Academic literature on the topic 'Schumann, Robert (1810-1856 ; compositeur)'

Os paralipomena à "Kreisleriana" op. 16 de Robert Schumann (1810-1856) pretendem oferecer um espaço de indagações que circunscreva a obra e a insira em seu contexto. Informações sobre o compositor, seus círculos de sociabilidade e existência, assim como do ambiente no qual ele atua são mobilizadas tendo em vista caracterizar a obra de arte musical e permitir uma primeira aproximação à fatura complexa da obra e seus variados aspectos, elementos e condicionantes. O texto é parte de um estudo mais amplo, ainda incompleto.

In a recent article in this journal, Weisberg (1994) examined the hypothesis that creative individuals suffering from manic-depressive disease not only are more productive during hypomanic phases (which they commonly are) but also produce works of higher quality than during normal or depressed periods As his test case, he took the composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856), who suffered from a bipolar affective disorder (Jamison, 1993, Ostwald, 1985, Slater & Meyer, 1959) and who left extensive records of his mood swings in letters and diaries A plot of the number of Schumann's compositions by year of completion (Weisberg's Fig 1) reveals two periods of particularly intense activity the years 1840 and 1849-1851, especially 1849 According to Slater and Meyer (1959), the years 1840, 1849, and 1851 coincide with hypomanic periods in Schumann's life Years classified as mostly depressive periods, by contrast, show very low productivity

