Fantasiestücke
op.12
composed in 1837 - dedicated
to Miss Anna Robena Laidlaw
Des Abends - Aufschwung -
Warum? - Grillen -
In der Nacht - Fabel -
Traumes Wirren - Ende vom
Lied |
Schumann's "Fantasiestücke," Op. 12,
composed in 1837, are dedicated to Miss Anna Robena Laidlaw. The titles
("Des Abends/Of the Evening," "Aufschwung," "Warum?," "Grillen," "In der
Nacht," "Fabel," "Traumes Wirren," "Ende vom Lied") are taken from E. T.
A. Hoffmann's Fantasy Pieces in Callot's manner.
Schumann's comment about composing
them was, "One can spread out quite comfortably." In reference to "Carnaval"
he wrote that "thunder and lightning" were less important than "eternal
conditions and moods." About the"Fantasiestücke" he wrote Clara Wieck:
"Later, when I was finished, I joyfully came across the story of Hero and
Leander. You know it, of course. Leander swims every night across the sea
to his beloved, who waits at a lighthouse showing the way with a burning
torch. It is an old, beautiful, romantic tale.
When I play "In der Nacht" I cannot forget
this mental picture: how he dives into the sea, she calls, he answers,
he happily surges through the waves to land, then the cantilena when they
embrace, then as they cannot bear to part when he must leave, and the night
again covers all in darkness." "At the end ["Ende vom Lied"] all is resolved
in a joyful wedding, but there is also pain because of you, and it sounds
like a wedding and a dirge mixed together."
mbasting@t-online.de
Translation: William Melton
© Franz Vorraber
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