Academic literature on the topic 'Schumann, Robert, Variations (musique)'

Cet article montre que l’artiste enseigne le clinicien sur le traitement de sa psychose. Le but de est de montrer que la création, précisément la composition musicale, a une fonction pour l’artiste. Robert Schumann tente de border un débordement intérieur avec son art. La méthode choisie consiste à lire le journal intime, la correspondance avec sa femme et ses pairs, et certains articles de la revue pour la musique de Robert Schumann. Cette lecture éclairée par la psychanalyse lacanienne montre que le choix de la musique a eu un effet de fragilisation psychique qui s’est inscrite dans son corps. Son œuvre a été une réponse au réel qui s’est manifesté à lui en différents moments de son existence. Nous montrons que la création est en rapport avec le corps, pas biologique, celui de la libido, des pulsions et de l’angoisse. La création pourrait être un moyen de mettre à distance l’objet pulsionnel et de colmater une part de jouissance envahissante mais elle n’a pas opéré du côté de la suppléance. La composition pour une tentative de fermeture du corps a mené vers une décompensation psychique menant Schumann à tenter de se suicider.

Background. The problematics associated with the personal and creative relationships between Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann, as well as the nature of their reflection in art, have been worrying the minds of researchers for more than a century and a half. One of significant, but little-studied aspects is the embodiment of Schumann’s images and associations in the four-handed piano works by J. Brahms. The article objective is revealing of the semantic specifics of the reflection of Robert Schumann creativity in the Variations by Johannes Brahms on the Theme by R. Schumann, op. 23. The study methodology determined by its objectives is integrative and based on the combination of general scientific approaches and musicological methods. The leading methods of research are the semantic, compositional-dramaturgic and genre-stylistic analyses. Results. Acquaintance with Robert and Clara Schumann (soon transformed into a romantic friendship) was a landmark, turning point in the life and work of J. Brahms. It was R. Schumann, who at some time first called young Chopin a “genius” and who also predicted to Brahms – at that time (in 1853) to almost no-known young musician – a great future in his latest article “New Ways” (after long literary silence), where the appearance of new genius solemnly proclaimed. The long hours of companionship of Brahms with Robert and Clara Schumann were filled of conjoint piano playing, very often – in four hands. Addiction to the four-handed duet playing was vividly reflected in the creativity of both, Schumann and Brahms. Creativity of J. Brahms is one of the highest peaks in the history of the genre of a four-handed piano duet. A special place among Brahms’ piano four-handed duets is occupied by the only major cyclical composition – the Variations on the Theme of R. Schumann op. 23 in E Flat Major, 1861. Variations op. 23 were written by the composer for the joint four-handed performance by Clara and Julia Schumann – the wife and the daughter of R. Schumann. The author dedicated his composition to Julie Schumann, with whom he was secretly in love at that time. The theme of variations is the melody, which was the last in the creative fate of R. Schumann. This theme was presented to Schumann in his night visions by the spirits of Schubert and Mendelssohn; the composer managed only to write down the theme and begin to develop it on February 27, 1854, on the eve of the tragic attack of madness, which led him to the hospital in Endenich. Brahms’s ethical and aesthetic task was to preserve for humanity the last musical thought of the genius and perpetuate his memory, creating an artistic monument to his great friend and mentor. Brahms’ idea is connected with the composer’s philosophical thoughts about death and immortality, about the meaning of being and the greatness of the creative spirit. This idea is even more highlighted due to the genre synthesis of the “strict tune” of the choral and the mourning march “in memory of a hero”. The level