La première partie de ce projet de recherche se concentre sur la réception des idées théoriques du libéralisme au sein de l’espace germanophone entre le XVIIIe et le XIXe siècle, et en particulier dans les territoires composant l’Allemagne d’aujourd’hui. Cela fournit le cadre historique et conceptuel pour le développement de la deuxième partie consacrée à l’analyse des mises en musique du Faust de Goethe proposées par Robert Schumann (1810-1856) et Franz Liszt (1811-1886), respectivement dans les Szenen aus Goethes Faust (1844-1853) et la Faust-Symphonie (1854), et en guise de conclusion une allusion à la Huitième Symphonie (1906-1907, 1910) de Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). En effet, la thèse ne prend pas en considération toutes les mises en musique du mythe faustien, mais rigoureusement seulement les œuvres musicaux inspirés par le Faust de Goethe et en particulier ceux qui reprennent la deuxième partie et la conclusion de la tragédie constituée par les vers énoncés par le chœur mystique. Dans le chef-d’œuvre goethéen, l’on a depuis György Lukács identifié une récapitulation de l’histoire économique de l’humanité, ou bien encore une synthèse de la pensée libérale du XVIIIe et XIXe siècle. C’est pourquoi, l’hypothèse de ce travail consiste dans la possibilité de repérer les images sonores de l’utopie politique exprimées par les mises en musique du chœur mystique qui achève l’œuvre goethéenne. La première partie a démontré le lien intime entre la notion de chœur mystique avec celle de corps mystique, qui a son tour est la racine théologique de la notion de corps politique. Pour cette raison, les mises en musique du chœur mystique doivent être interprétés comme des différentes tentatives de donner voix, c’est-à-dire, spatialiser à travers les timbres, les registres, les hauteurs et autres composantes musicales l’image de l’utopie politique qui structure l’idéologie du compositeur. Bien qu’à l’état encore expérimental, ce travail propose une méthode inspirée par le concept d’inconscient politique de Fredric Jameson pour organiser l’analyse des œuvres musicales. Cela implique d’une part la possibilité d’une application rigoureuse de la psychanalyse sur un objet musicaux en tant qu’expression de l’inconscient du compositeur ; et de l’autre de prendre sérieusement les écrits théoriques des compositeurs. Le concept d’inconscient politique présuppose de clarifier la relation entre l’individuel et le collectif : l’inconscient se manifeste toujours à travers un individu, mais les contenus exprimés relèvent parfois d’une dimension collective, voire politique, qui transparait à travers les éléments biographiques. En tant qu’expression de l’inconscient politique, l’œuvre musicale sera constituée – en reprenant les catégories de l’esthétique de Bernard Stiegler – par des composantes stéréotypiques et traumatypiques. Par ce biais, l’expression musicale d’un compositeur sera traversée par des éléments symptomatiques qui font émerger les traits de son inconscient politique. On a donc identifié grâce à cette méthode les trois structures de l’utopie politique aux racines de l’expression musicale des trois compositeurs : le Volk chez Schumann, la Nation chez Liszt et la Masse chez Mahler. Ces trois figures condensent à la fois des moments de l’évolution de la pensée libérale et la position idéologique du compositeur par rapport au développement du capitalisme
The first part of this research project is dedicated to the reception of Liberal theory within Germanophone space between the 18th and 19th centuries and in particular within those territories that compose Germany as we know it today. This provides the historical and conceptual framework for the development of the second part of the dissertation, which consists in the analysis of the musical transpositions of Goethe’s Faust by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and Franz Liszt (1811-1886), respectively in Szenen aus Goethes Faust (1844-1853) and Faust-Symphonie (1854), and as a conclusion a hint to the Eigth Symphony (1906-1907, 1910) by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) will be made.Indeed, the dissertation does not consider all the musical works inspires by the Faustian myth, but rather only the works inspired by Goethe’s Faust and in particular those which focus on the second part and the conclusion of the tragedy constituted by the verses sung by the mystical chorus. Goethe’s masterpiece has been – at least since György Lukács – long identified with a recapitulation of humanity’s economic history as well as with a synthesis of Liberal thought between the 18th and 19th centuries.Hence, the working hypothesis resides in the possibility to find the sonic images of political utopia expressed by such musical transpositions of the mystical chorus that concludes Goethe’s work. The first part has demonstrated the intimate relation between the notion of mystical chorus and that of mystical body, that at its turn is the theological background of the notion of political body. For this reason, the musical transpositions of the mystical chorus have to be interpreted as different attempts to give voice, that is, to spatialize – through the timbres, voice-registers, pitches and other musical components and parameters – the image of political utopia that structures the composer’s ideology.Although still at an experimental phase, this work proposes a hermeneutical method inspired by Fredric Jameson’s concept of political unconscious in order to organize the analysis of the musical works. This implies on one hand the possibility to rigorously apply psychoanalysis on a musical object as expression of the composer’s unconscious; and on the other hand, to seriously take into consideration the theoretical writings of the composers. The concept of political unconscious requires to clarify the relation between the individual and the collective: the unconscious manifests itself always through an individual, but the contents thus expressed sometimes pertain and hint to a collective dimension, i.e. political sense, that shows itself via biographical elements. As expression of the political unconscious, the musical work is thus constituted – recalling Bernard Stiegler’s aesthetic categories – by stereotypical and traumatypical components. In this way, the musical expression of a composer is thereby haunted by symptomatic elements which make the traits of the political unconscious emerge to consciousness. We have hence identified thanks to this method three structures of the political utopia at the root of the musical expression of the three composers: Volk in Schumann, Nation in Liszt and the Mass in Mahler. These three figures condensate at the same time moments of the evolution of Liberal thought and the ideological position of the composer in relation to the development of capitalism

De nombreux travaux ont montré que les liens entre la littérature et la musique sont indissociables dans la pensée mais également dans la musique de Robert Schumann (1810-1856). Dans la continuité de ses travaux, nous proposons d'étudier l'incidence du Märchen sur l'énonciation musicale des Märchenbilder (Images de contes) pour alto et piano opus 113 (1851) et des Märchenerzählungen (Récits de contes) pour clarinette, alto et piano opus 132 (1853). Dans quelle mesure ces pièces manifestent-elles un type spécifique d'organisation du musical dont le Märchen des poètes serait le schème ? L'enjeu de ce questionnement est important. L'idéal de fusion entre la poésie et la musique, aspiration ultime des artistes romantiques, conduit à un renouvellement complet de la formulation musicale. Or, les Märcheninstrumentaux de Schumann incarnent de manière exemplaire la contribution du compositeur à cette problématique spécifiquement romantique, mieux connue et plus étudiée chez Liszt ou Wagner. Les différents aspects de la relation de la musique à son modèle littéraire sont examinés à travers une analyse détaillée des opus 113 et 132. Un corpus de Märchen défini en fonction des textes que connaissait Schumann constitue le substrat de notre étude. Nous envisageons dans la musique les incidences du Märchen entendu tout à la fois comme narration au sens large, mais également comme déroulement poético-structurel spécifique, comme récit de tradition orale, ou encore comme déploiement d'un univers poétique exprimant idéalement les aspirations du romantisme
Many studies have shown that the links that exist between literature and music are closely interwined not only in the thoughts but also in the music of Robert Schumann (1810-1856). Expanding upon these works, we propose to study the influence of the Märchen on the musical enunciations of Robert Schumann's Märchenbilder (Images of tales) for viola and piano op. 113 (1851) and Märchenerzählungen (Tales telling) for clarinet, viola and piano op. 132 (1853). In what ways do these pieces display a specific type of musical organization influenced by the generic scheme of the Märchen ? The issues lying at the basis of this questioning are important. The ideal fusion of poetry and music, ultimate goal of romantic artists, leads to a complete renewal of musical formulation. Indeed, the instrumental Märchen embodies in an exemplary fashion the composer's contribution to these specifically romantic considerations, better known and oftener studied in Liszt or Wagner. The various aspects of the relation between the music and its literary model are examined through an in-depth analysis of opp. 113 and 132. A corpus of Märchen defined in accordance with the texts that Schumann knew provides the methodological foundation of this study. We consider in the music the influences of the Märchen envisioned as narration in a broad sense, but also as a specific poetic-structural unfolding, as storytelling issuing from oral tradition, or as an deployment of a poetic universe ideally expressing romantic aspirations

