CBA Ode to Joy

Program Notes

Robert Schumann–Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54

Born June 8, 1810, Zwickau, Saxony, Germany. Died July 29, 1856, Endernich, near Bonn, Germany Instrumentation: solo piano, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. As a child, Robert Schumann developed a great love of music and literature, thanks to the influence of his father, August, a bookseller, publisher and novelist. By the time Robert was 14, he was writing and publishing essays on the aesthetics of music, reading quite a lot of poetry and philosophy, and attending performances of some of the great musicians of the day. August, who strongly encouraged Robert’s musical aspirations, died when Robert was 16. Neither Robert’s mother nor his guardian, however, encouraged these aspirations. Instead, they sent him off to Leipzig to study law! He was not a brilliant law student. At the age of 20, Robert commenced piano lessons with the greatest piano

teacher of the day, Friedrich Wieck, who was so impressed with the young man that not only did he assure Robert that he would be a great concert pianist in only a matter of a few years, he had Robert move into the Wieck home. Two major events occurred in that home that would change the course of musical history. First, Robert permanently injured the fourth finger of his right hand, probably due to the use of a mechanical device designed to strengthen the weakest fingers. That caused Robert to abandon any hope of becoming a concert pianist. Fortunately for us, he turned to composing as the primary outlet of his musical expression. The second event was Robert falling in love with Herr Wieck’s brilliantly talented daughter, Clara, who was nine years younger than Robert. When PapaWieck found out about this budding romance, he went to extraordinary lengths to put a stop to it, including sending Clara to a distant city, and forbidding any correspondence between her and Robert. When those efforts failed to work, Herr Wieck spread rumors to each of them about the other’s loss of interest. That failed, too. Their ardor undiminished, Robert and Clara petitioned the court to grant them the permission to marry that Clara’s father had withheld. Papa Wieck strongly objected, and the ensuing litigation went on for years, culminating in the court ruling in the young couple’s favor. They married on the eve of Clara’s 21st birthday in 1840. Had they waited one more day, they would not have required anyone’s consent. Robert’s marriage to Clara unleashed a torrent of creative output. Before 1840, Robert wrote almost exclusively for the piano. In the first year of their marriage, however, Robert composed 168 songs for piano and voice! Most of these were dedicated to Clara, inspired by her, or both. In 1841, he began to write for orchestra, completing two of his four symphonies. Also in 1841, he finally tackled what, for him, was one of the most difficult tasks of all: a work for solo piano and orchestra, a work that would take his expression of love for Clara to a new level. The result was a Fantasy in A minor, a work in one movement. He wrote it in a week. Clara played it with the orchestra at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in August of that year. Two weeks later, Clara gave birth to their first of eight children.

24 ODE TO JOY