At her time, Schumann was best known for her skills at the piano, performing throughout Europe from an early age. 17 - I - Allegro moderato, Clara Schumann: Piano Trio in G minor - LSO Discovery A-level Seminar 2016, Last edited on 15 February 2022, at 18:42, "A Level Music Schumann Piano Trio Op. However, there are some different textures throughout. This study will place this piece within the context of the Romantic piano sonata genre of the mid-nineteenth century, and offer some possible reasons for its neglect within the literature. through the balancing of tradition and innovation, Clara Schumanns piano trio Until the mid-2000s, you could count commercial recordings of Clara Schumann's piano concerto (which she composed and premiered as Clara Wieck when still in her early teens) on one hand - the past few years, however, have seen an upswing in appreciation of the work itself and its composer in general, with Isata Kanneh-Mason, Barry Wordsworth and Gabriela Montero among those who've recently . 25, was composed by Johannes Brahms between 1856 and 1861. Clara Schumanns Piano Trio, Op. During the 1845-1846 season, pregnant with her fourth child, Clara was unable to tour as a concert pianist and so stayed home and put her new contrapuntal skills to work in a piano trio. Box 37012 The Scherzo is a rustic piece in the tempo of a minuet, filled with snap rhythms carried by the violin. I have taught advanced analysis and Schenkerian analysis in this course. 141 0 obj Subscribe to our Newsletter Give to the Libraries The University of Texas at Austin Such doubts owed to her being a woman with The Andante is a lovely instrumental song in G major, though not without its own offbeat tuggings and a fiercely contrasting middle section in E minor. info@smithsonianchambermusic.org. However, as there is clearly still one dominant melody, we are going to call this polyphonically animated homophony rather than pure polyphony. 1d forms the answer to 1cs question. As the publisher of her husband's works, she. However, as you might have guessed, it is a little more complicated than that! The structure of the movement is Sonata form (made up of the Exposition, Development, and Recapitulation), with a Codetta and then a Coda. After her marriage, Clara turned to larger forms, studying jointly with Robert through all of his enthusiasms. On his thirty-seventh birthday on 6 June, he began work on the first of his three full-fledged trios (an earlier group of trio miniatures would be published in 1850 as four Phantasiestcke, Op. Je trouve singulier et tonnant, crit Schumann Mendelssohn, que presque chaque motif qui se forme en moi porte en soi les caractristiques de multiples combinaisons contrapuntiques. All Rights Reserved. <>/Border[0 0 0]/Rect[191.682 646.991 540.0 665.009]/Subtype/Link/Type/Annot>> In the recapitulation, the first subject is in G minor, the tonic key. This always happens when Robert is composing. Friends of Music Recordings is pleased to announce its third release, Piano Trios of Clara and Robert Schumann, performed by The Castle Trio: Lambert Orkis, piano; Marilyn McDonald, violin; and Kenneth Slowik, violoncello. Most people know Clara Schumann today as the wife of composer Robert Schumann. 145 0 obj chamber music a listener s guide keller james. Those two are the only real features youll need to listen out for with regard to chamber music. Schumann uses lots of interesting, harmonically rich chords throughout the movement. 63 were frequently paired on nineteenth-century concert programs. Over the next ten days, the Schumann household books repeatedly testify to Schumanns joy with his progress on the trio, the sketch of which was finished on 16 June. . 1 in G minor, Op. 23x3`acLA9}\5O1>d8h49mdW#nd/VniM7pUBb E NMAH 4100 MRC 616 . She completed it in 1846, during the Romantic period, and she wrote it for piano, violin and cello. Frederick R. Koch Collection Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library She made her piano debut at 11 and began her Piano Concerto in A Minor when she was 14. It was premiered in 1861 in Hamburg, with Clara Schumann at the piano. 17, was a direct influence on Roberts Piano Trio in D minor, Op. Different Clara Schumann Preview : Like Skill : Applaud : Comment 0 Playlist Share View Download PDF : Piano Score (36 pages - 1.62 Mo) 3,955x View Download PDF : Violin Part (357.45 Ko) View Download PDF : Cello Part (300.07 Ko) VIDEO ADD MP3 Video 0 comment Be the first to write down a comment. 