of associativity of each of these genre spheres is extremely high. It includes a huge range of musical and artistic phenomena The significant associative semantic layer of music of Variations is connected, of course, with Robert Schumann’s creativity. Brahms most deeply penetrates into the world of musical thinking of Schumann, turning to the favorite Schumann’s principle of free variation. The embodiment of this idea becomes both the tonal plan of the cycle, and the peculiarities of the genre characteristic of individual variations, and the psychological accuracy of specific figurative decisions, and the logical unity of the artistic whole with emphasizing of semantic significance of private details. In Schumann style, Brahms wrote the first four variations of op. 23. (Strictly speaking, the very idea of a “musical portrait” of a friend and like-minded person comes from the Schumann’s “Carnival” and “Kreisleriana”). Tonalities in the Variations get the semantic importance: E flat major as friendly and bright and E flat minor as intensely passionate. The tonal sphere “E flat major – E flat minor” for Brahms is the symbol of unity of the sublime and earthly, bright and gloomy, tragically passionate and calmly contemplative, it is a kind of image of the Universe, the Macrocosm that created by the individual musical thinking of the composer. The features of philosophical programmaticity of generalized type inherent in the Brahms conception predetermined the peculiarities of the figurative dramaturgy of Op. 23, reflecting the development and interaction of the main emotional-semantic lines of the cycle – lyrical, sublime tragic, fantastic, heroic and triumphal. The circle of the figurative development of the cycle is closed by the Schumann’s theme, creating an intonational-thematic and semantic arch framing the entire composition. The main theme of the Variations acquires here – as a result of a long and tragic dramatic way – features of a lyrical epitaph, a farewell word: “Exegi monumentum” – «I erected the monument»… Conclusions. In general, the music of Variations by J. Brahms on the Theme by R. Schumann is striking in its moral and philosophical depth, the power of artistic and ethical influence, emotional and figurative abundance and significance, compositional completeness and clarity of the dramatic solution. Variations on the theme by R. Schumann are a unique musical monument to the genius of Robert Schumann, created by the genius Johannes Brahms in honor and eternal memory to his great friend and teacher in the name of Music, Friendship and Love.

In her contemporaries’ imaginations Clara Schumann transcended aesthetic pitfalls endemic to virtuosity. Scholars have stressed her performance of canonic repertory as a practice through which she established this image. In this study I argue that her concerts of the 1830s and 1840s also staged an elevated form of virtuosity through showpieces that inhabited the flagship genres of popular pianism and that, for contemporary critics, possessed qualities of interiority that allowed them to transcend merely physical or “mechanical” engagement with virtuosity. They include Henselt's études and variation sets, Chopin's “Là ci darem” Variations, op. 2, and Clara's own Romance variée, op. 3, Piano Concerto, op. 7, and Pirate Variations, op. 8. Her 1830s and early 1840s programming offers a window onto a rich intertwining of critical discourse, her own and her peers’ compositions, and her strategies as a pianist-composer. This context reveals that aspirations about elevating virtuosity shaped a broader, more varied field of repertory, compositional strategies, and critical responses than we have recognized. It was a capacious, flexible ideology and category whose discourses pervaded the sheet music market, the stage, and the drawing room and embraced not only a venerated, canonic tradition but also the latest popularly styled virtuosic vehicles. In the final stages of the article I propose that Clara Schumann's 1853 Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, op. 20, alludes to her work of the 1830s and 1840s, evoking the range of guises this pianist-composer gave to her virtuosity in what was already a wide-ranging career.

