Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 11/27/2009, uploaded on 07/28/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Piano Sonata No. 1 op. 11 in F-sharp minor       Robert Schumann

A true man of his times, Schumann's early compositions (dominated exclusively by the piano) were the essence of the artistic and philosophical trends of the 19^th century. Many of his early piano works, like Carnaval and Kreisleriana, reached across the artistic boundaries and not only drew their inspiration from literature, but also attempted to weld music and literature into a more unified expression. Furthermore, Schumann's harmonies were quite experimental at the time and his pieces often attempted to escape the rigidity of forms. However, he did not wait long before tackling the Classical piano sonata, championed by his great predecessor, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Titled Grosse Sonate ("Grand Sonata"), it was begun when Schumann was only twenty-three years old. By the time of its completion, Schumann had begun courting the young virtuoso, Clara Wieck, and thus she appears as the recipient of the piece's dedication. Despite its seemingly Classical influence, the opening of the work is Romanticism through and through. Beginning with an Adagio introduction, an accompaniment of triplet arpeggios offset against a fanfare-like melody produces an instant rhythmic struggle between duple and triple subdivisions. The main body of the movement (Allegro vivace) settles on the duple rhythm, featuring a lively theme with a prominent dactylic rhythm. In a rather bold move that any Classicist would surely have balked at and even condemned on aesthetical grounds, Schumann presents the movement's second theme in the key of D-sharp minor (though enharmonically spelled as E-flat minor). Despite the second theme's more lyrical tone, the dactylic rhythm of the first theme soon returns drawing the exposition to a close. The development concerns itself almost entirely with this characteristic rhythm and the first theme itself. Returning to F-sharp minor at the close of the development, the recapitulation commences, first presenting the principal theme in an altered form. The second theme then appears in the slightly more orthodox key of the dominant minor, indicating the greater freedom the Romantics allowed themselves in the key schemes of sonata forms than their immediate predecessors. The movement's energy gradually fades away into its quite close.

The brief Aria that follows, filling only a page of music, lifts its theme almost verbatim from the Adagio introduction of the first movement. Though short in length, Schumann manages to fill the movement with overflowing emotions. Its writing is lavish with lush harmonic textures and sweeping melodic lines. Following is a Scherzo e Intermezzo beginning with a sprightly main theme. A more lyrical melody soon appears, but does not escape the lighthearted playfulness. In place of the usual Trio is, instead, an Intermezzo. In a slower tempo, it shows an early influence of Chopin's music on the young Schumann. It is short-lived, however, as the Scherzo soon returns via a brief cadenza.

The Finale, cast in a rondo form, presents a myriad of melodic ideas. Between its starkly contrasting themes and its equally jarring key changes, the movement gives the impression of the young composer still struggling to gain a full, masterly command of his art. On the other hand, however, the pastiche nature of the movement is quite in keeping with Schumann's alter egos—Florestan and Eusebius, who, it would seem, are engaging in a rather dramatic confrontation. It is Florestan, though, that has the last word as the piece comes to fiery end.         Joseph DuBose