70: Chorus, And then shall your light break forth. The second subject is in Bb major, the relative major. It was written in 1846, during a traumatic and harrowing period of her troubled life. Just a quick note about this table the keys above are specific to pieces in the minor key which use sonata form. than piano and voice or piano and violin. Soon after, the violin takes over the theme. Clara Schumann began her musical career the day she was born. endobj . There is also a fairly unprepared modulation to D major in bar 57. Some features of this site may not work without it. To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. Well, the reason its so satisfying is because Schumann uses a circle of 5ths chord progression for the next three bars. HN@s,. During the development of the Trio, she was going through hardships in life. Grace Williams: Violin Sonata. Here we go: Ok, I might have lied a little. 2023 Smithsonian Chamber Music Society. November 2013: Piano Trio in G minor, op. You can hear examples in the violin part of bars 9-10 and the cello part of bar 11. 0000001056 00000 n His wife Clara observed that, "The piano is so. There are examples in bars 7, 23 and 81. There are lots more key changes, but I wont mention them all. Here are some examples: I probably shouldnt be saying this, but you really dont need to know what all this musical jargon means. The music is discussed in the frame of Schumann's eventful and ultimately tragic life, and the important inuence of his brilliant and adoringbut strong-willedwife, Clara Wieck Schumann, is also examined. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export. These contrasts between the cello and piano successfully create the mood of the "Tempo di minuetto". This makes the tonal surprise of the D major yet more surprising. Following her mother's departure from the family home, Clara, aged four, had been taught piano, music theory and composition by her father alone. The Piano Trio (Op. trio should be praised or criticized using the same guidelines as the trios of her This is perhaps a touch melodramatic but it certainly is powerful! Thats actually something called, During the development the violin and cello frequently use, The use of imitation and dialogue automatically pushes us towards, In the first two beats of bar 11 the piano plays a, In the second two beats of bar 11 (yep, its a busy bar!) He published it anonymously as "Pianoforte Sonata, dedicated to Clara by Florestan and Eusebius". Clara Schumann, ne Wieck, was born in Leipzig on 13 September 1819 and shot to fame as a child prodigy, performing in Paris, Vienna and across Europe in her teens. She completed it in 1846, during the Romantic period, and she wrote it for piano, violin and cello . However, I must mention the arrival in Ab major at bar 139, which is absolutely beautiful! 2: Chamber Music by Felix, Clara & Robert, Robert Schumann: Piano Trios, Op. 2, trans. The substantial first movement, Allegro moderato, could pass for one of her husband's with its stern yet somewhat yearning, lyrical first subject, and the second subject is lighter, chordal, and syncopated. Composer background [Accompanying PowerPoint provides illustrations] Clara Schumann (1819-1896) was a German concert pianist and composer. Clara responsibilities as a wife, caring for her ill husband, and a mother, raising seven 17 not only contains compositional Schumann uses lots of typically Romantic chromaticism throughout this movement. %%EOF The Trio, though, plays across-the-bar metrical games and has a very expansive, Beethovenian transition back to the main music. This thorough and unique analysis offers new insights into the creation of the quartets, the wealth of musical customs and conventions on which they draw, the scope of their innovations, and their significance as reflections of Haydn's artistic personality. Clara would have performed this core repertoire and this made the trio a natural outlet for her creativity. A major exception was this Piano Trio in G Minor, a complex and beautifully written chamber work that shows her mastery both of counterpoint and of the long melodic line. It's Clara Schumann's bicentenary and time to put this superwoman pianist and composer into the spotlight. 