The Creative Process in Music from Mozart to Kurtag

3. Schumann, Beethoven, and the “Distant Beloved”

3 Schumann, Beethoven, and the “Distant Beloved” We turn now to a much-discussed composition by Robert Schumann,a piece that lies at the center of his innovative cluster of piano works from the 1830s and that was conceived in 1836 at the stressful nadir of his struggle for the hand of Clara Wieck, the brilliant young pianist who became his wife four years later. Perhaps no other work by Schumann underwent a more fascinating genesis. As originally conceived, the composition in question was an offering to Beethoven, who had died almost a decade earlier,in 1827.The call for a monument to Beethoven at his birthplace,Bonn,went out on the composer’s birthday,17 December 1835,whereupon Schumann proclaimed his passionate support for the project in an essay in his journal, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, entitled “Monument für Beethoven” (Monument for Beethoven),published in early 1836.Almost a decade later,in 1845, the Beethoven monument was finally erected on the Münsterplatz at Bonn (Fig. 3.1), thanks largely to the strenuous efforts and financial contributions of Franz Liszt. In 1836, when the efforts to raise this monument to Beethoven were at an early,formative stage,Schumann decided to create a musical work,the proceeds of whichweretobeacontributiontowardbuildingtheBeethovenmonumentatBonn. What we are describing is the project that eventually became Schumann’s Fantasie in C Major,op.17,first published in 1839.Like the Davidsbündlertänze,op.6, theSymphonicÉtudes,op.13,andotherworks,Schumann’sfantasieunderwentan involvedcompositionalevolution.1 Stagesofthis processarereflectedinthevarious descriptive titles for the work that he contemplated between 1836 and 1839.Already in 1836 Schumann had devised a detailed set of titles for a three-movement work: 78 chapter 3 Obulus auf Beethovens Monument Ruinen, Trophaeen, Palmen Große Sonate für das Pianoforte von Florestan u. Eusebius op. 122 According to a letter by Schumann to Clara Wieck, the three-movement sonata was completed except for details in June 1836.3 The Greek word “Obulus” designates a small coin, meaning in this context a modest contribution to the cause of Beethoven’s monument. The authors of this op. 12 version, “Florestan” and “Eusebius,”refer,of course,to the two sides of Schumann’s artistic personality: the extroverted,impulsive,energetic persona is Florestan,while the dreamy,reflective, introverted side is Eusebius. This dualistic psychological framework, in turn, is modeled on the literary practice of the imaginative writer Jean Paul Richter, who often used such pairs of characters, such as the twin brothers Vult and Walt in his novel Flegeljahre, a work Schumann admired and read many times over. If the marchlike second movement of the fantasie displays the passionate,Florestan side of Schumann’s musical temperament, and the slow final movement is suggestive of the Eusebius character, the opening movement blends the two, interweaving slower, introverted passages with the stirring opening music, marked “Durchaus phantastischundleidenschaftlichvorzutragen”(Tobeplayedinanentirelyfantastic and passionate manner). AseparateArbeitsmanuskript(autographworkingmanuscript)ofthefirstmovement of the fantasie carries a title in French: Ruines Fantaisie pour le Pianoforte dediée à [crossed out and illegible] par Robert Schumann op. 16a. This source has encouraged speculation that Schumann first conceived the work in one movement,but that conclusion seems unwarranted.4 The higher opus number, but especially the replacement of “Florestan u.Eusebius”by “Robert Schumann,” indicates that this title followed the op.12 version,since Schumann discontinued at this time his earlier practice,as with his Piano Sonata in F♯ minor,op.11,of listing Florestan and Eusebius as the authors of his works. Schumann, Beethoven, and the “Distant Beloved” 79 At a still later stage in the genesis of the fantasie,Schumann described the three movements as Dichtungen (poems), and at this point he resolved to dedicate the piece to Franz Liszt.Although Schumann was initially pleased with the title “Dichtungen ,” he again changed his mind. The revision of this title page can be seen in a manuscript held at the National Széchényi Library in Budapest (MS Mus. 37).5 This source is the corrected copy that served as the Stichvorlage (engraver’s copy); it contains numerous notations and emendations in Schumann’s hand. The title page of the Budapest score is shown in Fig. 3.2. It will be seen that the title “Dichtungen” is canceled and replaced by “Fantasie” and that yet another opus number has been specified, the now-familiar op. 17. The former movement Figure 3.1. Beethoven monument, Münsterplatz, Bonn...