Arabeske (Schumann)
Encyclopedia
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

 wrote his Arabeske in C major, Op. 18 in 1839, dedicating it to Frau Majorin Friederike Serre auf Maxen, to whom he also dedicated his Blumenstück in D flat
Blumenstück (Schumann)
Blumenstück in D flat, Op. 19, is a piano work by Robert Schumann, written in 1839. Blumenstück is a series of short, connected and thematically related episodes, of which the second forms a recurring refrain while undergoing changes in both key and mood...

, Op. 19. In the autumn of 1838 Schumann had left Leipzig for Vienna. His relationship with Clara Wieck had reached a point of no return, as her father vehemently opposed anything that might interfere with his daughter's career as a pianist and strongly disapproved of Schumann as a possible son-in-law. Geographically yet not emotionally detached from Clara, he was able to communicate with her only through letters and in his own music. This has been proposed as an explanation for this work, which alternates passages of wistful longing with more robust, declamatory episodes.

Background

In Vienna, Schumann found himself beset by depression and professional disappointment. Nevertheless, he managed to create a few compositions of remarkable grace and beguiling charm, writing (as he put it) in a “lighter more feminine style”. In his letter of 15 August 1839 to Ernst Becker, Schumann characterized both the Arabeske and Blumenstück
Blumenstück (Schumann)
Blumenstück in D flat, Op. 19, is a piano work by Robert Schumann, written in 1839. Blumenstück is a series of short, connected and thematically related episodes, of which the second forms a recurring refrain while undergoing changes in both key and mood...

as "delicate -- for ladies". He was influenced by Christian Schuburt's book on musical aesthetics, in which C major, the key of the Arabeske, was identified with the childish and simple, relegating more intense emotions to the sharped keys. Schumann wrote in the year of the creation of the Arabeske, "Never refer me again as Jean Paul II or Beethoven II […] I am willing to be ten times less than these others, and only something to myself."

Description

The term Arabeske is used here as a poetic metaphor, not only to describe florid decoration, but also, in Schlegel's terms, to suggest a fluid, organic system of fragments that transcends artificial Classical forms. Schumann employs modified rondo form to encompass a short ABACA rondo form, with the gently lyrical main section A, two more intense episodes B (Florestan) and C, and a beautifully pensive Epilog (Eusebius). The piece moves lithely between contrasting moods, and seems to conclude with a gentle recapitulation of the opening material. The poignant postlude that follows comes as an exquisite surprise. Schumann's original metronome markings for this work appear to have been too fast. Clara Schumann later revised them as Leicht und zart (crotchet =126), Minore I (crotchet =112), and Minore II (crotchet =120).

Further reading


External links

  • Performance by Jonathan Biss
    Jonathan Biss
    Jonathan Biss is an American classical pianist.Biss represents the third generation in a family of professional musicians, which includes his grandmother Raya Garbousova , as well as his parents, the Israeli-born violinist Miriam Fried and the violist Paul Biss...

     from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
    Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
    The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...

     in MP3
    MP3
    MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

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