Nachtstücke
Encyclopedia
The Nachtstücke are a set of four character piece
s for piano
by the German
composer and pianist
Robert Schumann
.
and published one year later. The Intermezzo
from Faschingsschwank was originally published as a supplement to the Neue Zeitschrift
and identified as a 'fragment from the Nachtstücke which are to appear shortly'. Schumann envisaged the following titles for the four pieces:
These titles were not included in the original edition.
. On March 30, 1839, he received a letter concerning the imminent death of his older brother Eduard (1799–1839), which could have meant economic disaster to the family’s publishing business. In a letter to his fiancée Clara Wieck
he wrote, "Wouldn’t you leave me if I were now to become a very poor man and told you to leave me because I would bring you nothing but sorrow?".
Because he had premonitions of his brother's death, he wanted to call his new composition Corpse Fantasia.
While working on his Corpse Fantasia Schumann always got stuck "at a place where it seemed as if someone was sobbing 'O God' from a heavy heart".
Schumann left Vienna for Zwickau
, Germany on April 5, 1839, one day before his brother would die there. (He actually missed the funeral.) He wrote to Clara:
Schumann eventually heeded the advice of Clara concerning the title of the work: "The public won’t understand what you mean and it will bother them. I think you should settle for the general title Nightpieces".
"Mit erstorbnem Scheinen
Steht der Mond auf todtenstillen Hainen,
Seufzend streicht der Nachtgeist durch die Luft -
Nebelwolken schauern,
Sterne trauern
Bleich herab, wie Lampen in der Gruft.
Gleich Gespenstern, stumm und hohl und hager,
Zieht in schwarzem Todtenpompe dort
Ein Gewimmel nach dem Leichenlager
Unterm Schauerflor der Grabnacht fort. [...]"
"Lo! on high the moon, her lustre dead,
O'er the death-like grove uplifts her head,
Sighing flits the spectre through the gloom--
Misty clouds are shivering,
Pallid stars are quivering,
Looking down, like lamps within a tomb.
Spirit-like, all silent, pale, and wan,
Marshall'd in procession dark and sad,
To the sepulchre a crowd moves on,
In the grave-night's dismal emblems clad. [...]"
(Trans. Edgar A. Bowring. New York: Hurst & Company, 1872)
’s narrations collected under the same title, the fantastic, gloomy and macabre mood is very similar.
uncertainty—only after eight bars do we reach a secure C major and last not least the rhythmic displacement of the strong beat. In the militaristically solemn funeral march
es of Beethoven
and Chopin
, the dotted rhythm naturally emphasizes the downbeat. In Schumann we still have some rudiments of this militaristic march rhythm, but ironically it is placed on the 'wrong' beat emphasizing the fourth beat and creating a feeling of mocking hesitance. The characteristic repeated motif of descending seconds (b flat-a-g-f-e, f-e-d-c-b) followed by a modified ascending inversion (c-d-e-e-e), and with a dotted rhythmic figure at the third and fourth notes is clearly reminiscent of the characteristic ostinato phrase of the fourth movement of Hector Berlioz
's Symphonie Fantastique
, which is entitled "The procession to the stake" ("Marche au supplice") (see sections 50-52, bars 17ff). Schumann had written a critique of Berlioz's symphony in "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik " four years earlier, in 1835 http://www.hberlioz.com/others/JAhouse.htm, which was by far the longest of his articles. Theo Hirsbrunner has pointed out other signs of influence of Berlioz on Schumann. The same idea is used as opening for the next movement of Nachtstücke in varied form (stepwise descending and ascending seconds, with a characteristic accentuation of the upbeat quarter, again reminding the upbeat half note of the ostinato theme in the fourth movement of Symphonie Fantastique). The theme is recapitulated in heroic fashion before collapsing into nothingness. The omissions of chords and the subsequent 'melodic holes' in the last four bars foreshadow 20th century techniques.
title indicates that this effect was probably intended by Schumann.
The mechanical quality of the middle part suggests an ‘automaton
'. (The mechanism winds down at the ritardando, Bb. 93-94). The idea of an artificial ‘person’ haunted Romantic
imagination and 'automatons' appear frequently in writers such as E.T.A. Hoffmann or Edgar Allan Poe
(1809–49). Carl Reinecke
included ‘Godfather Drosselmeyer’s Automatons’ from Hoffmann's fairy tale The Nutcracker
and the Mouse King in his piano four-hand setting of the tale. Hoffmann's narration Der Sandmann
from Nachtstücke introduces the famous Olimpia
automaton. Nathanael, who is the main character in this narration, falls in love with Olimpia, forgetting his true love, Clara.
). Apparently unrelated fragments, these episodes do have a close motivic relationship: The first ‘intermezzo’ is fashioned from the closing section of the main theme and the second ‘intermezzo’ imitates the climax of the main theme’s Ab major section.
