Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) was a German composer,
pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely
regarded as one of the greatest composers of the
Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending
to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. His teacher,
Friedrich Wieck, a German pianist, had assured him that
he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a
hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his
musical energies on composing. In 1840, Schumann
married Friedrich Wi...(+)
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856) was a German composer,
pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely
regarded as one of the greatest composers of the
Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending
to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. His teacher,
Friedrich Wieck, a German pianist, had assured him that
he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a
hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his
musical energies on composing. In 1840, Schumann
married Friedrich Wieck's daughter Clara Wieck, after a
long and acrimonious legal battle with Friedrich, who
opposed the marriage. A lifelong partnership in music
began, as Clara herself was an established pianist and
music prodigy. Clara and Robert also developed a close
relationship with German composer Johannes Brahms.
Until 1840, Schumann wrote exclusively for the piano.
Later, he composed piano and orchestral works, and many
Lieder (songs for voice and piano). He composed four
symphonies, one opera, and other orchestral, choral,
and chamber works. His best-known works include
Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen,
Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C. Schumann was known
for infusing his music with characters through motifs,
as well as references to works of literature. These
characters bled into his editorial writing in the Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a
Leipzig-based publication that he co-founded.
Schumann suffered from a mental disorder that first
manifested in 1833 as a severe melancholic depressive
episode—which recurred several times alternating with
phases of "exaltation" and increasingly also delusional
ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic
items. What is now thought to have been a combination
of bipolar disorder and perhaps mercury poisoning led
to "manic" and "depressive" periods in Schumann's
compositional productivity. After a suicide attempt in
1854, Schumann was admitted at his own request to a
mental asylum in Endenich (now in Bonn). Diagnosed with
psychotic melancholia, he died of pneumonia two years
later at the age of 46, without recovering from his
mental illness.
“Jemand” ("Someone") Op. 25 No. 4, is an immediate
juxtaposition to “Der Nussbaum” by implying a
limited narrative progression, and typifies the
conflicting sentiments presented in this first book.
Schumann starts the song in E minor to express the
young girl bewailing her separation from her loved one.
He achieves this through using a simple tune over
detached staccato chords. Also, whenever “jemand”
(“someone”) appears in the vocal line it is
consistently set in a descending pattern of seconds.
This adds to the feeling of despair and makes the
mention of the departed “someone” seem to be more
of a sigh than a statement. The key of E minor is also
a small nod to the folkloric style of the poetry of
Burns, though the setting eventually becomes
declamatory in nature. It distantly hints at parallel
strophes and the halting, uneven declamation mixes with
the shifting accompaniment and melody, which is
Schumann’s response to Burns’s persona. Schumann
modulates to the parallel major in measure 26 and
presents us with a chromatically altered Ave Maria
quote in mm 8-9. A minor third replaces the major third
of the original to match the gloom of the text.
Finally, in order to have both block and fluid
accompanimental styles present, there is a change in
meter to 6/8 in measure 46 to allow the postlude to
have the same character as both “Widmung” and
“Der Nussbaum.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/schumann-jemand)
Although originally composed for Voice and Piano, I
created this Interpretation of "Jemand" (Someone Op. 25
No. 4) for Oboe & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION