Schumann Dichterliebe

So, for my midterm for studio accompanying, I had to play one of these two Schumann lieder. Because our professor loves us so much and wants us to learn, I also had to write a paper about these two lovely lieder. I'm posting some excerpts from the hastily written paper because I feel guilty if I go too long without posting something. I also feel guilty if I take the time to actually write something out for this blog when I have a mountain of reading to do for piano lit.

Enjoy! And you can listen to the first piece here and the second piece here.

Dichterliebe, or “The Poet’s Love” was composed by Robert Schumann in 1840. The set consists of sixteen songs, the text for each song written by German poet Heinrich Heine. This piece follows the song cycles of Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. From the perspective of a pianist, the music itself seems to take precedence over the text. It is well known that Schumann believed poetry to be a substandard art form compared to music. He once said that “it must wear the music like a wreath.” This song cycle has a hyper-sensitive, very intimate feel. Schumann obviously takes great care with each song, often employing suspensions and chromaticism. Each song is relatively short, but there is incredible depth of emotion within each.

Im Wunderschönen Monat Mai is the opening song for Dichterliebe. A fairly accurate translation is presented here:

In the darling month of May when

Buds were bursting into bloom

And birds were trilling, I told

Her of my love and longing.

This song is a beautiful and intimate start to the cycle. The melodic line lifts through each verse, creating a sense of longing and yearning. The dynamics never reach beyond mezzo forte, keeping the tone light and feminine. The accompaniment in this song doubles the vocal line in the top voice. This happens fairly often with Schumann’s works, and should be disguised. It would be best to bring out different voices, rather than the mimicking top line. The piano should sing out while the vocalist is silent, but remain sotto voce when the vocalist begins to sing. Because this song is so tender, it might be best to ritard a bit in measure four, before the singer comes in. It creates an air of expectation. The last chord of this song is particularly interesting. The song ends on a seventh chord, unresolved. This adds to the feeling of expectation which is pervasive throughout the song. This unresolved chord is resolved at the beginning of the next song in the set.

The other song which I would like to discuss, as I mentioned in the introduction, is Ich Grolle Nicht is drastically different, and stands apart from the other pieces in Dichterliebe. This is inherent in the text, which follows:

I’ll not complain though my heart is breaking.

Love lost forever! Though you glitter with diamonds

I have long known there is no answering ray of light

In the blackness of your heart; long known that a

Serpent feeds on this heart of yours. I saw, my love,

How wretched you are.

How different from the sweet, tender Im Wunderschönen Monat Mai! In this song cycle about a poet’s love, this is the only song which expresses any negative emotion. This is one of the most popular and challenging songs in the cycle. The accompaniment consists entirely of block chords, which gives a deceptive air of uniformity. In fact, elasticity is necessary to convey the emotion of the song. The song is brimming with irony. The singer proclaims that he bears no grudge, but it is obvious from the character of the piece that he does. The phrase “Ich grolle nicht”, loosely translated “I’ll not complain”, is repeated several times for emphasis. This adds to the irony of the piece—it is obvious that the singer is complaining throughout the song, and wishes to do so.