Four Centuries of Great Music January 16, 2021 The Piano Music of Robert Schumann

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music we are exploring the piano music of Robert Schumann.  This is the result of conversations this past week with Martin Bresnick on Contemporary Classics and Fred Hersch on Evening Eclectic as well as with William Bolcom for an upcoming Evening Eclectic about the piano music of Robert Schumann. Martin found inspiration in the piano music of Schumann for a couple pieces on his new album “More Essential Martin Bresnick: Planet on the Table”.  Fred Hersch included a song Pastorale  on his new album “Breath by Breath” which was an homage to Schumann.  And William Bolcom with Logan Skelton has recently released the album “Robert Schumann – Album for the Young” which includes Schumann piano music for the developing pianist.  All this interest in Schumann piano music has inspired today’s Four Centuries of Great Music.

Lets open with Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto In A Minor, Op. 54.  This work was completed and premiered in 1845.  This is the sole Piano Concerto completed by Schumann although he started several others which were never completed.

The first movement, marked Allegro affettuoso, had its origin in the one-movement fantasy written by Schumann in 1841.  The movement starts with an energetic opening by strings and timpani, followed by a fierce, descending, rhythmically incisive chord progression of the solo piano.  At that point a dreamlike theme is introduced by the oboe along with other wind instruments which  is then given to the soloist who performs a variety of presentations of this theme.  Development and a second theme eventually lead to a solo cadenza which projects the movement to its end.

The second movement, an Intermezzo marked Andantino grazioso is in ABA form. The piano and strings open up the piece with a small, delicate tune, which is heard throughout the A section. In the B section the cellos and later the other strings and wind instruments display a singing theme which is derived from the piano flourish. The piano accompanies the singing theme and interjects but never takes the lead. After a shortened reprise of the A section the movement closes with small glimpses of the first movement's theme before moving straight into the third movement.

The Third movement is marked Allegro vivace and opens with a huge run up the strings while the piano takes the main A major theme. Schumann shows great color and variety in this movement. The piece is cast in a hybrid sonata-rondo form with an extended and exciting coda, ending with a long timpani roll and a huge chord from the orchestra.

Next is Robert Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9, which is a work for piano solo, written in 1834–1835 and subtitled Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes  Sens minyouns sur ketra note (Little Scenes on Four Notes). It consists of 21 short pieces or scenes representing masked revelers at Carnival, a festival before Lent. Schumann gives musical expression to himself, his friends and colleagues, and characters from improvised Italian comedy (commedia dell'arte).  The four notes are a code that Schumann put into this piece and also included a code cypher between scenes eight and nine called sphinxes.   

This was the Schumann work that inspired Martin Bresnick and I recommend you go listen to last week’s Contemporary Classics to understand how he used this music as an inspiration.


Next is Robert Schumann’s  Kreisleriana, Op. 16, is a composition in eight movements for solo piano, subtitled Phantasien für das Pianoforte. Schumann claimed to have written in only four days in April 1838.  In a letter to his future wife Clara, Schumann reveals that she has figured largely in the composition of Kreisleriana: I'm overflowing with music and beautiful melodies now – imagine, since my last letter I've finished another whole notebook of new pieces. I intend to call it Kreisleriana. You and one of your ideas play the main role in it, and I want to dedicate it to you – yes, to you and nobody else – and then you will smile so sweetly when you discover yourself in it.


A revised version appeared in 1850. The revised work was dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, but when a copy was sent to the Polish composer, "he commented favorably only on the design of the title page”.

Despite this tepid review by Chopin, Kreisleriana is viewed by some critics as one of Schumann's finest compositions.  In 1839, soon after publishing it, Schumann called it in a letter "my favorite work.”

The work's title was inspired by the character of Johannes Kreisler from works of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Schumann wrote about the title "The title conveys nothing to any but Germans. Kreisler is one of E. T. A. Hoffmann's creations, an eccentric, wild, and witty conductor.”

Like the kaleidoscopic Kreisler, the work has multiple contrasting movements, resembling the imaginary musician's manic depression, and recalling Schumann's own contrasting impulsive and dreamy sides.

And the irony of this work is that later in his life Schumann also suffered from bipolar disorder with both manic and depressive symptoms, was institutionalized after a suicide attempt in 1854 and died of pneumonia in 1856 at the age of 46 while still institutionalized.


We are closing today’s Four Centuries of Great Music dedicated to the music of Robert Schumann with two of his Fantasiestücke, Op. 12: Warum?  and In der Nacht