THE PIANO MUSIC OF ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856) AND JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833- 1897): A SURVEY OF CONCERTI, VARIATIONS, AND CHARACTER PIECES
Abstract
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), in some
ways Robert Schumann's artistic descendant, are the most important and
representative German piano composers during the Romantic period. Schumann was
already a mature and established musician in 1853 when he first met the young
Brahms and recognized his talents, an encounter that had a long-lasting affect on the
lives and careers of both men. After Schumann’s mental breakdown and death,
Brahms maintained his admiration of Schumann’s music and preserved an intimate
relationship with Clara Schumann. In spite of the personal and musical closeness of
the two men, Schumann’s music is stylistically distinct from that of Brahms. Brahms
followed traditions from Baroque and Classical music, and avoided using images and
expressive titles in his music. Brahms extraordinarily intermingled earlier musical
forms with multicolored tones of German Romanticism. In contrast, Schumann saw himself as a radical composer devoted to personal emotionalism and spontaneity. He
favored programmatic titles for his character pieces and extra-musical references in
his music. While developing their own musical styles as German Romantic composers,
Schumann and Brahms both utilized the piano as a resourceful tool for self-realization
and compositional development.
To investigate and compare the main characteristics of Schumann and
Brahms’s piano music, I looked at three genres. First, in the category of the piano
concerto, I chose two major Romantic works, Schumann’s A minor concerto and
Brahms’s B-flat major concerto. Second, for the category of piano variations I
included two sets by Brahms because the variation framework was such an important
vehicle for him to express his musical thoughts. Schumann’s unique motivic approach
to variation is displayed vividly in his character-piece cycle Carnaval. Third, the
category of the character piece, perhaps the favorite medium of Romantic expression
at the piano, is shown by Schumann’s Papillons and Brahms’s sets of pieces Op.118
and Op.119.
This performance dissertation consists of three recitals performed in the
Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland, College Park. These recitals
are documented on compact disc recordings that are housed within the University of
Maryland Library System.