Background. In recent years, there has been an increased interest of musicologists in the phenomenon of “late Schumann” in the aspect of usage of different historical and cultural traditions by the composer, that constituted problematic aura of given research. Modern scholars investigate this matter from several positions: bounds of Schumann’s style with antecedent music, Viennese classics and art of Baroque (K. Zhabinskiy; 2010); formation of aesthetic and stylistic principles of composer in 1840s–1850s, foreseeing musical phenomena of second half of XIX century (A. Demchenko; 2010), realization of natively national cultural meanings in “Album for the Young” op. 68 in his late works (S. Grokhotov; 2006). The content of given above and other modern researches allows to reconsider still unfortunately widely accepted conception of a “twilight” of Schumann’s genius in the last years of his creative life (D. Zhytomirskiy) and to re-evaluate all the works created by the composer in that time. In the given article, one of them is studied, “3 Piano Sonatas for the Young” op. 118, one of the last among them. This choice is effectuated by two main reasons: by op. 118 being an example of “children music” of R. Schuman, that adds additional marks to the portrait of composer, taking a journey through happy pages of his life, preceding its tragic ending; and by possibilities to study typically “Schumannesque” on this example in constantly changing artistic world of German Romantic, who was on the verge of radical changes in national art of second half of XIX century. In order to conduct a research, the following methods of studying of musical phenomena are used: historical, evolutional, genetic, genre and typological, compositional and dramaturgic, comparative. Regarded through the prism of traditions, Sonatas for the Young reveal simultaneous interjections of contained ideas both with musical past, practice of national culture, including modern one, and with author’s own experience. Dedicating every Sonata to one of his own daughters, R. Schumann continues tradition of addressing his works, a tradition, that in fact has never been interrupted. As one can judge by R. Schumann’s dedications, as a rule, they mask an idea of musical portrait. The First Piano sonata op. 11, 6 Studies in canon form op. 56, Andantino from Piano sonata op. 22 are cited (the last one – according to observation of K. Zhabinskiy). The order of the Sonatas for the Young has clear didactic purpose, as if they were mastered by a child consecutively through different phases of learning piano, that gives this triad a feeling of movement towards general goal and makes it possible to perceive op. 118 as a macrocycle. Another type of cyclization, revealed in this article, discloses legacy of works like suites and variations, created by R. Schumann in 1830s, a legacy effectuated in usage of different variative and variant principles of creating the form on different levels of structure. For example, all the movements of the First sonata are bound with motto, consisting of 4 sounds, that allows to regard this cycle simultaneously as sonata and as variations, and if we take into consideration type of images used, we can add a suite cycle to these principles. In a manner, similar to “Carnival” and “Concerto Without the Orchestra”, author’s “explanation” of constructive logic lays within the composition, in the second movement (“Theme and Variations”). To end this list, the Finale of the Third Sonata for the Young contains a reminiscence of the themes from previous Sonatas, that in some way evokes “Children’s scenes” op. 15 (1838). Suite-like traits of Sonata cycles in the triad op. 118 can also be seen in usage of different-leveled titles, indicating: tempi (“Allegro”, “Andante”), programme image (“The Evening Song”, “The Dream of a Child”) or type of musical form (“Canon”), that underscores a bound of Sonatas for the Young with R. Schumann’s cycles of programme miniatures. In addition to that, a set of piecesmovements refl ects tendency of “late Schumann” to mix different historical and cultural traditions, overcoming the limits of autoretrospection. Tempo markings of movements used as their titles allows to regard them predominately as indications of emotional and imagery content, that resembles a tradition of composer’s practice of 17th – 18th centuries. “Allegro” as a title is also regarded as an announcement of the beginning of the Sonata cycle, and that especially matters for the fi rst Sonata, that, contrary to the Second and Third, is opened not with sonata form, but with three-part reprise form. Of no less signifi cance is appearance of canon in “children” composition with respective title, a canon simultaneously referring to the music of Baroque epoch and being one of obligatory means of form-creating, that young pianist is to master. The same can be addressed to the genre of sonata. Coming from the times of Viennese Classicism, it is preserved as the active of present-day artistic horizon, required from those in the stage of apprenticeship, that means sonata belongs to the present time. For R. Schumann himself, “child” triad op. 118 at the same time meant a return to the genre of Piano sonata, that he hadn’t used after his experiments of 1830s, that can also be regarded as an autoretrospection. Comparative analysis of Sonatas for the Young and “Big Romantic” sonatas, given in the current research, allowed to demonstrate organic unity of R. Schumann’s style, simultaneously showing a distance separating the works of composer, belonging to the different stage of his creative evolution. Created in the atmosphere of “home” routine, dedicated to R. Schumann’s daughters, including scenes from everyday life as well as “grown-up” movements, Three Sonatas for the Young op. 118 embody typical features of Biedermeier culture, a bound with which can be felt in the last works of composer rather distinctly. The conclusion is drawn that domain of “children” music of the author because of its didactic purpose refl ects stylistic features of “late Schumann”, especially of his last years, in crystallized form.

