Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in a minor op. 54
My first post for Valentine’s week is about the first piece that I think of when it comes to romantic love. Clara and Robert Schumann’s marriage is a legendary one, and despite all the heartfelt letters, journal pages and pieces dedicated to each other, their last years together are still controversial among music historians. Robert met Clara (née Wieck) during his years of studying with Friedrick Wieck. The father did not approve their marriage, so the young couple had to flee and get married in secret. The year of the wedding is often called Liederjahr (year of songs), because the love for Clara inspired him writing wonderful song cycles.
In the next year, 1841, Robert Schumann composed a single movement fantasy for piano and orchestra, which later became the first movement of the piano concerto. The finished piano concerto in a minor was premiered in 1854 with Clara Schumann being the soloist and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy the conductor. He dedicated the concerto to his wife.
It consists of three movements, with the last two being played attacca (he uses a similar structure in the Cello Concerto in a minor):
I. Allegro Affettuoso
This movement, despite following the traditional sonata form, mixes it with fantasy-like freedom. It is a monument for early struggles in their relationship, with all the passion and youthful hope. It is interesting how many different ways we can hear the Clara-motif (C-H-A-A, the H being the German equivalent of the note B).This motif reminds me of the medieval soggetto cavato technique: it is subtracted from the letters of Clara’s name. For a similar reason, the clarinet solos have an important part in this movement.
If the exposition’s passionate themes represent Florestan (Robert’s heroic alter ego) the lyrical middle section in A flat major is just like the peaceful and emotional Eusebius (one of his other alter egos he used when writing).
II. Intermezzo: Andantino Grazioso
Between the two fast movements, we can hear a gentle song in F major, a bridge between the emotional first movement and the intensly joyful finale.
III. Allegro Vivace
Following the classical, more precisely Beethovenian traditions, the finale is a rondo form, and composed in A major. The rondo theme is born from the rhytmic patterns of the Intermezzo, and for the whole movement the key element is the rhytmic variety.
There are many debates on what illnesses Robert had in his final years, and I am not a specialist to invent my own theory about this topic. Afer his mental health started to deteriorate, Robert Schumann was reffered to the sanatorium in Endenich. Despite Clara not visiting him in his last two years, after Robert’s death she worked a lot to keep his oeuvre in its well deserved place in music history.
My favorite recording of this concerto is with Martha Argerich. She stated in many interviews that Schumann’s works are the closest to her, and I think in her interpretations we can hear the Romantic spirit and the freedom that this music demands.
Happy Valentine’s Day! - Noémi Baki-Szmaler, guest editor - @une-barque-sur-l-ocean
