compositions of this period with thoughts of Clara. Clara also found them to be something very personal and common to them. On March 24th, 1839 she wrote to Robert Schumann: “[G] estern I thought and still think so, is it true that the poet who speaks should be mine, isn't happiness too great? [...] 'Dreaming' - with this one I think I see you playing the piano [...] “But these thoughts and feelings shouldn't remain dreaming. Robert Schumann to Clara on April 4, 1839: “What I shyly wrote about, maybe it will bring us reality. Yes, my Klara, believe in it, we will be very happy [...] "

Position within the children's scenes

Within the thirteen-part cycle of children's scenes , Robert Schumann left the dreaming and the immediately following piece Am Kamin in the order in which it was created on two consecutive days. They form the numbers 7 and 8. With the reverie , the "2nd part" of the children's scenes began for Clara .

In later discussions and analyzes of the children's scenes, on the other hand, daydreaming is usually seen as the center and axis of symmetry of the cycle. From foreign countries and people as the beginning and the end of the children's scenes , the poet speaks as the composer's utterances frame the childish scenes, which are divided into two halves by the dreaming of the composer (not the child).

Musical characteristics

In his pamphlet The New Aesthetics of Musical Impotence from 1919, Hans Pfitzner rejected all efforts to analyze dreaming in line with the work.

“Anyone who understands the cause of the music did not recognize that this 'dreaming' stands out solely through the quality of the melody . For those who do n't understand them, it's a bit in song form with tonic, dominant, subdominant and the closest keys - without any deviation from the usual, as far as it lies in the elements; no harmonic novelty, no rhythmic finesse, the melody ascending through the triad, 'for piano for two hands'. But for us who know, what a miracle of inspiration! What can be said about it, that to whom this melody, which is at the same time the whole piece, where idea and form almost coincide, does not go 'through and through', could open up the understanding? - Nothing."

Alban Berg contradicted this in 1920 in his reply, which he called the musical impotence of Hans Pfitzner's "New Aesthetics" . In it, Berg analyzed the reverie , showing, for example, the peculiarities of the melody, its motifs and variants, the motivic, polyphonic mesh of the voices, the change of accentuation within the bars and the different density of the harmony change. He concluded:

"Now a first look at the notes is enough that here - apart from a few bar parts - there is a strict four-part movement which, in terms of style, character, contrapuntal movement, in terms of the scope of the individual voices and their playability and sangeability, also applies a string quartet or a wind ensemble, even the four voices.
This composition is - even if it only appeared as a 'piano piece' and has validity - significantly different from what is simply called a 'piano piece for two hands' (for example, just look at the four-part imitations […]! ), an art genre that basically prefers the homophonic movement (distributing melody and accompaniment between two hands) . In fact, the other 'children's scenes' do not show that universal-musical setting, but rather the typical piano setting that takes into account the technique of the piano in a more or less artistic way. "

Form and harmony

The piano piece is in three parts with a repetition of the first part. All parts are divided into four-bar front and back posts. The main key is F major .

Melodic-harmonic climaxes in the daydream based on Alban Berg's analysis
  • The first eight bars are in F major and end after an evasion to D minor with an extended half-close on the dominant of F major, whereby the suffix represents a variant development of the antecedent. These first eight bars are  repeated true to note, with the exception of the prelude , which has now been shortened from a quarter note to an eighth note .
  • The middle eight bars modulate via G minor to B flat major and then via D minor to the dominant seventh chord of the main key.
  • The last eight bars begin with a grace note as a prelude and then repeat the beginning of the piece for five bars - albeit with a different phrasing of the upper part - reaching a final melodic and harmonic climax on a ninth chord as a double dominant under a fermata and ending after a short one Alternative to G minor in the main key of F major.

Melody and motivic-thematic work

Main motif of the children's scenes in the daydream (F major) and in No. 1 (G major)
Example of the polyphonic voice leading in reverie based on Alban Berg's analysis

The melody of the first antecedent is motifically related to the most important of three main musical motifs used by Robert Schumann in the children's scenes . It begins with a briefly interrupted, rapid upswing from c ' to f' ' , which is followed by a longer, winding downward slide. The framework for this is provided by the first five notes of No. 1 of the cycle, From Foreign Lands and People .

The second and third parts of the reverie represent modifications of the first in the sense of 'developing variation'. Since in the endings of all three parts motifs of the downward melody are imitated by the lower voices and in the second there are even imitations in the antecedent, Alban Berg called the piano setting polyphonic. All in all, the dreaming is characterized by motivic-thematic work , which leads to a condensation of the musical statement.

