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22 Schumann’s Carnaval M. R. Part 1 Etude, November 1932 This work was one of Rosenthal’s specialties, for he rightly understood it as “not only a musical but also a literary conception, a kind of esoteric autobiography in sounds.” Philip Hale, one of the most sympathetic and enlightened of American critics, wrote that a performance of the work by Rosenthal in 1898 “was throughout the most satisfactory of all performances of this much abused work heard here for the last ten years.” For once you did not watch the program—dolefully when the pianist was not beyond “Coquette”—hopefully when he arrived at “Promenade”— thankfully when the march against the Philistines began to thunder. The work for once seemed as though it were one inspiration; with all the varying moods, you were conscious of a ¤rm and coherent design. There was a true carnival, and the maskers were sharply characterized. You never mistook Eusebius for Florestan, and when Chopin appeared, the strange apparition searching for his ideal and singing that unearthly melody, you were not obliged to ask, “Who is that gentleman?” (Undated clipping) Into the program booklet for his recital at Carnegie Hall in November 1906, Rosenthal had inserted an extra page containing his own poetic program for Schumann’s Carnaval. We do not know when Rosenthal wrote the program, or if he included it in other concert booklets; probably he did. In any case, excerpts from this note included in reviews of Rosenthal’s performance suggest that it is both better written and more interesting than the “lesson” on the Carnaval that Rosenthal published in the Etude. . . . We spoke of the worship of Schumann for Chopin, for Clara, and for Ernestine, who all three were implicated and celebrated in Carnaval. But there was one man, a colossus among poets, whom Schumann extolled to the stars, and whom he placed side by side with Ludwig van Beethoven, his hero among musicians. The name of this incomparable writer was Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (pen name, Jean Paul) who was born at Wunsiedel, 1763, and who died at Bayreuth in 1825. His imagination, his humor, his poetry created a sensation in Germany. Even such men as Goethe and Schiller said of him that he would be worthy of their admiration if he would dispose of his richness “with the same care as other writers did of their poverty.” When Schumann,at a congress at Vienna,gave a toast praising two great men as supermen of the German people, Beethoven and Jean Paul, an immediate protest, not without basis, came from Grädener against the coupling of these two names, the in¤nite superiority of Beethoven being pointed out.1 Schumann , offended and wounded in his love for Jean Paul, left the assembly precipitately without further word. The masterpiece of Jean Paul is a romance called Flegeljahre, which title, not literally translatable, means “years of hot, impetuous and stormy youth.”2 Schumann admired this work to such an extent that he wrote to Clara, “Read the Flegeljahre! It is a book like the Bible!”The in®uence of this work on Schumann is obvious. It is a tale with two heroes who, by the way, are twin brothers named Vult and Walt. Like Goethe’s Faust, Jean Paul felt two different souls in his bosom; he divided his “ego” into two parts. Vult is the brilliant one, full of humor , witticism, and sarcasm, a widely famous virtuoso on the ®ute, a seducer in the grand manner, full of poetry but ruling over his poetic sentiments by means of his enormous intellect. Walt is wholly the poet and is extricated and saved from the nets of this bad world by Vult’s greater knowledge, wisdom, and experience. Both the ®utist and the poet love the same girl, Wina, the daughter of a general, but Wina gives her heart away to Walt. Vult, becoming aware that he has lost on the highest stake of his life, decides to leave Wina and Walt. So when, one night, Walt consults his brother, Vult, about the signi¤cance of a wild dream he has just had, Vult answers that he (Walt) will hear the meaning of this dream through his (Vult’s) ®ute, a meaning which will pierce even into Walt’s new dreams. Vult leaves the house and Walt hears soon the sounds of the ®ute from afar without knowing that those melodies carry away his beloved brother forever. The romance comes to an...

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