0000041773 00000 n Clara Schumann's, "Piano trio in G Minor, Op. She made her piano debut at 11 and began her Piano Concerto in A Minor when she was 14. The Four Polonaises of her Op. This is called a tonal surprise. A semi-working vacation for the Schumanns to the East Frisian island spa of Norderney in the North Sea designed to provide some much-needed relaxation was marred by Claras miscarriage on 26 July. This is THE MOST important thing to remember about Schumanns Piano Trio. Instruments:Works Her husband Robert Schumann was extremely ill. 17, and Roberts Trio No. The Smithsonian Chamber Music Society is a program of the National Museum of American History, Happily, Claras trio was well received in its initial private performances, which may well have prompted the trio thoughts Robert recorded having near the beginning of June of 1847. 17, 88 & 110, Music@Menlo 2011: Through Brahms Disc 6: Schumann, C. Schumann, Brahms, Clara Schumann: Trio in G minor, Op. In 1926, Williams studied at the Royal College of Music under Gordon Jacobs and Ralph Vaughan . Rather unusually, the whole movement ends with a plagal cadence (IV I). Though the speed with which the trio was conceived seems surprising, Schumann himself felt that his creative process had become more time-consuming, as a post-1846 diary entry makes clear: I used to write practically all of my shorter pieces in the heat of inspiration, and many were completed with almost unthinkable rapidity. The finale, Allegretto, returns to the major mode and to sonata form. worthy of performance consideration today. The Piano Trio has been called "probably" the "masterpiece" among her compositions. 49, Schumann was twenty-nine, and embroiled in an effort to marry twenty-year-old Clara Wieck, whose career as a concert pianist was already firmly established. endobj A particularly nice bit of chromaticism is in the piano part in bars 18-19, where the left hand plays a descending chromatic bass line. bar 22) uses a homorhythmic texture, meaning all the instruments are playing the same rhythms but to different pitches. 0000002552 00000 n 1 in D Minor, Op. 0000043272 00000 n how rich in invention, how interesting from beginning to end it is, how fresh and what a beautifully coherent whole! wrote Clara Schumann of her husband Robert's Piano Concerto. Suspensions create yet more dissonance, such as those in bars 129-130 in the violin and cello parts. *fK5i#FA2XiRF1]Q% & ^ !tY2l~ ~|i:&Z0ALe6Yg{rA; VGXDzs!"&}c\ZOS 4DW#S4Kh{j)+#0dRAdZ{key;H)^WH >%2W0:9 h`r-xza:V6 i.-*#b|mp=i=49,:xlz]I3A~i-&UG{ZN=->r+70I^D"*y"d~i%_FH#H2JAR#};}PVE Clara varies it in an extraordinary episode in A minor, and she references other material from the previous movements as well. In the recapitulation, the first subject should be in the tonic key. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Gerstein / Grainyt-Tyla Thursday THU 30 March 2023 07.30 PM Groer Saal . By all accounts, the marriage was extremely felicitous at first, though Clara confided to her diary some nine months into her life as Frau Schumann (and six months into the first of her eight pregnancies prior to Roberts 1856 death) that my piano playing is falling behind. Throughout their lives, they developed a lively artistic exchange which included borrowing musical materials from each other. Smithsonian Institution 1 (not her actual first compositions) had been published when she was 11 years old, to be followed by numerous other solo piano pieces and her Concerto. Written in 1846, the Piano Trio in G minor, opus 17 by Clara Schumann was her only piano trio[1] and was composed during her stay in Dresden 1845-1846. Ferrndez, who released his debut album on Sony Classical in 2021 to critical acclaim, was also a member of Anne-Sophie Mutter's . Ehejahre 1840-1856. Like Robert, Clara here maintains a thick sound, but it's because all three instruments are playing contrapuntally much of the time, not because one is essentially doubling another's part, as was often the case with Robert. The sonata-form first movement is filled with Romantic ardor, from its urgent lyrical themes tinged with longing, to its vigorous contrapuntal development section, to its brief, driving coda. Heres a breakdown of what that entailes: The overall tonality of Schumanns Piano Trio is G minor. I looked at her, confusion lacing my features. 147 0 obj Your email address will not be published. This gives everything a Romantic sound of yearning. 