Clara Wieck-Schumann: Pian Tri in G minr, Op. 17, mvement 1 (fr cmpnent 3: Appraising) Backgrund infrmatin and perfrmance circumstances The cmpser Clara (Wieck) Schumann was brn in Leipzig, Germany, in 1819 and died in Frankfurt in 1896. She was best knwn in her lifetime as a cncert pianist, but her reputatin as a cmpser has grwn in recent years as her wrks have been rediscvered. Despite the success f several 19th-century female nvelists arund Eurpe, female cmpsers, during Clara s lifetime (and beynd), were neither expected nr encuraged! She was brught up by her father, Friedrich Wieck, a gifted pian teacher, and began her perfrming career as a child. In her teens Clara perfrmed arund Eurpe, laying the fundatins fr a lifelng career. The cmpser Rbert Schumann was a pupil f Clara s father, and despite Friedrich s ppsitin t the match (taken all the way t a curt case!), the tw married in 1840. Clara had cmpsed as part f her musical educatin with her father, prducing a Pian Cncert (which she perfrmed, with Mendelsshn cnducting) at the age f 15 and cntinuing t prduce wrks at a gd rate int early middle age. Mst f her wrks feature the pian, either as a sl instrument, as part f an ensemble, r as an accmpaniment. Clara s cmpsing decreased as her family respnsibilities became mre and mre difficult (she gave birth t eight children, but nly fur survived). In additin t running the husehld, she was als the main breadwinner as Rbert Schumann earned little mney as a cmpser and later in life suffered frm mental illness, causing his final years t be spent in an asylum. Clara knew, and wrked, with Jseph Jachim, ne f the leading vilinists f the 19th century. She als knew, and had famus crrespndence with, Jhannes Brahms, whse cmpsing she encuraged. The piece The Pian Tri (pian, vilin and cell) was ne f the mst imprtant frms f chamber music frm the late 18th t well int the 19th century. Much chamber music was written fr perfrmance in the salns f the patrns and perfrmers. Cncert perfrmances f tris such as this became mre cmmn as the
century prgressed. Clara Schumann, as a prfessinal, wuld prbably have played her tri in bth the saln and the cncert hall. Cmpsers in the Classical style, such as Mzart and Haydn, had established the frm, and Beethven and Schubert develped it further in the early Rmantic style. Clara wuld have perfrmed this cre repertire and this made the tri a natural utlet fr her creativity. The piece was written in 1846, a year in which she gave the premiere f Rbert Schumann s pian cncert and had her furth child. It is ne f nly a few multi-mvement wrks in her euvre, fllwing the full furmvement pattern f the genre: Allegr mderat G minr Scherz and tri B /E Andante G majr Allegrett G minr. Perfrming frces and their handling The instruments are given fairly equal rles in this mvement, unlike many pian tris, where the pian dminates. Althugh nt withut difficulty, nne f the parts here are particularly virtusic, perhaps being intended fr perfrmance by capable amateurs, as well as by prfessinal musicians. Vilin and cell use duble-stpping, bth at lud dramatic mments (bars 284 286) and t fill in the texture during quieter passages (bars 73 77). The vilin plays mainly in the tw ctaves abve its lwest string, but it des have music that stretches nearly anther ctave abve this at times. The cell uses bth its resnant lw range and its pwerful upper range, up t an ctave abve middle C at times. The cell prvides: supprt fr the bass f the harmny at times, including pedal ntes (bars 73 80). tenr-like mid-range parts t utline inner parts (bars 37 41). material high in its register (bars 134 138; nte that the ntatin here is in the treble clef, but written an ctave higher than it sunds). The pian prvides bth meldic and accmpaniment textures: The writing is typical f the Rmantic perid, but is perhaps mre intimate and less virtusic at times than sme f the wrks f Beethven, fr example. Imprtant meldic material is ften presented in a single ctave (withut dubling) (bars 9 14). The middle range f the keybard is favured, especially in the right-hand material the highest nte is the G tw and a half ctaves abve middle C. Schumann is always sensitive t the balance between the instruments, placing sme f the pian material in a lwer register t avid masking the strings at times.
