Text в robert schumann

Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) is well-known as a master of character pieces. Character piece is a convenient denomination for a large repertory of short 19th-century compositions, mostly for pianoforte, designed to express a definite mood or character. They often carry titles suggesting smallness, for example, “Bagatelle” (Beethoven), “Moment Musical” (Schubert), “Impromptu” (Chopin), “Fantasy Piece” (Schumann). Some character pieces represent a byproduct (by no means negligible) created in moments of relaxation from the more exacting task of composing sonatas, symphonies etc. For other composers, however, the character piece became their most successful medium of expression, e.g. Schumann with his “Intermezzi”, “Scenes from Childhood”, “Fantasy Pieces”, Chopin with his Nocturnes, Preludes, Etudes, Impromtus and Mendelssohn with his “Songs without Words” and “Children's Pieces”. Schumann wrote large and demanding compositions consisting of a number of character pieces to be played by succession (character cycle) and representing a unified idea, for example, in his “Papillons”, “Davidsbündler Tänze”, “Kreisleriana” and “Carnival”.

“Papillons” means butterflies. This fanciful title was used by Schumann for a set of twelve short piano pieces (op.2, 1829 – 31), butterflies of different colors as it were. The final piece suggests the close of a ball early in the morning, with the clock striking six. In various respects this work foreshadows the “Carnival” to which it may be said to stand in the relation of a light sketch to a finished painting.

Schumann's “Carnival” is a piano composition (op.9, 1834), consisting of twenty-one short pieces portraying various characters and scenes which might appear at a masked ball. Among them are Pierrot, Arlequin, Eusebius and Florestan, Chiarina (Clara Wieck, later Schumann's wife), Chopin and Paganini. It closes with a grandiose “March of the David-leaguers against the Philistines”. “Davidsbündler Tänze” mean “Dances of the David-leaguers”.

It is Robert Schumann's cycle of eighteen character pieces for piano, op. 6, composed in 1837. The title refers to an imaginary “League of David” frequently mentioned in Schumann's writings on music, to which he entrusted the task of fighting against the musical “Philistines” of his day, that is, against the mediocre drawingroom music which was then very much in vogue. Each piece is signed E. or F., letters which stand for the names Eusebius and Florestan. These are imaginary characters representing the pensive introvert and the impulsive extrovert side of Schumann's own personality.

“Fantasiestücke”, (in English “Fantasy Pieces”) is an ambiguous title used by Schumann for several short compositions: op. 12 for piano, and op. 73 for violin (or clarinet or cello) and piano, op. 88 for violin, cello and piano.

“Kreisleriana” is the title of Schumann's cycle (op.16, 1838), consisting of eight piano pieces in strongly contrasting moods. The title refers to the whimsical and fantastic figure of the “Kapellmeister Kreisler”, invented by the German novelist E.T.A. Hoffmann.

Proper Names

Robert Schumann [‘rObqt ‘Sumqn]

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy [‘fJliks ‘mendlsn bR‘TOldi:]

“Papillons” [pq‘piliqnz] – «Бабочки»

“Davidsbündler Tänze” ['dRvits,bundler ‘tentsq] – «Танцы Давидсбюнлеров»

“Kreisleriana” [‘krQislqrixnq]

“Carnival” [‘kRnivql]

Pierrot [‘piqrou]

Arlequin [‘Rlekin]

Eusebius [jH‘sJbjqs]

Florestan [‘flLristqn]

Chiarina [‘tSQiqrinq]

Clara Wieck [‘klRrA ‘vJk]

Niccolo Paganini [ni’kOlou ,pxgq‘nJni]

“Fantasiestücke” [fAntA‘zJ,Stukq]

Kapellmeister Kreisler [‘kApql,mQistqr ‘krQislqr]

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann [‘Wnst ‘TiqdL , xmq‘diqs ‘hOfmqn]