Rundgesang mit Solostimmen (Ad libitum. Einfach), for example, certainly remembers the march rhythm of the Funeral Procession but has been changed to a simple folk melody, lute
-like arpeggio
s have been added and the displacement of the dotted rhythm has been 'corrected', evoking a feeling of consolation.
The extremely laconic introduction is a blissfully superfluous exclamation of ‘Eusebius’ announcing a conclusive epilogue
.
Character piece
Character piece is a literal translation of the German Charakterstück, a term, not very precisely defined, used for a broad range of 19th century piano music based on a single idea or program...
s for piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
by the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
composer and pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
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....
.
Historical background
The Nachtstücke (Night Pieces), Op. 23, were composed in 1839 together with Faschingsschwank aus WienFaschingsschwank aus Wien
Faschingsschwank aus Wien is a solo piano work by Robert Schumann, his Op. 26. Schumann began composition of the work in 1839 in Vienna...
and published one year later. The Intermezzo
Intermezzo
In music, an intermezzo , in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work...
from Faschingsschwank was originally published as a supplement to the Neue Zeitschrift
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik was a music magazine published in Leipzig, co-founded by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke...
and identified as a 'fragment from the Nachtstücke which are to appear shortly'. Schumann envisaged the following titles for the four pieces:
- Trauerzug (Funeral Procession)
- Kuriose Gesellschaft (Queer Assembly)
- Nächtliches Gelage (Nocturnal Revel)
- Rundgesang mit Solostimmen (Roundelay with Solo Voices)
These titles were not included in the original edition.
Death of brother
Schumann wrote the Nachtstücke under extremely stressful circumstances. He was spending the winter in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. On March 30, 1839, he received a letter concerning the imminent death of his older brother Eduard (1799–1839), which could have meant economic disaster to the family’s publishing business. In a letter to his fiancée Clara Wieck
Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
he wrote, "Wouldn’t you leave me if I were now to become a very poor man and told you to leave me because I would bring you nothing but sorrow?".
Because he had premonitions of his brother's death, he wanted to call his new composition Corpse Fantasia.
"I always saw funeral processions, coffins, unhappy and despairing people. [...] Often I was so distraught that tears flowed and I didn’t know why—then [Eduard's wife] Therese's letter arrived and I knew why".
While working on his Corpse Fantasia Schumann always got stuck "at a place where it seemed as if someone was sobbing 'O God' from a heavy heart".
Schumann left Vienna for Zwickau
Zwickau
Zwickau in Germany, former seat of the government of the south-western region of the Free State of Saxony, belongs to an industrial and economical core region. Nowadays it is the capital city of the district of Zwickau...
, Germany on April 5, 1839, one day before his brother would die there. (He actually missed the funeral.) He wrote to Clara:
"Half past three on Saturday morning, while traveling, I heard a chorale of trombones—it was the moment Eduard died. [...] I still feel stunned by all the exertion. [...] Without you I long ago would have been where he is now".
Schumann eventually heeded the advice of Clara concerning the title of the work: "The public won’t understand what you mean and it will bother them. I think you should settle for the general title Nightpieces".
Schiller's Funeral Phantasy
Interestingly, 18th century poets apparently were less scrupulous. Friedrich von Schiller did write a Leichenphantasie which may have inspired Schumann. The opening fits the mood of Schumann’s Funeral Procession:"Mit erstorbnem Scheinen
Steht der Mond auf todtenstillen Hainen,
Seufzend streicht der Nachtgeist durch die Luft -
Nebelwolken schauern,
Sterne trauern
Bleich herab, wie Lampen in der Gruft.
Gleich Gespenstern, stumm und hohl und hager,
Zieht in schwarzem Todtenpompe dort
Ein Gewimmel nach dem Leichenlager
Unterm Schauerflor der Grabnacht fort. [...]"
"Lo! on high the moon, her lustre dead,
O'er the death-like grove uplifts her head,
Sighing flits the spectre through the gloom--
Misty clouds are shivering,
Pallid stars are quivering,
Looking down, like lamps within a tomb.
Spirit-like, all silent, pale, and wan,
Marshall'd in procession dark and sad,
To the sepulchre a crowd moves on,
In the grave-night's dismal emblems clad. [...]"
(Trans. Edgar A. Bowring. New York: Hurst & Company, 1872)
Romantic traits
Even though there is no obvious programmatic relationship between Schumann’s Night Pieces and E.T.A. HoffmannE.T.A. Hoffmann
Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann , better known by his pen name E.T.A. Hoffmann , was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist...
’s narrations collected under the same title, the fantastic, gloomy and macabre mood is very similar.
