This Week in Classical Music: June 7, 2021. Short takes.Robert Schumann’s anniversary is tomorrow: he was born on June 8th of 1810 in Zwickau. He is one of the greatest composers of the 19th century, and we’ve dedicated many entries to his life and art, including longer articles on his song cycle Dichterliebe (here and here). Schumann’s songs are among the most beautiful and sophisticated examples of the lieder genre; only Schubert wrote songs on such a level. Still, not to diminish other forms that Schumann worked in, including his symphonies, concertos and chamber pieces, we probably love Schumann’s piano music the best. A set of eight piano pieces, Novelletten, op. 21, were written early in 1838. It was a difficult period in Schumann’s life: in November of 1837 he experienced a severe bout of depression and started drinking heavily. Both were possibly provoked by his future father-in-law, Friedrich Wieck, who would not consent to Robert’s marriage to his daughter, Clara. By January Schumann had recovered from the depression (and drinking) and entered a wildly creative period which lasted for four months, during which, in addition to Novelletten, he composed Kinderscenen op.15 and Kreisleriana op.16. He also started working on a string quartet, which he eventually abandoned (after studying the quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven he returned to this genre in 1842 and wrote three quartets op. 41). As for the Novelletten, you can listen to them here in the 1969 performance by the fine French pianist Jean-Bernard Pommier.
A big anniversary, and also on June 8th: Tomaso Albinoni was born 350 years ago. A composer of modest gifts but large output, he wrote some pleasant music, now mostly forgotten. In contrast, very little of what Charles Wuorinen had written could be called “pleasant” but much of it is very interesting. This American modernist composer was born this week, on June 9th of 1938. Last year we dedicated an entry to him, you can read it here.
Short Takes 1, June 2021
This Week in Classical Music: June 7, 2021. Short takes. Robert Schumann’s anniversary is tomorrow: he was born on June 8th of 1810 in Zwickau. He is one of the greatest composers of
the 19th century, and we’ve dedicated many entries to his life and art, including longer articles on his song cycle Dichterliebe (here and here). Schumann’s songs are among the most beautiful and sophisticated examples of the lieder genre; only Schubert wrote songs on such a level. Still, not to diminish other forms that Schumann worked in, including his symphonies, concertos and chamber pieces, we probably love Schumann’s piano music the best. A set of eight piano pieces, Novelletten, op. 21, were written early in 1838. It was a difficult period in Schumann’s life: in November of 1837 he experienced a severe bout of depression and started drinking heavily. Both were possibly provoked by his future father-in-law, Friedrich Wieck, who would not consent to Robert’s marriage to his daughter, Clara. By January Schumann had recovered from the depression (and drinking) and entered a wildly creative period which lasted for four months, during which, in addition to Novelletten, he composed Kinderscenen op.15 and Kreisleriana op.16. He also started working on a string quartet, which he eventually abandoned (after studying the quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven he returned to this genre in 1842 and wrote three quartets op. 41). As for the Novelletten, you can listen to them here in the 1969 performance by the fine French pianist Jean-Bernard Pommier.
A big anniversary, and also on June 8th: Tomaso Albinoni was born 350 years ago. A composer of modest gifts but large output, he wrote some pleasant music, now mostly forgotten. In contrast, very little of what Charles Wuorinen had written could be called “pleasant” but much of it is very interesting. This American modernist composer was born this week, on June 9th of 1938. Last year we dedicated an entry to him, you can read it here.