Schumann, R.: Intermezzi, Op. 4 / Impromptus, Op. 5 / 3 Romances, Op. 28

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Cat No: 8550849

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099584920

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: SCHUMANN, R.

Description
Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) Intermezzi, Op. 4 Impromptus über ein Thema von Clara Wieck, Op. 5 Drei Romanzen, Op. 28 Albumblstter, Op. 124 Much of the piano music of Schumann was written before his marriage in 1840 to Clara Wieck, a match that her father, Friedrich Wieck, once Schumann's piano teacher, had done all he could to prevent. Schumann himself combined literary interests with musical, eventually persuading his widowed mother and his guardian to allow him to leave university and devote his attention to the latter, rather than pursuing studies in law. A weakness in his fingers frustrated his ambition to become a virtuoso pianist and after 1840, the year of his marriage, in which he wrote a vast number of songs, he was encouraged by his young wife to tackle larger orchestral forms, before turning his attention to chamber music. Although widely respected both as a composer and as a writer on musical subjects, he had no official position until his appointment as director of music in Düsseldorf in 1850, his unhappy tenure there interrupted by a break-down and final insanity, leading to his death in 1856. Abandoning his legal studies in Heidelberg, Schumann returned to Leipzig to resume lessons with Wieck in 1830, eventually finding temporary lodgings in two vacant rooms in his teacher's house. His six Intermezzi, Opus 4, originally entitled Pièces fantastiques were completed as a set in 1832 and published with a change of dedication. The pieces had originally been dedicated to the twelve-year-old Clara Wieck, but the new dedication was to J. W. Kalliwoda. Schumann himself described the pieces as extended Papillons, referring to the set of pieces of that title forming Opus 3, short works based on Jean Paul's novel Flegeljahre. The first of the set opens in the majestic mood familiar from his later evocations of the great cathedral of Cologne and its ritual. A quicker Alternativo section makes reference to the same material, before the return of the opening section. The second Intermezzo, marked Presto e capriccioso, moves from the A major of the first to the key of E minor in a forceful opening. The central section, recalled in conclusion, is tender and relaxed in mood. To this Schumann has added the words of Goethe's Gretchen Mein Ruh' isthin. The third, marked Allegromarcato, returns to the key of the first in its opening chord, proceeding in asymmetrical rhythm to a gentle secondary theme and an Alternativo section in E major, modulating through A flat, enharmonically changed to G sharp, to the return of the first material. Without a break the fourth Intermezzo follows, moving into C major with music adapted from a sketch for the tenth of the Papillons. The D minor fifth Intermezzo contains a B flat Alternativo section and is followed by the B minor six th, starting with forceful triplet rhythm, like the second, and again containing an Alternativo section, now in D major, before the return of the original key and material
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