Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor
Schumann Piano Concerto A minor Program Notes
Even as a young girl, Clara Weick showed great talent for the piano, receiving some of the best training Europe had to offer, from her father Friedrick. He was such a great teacher that he drew in the 20-year-old Robert Schumann, who was anxious to improve his playing despite hands which were by some accounts lacking in strength or breadth. Five years’ study with the great Weick resulted mainly in a romantic attraction between the young Clara and Robert. Much to the chagrin of Weick père, they were married in 1840 when she was 20 and he 25, after a five-year courtship. Schumann originally wrote the first movement of this concerto as a stand-alone Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra, with Clara as the soloist: she played it with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra two weeks before the young couple had their first child (of seven). After the piano’s dramatic proclamation, the oboe introduces a melancholic theme that develops and returns through the movement. Finding it hard to find a publisher, Schumann later added a second and third movement. In Clara’s diary, she wrote she was “very glad about it, for I have always wanted a great bravura piece by him. I am happy as a king at the thought of playing it with an orchestra.” Clara Schumann was to be one of the 19th Century’s great virtuosos – her touring career would later support the family following Robert’s insanity and early death (aged 46). Robert Schumann Born: June 8, 1810, Zwickau, Germany Died: July 29, 1856, Bonn, GermanyThe Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 is the only piano concerto completed by Robert Schumann and one of the most beloved in the entire repertoire. It is a deeply lyrical and intimate work that perfectly balances the piano and orchestra as equal partners in a musical conversation.
Schumann composed the concerto in stages — beginning with a single-movement Fantasy in 1841 and completing the two additional movements in 1845. The complete concerto was premiered in Dresden on December 4, 1845, with Clara Schumann as soloist and Felix Mendelssohn conducting.
A typical performance lasts approximately 28 to 32 minutes.
The opening movement is particularly remarkable for the way the piano and orchestra share and develop themes together rather than competing for attention. The exquisite slow movement is a gentle dialogue between piano and solo cello, and the finale brings the concerto to an exuberant and jubilant close.
Clara Schumann was the definitive interpreter of the concerto during her husband's lifetime and long after his death, performing it hundreds of times across Europe. Her intimate knowledge of Robert's musical intentions informed every performance, and the concerto is inseparable from the story of one of music history's greatest partnerships.