Nachtstücke 1 (Funeral Procession)
The Funeral Procession has the indication '...oft zurückhaltend' ('often holding back' [the tempo]). The image of ghostly groping is evoked by the short eighth note chords in piano, the harmonicHarmonic
A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is f, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc. The harmonics have the property that they are all periodic at the fundamental...
uncertainty—only after eight bars do we reach a secure C major and last not least the rhythmic displacement of the strong beat. In the militaristically solemn funeral march
Funeral march
A funeral march is a march, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. Some such marches are often considered appropriate for use during funerals and other sombre occasions, the most well-known being that of Chopin...
es of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
and Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, the dotted rhythm naturally emphasizes the downbeat. In Schumann we still have some rudiments of this militaristic march rhythm, but ironically it is placed on the 'wrong' beat emphasizing the fourth beat and creating a feeling of mocking hesitance. The characteristic repeated motif of descending seconds (b flat-a-g-f-e, f-e-d-c-b) followed by a modified ascending inversion (c-d-e-e-e), and with a dotted rhythmic figure at the third and fourth notes is clearly reminiscent of the characteristic ostinato phrase of the fourth movement of Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique
Symphonie Fantastique: Épisode de la vie d'un Artiste...en cinq parties , Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences...
, which is entitled "The procession to the stake" ("Marche au supplice") (see sections 50-52, bars 17ff). Schumann had written a critique of Berlioz's symphony in "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik " four years earlier, in 1835 http://www.hberlioz.com/others/JAhouse.htm, which was by far the longest of his articles. Theo Hirsbrunner has pointed out other signs of influence of Berlioz on Schumann. The same idea is used as opening for the next movement of Nachtstücke in varied form (stepwise descending and ascending seconds, with a characteristic accentuation of the upbeat quarter, again reminding the upbeat half note of the ostinato theme in the fourth movement of Symphonie Fantastique). The theme is recapitulated in heroic fashion before collapsing into nothingness. The omissions of chords and the subsequent 'melodic holes' in the last four bars foreshadow 20th century techniques.
Nachtstücke 2 (Queer Assembly)
Queer Assembly (Markiert und lebhaft) abounds with frequent digressions. The constant mood shifts—from frolicsome derisiveness to clownish, coquettish mirth—result in a lack of cohesiveness. The programmaticProgram music
Program music or programme music is a type of art music that attempts to musically render an extra-musical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience in the form of program notes, inviting imaginative correlations with the music...
title indicates that this effect was probably intended by Schumann.
The mechanical quality of the middle part suggests an ‘automaton
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
'. (The mechanism winds down at the ritardando, Bb. 93-94). The idea of an artificial ‘person’ haunted Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
imagination and 'automatons' appear frequently in writers such as E.T.A. Hoffmann or Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
(1809–49). Carl Reinecke
Carl Reinecke
Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...
included ‘Godfather Drosselmeyer’s Automatons’ from Hoffmann's fairy tale The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
and the Mouse King in his piano four-hand setting of the tale. Hoffmann's narration Der Sandmann
Der Sandmann
The Sandman is a short story written in German by E.T.A. Hoffmann. It was the first in an 1817 book of stories titled Die Nachtstücke .-Plot summary:...
from Nachtstücke introduces the famous Olimpia
Olimpia
- Sports teams :*Club Deportivo Olimpia, a football team from Honduras*Club Olimpia, a football team from Asunción, Paraguay*Olímpia Futebol Clube, a football team from Brazil*Olimpia Elbląg, a football team from Elbląg, Poland...
automaton. Nathanael, who is the main character in this narration, falls in love with Olimpia, forgetting his true love, Clara.
Nachtstücke 3 (Nächtliches Gelage)
Nächtliches Gelage (Mit großer Lebhaftigkeit) maybe described as a ‘nocturnal Faschingsschwank’ and there are unmistakable similarities between these two pieces written at Vienna. But the passion is less healthy in the Nachtstücke. An intoxicated yearning explodes in impulsive outbursts of energy followed by ecstatic reveling. These indulgences are interrupted by two 'intermezzos', the first one a sinister murmuring of repressed agitation, the second one a ghostly 'Wilde Jagd' (Wild HuntWild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is an ancient folk myth prevalent across Northern, Western and Central Europe. The fundamental premise in all instances is the same: a phantasmal, spectral group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground,...
). Apparently unrelated fragments, these episodes do have a close motivic relationship: The first ‘intermezzo’ is fashioned from the closing section of the main theme and the second ‘intermezzo’ imitates the climax of the main theme’s Ab major section.
Nachtstücke 4 (Rundgesang mit Solostimmen)
Schumann is often criticized for using structure merely as a framework on which to spread the themes. The resultant ‘incoherency’ is often attributed to the composer’s declining mental health. The fact though remains that Schumann’s predilection for allusions has rendered many relationships too subtle for the (non artistic) analyst’s senses.Rundgesang mit Solostimmen (Ad libitum. Einfach), for example, certainly remembers the march rhythm of the Funeral Procession but has been changed to a simple folk melody, lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
-like arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s have been added and the displacement of the dotted rhythm has been 'corrected', evoking a feeling of consolation.
The extremely laconic introduction is a blissfully superfluous exclamation of ‘Eusebius’ announcing a conclusive epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
.