A piano composer who can't play the piano, a composer who is controversial in the world, a music critic with a detached mind, is probably the greatest summary of Schumann's artistic achievements and the greatest recognition of his work.
Who is Schumann?
Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and music critic of the 19th century.
Schumann learned piano at an early age and began composing music at the age of 7. At the age of 16, he followed his mother's wishes to study law at the University of Leipzig. At the age of 19, he studied piano again, and was greatly influenced by Pagani, giving up the study of law to specialize in music. After injuring his finger, he turned to composition and music criticism. From 1835 to 1844, he edited the New Music Magazine alone and began to compose a large number of piano works. He received his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Jena in 1840 and went to teach at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1843. Due to the increasingly serious mental illness, he was rescued in 1854 and died in a mental hospital on July 29, 1856.
German musician Schumann
Second, if you can't play, then make a breakthrough in creation
Schumann's short life of suffering left people with enthusiasm and rich imagination. He played a crucial role in the development of Romantic music in the 19th century. Although Schumann injured his finger at a young age, making him unable to play the piano, Schumann had a huge breakthrough in piano playing, and his works were full of romantic feelings, many works in rich playing forms, is a kind of hot feelings, beautiful melody so that every note can fully tell his feelings.
In terms of art songs, Schumann also has his own different views, he inherited and developed Schubert's understanding of art songs, and created a series of art songs that have a great influence on future generations, and Schumann's influence and status in art songs are on par with Schubert. Most of his art songs take love as the central point, from the perspective of women, to celebrate and promote a better life. Under his profound literary skills, he can deeply and meticulously describe people's mental changes, each melody is precise and meticulous, and he also increases the rendering effect of piano accompaniment.
Third, German Romanticism was brought to a different height
Schumann's artistic achievements have progressed not only in the feeling of music, but also in music criticism. He founded his own organization and published his own newspaper, which he used as a platform to promote the beauty of Romantic music, criticize the conformism brought by old forms of music, and discover many, many musical talents.
As a representative figure of new music in the history of German music in the first half of the 19th century, Schumann took German Romanticism to a different level. Schumann's work uses his rich imagination and beautiful forms of musical expression to make people re-examine the meaning of German Romanticism.
4. Works
Schumann's main works are divided into three different musical forms, the first is the sonata style, representative works such as the Vienna Carnival, the First Piano Sonata, the Second Piano Sonata, and the Third Piano Sonata.
The second is the variations, represented by "Krak Theme Improvisation", "Aberg Variations", and "Symphonic Etudes". The third is the suite style, the main representative works are "Nocturne", "Humor", "Flower Song", "Arabesque", "David's League Dance" and so on.
In Schumann's works, the number of piano pieces and songs accounts for a large part, influenced by family literacy and his own talents, Schumann's works often delicately express music while resonating with people's hearts.
Schumann pays more attention to expressing people's inner feelings than to old music that is stuck in old music. He advocated the penetration of music into the deepest soul of poetry, and poetry also showed the atmosphere of musical rendering. Schumann not only increased the expressiveness of the piano in the performance, but also paid more attention to the choice of poetry and the modification of lyrics.
Through the inheritance and development of Schubert's works, Schumann's works are as imaginative as Schumann himself, full of passion for the pursuit of new things, Schumann pays more attention to the different expressions of every detail in his works, and has always expressed the scene of the work more richly and comprehensively, so that people can enjoy more in music.
V. Characteristics of Schumann's piano works
The characteristics of Schumann's piano works fully express his thoughts and intentions, and also reflect his different understanding of music.
Schumann's piano works are all deeply portrayed with romantic ideas, unlike Schubert or have an advantage over Schubert, Schumann's father is a literate bookseller, so Schumann's education from childhood makes Schumann's literary skills quite deep, his portrayal of music and lyrics is more delicate and tense, he likes to hide the deepest feelings in delicate art songs, and mix passionate imagination into delicate changes.
Why Schumann compared Chopin's music to cannons
Chopin and Schumann were music masters at the same time, Chopin and Schumann had a good relationship, and they were equally old, Schumann was quite recognized by Chopin's musical talent, and in many cases praised Chopin, but why did Schumann compare Chopin's music to a cannon?
To be precise, Schumann said chopin's music was a cannon hidden in a flower bush. Literally, the flowers in the bushes are beautiful and intoxicating, but the cannons are deadly and fierce. Schumann's words are also these two meanings, Chopin's music is beautiful and moving, the melody can bring people the most beautiful enjoyment, immersed in Chopin's music is a kind of enjoyment, is the forgetting of the real world.
Polish pianist Chopin
But Chopin was also a patriotic musician, and cannon actually meant that in Chopin's music there was a strong resistance and indomitability to the invasion of the motherland.
Schumann simply divided his understanding of Chopin's music into a sentence, indicating that the interaction between the two music masters has been quite profound, music has no country, and it can be seen from this sentence that Schumann greatly appreciates Chopin's music.