Structure The mvement is in snata frm the structural pattern (a flexible blueprint ) established in the Classical perid which has three main sectins: Expsitin (bars 1 90) repeated Develpment (bars 91 164) Recapitulatin (bars 165 288) Expsitin (bars 1 90) Develpment (bars 91 164) First subject grup Bridge /transitin Secnd subject grup Cdetta Varius keys visited First subject 1(a) bars 1 4 and 1(b) bars 5 8 vilin in G minr (tnic) Bars 9 15 1(a) and (b) pian Bars 22 23 chrdal ff idea 1(c) hmrhythm answered by legat p n vilin 1(d) bars 23 25 Bars 30 45 music mves twards B majr (relative majr) Dminant pedal heard bars 41 44 Ic V I in B bars 44 3 45 1 Bars 45 48 secnd subject 2(a) (syncpated minims) in pian and 2(b)(bars 47 49) (quavers) in B majr Rising diminished seventh figures in strings Bars 49 53 2(a) and (b) repeated in sequence a tne lwer, with passing mdulatin t E at bar 53 Bars 56 59 1 pc rit. brief visit t D majr (dminant) Bar 59 2 sudden return t B, via an accented V 7 chrd Bars 61 65 and 65 69 repetitins f 2(a) and (b), mving thrugh G minr and E majr Bars 73 81 sequential quaver ideas (pian) ver chrds (vilin) and dminant pedal (cell) Bars 84 4 85 1 perfect cadence in B Bars 85 86 pian RH figure, in thirds, which is used t take the music back twards G minr in the fllwing fur bars. Expsitin repeated Opens with material based n rising stepwise figure (bar 91) in vilin Pian plays dwnward parallel chrmatic triads (sme chrmatic) passing thrugh C minr (bar 94) twards E Bar 103 cell begins series f cntrapuntal entries in dialgue with the vilin All based n 1(a) in varius keys: smetimes bar 1 used nly, smetimes bars 1 and 2 f the riginal are used Dwnward fifth is smetimes expanded r cntracted t fit harmny/tnality ften creating mre angular and dramatic feel (e.g. dim. fifth bar
Recapitulatin (bars 165 end) Dminant preparatin fr Recapitulatin First subject in tnic Secnd subject in tnic (majr) Cda 103) Bar 125 gentler sectin, still cntrapuntal, with lighter pian accmpaniment Bar 134 cell plays mre cmplete versin f 1(a) altered t fit the F minr harmny Bar 139 vilin meldy frm 93 develped in sequence ver cycle f fifths in accmpaniment Bar 149 climactic entry f 1a in the pian LH in ctaves Bar 155 pian takes up vilin idea frm bar 139 ver dubled dminant pedal in vilin and cell which leads t the recapitulatin Bars 165 190 verbatim repeat f expsitin first subject grup Bar 191 bridge/transitin altered t mve twards G majr Bar 210 secnd subject 2(a) and (b) in G majr (tnic majr) Bar 220 music mves twards B majr (very remte frm G minr) Bar 236 cdetta material frm expsitin Bar 250 return t G minr Music based n develpment f material frm bars 85 86 Bar 266 final statement f 1(a) in vilin/cell leading t repeated cadential figures, imitative interplay between vilin and cell and final flurish Bar 276 end sees a series f diminished chrds reslving nt chrd I, ver a tnic pedal. The final cadence in the pian is plagal (but still ver a tnic pedal in the cell) Texture Chamber music is a discursive frm, where ideas are traditinally passed arund the ensemble, as if in cnversatin. Fr this reasn, the textures change frequently and the examples belw are illustrative rather than cmprehensive. Hmphnic textures are cmmn frm the beginning (bars 1 8), where the vilin meldy is accmpanied by the pian. When this idea is repeated, frm bar 9, the texture is still predminantly hmphnic, with the pian RH meldy being accmpanied by brken chrds in the left hand, but the texture is augmented by cunter-meldies in bth vilin and cell. Althugh nt fully plyphnic, this type f texture has smetimes been described as plyphnically animated hmphny. Plyphnic textures are less cmmn but the develpment sectin cntains passages f clse imitatin (bars 115 130) between cell and vilin, and this, with the quaver figuratins in the pian part, at the time creates a busy plyphnic texture. There is als interplay between vilin and pian (bars 34 38). Pedal textures are used in this extract: Dminant pedal in cell (bars 73 84) Dminant pedal in vilin and cell (tw ctaves apart) (bars 155 164)