Metric and phrasing

Melody beginning of reverie , comparison of the metric in the first edition from 1839 (above) with the metric determined by Arnold Schering

Arnold Schering pointed out in 1911 that the special effect of dreaming was initially due to the metric structure of the piano piece notated in four-four time. When recording the first bars, the impartial listener encounters uncertainty about the type and arrangement of the bars. The change in harmony on the second beat of the second measure challenges the idea that half the note f '' is on the good (difficult) time of a beginning measure. Something similar happens in the further course of the dreaming .

This view is supported by the phrasing of the first edition (with blue borders) from 1839, in which - unlike in subsequent editions not authorized by Robert Schumann - the two eighth notes before the half note have their own bow and their own crescendo sign , which means that they have their own slur upbeat effect is supported.

tempo

In a pre-print of the first edition, which Schumann dedicated to Franz Liszt , the metronome markings, which were later controversial , are missing in the Träumerei as in all other pieces in the cycle . The final first edition of the Kinderszenen from the beginning of 1839, however, contains metronome markings, in the case of Träumerei = 100. Quarter note

This statement was questioned by Clara Schumann, who defended the thesis that Robert Schumann had used a defective metronome, which was discussed during the editing of the critical complete edition of Schumann's works supervised by Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms and is now considered refuted. Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann in March 1878: "I have always said that I find the old editions of Schumann's works so excellent that there is nothing better to do than to engrave as precisely as possible."

In a letter to Clara Schumann dated April 1879, Brahms explicitly included the metronome markings: "Please also note Härtels that the pedal and metronome names must remain in the children's scenes ."

In the critical Schumann Complete Edition, which was essentially completed in 1887, the children's scenes and thus the reverie, contrary to this recommendation, did not have any metronome numbers. In the same year, Clara Schumann had an edition of all piano works followed in instructive individual editions. This appeared under the title Schumann's Complete Piano Works. Instructive edition with fingering and performance marks. Edited by Clara Schumann based on the manuscripts and personal records. In these individual editions, Clara Schumann used her personal, individual approach to tempo as a guideline for new metronome names. This led to the metronome designation Quarter note= 80 when dreaming .

Robert Schumann prescribes short ritardandi in the last bar of the first and middle sections, a long ritardando in the last three bars between the fermatas on the ninth chord and the final chord.

Dynamics and pedaling

In the first edition of Träumerei from 1839 there are only a few details about the volume and its development. They are limited to piano signs at the beginning and in the last bar, as well as short crescendo signs in some eighth notes before half notes in the outer sections. In the middle part there is no information for the dynamics .

Robert Schumann's pedal information is also very economical. The pedal symbol at the beginning is between the two staves and indicates a general instruction to use the pedal as the piece progresses. A distinction must be made between the differentiated pedal signs, which are attached to long held chords. Clara Schumann eliminated the pedal information against the advice of Johannes Brahms in the critical complete edition and increased it in her instructive edition of Robert Schumann's piano works.

Interpretation and reception

It was only after Robert Schumann's death that the reverie with editions of the children's scenes became generally known. As a supposedly easy piano piece, it conquered piano lessons and domestic piano playing. It was also the subject of professional lessons with Clara Schumann. Her changes in the character of reverie , which manifested themselves in her instructive edition of Robert Schumann's piano works, affected not only the slowing down of the tempo, but also the phrasing and pedaling, which, in their version, encourage the piano piece to be written down into smaller units of meaning than those notated by Robert Schumann structure and shape the musical content more slowly, broadly and deliberately. Clara Schumann thus paved the way to increasingly sentimental conceptions of daydreaming .

While the dreaming at Robert Schumann's pace takes about 1 '25 ", it takes about 1'50" at Clara Schumann's pace. Clara Schumann's student Fanny Davies is a little slower . Wilhelm Kempff , who has re-edited Clara Schumann's instructive edition, needs 2 ′ 21 ″, Adelina de Lara , another student of Clara Schumann's, 2 ′ 26 ″, Martha Argerich 2 ′ 55 ″ and Alexis Weissenberg 3 ′ 20 ″, what a speed of about Quarter note= 40. Pop music adaptations can take up to 4 minutes.

This dragging of tempo, which is superior to each other in the examples mentioned, gives the piece its popular character, which is tempting to dream, and enables even the layperson to master the difficult piece in terms of fingering and voice-leading. "The necessity of lay technology turned into the virtue of the subordinate character."