C'est en tant que concertiste que nous avons mene des recherches sur l'architecture secrete des oeuvres pour piano de robert schumann. En choisissant - et en nous limitant - aux oeuvres pianistiques de schumann construites sur le modele theme et variations, notre but a ete d'envisager ensuite, armee d'une methodologie adaptee a ce style tres original d'ecriture pianistique, la poursuite de notre travail sur l'ensemble du corpus. Dans le premier chapitre, nous avons envisage les differentes sources, tant musicales que litteraires, qui ont alimente son inspiration de musicien. Dans un deuxieme chapitre, nous avons mene des investigations sur les differentes composantes techniques qui constituent les dimensions particulieres de son style : l'harmonie - la partie la plus originale de son ecriture de compositeur - le traitement tres complexe du rythme et les specificites du traitement thematicolineaire lui permettant la construction des formes. Dans le troisieme chapitre, nous avons mene une analyse detaillee des grandes oeuvres pianistiques de schumann sur le modele theme et variations. Il s'agit des variations abegg, opus 1, des impromptus sur un theme de clara schumann, opus 5, des douze etudes symphoniques (ou etudes en forme de variations), opus 13 et le troisieme mouvement de la troisieme grande sonate, opus 14. Au cours de ce chapitre, nous avons ete amenee a comparer les differentes editions, etude dans certains cas particulierement delicate, comme par exemple celle touchant a l'opus 13, oeuvre qui a fait l'objet de plusieurs editions et reeditions non seulement du vivant du compositeur, mais aussi apres sa disparition. Enfin, dans le 4e et dernier chapitre, nous avons mene une reflexion sur certains elements techniques participant de l'interpretation ; et nous avons compare entre elles plusieurs executions des oeuvres de schumann par de grands pianistes internationaux, en faisant part de nos propres commentaires de concertiste a propos de ces interpretations.

Des typologies thématique, systématique et historique de la variation de 1765 à 1880 constituent des fondements théoriques, préliminaires à l'étude de la forme variation schumannienne. L'évolution de cette dernière connait quatre phases successives. Si la première (1828-1832) est inscrite dans le sillage de la variation virtuose, la "fantaisie variation" de la deuxième (1832-1835) est le témoin de la nouvelle orientation du compositeur, caractérisée par l'unité organique, la diversité de caractère, l'émancipation de la forme thématique et la conception énigmatique. Quant à la troisième période (1835-1853), proche de la deuxième, elle offre des variations moins contrastées. En ce qui concerne la quatrième phase (1853-1854), elle est placée sous le signe de la proximité thématique. Il apparait que Schumann a su se distancer de la virtuosité à la mode, contrairement à Chopin et au jeune Liszt, sans demeurer pour autant dans la lignée beethovenienne du Mendelssohn des variations sérieuses et du Brahms des variations et fugue sur un thème de Händel
Thematic, systematic and historic typologies of the variation from 1765 to 1880 establish a theoretical background to the study of schumannian variation form. Four periods can be defined in its evolution : the first (1828-1832) lies in the wake of the virtuosic variation ; the "Fantasie variation" of the second period (1832-1835) shows Schumann’s tendency towards organic unity, character diversity, emancipation of thematic form, and towards enigmatic conception ; the third period (1835-1853), closely related to the second, presents less contrasted variations ; the fourth (1853-1854) is characterized by thematic proximity. It appears that Schumann, contrary to Chopin and to early Liszt has distanced himself from modern virtuosity, without staying in the beethovian continuity of Mendelssohn’s variations serieuses and of Brahms' variations and fugue on a theme by Handel

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) n’est pas issu d’une famille de musiciens, il a tout mis en œuvre pour le devenir et ceci de façon très déterminée. La recherche de la solitude, ses rapports à la femme, les hallucinations auditives, les laisser tomber de ses maîtres, l’appel au père nous ont permis d’opter pour une structure psychotique. Les limites de la jouissance ne s’imposent plus pour lui de sorte qu’il se trouve lié à la jouissance de l’Autre illimitée, énigmatique, non régulée par le signifiant phallique. Le langage musical est un autre registre porteur de signification du lien que l’artiste entretient avec l’Autre. Il est en prise avec un langage qui court-circuite le langage articulé. Mais à un moment donné la création ne suffit plus, ça ne tient plus et il sort des rails du lien social. L’oeuvre va maintenir le sujet dans la création et le lien social mais jusqu’à un certain point. La musique qui le tenait a lâché, ce qui faisait sinthome ne tient plus. Les derniers témoins parlent de l'état étrange du musicien avant son internement (avril 1854), il était dans une sorte de confusion avec la musique
