Classical Music | Music for Viola

Recorded on 04/19/2005, uploaded on 01/14/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Märchenbilder for viola and piano,  Op. 113          Robert Schumann   

Schumann's Märchenbilder, (Fairytale Pictures) is a relatively late work, composed while Schumann was in residence at Düsseldorf as Director of Music. This masterwork shows the composer in the idiom he knew best: a series of meticulously crafted and highly diverse vignettes. Märchenbilder consists of several highly contrasting short movements, each a complete entity unto itself in terms of character, tempo, and variety of colors. Schumann excelled in the world of the miniature, where his many moods and ideas were compared and contrasted to one another in small gems of artistic expression.

Märchenbilder consists of four movements, tonally centered around D. The first movement opens the piece with a searching, somewhat melancholy feel in D minor. Lebhaft utilizes a dotted figure to give a sense of buoyancy and lift in answer to the first movement. Rasch employs the more virtuosic aspects of the instrument to a whirlwind sense of character. The final movement is the real jewel, ending the work in D major, with a sense of resignation and a tinge of yearning.     Eric Nowlin

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Märchenbilder for viola and piano, op. 113      Robert Schumann

Schumann composed the Märchenbilder ("Fairytale Pictures") in March 1851, not long after the first signs of his mental illness began to show. These four pieces fall, chronologically, in between the first two violin sonatas, also composed in the same year. However, the Märchenbilder have more in common with the popular fantasy pieces of Schumann's earlier period than with the tormented music of his last years.

The first movement, marked "Nicht schnell" (not fast) begins in D minor with a melancholy melody in the viola followed by a more rhythmic second idea beginning in the piano. Both ideas constantly recur throughout the movement in various guises. Following this movement is a short rondo, marked "Lebhaft" (spirited). It begins with a fanfare-like idea and continues in a majestic rhythm and air throughout its first theme. The pomp seems to melt away into a more lyrical first episode, however, before long the opening fanfare thunders back to the fore. A second episode occurs, this time in like spirit and passes almost seamlessly into a final statement of the majestic opening theme. The third movement, "Rasch" (swiftly) begins with a consistent triplet sixteenth-note rhythm first in the viola then passing to the piano. A lyrical and subdued middle section provides a brief repose from the fiery opening section. The final movement, "Langsam, mit melancholischem Ausdruck" (Slowly and with a melancholy expression), presents a lyrical theme in the viola with a sonorous accompaniment in the piano. It is somewhat an unusual movement to conclude a multi-movement work with, but following the indication of the title, one interpretation could be that this movement represents the happy ending with which all fairy tales must end.       Joseph DuBose

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.