1 in G minor, Op. Heres a breakdown of the strict tonality conventions in sonata form vs how Schumann switches things up a bit. 0000027350 00000 n 63, Clara Schumann: Piano Concerto; Piano Trio, Piano Trios: Clara Schumann, Bruch, Dvork, Philips Recordings, 1967-1974 (Limited Edition), Louise Farrenc: Trio in E, Op. Her husband Robert Schumann was extremely ill. Well, if not, re-read the structure section, as you will need to know all about them for this section. Presto Chart The Presto Chart - February 2023. by Chris O'Reilly. However, if you are lucky, you can find a second hand one on amazon or ebay. Remember that lovely Ab major modulation in bar 139? Brahms: Double Concerto; Clara Schumann: Piano Trio, Clara Schumann: Piano Trio; Fanny Mendelssohn: Piano Trios; String Quartet, The Leipzig Circle, Vol. [2], Clara Schumann's compositions include 30 Lieder (songs), choral music, solo piano pieces, 1 piano concerto, chamber and orchestral works. formats are available for download. her most performed work in the nineteenth century. 1730, set up with gut strings as they would have been in the Schumanns time. A summary of Clara Schumann's Piano Trio in G minor In the Edexcel Music A Level Listening and Appraising section, with basic points to be used as a starting point for revision, taken from the Pearson Support Guide. endobj Copyright is held by the author. In March of 1846, Robert had experienced a temporary relapse of his illness and depression of the previous two years, during which, he reported, there were times when he had not really been able to abide music for quite a while, as it cuts into my nerves as if with knives, a sorry state indeed for a man his doctor described as addicted to his one usualone and only!occupation, composing. (Despite his investment of time in this activity, the substantial income Robert eventually realized from the ongoing sale of his compositions began to arrive only in 1849.) She did so in part because in both Claras and Roberts eyes, Robert took priority. Some features of this site may not work without it. As an A* ex-A level music student myself, I know all the best tips and tricks for doing well in your exam. Clara puts her study of counterpoint to impressive use in the animated last movement, which opens quietly, develops dramatically in a fugal central section, and ends elegantly on an uplifting major chord. Heres a breakdown of each of the themes: 1a acts as a musical question. 22; Sechs Lieder aus "Jucunde", Op. Here is a link to the page: For A Level we only study the first movement. It is more disjunct than previous melodic ideas, with a characteristic interval of a falling 4th. 0000013132 00000 n Instruments:Artists. JavaScript is disabled for your browser. endobj A selected listening discography lists 17. orchestration, voice, and violin lessons from various other teachers. 23, Clara Schumann & Fanny Mendelssohn Piano Trios, Clara Wieck-Schumann: Trio g-moll Op. However, we are back in G minor by bar 250. Its main melody is subtly related to the main theme of the first movement and polyphonically pliable. 144 0 obj For more information . This movement is in common time, which is essentially short-hand for 4/4. This acts as dominant preparation and clearly grounds us in Bb major. bach s operas of the soul a listener s guide to the sacred. This is one of the strongest chord progressions and clearly establishes the key of 1c. Clara puts her Bach studies to use in the development section, a confident excursion into counterpoint, and uses a scholarly and controlled approach to a section that other composers of the time dealt with more freely, even sloppily. 45; Clara Schumann: Trio in G, Op. The program includes "Piano Trio No. 17, Movement 1 Support Guide", International Music Score Library Project, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Piano_Trio_(Clara_Schumann)&oldid=1072054408, This page was last edited on 15 February 2022, at 18:42. The Piano Concerto In A Minor, Op. If I only achieve this muchthat you have nothing more to do with the publicI will have achieved my greatest aspiration. But despite her husbands controlling wishes, by 1842 Frau Schumann-ne-Wiecks career was again in full swing. <> startxref This study demonstrates that through the balancing of tradition and innovation, Clara Schumann's piano trio exhibits a level of maturity . I cant do anything with my composingI would sometimes like to strike my dumb head! Robert may not have been entirely dissatisfied, for, while he rejoiced in his wifes talents, he had great difficulty overcoming his rather bourgeois expectations of marriage. Conventions are completely different for major key pieces. I have tried to make all this information as concise as possible so you can get the best value for your time spent reading. In the middle of movement all three parts play dotted rhythms, which contribute to the contrast of the emotion of the piece.
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