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was not born into a family of musicians. He did everything he could to become one and showed great determination to this end. His search for solitude, his relations to woman, his auditory hallucinations, the foundering of his relation to his masters and his appeal to the father brought us to infer a psychotic structure. The limits of jouissance no longer restricted him, so that he found himself yoked to the unlimited, enigmatic jouissance of the Other, which is not regulated by the phallic signifier. Musical language is another register bearing the signification of the bond that the artist maintained with the Other. He was confronted to a language that short-circuited articulated language. But at a given moment, creation no longer sufficed; things fell apart and he disconnected from the social bond. His oeuvre maintained the subject within creation and the social bond, up to a certain point. The music that had permitted him to hold together gave way; that which was serving as his sinthome no longer had effect. The last witnesses speak of the strange state of the musician before his internment (April 1854), a state of a sort of confusion with music

Cette étude s'appuie sur des documents autobiographiques insuffisamment exploités jusqu'à leur récente première publication intégrale, et tente d'élucider une période complexe et cruciale : la fin de l'adolescence, notamment les années pendant lesquelles l'étudiant Schumann se donne le surnom de "Hottentot". Elle s'achève avec le choix de la carrière musicale. La première partie est consacrée à la présentation de ces écrits, qui apparaissent comme le témoignage le plus fidèle sur la vie intérieure et la vie quotidienne de leur auteur, malgré leur difficulté due à la forme généralement fragmentaire du récit et au désordre de la notation. Deux tableaux sont élaborés, l'un analytique, l'autre chronologique, qui se veulent des guides utiles pour une lecture du volume I des journaux. L'enquête psychologique et biographique menée dans la seconde partie se fonde sur l'analyse des journaux de 1827 à 1830, et sur leur confrontation avec d'autres sources, dont la correspondance, tout en nécessitant des incursions dans le passé et l'avenir du musicien. Nous nous attachons à reconnaitre et interpréter les signes du conflit intérieur qui marque toute sa jeunesse, à observer son évolution et le processus de maturation qui rend finalement possible une seconde naissance. Schumann, à l’âge de vingt ans, sort victorieux du combat entre prose et poésie
This study exploits some autobiographical documents insufficiently utilized up to their recent first complete publication, and tries to elucidate a complex and crucial period : the end of adolescence, particularly those years when Schumann as a student gives himself the nick-name "Hottentot". It ends up with his choice of a musical career. The first part develops a representation of those writings, which appear to be the most exact testimony about the interior life and the quotidian life of their author, notwithstanding difficulties caused by the generally fragmentary narrative and the inconsistency of the notation. Two synopsis are presented, one analytical, the other chronological, which aim at providing useful guides to a reading of the volume I of the diaries. The psychological and biographical inquiry in the second part is founded on a survey of the diaries covering the years 1827 to 1830, which are confronted to other source materials, notably the correspondence, and completed by necessary excursions into past and future of Schumann life. We particularly try to identify and interpret the symptoms of that inner conflict which weighed upon his whole youth, to follow its development, and the maturation process which ultimately makes possible a second birth. Schumann, aged twenty, ends up victor in the long fight between prose and poetry

Mestrado em Música
This thesis aims to research the role of music as an emotion expressed in motion. Based on the study of two pieces: Robert Schumann’s A minor Piano Concerto Op.54 and Clara Schumann’s Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann Op. 20, I explore the emotion of love between Robert and Clara Schumann throughout their lives, verifying the emotion of love as related to their musical creativity. Another important aim of this thesis involves my interpretation and playing experience of these two compositions. I obtain my understanding of the musical moods and meaning enriching my imagination, which translates through the aural senses to the kinetic body movements, culminating in the real musical sound and its emotional expression.