The left hand des use sme dubled ctaves, in the lwer register (bars 99 104) Blck chrd textures (bars 45 57) Octave dubling between the hands (bars 73 74) and in sixths (first 5 quavers f bars 74, 75 and 76) Exciting rising and falling arpeggi figures (reminiscent f the last mvement f Beethven s Mnlight Snata), which act as a backdrp t the ludest parts f the develpment sectin (bars 107 121) Accmpaniment textures include: rcking quavers (bars 1 4) light, ffbeat chrds in the right hand, against left-hand ntes n the beat (bars 5 6) arpeggi textures (bars 139 145). Tnality The wrk, and this mvement, are in the key f G minr. Snata frm is partly abut key cntrast, and this mvement fllws the Classical principles in terms f the keys used in the three main sectins f the mvement: Expsitin first subject G minr (tnic), secnd subject B majr (relative majr) Develpment a very flwing set f mdulatins including E /F minr/g minr/c minr/f minr Recapitulatin first subject G minr (tnic), secnd subject G majr (tnic majr) The clsing cda returns t G minr (tnic). There are als sme brief passing mdulatins in each f the three sectins, including excursins t D majr (bars 56 59) during the secnd subject grup f the expsitin and B majr at the parallel pint (bar 223) in the recapitulatin. Mdulatins are cnventinally prepared, with perfect cadences, althugh the return t the hme key is smetimes rather abrupt, as in bar 59. Tnic and dminant pedals strengthen the sense f tnality: dminant pedal bars 155 164 tnic pedal bars 276 end. Harmny The harmny is predminantly tnal and diatnic, using functinal prgressins. Majr and minr chrds, mstly in rt psitin and first inversin, are used as the basis fr the harmnic style. There are frequent cadence pints. Traditinal prgressins such as perfect cadences (bars 84 85) and Ic V I (21 3 22 1 ) are used. Mre cmplex chrds are used as part f the Rmantic style, using chrmatic harmny:
diminished seventh chrds ften used as a substitute chrd fr V 7 (bars 110 11, 114 115) augmented sixth chrds usually used t apprach chrd V r Ic (bars 11 3 12 1, 148 3 149 1 ) chrds invlving mre dissnant extensins the chrd at bar 83 has elements f a dminant minr ninth suspensins are plentiful, e.g. 7 6 in bar 129 and 4 3 in bar 143. Secndary dminant chrds as part f therwise diatnic prgressins at bar 40 3 a C majr chrd (V f V) eases the line t the dminant (F). Prgressins that fllw a chrmatic bass line dwnwards, using parallel triadic mvement (bars 17 4 20 1 ) Use f cycle f fifth prgressin at bars 139 143. Meldy Snata frm is als abut meldic cntrast and Schumann ensures that there is sufficient cntrast f character between her main meldic ideas. First subject (a) and (b) (bars 1 8) an 8-bar theme, made up f tw balanced 4-bar sectins antecedent and cnsequent (purely diatnic in nature). (a) bars 1 4 features a plaintive dwnward fifth and a tied rhythm n the way t its cncluding imperfect cadence. (b) bars 5 8 answers with a mre animated rhythm thrugh a rising sequence, and with an upwards ctave leap. 1(c) and (d) are shrter ideas, but mre cntrasted, setting an almst Brahmsian dtted idea against a mre lyrical answer thrugh a falling sequence. Secnd subject is made up f tw 2-bar ideas: (a) bars 45 47 syncpated descending stepwise ending with an appggiatura (b) bars 47 49 repeated chattering quaver figures beginning n the sixth quaver f the bar, against a meldic diminished seventh in the vilin. The develpment sectin is largely fcused n the first tw bars f 1(a), where the falling fifth is expanded r cntracted t fit the surrunding harmnic scheme. There are many examples f chrmatic writing, e.g. bars 243 245. Rhythm, temp and metre Allegr mderat. There is a shrt pc rit. in the secnd subject grup, but therwise the temp is unchanged. The 4/4 metre fur crtchet beats are heard in the passages with mre rapid harmnic rhythm (bars 5 6), but quite ften the feel is mre f 2/2. The themes all have a distinctive rhythmic character. Fr example, 1(c) has dtted rhythms, and 2(a) is syncpated. 1(c) and (d) bth pen with an anacrusis. Sme f the mre lyrical meldies (e.g., bars 139 149) are helped by ties ver the bar line. There are many lively rhythms and much quaver passage wrk. There are quite frequent syncpatins, but never extreme enugh t lse the strng sense f pulse and metre.