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op.18 Arabeske in C Major (1839) is the first work featured in this publication is written in 1839, the last year of the heavily piano-focused period by Schumann. Just like the Blumenstück that was to follow shortly. The Arabeske op. 18 is often considered insignificant in Schumann's oeuvre, it is nevertheless, full of seductive charm. The cheerful and flowing melodic first part is simple and easy to play. It is entitled “Leicht und zart.” Charming but unpretentious melody in C major, its accompaniment stays within a limited middle range of the keyboard. The first of the two intermezzi, which together form an A-B-A-C-A form, is presented in a string quartet écriture in E minor, and somewhat slower (“Etwas langsamer”). Its sinuous melodic line features very subtle and bold harmonic transitions as it returns to the A section. The second intermezzo (or "trio") in A minor is very brief, and while the accacciatura specificity of the main theme is still present here, its context is rather sharp and somewhat tragic. The finale is especially notable for its coda, which is annotated “zum Schluss” (to finish ...), a long harmonic break that creates a deliciously dreamy atmosphere so typical of the Romantic composer. Along with the Arabesque op.18 and the Three Romances op.28, the Blumenstück in D flat major, op. 19, literally “flower piece”, is considered the lesser work of this fruitful year of 1839, but this aspect of Schumann, known in his native tongue as “Gemuetlichkeit,” a state or feeling of warmth, friendliness, and good humor, is an essential part for understanding the composer. The five sections of the composition do not seem to be connected, but they have an inner connection established by the motif of the four ascending sixteenth notes. Except for number five, “Leghaft” (animated), one remains in a tenderly dreamy mood throughout the cycle. Sharp edges, dramatic contours are absent and that is precisely what makes this composition so charming. The “Grande Humoresque en si bémol majeur” is the full title of one of the composer's most neglected and perhaps one among his greatest works. The piece is exhaustively long, enigmatic, and tedious to approach. Schumann wrote in a letter to one of his French friends, “The French cannot understand the word humoresque. Sadly, your language has no word to express these two peculiarities which are so deeply ingrained in the German character: the elation of the dream (the Schwarmerische) and the humor, which is precisely a happy mixture of cheerfulness and mischievousness. But around the same time, he said to a German friend that the work was not so cheerful at all, and perhaps even the most depressing thing I have written. The contradiction is only apparent and is part of the complex nature of the Humoreske. The gigantic work was worked out in eight days, and the composer wrote to Clara on the eleventh of March 1839: “I have been sitting at the piano all week. I did compose, laugh, and sob at the same time. You will find this state of mind in my Opus 20, the Grande Humoreske." With five main sections all leading to each other, this may be the composer's greatest and most ambitious attempt at a large-scale work that is neither a sonata nor a suite and is not even cyclical. For anyone who understands it properly, and in any good performance, one can see that the work is not a “kaleidoscope” of miniatures, but a large-scale, planned, and powerfully produced ensemble. |
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