Book Description

From the introductory. ....In many songs, Schumann uses the piano to provide beautiful and expressive preludes and postludes. In some songs the eloquence of the piano in the postlude is so great as to make this the most important part of the lyric. For an example of this let the reader examine the exquisite instrumental coda to Die alten, bösen Lieder (The Songs of Bitter Sorrow) , p. 131. This is, indeed, the coda of the entire cycle, and it is the most fragrant blossoming of this branch of Schumann's art. But Schumann also knew when to subordinate the piano so much as to make it a mere background. Note the wonderful effect of the soft chords in Ich hab' im 'Traum geweinet (In Dreams my Tears were falling) , p. 125. In short, as Dr.Spitta has admirably said in his fine article in Grove's Dictionary of Music, in "Schumann's songs the proper function of the pianoforte is to reveal some deep and secret meaning which it is beyond the power of words, even of sung words, to express." That Schumann found the true mission of the song may readily be learned by an examination of the texts which he chose for setting. He never failed to select words embodying the true lyric spirit, the voicing of nature and love. The field of human emotion and thought as viewed through the eyes of youth was the theatre of his fancy, and he found abundant material for his inspiration in the splendid outpour of lyric poetry from the young romanticists of Germany. EichendorfFs contemplations of nature touched his mind no less than Heine's marvellous analyses of feeling; and when he came to the setting of Chamisso's persuasive verses in the cycle entitled Frauenliebe und Leben, opus 42, he unquestionably opened up a wealth of emotion not altogether disclosed by the poet. When it was necessary to be humorous, Schumann had a fund of humor quite irresistible. Note the genuine humor of Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen (A Youth oft Loves a Maiden) , p. 123, and the bewitching archness of Aufträge, p. 150. Such things are the conceptions of a true master laboring in a most congenial field, and all contentions that Schumann was merely a follower of Schubert must fail in the presence of such convincing demonstrations of power and originality. Schumann was always a romanticist, and he was unceasingly introspective. He looked into his own heart and wrote, and this is the great secret of the universal appeal of his songs....