From SCHUMANN PROJECT Recital #8b
Robert Schumann: Bunte Blätter op. 99
Video of the lecture-recital by Fabio Grasso
Below, an English version of the Italian lecture
ENGLISH VERSION OF THE ITALIAN LECTURE
"The colors of
memories, the steps of a farewell"
The cohesion of Schumann's piano polyptychs
is due, among other, to the strict selection of the pieces that they contain.
The composer excluded from some cycles of the 30s and
40s a relevant number of short pieces, which in virtue of their artistic value
would have deserved to belong to them, but would have risked being
destabilizing in relation to the global structural context.
Many of these little pieces have been lost. About
thirty survived - presumably composed between the end of the 30s and the
beginning of the 40s. In 1850 Schumann merged them into two collections, the Bunte Blätter op. 99 and the Albumblätter op. 124.
The series of Colored Leaves
op. 99 aims to juxtapose pieces with contrasting character - the first edition
was adorned with covers of different colors. However
its deepest message goes far beyond this superficial variegation.
The 14 "Blätter"
are divided into three macrosections:
- 1-3, Drei Stücklein
- 4-8, Fünf Albumblätter
- 9-14: the longest section, without title, consisting
of three couples: 9-10 / 11-12 / 13-14
The first of the 3 Little Pieces (n. 1) is probably
the 1838 Christmas present to Clara Wieck. It is
characterized by the typical sublime "simplicity" (Einfachheit) of several introductory pieces, like those of Kinderszenen, Humoreske, Phantasiestücke op. 12, Waldscenen.
To the latter work we can relate the piece n. 3, similar to the Hunting Song of
the Forest Scenes, or also to the third piece of the Gesänge
der Frühe op. 133.
Concerning the articulations of n. 2 we can find many references in the piano
works and in the Lieder - for example, the Romance op. 28 n. 1, the 4th Gesang der Frühe,
the Lied Belsazar op. 57. We deliberately mention
some late works, in order to show that the Bunte Blätter don't just look like recycled pages, deleted from
contemporary works; some of them may even have been composed, parhaps not quite consciously, as sketches anticipating not
yet developed ideas.
The pieces 4-8 recall a more distant past. In
particular, 7 and 8 seems to reproduce the dichotomy proposed by some pictures
of Kinderszenen between childhood fears of the
unknown and moments of reassuring comfort.
The slow pace of the n. 4 reminds us of the theme of
the Symphonic Etudes: in fact it too was used as theme for two series of
Variations - Clara's op. 20 and Brahms op. 9.
While in n. 5 we can feel the frightening nocturnal
presences of "In der Nacht"
(op. 12 n. 5), n. 6 refers to Carnaval, especially as
regards the first three notes of the main melody, A flat - C - B, the same
notes of one of the famous fragments that provides the motivic
material for the carnival scenes op. 9 (ASCH).
The Novellette n. 9 is less
extended than the compositions of the same name collected in opus 21; however
it reveals, mainly in the delicious central part, the same refined taste for narrative
digressiveness.
Particularly strong is the contrast with the severe
Prelude n. 10, whose romantic virtuosity conceals Bach's ancestry, an element
that is more easily noticeable in the Klavierstücke
op. 32 and in the collections of Fugues, and that here clearly emerges only
during the conclusive pedal.
The authentic heart of the cycle is represented by the
couple 11-12.
The "implicitly funeral" March in D minor
has an intermediate section of amazing depth.
The famous Funeral Marches composed by Beethoven and
Chopin include one or more Intermezzi, whose function is to make a human voice
heard that opposes the inexorable oppression of death. In this episode Schumann
seems to evoke the atmosphere of the Lied op. 39 n. 4, Die Stille,
in which Eichendorff discretly
depicts the quiet of the natural scenery as a reflection of a superior quiet: a
pure spirit can soar secretly through it, in an otherworldly perspective. In
the Trio of n. 11 the uniformity of the quietly
repeated, tenderly immediate harmonic connections and of the lulling
rhythm is completely free of any disturbance or rebellion. The gloomy shadows
of the first part are back in the identical recapitulation, but they are
dispelled by the unexpected modulation to B flat major, which at the beginning
of n. 12 starts a new March with a humorous flavor.
The title Abendmusik suggests some similarities with
the Nachtstück op. 23 n. 4 and the Lied op. 45 n. 3, Abends am Strand. In the light of evening a rather sly
serenade emanates from a curious procession of fantastic images, as in the Lied
captivating legends of far lands come to life and seduce bystanders.
All these phantom shapes soon vanish into the upcoming
night, whose obscurity, mitigated by residues of oneiric
sweetness, is quite different than the desolate darkness in which the ending of
the previous piece sinks.
The first member of the last couple, 13-14, is a
Scherzo with massive chordal tissue, that perhaps
Schumann intended to orchestrate and insert into an unspecified symphonic work.
Anyway the free and lively Trio appears more suitable
for the piano solo version. Just here a clear quotation from Carnaval sheds some light on the global significance of the
cycle. Through this indication the composer seems to invite us to consider this
last large polyptych as a late Carnaval:
no longer a parade of masks, but rather of memories of a wonderful creative
journey, to which he inevitably looks with regret, as new difficulties and
fears appear in his life. Along that route, together with great masterworks, he
scattered some isolated pearls. Their recombination in a necklace that enhances
their value is the reason why this retrospective operation does not end in a
vain nostalgic yearning, but marks a profitable turning point, that closes an
experience with an excellent achievement, and opens the way for a new phase.
When the gallery of reminiscences is about to end, the
entry on the scene of the Marches represents an exhortation not to linger on
the memories of the past, and to undertake with courage the last, painful
stretch of the remaining path.
So the Fast March n. 14 - at first conceived as final
movement of the 4 Marches op. 76 and then replaced by a piece more in tune with
the military ardor of that work, inspired by the
riots in Dresden in March 1849 - is the perfect epilogue for the Bunte Blätter. Its vaguely
oriental harmony and its fading conclusion (whose atmosphere is not so
different from that of the last Kreisleriana's
Fantasy, also in G minor) make it a shining example of sophisticated anti-rhetoric
irony.
Thus the martial itinerary of op. 99 dissolves, after
having explored the ephemeral refuge of the ethereal dream regions, and
experienced, through the funeral allusion, the initial shiver of an
unmentionable presentiment.
© Fabio Grasso 2021