Robert & Clara Schumann; Frederic Chopin; Franz Liszt

1. THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSIC
ESSENTIAL LISTENING
EDITION
by
Kristine Forney
Andrew Dell’Antonio
Joseph Machlis
THIRD EDITION
Lecture Slides

2. Chapter 35
Dancing at the Keyboard: Chopin and
Romantic Piano Music

3. Romantic Piano Music
• Piano: Home use,
favorite instrument of virtuosos
• Steinway

4. Romantic Piano Music
• Pianos had greatly improved.
– Better sound, loud enough to fill public concert halls
– Better mechanical systems, responsive to virtuoso
playing
• The Public loved virtuoso performers.
• Private concerts for selected guests were
performed in salons.

5. The Piano
• Cast-iron frame
allowed for
greater string
tension
• Hammers
covered with
felt
• Range
extended
• Damper pedal
added

6. Romantic Piano Music
• Pianos became popular in the home;
composers wrote and publishers produced
music for the non-virtuoso player.
• Especially among the middle class and the
wealthy, learning to play piano was
considered part of a good education.
• This demand for all-level works was
lucrative for composers and publishers.

7. Salon (Intimate) Piano Music:
Miniatures (2-5 mins.)
• Ballades
• Capriccios
• Consolations
• Etudes (studies)
• Fantasies
• Impromptus
• Mazurkas
• Nocturnes
• Polonaises
• Preludes
• Rhapsodies
• Scherzos
• Songs Without
Words
• Waltzes
Chopin: Mazurka, Op. 53, No. 3Chopin: Prelude in E, Op. 28, No. 4

8. • Masters of the short lyric piano piece include the
following composers:
Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn,
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Robert and Clara
Schumann, and Brahms
• Explored technical resources and capacity for
expression of the piano
The Short Lyric Piano Piece

9. Clara and Robert Schumann

10. Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
• Born in Zwickau, Germany; went to study law at Leipzig University,
but skipped class!!
• Studied piano with Friedrich Wieck; married his daughter, Clara: a
concert pianist.
• Contracted syphilis, which ruined his hands and ended his concert
piano career.
• Founded The New Journal for Music: served as editor and music
critic- set up with partners in 1834.
• One of first to praise Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique and to
recognize both Chopin and Brahms as compositional geniuses
• Developed depression and hallucinations (from syphilis?); died in
asylum at age 46.

11. Robert Schumann
• Through writing & criticism, championed
Chopin, Schubert, Brahms
• Wrote with pseudonyms
• Wrote virtually all piano works before age of
30 in 1840
• 4 symphonies with experimental aspects-large
brass section, high level of chromaticism;
cyclic devices; sonata-allegro form with no
development

12. Robert Schumann(1810-1856)
• Schizophrenic,
“gloriously
mad”
• Attempted
suicide by
jumping into
Rhine in 1854,
rescued

13. Robert Schumann “Dedication”
• “Widmung” = “Dedication”
• Written in 1840, the year he married Clara Wieck
(they eloped)
• A love poem set to music
• An example of a German lied
• Form = ternary
• Harmony
– A = key of A-flat
– B = key of E--NOT a closely related key; A-flat has 4 flats; E has 4
sharps

14. “Dedication” & “Traumerai”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=0StsRrqTs_c
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=qq7ncjhSqtk&index=53&list=PLD2FA7A1A4
352F58A

15. Robert Schumann
• Carnaval-Opus 9 Piano Solo
– “Little Scenes on Four Notes”
– Collections of personalities
– Written during Carnaval season of 1835(Mardi Gras)
– Chiarina-for Clara Weick
– Chopin- “nocturne”
– Estrella-fiancee Ernestine von Fricken
– Reconaissance-reunion
– Certain movements named for clowns of Commedia del
arte(Italian theater)
– Papillons-butterflies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHcO0oF6mlc

16. Clara Wieck Schumann
(1819 - 1896)
• Studied piano at age 5
• Gave first full piano recital at age 9
• Toured Europe as child prodigy
• Published music as teenager, rare
• Her father, Friedrich Wieck, opposed her marrying a musician,
but she eloped and married Robert Schumann anyway at age
21
• 8 children, one dying in infancy.
• She was one of the great piano virtuosos of her generation.

17. Clara Wieck Schumann
(1819-1896)
• Premiered Robert’s works and those of Brahms(came to
live with Schumanns in 1853)
• Continued to perform after marriage and widowhood, but
few compositions were published after that.
• Had long relationship with Johannes Brahms.
• Widowed in her mid-30’s, Clara pursued a highly
successful career as a soloist (piano) and teacher.
• Taught at Leipzig Conservatory of Music and Hoch
Conservatory in Frankfurt.

18. Clara Wieck Schumann
• Piano Concerto in A Minor
• Three Songs on Texts by
Rückert
• Variations on a Theme by
Robert Schumann--for piano
• Piano Trio in G Minor
• Three Romances--for piano
• “Scherzo”
– https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=_5G0imFdEB4

19. Frédéric Chopin (1809 - 1848)
• Born near Warsaw, Poland; gave first
piano recital at age 8; studied piano at
Warsaw Conservatory.
• Father was French and mother was
Polish--never felt at home in either
place.
• Russia annexed most of Poland, which
awakened his nationalism--as
manifested in his polonaises and
mazurkas.
• Made a living in Paris from teaching
and sales of his music for piano.
• Had a long relationship with
Amandine Lucile Aurore Dudevant
(George Sand).
• Died of tuberculosis, age 39.
• Most of his works are for piano.

20. Frederick Chopin(1810-1849)
• Wrote exclusively for piano,
“the poet of the piano”
• First imaginative use of pedal
& rubato(performer deviates
slightly from exact execution of
rhythm)

21. Impromptu
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=pmC3rsgHD9E

22. • Smaller forms: nocturnes,
preludes, impromptus,
waltzes, mazurkas, études
• Larger forms: ballades,
polonaises, fantasies,
sonatas, piano concertos
• Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2
– https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?
v=EvxS_bJ0yOU&list=PLD2FA7
A1A4352F58A&index=57
Chopin and Piano Music
Chopin: Fantasie Impromptu

23. Mazurka in B-flat Minor, Op. 24, No. 4
• The mazurka originated in
Chopin’s home district: Mazovia,
Poland
• Lively dance in triple meter with
accents on second or third beat
of measure

24. Mazurka in B-Flat Minor
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNeC-
6SuLS4

27. Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
• Born near Sopron (in
Austria-Hungary).
• Studied piano in Vienna;
piano concert debut in
London at age 11.
• Considered greatest piano
virtuoso of 19th century.
• Lived in Paris from age 16
to age 38, touring
throughout Europe.

28. Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
• Became music director to Grand Duke of
Weimar.
• Story has it, he changed position of piano on
stage (from back to audience to sideways) and
threw away the music!
• Ever since, tradition has dictated that pianists
play concert music from memory.

29. Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
• Some famous works
– Orchestra: Faust Symphony, Dante Symphony, Les
Préludes, Piano Concertos No. 1 and No. 2
– Piano Music: Sonata in b minor, Six Consolations,
Transcendental Studies, Hungarian Rhapsodies,
and many short piano pieces

30. La Campanella
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=hEnfZjqMSy0&index=66&list=PLD2FA7A1A4
352F58A

31. by
Kristine Forney
Andrew Dell’Antonio
Joseph Machlis
Lecture Slides
THIRD EDITION
THE ENJOYMENT OF MUSIC
ESSENTIAL LISTENING EDITION
http://wwnorton.com/web/enjoyess2