Ravinia_2018_Week

former piano teacher, firmly opposed the mar-

riage and tried all means to prevent the union.

The protective father attempted to separate

the lovers by whisking Clara away on a sev-

en-month concert tour. Eventually the case was

taken to court, where Wieck accused Schumann

of financial instability and over-consumption.

In the end, the court ruled in favor of Robert

and Clara, who married in 1840.

Emotional turmoil surrounding the legal battles

and extended periods of separation from Clara

stirred Schumann’s creativity. He composed the

set of piano pieces known as

Kreisleriana

in 1838

during Clara’s absence. The title is derived from

an essay of the same name in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s

novel

Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier

. The main

protagonist was Johannes Kreisler, an artist tor-

mented by the public’s failure to recognize his

talent. Kreisler (Hoffmann’s alter ego) has a

companion in the tomcat Murr, who in

Kater

Murr

unsuccessfully attempts to enter poodle

society. In the end, Kreisler and Murr find ac-

ceptance only in seclusion.

The Romantic concept of the unappreciated,

misunderstood artist appealed to Schumann,

particularly at a time when his own integri-

ty came into question. In his critical essays,

Schumann invented the fictitious personas Eu-

sebius and Florestan to reveal the opposing sides

of his Romantic nature. The eight works that

form

Kreisleriana

, subtitled “Fantasies for Pia-

no” and dedicated to Chopin, are divided into

several sections of contrasting character that re-

flect Schumann’s varying states of mind.

FRYDERYK FRANCISZEK CHOPIN (1810–49)

Fourteen Mazurkas

Franz Liszt devoted one entire chapter in his

Chopin biography to a description of his friend’s

artistic transformation of the Polish peasant

dance form—the mazurka. “Chopin released

the poetic

unknown

which was only suggested

in the original themes of Polish

mazurkas

. He

preserved the rhythm, ennobled the melody, en-

larged the proportions, and infused a harmonic

chiaroscuro as novel as the subjects it support-

ed—all this in order to paint in these produc-

tions (which he loved to hear us call

easel pic-

tures

) the innumerable and so widely differing

emotions that excite the heart while the dance

goes on.”

Even before Liszt’s 1852 biography, audiences

and musicians overwhelmingly viewed Chopin’s

mazurkas as miniature keyboard portraits. In

his supreme hands, the mazurka’s utter simplic-

ity of form (traditionally, three parts in which

the first and last share a common theme) and

substance (three beats per measure, often with

a dotted rhythm on the first beat and special

emphasis on beat two) evolved into a Romantic

poetic medium penetrating to the “unknown”

recesses of the soul. This inward quality con-

trasted with the polonaise, another dance genre

mastered by Chopin, which reflected a more ex-

troverted side of the Polish identity.

The mazurka originated in the region surround-

ing Warsaw among the people known as the Ma-

zurs. The musical characteristics of the mazurka

served as the basis for both peasant dances and

folk songs. Chopin was the first great composer

to devote himself to the refinement of this folk

form. His nearly 60 mazurkas embodied a wide

variety of sentiments, which Liszt categorized

as “flirtations, conceits, fancies, attachments,

laments, passions developed and awakening,

and conquests on which may depend another’s

fate or fervor.” Typically, Chopin’s mazurkas

follow a straightforward three-part design. Like

their folk predecessors, these piano miniatures

vary greatly in character and atmosphere.

Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major, op. 47

Poetry expressed through sound became the

Romantic musician’s obsession. Some indi-

viduals linked their compositions to a written

program, outlining—often in literal fashion—

associations between themes and words. Other

composers created miniature character sketch-

es. Another group of rare artists sought a deeper

and subtler “musical poeticism” that penetrated

the listener’s soul and loosened his imagination.

Chopin—especially in the nocturnes, impromp-

tus, scherzos, and ballades—fell into the last

category.

Many writers, among them Charles Rosen,

consider the four ballades “perhaps Chopin’s

greatest achievement.” In his union of operatic

lyricism with a narrative sequence of themes, he

“realized in music one of the major ambitions

of the Romantic poets and novelists,” observed

Rosen. Chopin allegedly drew inspiration for his

music from ballade poems about placid lake wa-

ters and delicate nymphs by Adam Mickiewicz,

a fellow Pole. Some recent scholars even have

discerned poetic meters in their long–short mu-

sical rhythms.

Chopin toiled long and hard over the composi-

tion of his first two ballades, but the third took

shape relatively quickly during the summer of

1841. Initially, the Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major,

op. 47, creates an almost matter-of-fact impres-

sion. This, however, is sheer deception: Chopin

imperceptibly refashions his simplistic melod-

ic ideas and aimless harmonic motion into a

grand crescendo toward a passionate bravura

conclusion.

Clara Wieck

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, by Ary Sheffer

Lithograph of four mazurkas (1844–50) danced by

Mr. G. De Korponay

Adam Mickiewicz

RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 1 – JUNE 10, 2018

106