Robert Schumann
(1810–1856) was the first major successor in lied composition following Franz
Schubert. While Schumann wrote many types of music, he tended to focus on one
genre at a time (symphonies, piano works, lieder, etc.) The year 1840 is known
as Schumann’s “Year of Song” because he wrote over 120 love songs in
preparation for his marriage to Clara Wieck. Part of his inspiration for this
enormous project was his desire for Clara. He also felt motivation to earn
enough money to support his new bride and please her father. With the demand
for lieder among amateur musicians, Schumann knew that lied composition would
help him financially.
 |
| http://www.bach-cantatas.com/ |
Like Schubert,
Schumann wrote his vocal and accompaniment parts with equal importance in text
expression. Sometimes he even gave the piano extra solo material by including
preludes and interludes. Many composers who wrote lieder would group their
songs together into what is known as a song cycle. The songs in a cycle usually
share a common theme such as a similar subject or the same poet. Schumann set
16 poems from Heinrich Heine’s Lyrical
Intermezzo and grouped them into a song cycle he called Dichterliebe. These texts show each step
of a relationship. Below you can follow along with the English text translation
as you listen to one of the songs, “In the Marvelous Month of May,” which
refers to love blooming during springtime. Schumann does not end the piece in a
definite key, hinting that the story ends in a sad and unfilled manner.
In the
wonderfully fair month of May,
as all the
flower-buds burst,
then in my heart
love arose.
In the
wonderfully fair month of May,
as all the birds
were singing,
then I confessed
to her
my yearning and
longing.