A variety of arrangements for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles from a wide variety of musical genres reflect the popularity of dreaming , which has become the epitome of the passively enjoyed romantic piece of music for consumers. The reverie was “so heavily loaded and sentimentalized that a very specific expectation arose”, which characterizes the recipient more than Robert Schumann's “little thing» dreaming «”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Gerd Nauhaus: Robert Schumann. Diaries Vol. 2 1836–1854 . Leipzig 1987, p. 51.
  2. ↑ a b Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 10.
  3. ^ Gerd Nauhaus: Robert Schumann. Diaries Vol. 2 1836–1854 . Leipzig 1987, p. 50.
  4. ↑ Karl Storck (ed.): Schumann's letters in selection . Stuttgart 1905, p. 140.
  5. ↑ Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 8.
  6. ^ Arnfried Edler : Robert Schumann . Munich 2009, p. 78.
  7. ↑ a b c Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 12 f.
  8. ^ Alban Berg: The musical impotence of the new aesthetics of Hans Pfitzner . In: Musikblätter des Anbruch . Vol. 02, Vienna 1920, p. 400.
  9. ↑ Hans de Leeuwe: On the interpretation of the "Kinderszenen." In: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , 117/1956, p. 414 f.
  10. ↑ Hans Pfitzner: The new aesthetics of musical impotence . In: Collected Writings , Volume II, pp. 189 f.
  11. ^ A b Alban Berg: The musical impotence of the "New Aesthetics" Hans Pfitzner . In: Musikblätter des Anbruch. Vol. 02, Vienna 1920, pp. 399-406
  12. ↑ Jürgen Stolzenberg: Music and subjectivity or: From talking about the musically beautiful. In: Jürgen Stolzenberg (Ed.): Subject and Metaphysics. In honor of Konrad Cramer on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Göttingen 2001, pp. 137–154.
  13. ^ Alban Berg: The musical impotence of the "New Aesthetics" Hans Pfitzner . In: Musikblätter des Anbruch. Vol. 02, Vienna 1920, p. 406
  14. ^ A b Alban Berg: The musical impotence of the "New Aesthetics" Hans Pfitzner . In: Musikblätter des Anbruch. Vol. 02, Vienna 1920, p. 405.
  15. ↑ Jürgen Stolzenberg: Music and subjectivity or: From talking about the musically beautiful. In: Jürgen Stolzenberg (Ed.): Subject and Metaphysics. In honor of Konrad Cramer on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Göttingen 2001, p. 140.
  16. ↑ a b Lajos Lesznai : Robert Schumann - Children's Scenes Op. 15. In: Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. T. 13, Fasc. 1/4 (1971), pp. 87-94.
  17. ^ Alban Berg: The musical impotence of the "New Aesthetics" Hans Pfitzner . In: Musikblätter des Anbruch. Vol. 02, Vienna 1920, p. 403 f.
  18. ↑ Alfred Brendel: The interpreter must be an adult . In: Musica . Bimonthly. 35th year, Kassel a. a. 1981, p. 430 ff.
  19. ^ Rudolf Réti: Schumanns Kinderszenen: quasi theme with variations. In: Music Concepts. Special volume Robert Schumann 2, Munich 1982, pp. 275-298.
  20. ↑ a b c d Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 56.
  21. ^ A b Arnold Schering: Musical education and training for musical hearing. Leipzig 1911. pp. 153-158.
  22. ↑ Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 16.
  23. ↑ a b Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 57.
  24. ↑ Dietrich Kämper: On the question of Robert Schumann's metronome names. In: Archives for Musicology . 21st year, volume 2. (1964), p. 154 f.
  25. ^ Clara Schumann / Johannes Brahms. Letters from the years 1853–1896 . Second volume 1872–1896. Leipzig 1927, p. 137.
  26. ^ Clara Schumann / Johannes Brahms. Letters from the years 1853–1896 . Second volume 1872–1896. Leipzig 1927, p. 169.
  27. ↑ Dietrich Kämper: On the question of Robert Schumann's metronome designations . In: Archives for Musicology . 21st year, H. 2. (1964), p. 145.
  28. ↑ Michael Struck in a telephone interview published by Henle-Verlag (PDF; 498 kB).
  29. ↑ Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 40.
  30. ↑ Fanny Davies, Children's Scenes . Daydreaming at 5'05 ″. Recording without repeating the first part in 1 '45 ″.
  31. ↑ a b Udo Zilkens: Robert Schumann. The children's scenes in the mirror of their interpretations since Clara Schumann. Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1996, p. 56 f.
  32. ↑ Károly Csipak, Reinhard Kapp: reverie . In: Musica . Bimonthly. Thirty-fifth year, Kassel et altera 1981, p. 441 ff.
  33. ^ Norbert Linke, Gustav Kneip: Robert Schumann. On the topicality of romantic music. Wiesbaden 1978, p. 215.