Book contents
- Clara Schumann Studies
- Cambridge Composer Studies
- Clara Schumann Studies
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Clara Schumann in the Musicological Imagination
- 1 Clara and Robert Schumann’s Circles in Dresden
- 2 Disillusionment and Patriotism
- 3 Softened, Smudged, Erased
- 4 A Way with Words
- 5 Clara Schumann and the Nineteenth-Century Piano Concerto
- 6 Clara Schumann and Bach
- 7 Formal Innovation and Virtuosity in Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17
- 8 Contextualizing Clara Schumann’s Romanzen
- 9 The Young Prophetess in Performance
- 10 Clara Schumann’s Compositional and Concertizing Strategies, and Robert Schumann’s Piano Sets
- 11 Clara: Robert’s Posthumous Androgyne
- 12 Clara Schumann, ‘Clara Schumann’ and the American Press
- 13 Clara Schumann’s Legacy As a Teacher
- Select Bibliography
- Index
8 - Contextualizing Clara Schumann’s Romanzen
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 November 2021
- Clara Schumann Studies
- Cambridge Composer Studies
- Clara Schumann Studies
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Clara Schumann in the Musicological Imagination
- 1 Clara and Robert Schumann’s Circles in Dresden
- 2 Disillusionment and Patriotism
- 3 Softened, Smudged, Erased
- 4 A Way with Words
- 5 Clara Schumann and the Nineteenth-Century Piano Concerto
- 6 Clara Schumann and Bach
- 7 Formal Innovation and Virtuosity in Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17
- 8 Contextualizing Clara Schumann’s Romanzen
- 9 The Young Prophetess in Performance
- 10 Clara Schumann’s Compositional and Concertizing Strategies, and Robert Schumann’s Piano Sets
- 11 Clara: Robert’s Posthumous Androgyne
- 12 Clara Schumann, ‘Clara Schumann’ and the American Press
- 13 Clara Schumann’s Legacy As a Teacher
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
If not an idée fixe in scholarship, the notion of musical exchanges among intimates of the Schumanns’ circle probably counts at least as a Leitfaden. Clara Schumann’s wistful instrumental romances – and those composed by Robert Schumann, Joseph Joachim and Johannes Brahms – encourage a reconsideration of the role that ‘conversations’ played for her within the miniature genre. We begin with a chronology of the romances composed by this circle between 1829 and 1893 – predominantly for solo piano, but also for violin and piano, oboe and piano, string quartet, piano or violin and orchestra, orchestra, and cello and piano – and discuss how these ‘conversations’ could yield subtle allusions, performative physical memories and nostalgic recollections. Focusing on Clara Schumann’s Romances Opp. 21 and 22, this study brings forward aspects of formal and textural ambiguity, and virtuosity, all of which help reveal Clara Schumann’s contribution to the genre, while elucidating how her complex, multifaceted roles in the private and public spheres did not impede her from continuously challenging herself as a composer as she engaged in nuanced musical dialogues inspired by her circle.
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- Clara Schumann Studies , pp. 165 - 186Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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