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

A thesis which examines Schumann's secret musical language and the development of that language into a highly complex system of extra-musical meanings expressed in tones, special motifs, harmonic progressions and keys. This study traces the development of Schumann's procedures by first analysing the songs of 1840 to see which repeated musical devices connected with texts. Once they have been identified, the application of these devices is then examined, retrospectively, in selected works for solo piano. Relying heavily on Schumann's diaries and letters, as well as a detailed analysis of selected works for voice and solo piano, this study shows the extra-musical meaning to be ultimately concerned with Schumann's wish to marry Clara Wieck and her father's unyeilding opposition to the idea.

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

This study has attempted to observe and understand the reorchestrations of the four Robert Schumann symphonies through the analysis of revisions found in the edited scores of several eminent conductors. To provide a faithful and effective performance of Schumann's orchestral conception, the conductor may find it necessary to alter certain features in his scores. Conductors have complained that Schumann's symphonies are ineffectual in many passages. This is the reason they are less frequently performed than they deserve. Four performance editions of the complete Schumann symphonies were chosen to form the basis for this study. They are: Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, George Szell, Felix Weingartner. The revisions of other conductors were incorporated as available and appropriate. These include: Fritz Reiner, Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Georg Solti, Joseph Keilberth, Gotthold Lessing, Willem Mengelberg, Eugene Ormandy, Hans Pfitzner, Theodore Thomas, Max Reger, Fritz Busch. The study of Schumann's orchestration involved the investigation of his development as an orchestral composer, including the influence of the piano on his scoring and his understanding of the orchestra. The state of the orchestra in Schumann's time and his development as an orchestral composer were also studied in order to better understand his technique in terms of his orchestral experience. The study of the revisions reveals that Schumann's scoring was less successful than many other composers in providing an orchestration which supports and clarifies the structural logic of the composition. It thus becomes the conductor's responsibility to assume the role of editor to provide a faithful performance of the work. Analysis of the reorchestrations reveals changes concerning dynamic balance, clarity, timbre and style, as well as manner of performance. This study has attempted to provide vital information about the performing editions and the aesthetic effect achieved through alteration of the original Schumann scores.

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

Ce travail est une réflexion sur les notions de pulsions de vie et de mort. La seconde supposée observée à l'état pur dans la mélancolie nous a invités à étudier les productions du romantisme allemand qui a vu ses acteurs mourir par suicide, et les rapports de ses représentations démoniaques à la pulsion. Il apparaît que la diable, père de l'Oedipe qui rappelle aux romantiques, et aux adolescents ayant une problématique semblable, les termes du pacte oedipien, oeuvre pour et contre les revendications de toute-puissance et de jouissance, au risque de la mort, du morcellement, de la compulsion, propres de la pulsion de mort, faisant de celle-ci un destin de la seule sexuelle
This work is a thought about the notions of life urge and death urge. The second one, assumed to be observed in the pure state in melancholy led us to study the productions of the German romanticism which saw its actors die from suicide, and the relations of its demoniac representations to urge. It turns out that the devil, father of the Oedipus who reminds the romanticist and the teenagers having a similar problematic, the terms of Oedipus pact, works for and against the claims of almightiness and delight, at the risk of death, making it a fate to the sexual one only

Many have criticized Schumann's compositional style as being incompatible with sonata form. For example, his Fantasia, Op. 17 appears to be a series of cleverly interactive themes which, by virtue of their poetic diversity and dramatic momentum, manage barely to function within the confines of a quasi-sonata form. Schumann's discomfort, some would say, is made evident by the absence of developmental sections in the outer two movements, by the invasion of literary and musical quotation, and even by the rhetorical presentations of his too lyrical themes. Such appraisals focus on that which is absent or unusual, ignoring the inherent craftsmanship and masterful motivic manipulation exhibited throughout the Fantasia. Schumann does not explore and reveal the latent energy in a collection of motives; rather, he varies, transforms, mutates and metamorphizes a few cellular ideas into a collage of richly diversified themes, all of which bear the stamp of these "genetic" cells. Much of the musical momentum in the Fantasia derives its energy from the surface interplay of those themes; thus the engine of the form is more closely akin to variation and cyclic techniques than to those involving thematic development. The essential purpose of this paper is to explore thematic processes in Schumann's Fantasia, these being fundamental to the language of the work. The paper also encompasses a history of the fantasia genre, an overview of Schumann's aesthetics, and a brief discussion of the Fantasia's structure.
Arts, Faculty of
Music, School of
Graduate

Abstract The cello arguably became the equal of the violin as a solo concerto instrument in the nineteenth century. This was no doubt due in part to the codification of advanced techniques by the great nineteenth-century performer-pedagogues, including Romberg, Dotzauer, Kummer, Grützmacher, and Piatti. The dazzling technical etudes and showpieces by these cellist-composers revealed new possibilities for solo playing. This may explain why most of the major Romantic composers wrote at least one concerto for the cello Works by Schumann, Dvořák, and Elgar developed new ways of using the instrument’s technique, sonority, and registers, while character pieces such as Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme and Bloch’s Schelomo provided alternatives to traditional concerto forms. Twentieth-century concerto literature by Shostakovich also became central to the repertoire for cello and orchestra, and provided an example for later composers to follow.

Abstract Each morning I rise and ask: Will my sweetheart come today? Each evening I sink into bed downcast: today, too, she stayed away. All night I lie awake, sleepless with sorrow. All day I wander in a dream, half in sleep. I am driven here, driven there—in a few hours I will see her, the fairest of the fair! Poor heart, how violently you throb! The hours are such a lazy crowd; dawdling in their comfortable and idle way, they creep along yawning. Hurry yourselves, you laggards!

Abstract Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony, on 8 June 1810 and died, insane, at Endenich, near Bonn, on 29 July 1856. Some reference works give him a middle name, Alexander, but that is a fiction. Schumann composed his Cello Concerto, which he listed in his own catalogue as a ‘ ‘Concertstuck ‘ ‘ for cello and orchestra, between 1C and 24 October 1850, but the first performance was posthumous, given by Ludwig Ebert at the Leipzig Conservatory on 9 June 1860 at a concert in honor of the composer’s fiftieth birthday. In 1966 Dmitri Shostakovich arranged this work as a violin concerto; in 1986 a similar transcription by Schumann himself, presumably made for Joseph Joachim, came to light among the Joachim papers at the Prussian State Library, Berlin.

This chapter explores songs that move across temporal rather than geographical borders. Theodore Adorno’s two lectures on Heine, the lesser-known ‘Towards a Reappraisal of Heine’ (1949) and ‘Heine the Wound’ (1956) provide a way of thinking about the poet’s anti-sentimentality in relationship to notions of his inner exile and about how history can alter the course of an artist’s reception. The chapter focuses on the echoic effects of Heine settings by Wilhelm Killmayer (1927-2017) and Wolfgang Rihm (b. 1952). Both composers allude to aspects of nineteenth-century musical heritage, from the tradition of lieder composition in general to intertextual references. Comparison with Heine settings by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) demonstrate how the anti-sentimentalism of the poetry spoke not only to Romantic but also to post-modern generations.