Esta tese tem como objetivo pesquisar o papel da música como emoções expressas em movimento. Baseado nos dois objetos de estudo: Concerto de Piano em Lá menor Op. 54 de Robert Schumann e Variações sobre a Tema de Robert Schumann Op. 20 de Clara Schumann, exploro a emoção de amor entre Robert e Clara Schumann em suas vidas. Verifico que esta emoção de amor está sempre relacionada com as criatividades musicais dos dois. Outro objetivo importante envolve a minha interpretação e a experiência de tocar nessas duas composições. Tento alcançar o meu entendimento sobre os espíritos e significados musicais das obras para enriquecer a minha imaginação. Esta última vem através da sensação auditiva para os movimentos cinéticos do corpo e, finalmente alcança a uma verdade sonoridade musical e a sua expressão emocional.

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This research tested two different applications of the performance cue s memorization model (CHAFFIN et al., 2002) in Robert Schumann s Abegg Variations. The aim of the first model s application was the memorized public performance of the piece with no memory lapses. The second application, otherwise, adopted a different view of the model and its aim was to improve musical interpretation through the utilization of the performance cues as points of attention during performance, and it purposes were: (1) to test expressive performance cues as points of attention during performance, and its influence in the resulting sound, and (2) to investigate the potentiality of timbre and timing as parameters of the expressive performance cues applied in the Abegg Variations s performances. The methodology was supported by two practice diaries and audio recorded tests of the applications in four public performances. In these performances the number of memory lapses was inexistent or almost inexistent. We also realized a comparative analysis of the timbre and timing in two recordings of these public performances, to verify the result of the use of performance cues projected in the sound. The results of this research confirmed the efficacy of the performance cue s memorization model in the Abegg Variations and also revealed the possibility of using the expressive performance cues in the refinement of the musical interpretation, mainly in the second application of the model.
Esta pesquisa testou duas aplicações do modelo de memorização através de guias de execução, proposto por Chaffin et al. (2002), nas Variações Abegg de Schumann. A primeira aplicação do modelo teve como fim a memorização da peça e a execução da mesma em público, visando uma performance sem falhas de memória. A segunda aplicação adotou uma visão diferenciada do modelo e buscou aprimorar a interpretação da peça através da utilização dos guias de execução como focos de atenção durante a performance, tendo como objetivos: (1) testar os guias de execução expressivos como focos de atenção durante a performance e a sua influência na produção do som e (2) investigar a potencialidade do timbre e da manipulação temporal como fonte de guias de execução expressivos nas Variações Abegg, de Schumann. A metodologia contou com o suporte de dois diários de estudo e testes das aplicações em quatro apresentações públicas. Nestas apresentações o número e falhas de memória por parte da intérprete e autora deste trabalho foi praticamente nulo. Realizamos também uma análise comparativa de aspectos de manipulação do tempo e timbre entre duas gravações de performances públicas das Variações Abegg, realizada através do software Sonic Visualiser, com o intuito de verificar o resultado sonoro efetivo da utilização dos guias. Os resultados desta pesquisa, além de comprovar a eficácia do modelo a partir de guias de execução na memorização da peça, revelaram a possibilidade de utilização dos guias expressivos no aprimoramento da interpretação musical, principalmente na segunda aplicação do modelo.