Bowdoin International Music Festival

July 9 – Festival Fridays

Schumann – Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano

Tchaikovsky – Souvenir of Florence, for String Sextet

Schumann – Piano Quartet in E-flat major

Robert Schumann

German composer and music critic Robert Schumann (1810-56) was profoundly influenced by literature and by an arduous battle for the love of his life. However, he also increasingly suffered from mental problems, attempted suicide in his early forties, and spent his final years in an asylum. He first met pianist-composer Clara Wieck (1819-96) in Leipzig, when she was nine and he was studying piano with her father. After a lengthy struggle with her father and Clara finally approaching the age of consent (21), they married in 1840.

More about Robert Schumann A Timeline for Robert and Clara Schumann

Schumann's works from the 1830s include the:

In 1842-3, Schumann composed a considerable amount of chamber music. His works in this period included the:

From 1845 to 1849, he wrote his:

Schumann's late works (1851-53) include the:

Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano (Op. 73, 1849)

Free Recordings of Schumann - Fantasy Pieces for Clarinet and Piano

These three pieces demonstrate contrasting moods. However, they are unified in their key areas and by being played without break. The first piece is song-like ("Delicately and with expression"). At first, it maintains a constant triple-beat pattern in the piano to support the clarinet part. Then, after a contrasting section, the reprise of the opening material makes an unexpected shift from minor to major. In the second piece, which is an Intermezzo ("Lively, light"), the two instruments are treated more equally. The piece's contrasting section includes another sudden key change, and the attempted reprise of its opening material gives way to an elegant coda. The third piece ("Fast and with fire") begins with a strong sense of urgency. Triplet rhythms return in the piano, supporting an animated clarinet line. However, this time the piece's middle section moves from major to minor. The third piece's extended coda also helps unify the set.

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

Russian composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (1840-93) was able to read French and German by six, write poetry in French by seven, and improvise extensively at the piano before eight. As a young man, he entered the civil service, but he also frequently attended the theatre, ballet, and opera and wrote such works as his String Quartet No. 1 in D major. In his early to mid-twenties, he then studied theory, composition, piano, flute, and organ at the newly-founded St. Petersburg Conservatory. He quickly excelled as a composer who reconciled nationalist tendencies with an international compositional style. He later lived and worked in Moscow, as a theory teacher at the newly-opened Conservatory there. He also composed in virtually every important musical genre, including symphonies, overtures (e.g., the 1812 Overture), operas, ballets (e.g., Swan Lake), and a small amount of additional chamber music, including the Souvenir of Florence. Tchaikovsky attempted relationships with women, but they were probably never sexual in nature. He thought that he could lead a "double life" as homosexual married to a woman, and he was married for a short time in 1877. However, the episode led to the composer's attempt at suicide. He later had a platonic relationship entirely by correspondence with a wealthy female benefactor. He died during a cholera outbreak after consuming tainted water.

More about Tchaikovsky Works by Tchaikovsky

Souvenir of Florence, for String Sextet (Op. 70, 1887-90)

Recordings of Tchaikovsky - Souvenir of Florence

The composer wrote this sextet in Italy in 1887, around the time that he also worked on the opera The Queen of Spades. (The photograph shows the composer outside of his Florence hotel.) He substantially revised the work back in Russia, several years later. It is Tchaikovsky's last work for a chamber ensemble. It was inspired by the sunny environment of Italy, rather than by Italian music. The opening theme of the first movement ("Quickly, with spirit") is uncharacteristically thin-textured for this composer. The contrasting theme is more lush, however. The second movement ("Slow, singing") has a Romantic main theme, and the unison material in the contrasting section is then more daring. The third movement ("Moderately fast") is arguably somewhat "Russian"-sounding, initially featuring an active, though also softly-foreboding, character. The fourth movement Finale ("Very quickly, lively") is a joyous Russian celebration. The composer references some of his earlier works and includes a skillful fugue.

Robert Schumann

Piano Quartet in E-flat major (Op. 47, 1842)

Free Recordings of Schumann - Piano Quartet in E-flat

Schumann started writing this piano quartet shortly after completing his Quintet in E-flat major. The first movement begins ambiguously ("Really sustained"), probably inspired by some of Beethoven's late works. The movement's secondary theme ("Quickly, but not too much") demonstrates Schumann's interest in elaborate counterpoint. The composer also further develops his material after the recapitulation has already begun. Also recalling Beethoven, Schumann places his Scherzo as the second movement, instead after the slow one. The movement ("Really lively") includes two trio sections, the second of which is syncopated to the point of disturbing the time signature. The third movement ("Song-like walking tempo") includes the composer's unusual passage in which one of the cello strings is tuned a step lower in order to play an otherwise-unavailable pedal ("held") tone. Towards the end of the movement, the violin begins to anticipate the fourth movement. The Finale ("Lively") again explores counterpoint, with its fugue-like material first heard in viola, then piano, then violin. Similar to his unusual recapitulation in the first movement, Schumann here explores further thematic development within a lengthy coda.

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