Classical Music | Music for Viola

Recorded on 10/29/2010, uploaded on 10/29/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes
"All the instruments are having a turn," wrote Clara Schumann in 1849, when her husband composed a series of miniatures for clarinet, horn, oboe and cello, each with piano accompaniment.  The Adagio and Allegro was among the initial experiments of this kind.  Though often played on other instruments (here on viola), it was expressly composed for the newly developed valve horn.   The Adagio bears an eloquent description, "with inner expression" and its original title was Romanze.     Viacheslav Dinerchtein

Adagio and Allegro for Viola and Piano, Op. 70       Robert Schumann

Though Robert Schumann's initial output as a composer was wholly dominated by solo piano works, he eventually expanded into other genres, taking on the mantle of leading German symphonist from Beethoven, composing a myriad of songs as well as a multitude of chamber works. A child of his own age, Schumann was, in essence, an experimenter. Already having shown a willingness to break with traditional Classical forms in his early piano works, he went so far as to write works for the recently invented valve-horn that began appearing in orchestra in the 1830s. Though some composers, even as late as Brahms, still preferred the traditional natural horn because of its better tone quality, the valve-horn found an ardent supporter in Schumann who perhaps was looking more to the future possibilities of the instrument rather than what was readily available.

The year 1849 saw two works produced for the valve-horn—the famed Konzertstücke for Four Horns and Orchestra, op. 86 and the Adagio and Allegro for Horn and Piano, op. 70. The Adagio and Allegro was one of Schumman's pieces that he termed "Hausmusik," literally, "house music." By these pieces, Schumann meant to provide meaningful, artistic music for the benefit of the amateur in his own home.  (Though, a cursory glance of the music will shed light on the different skill levels of amateurs today and of Schumann's time!)

The Adagio recalls to mind many of Schumann's own songs and requires great stamina and control to give proper utterance to its lengthy, lyrical lines. For the most part, the horn dominates the section with the piano effortlessly picking up and imitating the horn's melodic lines during its brief pauses. The Allegro is cast in a rondo form with a vigorous first theme utilizing the full range of the horn. This theme alternates with more lyrical episodes based, in part, on the opening Adagio.

Along with its original scoring for horn and piano, Schumann also published transcriptions of the work with a viola or cello replacing the solo horn. However, it was the horn version that achieved the most success and would prompt Schumann to compose the Konzertstücke for four horns later in the year.     Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.