DEDICATION

DEDICATION
30 Lieder of Robert Schumann
Arranged for the Solo Piano by his Wife Clara
Thomas Labé, Piano
CD CONTENTS
Lieder
1. “Widmung” (“Dedication”), Op. 25, No. 1
2. “Freisinn” (“Enlightenment”), Op. 25, No. 2
3. “Schöne Fremde” (“Beautiful Foreign Land”), Op. 39, No. 6
4. “Dein Angesicht” (“Your Gaze”), Op. 127, No. 2
5. “Ich wand’re nicht” (“The Joys of Home”), Op. 51, No. 3
6. "Märzveilchen” (“March Violets”), Op. 40, No. 1
7. “Berg’ und Burgen” (“Mountains and Castles”), Op. 24, No. 7
8. “Mondnacht” (“Moonlit Night”), Op. 39, No. 5
9. “Er ist’s” (“Spring Lets its Blue Ribbon”), Op. 77, No. 23
10. “An den Sonnenschein” (“To Sunshine”), Op. 36, No. 4
11. “Mit Myrthen und Rosen” (“With Myrtles and Roses”), Op. 24, No. 9
12. “Die Stille” (“The Stillness”), Op. 39, No. 4
13. “Geständnis” ("Confession"), Op. 74, No. 7
14. “Der Nussbaum” (“The Walnut Tree”), Op. 25, No. 3
15. “Rose, Meer und Sonne” ("Rose, Sea and Sun”), Op. 37, No. 9
16. “Singet nicht in Trauertönen” (“Philene’s Song”), Op. 98a, No. 7
17. “Volksliedchen” (“Little Folk Song”), Op. 51, No. 2
18. “Nicht Schöneres” ("Nothing Fairer”), Op. 36, No. 3
19. “Du bist wie eine Blume” (“A Flower Thou Resemblest”), Op. 25, No. 24
20. “Er, der Herrlichste von Allen" (“He, the Most Wonderful of all"), Op. 42, No. 2
21. Intermezzo. “Dein Bildniss” (“Your Portrait”), Op. 39, No. 2
22. “Dem rothen Röslein gleicht mein Lieb” (“My Love is like a Red, Red Rose”), Op. 27, No. 2
23. “Der Knabe mit dem Wunderhorn” ("The Youth With The Magic Horn”), Op. 30, No. 1
24. “Die Lotosblume” (“The Lotus Blossom”), Op. 25, No. 7
25. “Sehnsucht” (“Yearning”), Op. 51, No. 1
26. “Sonntags am Rhein" (“Sundays on the Rhine"), Op. 36, No. 1
27. “In der Fremde” (“Far From Home”), Op. 39, No. 1
28. “Frühlingsnacht” (“Spring Night”), Op. 39, No. 12
29. “Helft mir, ihr Schwestern” (“Help me, oh Sisters”), Op. 42, No. 5
30. “Ständchen” (“Serenade”), Op. 36, No. 5
Piano Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22
31. So rasch wie möglich
32. Andantino
33. Scherzo. Sehr rasch und markiert
34. Presto. Passionato (original finale)
LINER NOTES
Artistic interaction and exchange was a way of life for composer Robert Schumann (1810-56) and his
wife, the famous concert pianist Clara Wieck (1819-96). This exchange took place on just about every level,
from subtle musical inter-quotation to the presentation of completed compositions as wedding, anniversary,
birthday gifts and the like. For their September 12, 1840 wedding, Robert presented Clara with the
remarkable collection of Lieder titled Myrthen (a symbolic wreath made of myrtles, or evergreen leaves, and
white flowers) of which “Widmung” or “Dedication” is the first.
Musical ideas drawn from Clara’s compositions often found their way into Robert's early piano works,
such as the Davisbündlertänze, Op. 6 (which opens with a direct quotation from the fifth piece, Mazurka, of
Clara's Soirées Musicales, Op. 6). And the fourth piece of the same set (Le Ballet des Revenants) provided
the seminal musical ideas which underscore the first movement of his Piano Sonata No. 1, F-Sharp Minor,
Op. 11. Carnaval, Op. 9, contains an affectionate musical portrait of Clara (no. 11, “Chiarina”).
Both Robert and Clara composed variation sets based on each other’s work—Robert’s Impromptus über
ein Thema von Clara Wieck, Op. 5, and Clara’s Variationen über ein Thema von Robert Schumann, Op. 20
(the theme drawn from the second piece of the Schumann’s Bunte Blätter, Op. 99). And in 1840, their
marriage year, together they set a collection of poems by Friedrich Rückert (the Gedichte aus
“Liebesfrühling,” Op. 37)—with Clara contributing numbers 2, 4 and 11. And although Clara stopped
composing any original works after Robert’s 1856 death, she continued to study and perform his works. As
late as 1895 she recorded in her diary “a small duet by Robert … for soprano and tenor, I have set for piano
alone.”
First published in the early twentieth century (and reprinted in 1991) Clara’s thirty solo piano
arrangements of Robert's songs are recorded here for the first time (and presented in the order of
publication). Clara chose songs from across Schumann’s entire output (though not surprisingly the Myrthen
is especially well represented, as are the cycles of Liederkreis, Op. 39 and Frauenliebe und Leben, Op. 42).
Clara’s arrangements emphasize intimacy and simplicity, often using Robert’s original accompaniment as a
backdrop into which the full vocal line is drawn (this is in contrast to the arrangements of say Franz Liszt,
whose settings of “Widmung” and “Frühlingsnacht” use the original songs as a point of departure for
transformation into elaborate concert versions). It should come as no surprise that Clara would favor the
uniquely personal genre of Lieder for her own, most extensive set of arrangements from Schumann’s
oeuvre. As Robert had written to her in May of 1840, “much of you is embedded in my Eichendorff
Liederkreis [Op. 39],” a cycle of which no less than half of its twelve songs are found here.
The passionate Piano Sonata No. 2, G Minor, Op. 22, is connected with both song and Clara. The
second movement (Andantino) is derived from one of Robert's youthful songs, “Im Herbst, ” from 1838
(Schumann had also previously reworked a song to create the slow movement of his Piano Sonata No. 1
(completed in 1835). The Piano Sonata No. 2 was favored by Clara who wrote on March 3, 1838 that “I love
[the sonata] just as I love you; it expresses your whole being with such clarity, and at the same time it’s not
too incomprehensible.”
Begun in 1833, the work enjoyed a long and complex genesis (the surviving manuscripts betray a large
number of revisions and alterations). It was completed in 1838, and published the following year with a
substitute final movement. This was occasioned by Clara, who requested that he simplify the “far too
difficult” last movement for “[even though] I already understand it and will play it if need be, other people,
the public, even professional musicians—those for whom one composes—won’t understand it at all.” Robert
replied to Clara on March 17, 1838: “You are so right about the last movement of the sonata. It [so] greatly
displeases me (with the exception of individual passionate moments) that I have rejected it entirely. In
addition, I have left the first movement the way I wrote it initially, therefore, the way that you know it.”
Whatever the rationale, the substitute finale undoubtedly alters the dimensions, architecture and overall
effect of the sonata. In its original conception, the formidable Presto served as an effective counterweight to
the first three movements (indeed, in its conciseness, the first movement alone almost gives the impression
of an introduction). This recording presents the sonata in its original conception, with the Presto
reincorporated as the final movement.
~ Thomas Labé