Carnaval (Schumann)

Carnaval had its origin in a set of variations on a Sehnsuchtswalzer by Franz Schubert, whose music Schumann had only discovered in 1827. The catalyst for writing the variations may have been a work for piano and orchestra by Schumann's close friend Ludwig Schuncke, a set of variations on the same Schubert theme. Schumann felt that Schuncke's heroic treatment was an inappropriate reflection of the tender nature of the Schubert piece, so he set out to approach his variations in a more intimate way, working on them in 1833 and 1834.

Schumann's work was never completed, however, and Schuncke died in December 1834, but he did re-use the opening 24 measures for the opening of Carnaval. Pianist Andreas Boyde has since reconstructed the original set of variations from Schumann's manuscript (published by Hofmeister Musikverlag), premiered this reconstruction in New York and recorded it for Athene Records.[1] Romanian pianist Herbert Schuch has also recorded this reconstruction, with his own editorial emendations, for the Oehms Classics label.[2]

The 21 pieces are connected by a recurring motif. The four notes are encoded puzzles, and Schumann predicted that "deciphering my masked ball will be a real game for you."[3] In each section of Carnaval there appears one or both of two series of musical notes. These are musical cryptograms, as follows:

• A, E♭, C, B – signified in German as A-Es-C-H (the Es is pronounced as a word for the letter S)
• A♭, C, B – signified in German as As-C-H
• E♭, C, B, A – signified in German as Es-C-H-A.

The first two spell the German name for the town of Asch (now Aš in the Czech Republic), in which Schumann's then fiancée, Ernestine von Fricken, was born.[4] The sequence of letters also appears in the German word Fasching, meaning carnival. In addition, Asch is German for "Ash," as in Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lastly, it encodes a version of the composer's name, Robert Alexander Schumann. The third series, S-C-H-A, encodes the composer's name again with the musical letters appearing in Schumann, in their correct order.

Heinz Dill has mentioned Schumann's use of musical quotes and codes in this work.[5] Eric Sams has discussed literary allusions in the work, such as to novels of Jean Paul.[6]

In Carnaval, Schumann goes further musically than in Papillons, Op. 2, for he himself conceives the story for which it serves as a musical illustration. Each piece has a title, and the work as a whole is a musical representation of an elaborate and imaginative masked ball during carnival season.[7] Carnaval remains famous for its resplendent chordal passages and its use of rhythmic displacement and has long been a staple of the pianist's repertoire.

Both Schumann and his wife Clara considered his solo piano works too difficult for the general public. (Frédéric Chopin is reported to have said that Carnaval was not music at all.[8] Chopin did not warm to Schumann on the two occasions they met briefly and had a generally low opinion of his music.) Consequently, the works for solo piano were rarely performed in public during Schumann's lifetime, although Franz Liszt performed selections from Carnaval in Leipzig in March 1840, omitting certain movements with Schumann's consent. Six months after Schumann's death, Liszt would write to Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski, Schumann's future biographer, that Carnaval was a work "that will assume its natural place in the public eye alongside Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, which in my opinion it even surpasses in melodic invention and conciseness".[9] Today, despite its immense technical and emotional difficulty, Carnaval is one of Schumann's most often performed works.[10]

The work has 21 sections, plus a separate line in between the 8th and 9th sections, titled Sphinxes, that contains a description of the aforementioned musical codes. Sections 16 and 17 are actually a single piece with the middle section having its own title; they are commonly numbered separately.

1. Préambule (A♭ major; Quasi maestoso – Più moto – Animato – Presto)

The Préambule is one of the few pieces in the set not explicitly organized around the A-S-C-H idea. It was taken from the incomplete Variations on a Theme of Schubert.[11] The theme was Schubert's Sehnsuchtswalzer, Op. 9/2, D. 365.[12]

2. Pierrot (E♭ major; Moderato)

This is a depiction of Pierrot, a character from the commedia dell'arte, commonly represented in costume at a ball.

3. Arlequin (B♭ major; Vivo)

This is a depiction of Harlequin, another character from the commedia dell'arte.

4. Valse noble (B♭ major; Un poco maestoso)

5. Eusebius (E♭ major; Adagio – Più lento, molto teneramente)

Depicting the composer's calm, deliberate side.

6. Florestan (G minor; Passionato)

Depicting the composer's fiery, impetuous side. Schumann quotes the main waltz theme from his earlier work Papillons, Op. 2, in this movement.

7. Coquette (B♭ major; Vivo)

Depicting a flirtatious girl.

8. Replique (B♭ major – G minor; L'istesso tempo)

A 'reply' to the coquette.

--. Sphinxs[13]

This consists of three sections, each consisting of one bar on a single staff in bass (F) clef, with no key, tempo, or dynamic indications. The notes are not given lengths but are written as blocks only where they are pitched on the staff. The pitches given are the notes E♭C B A (SCHA) and A♭C B (AsCH) and A E♭C B (ASCH). As it doesn't actually contain any real notes, it was obviously not intended to be played in performance.[14]

9. Papillons (B♭ major; Prestissimo)

This piece is unrelated to his earlier work of the same name.

10. A.S.C.H.  S.C.H.A. (Lettres Dansantes) (E♭ major; Presto)

Despite the title, the pattern used is As-C-H.

11. Chiarina (C minor; Passionato)

A depiction of Clara Schumann.

12. Chopin (A♭ major; Agitato)

An evocation of his colleague Frédéric Chopin.

13. Estrella (F minor; Con affetto – Più presto, molto espressivo)

Depicting Ernestine von Fricken.

14. Reconnaissance (A♭ major; Animato)

Likely depicting Schumann and Ernestine recognizing each other at the ball.

15. Pantalon et Colombine (F minor; Presto – meno Presto – Tempo I)

The characters Pantalone and Columbina from the commedia dell'arte.

16–17. Valse allemande – Paganini (A♭ major – F minor – A♭ major; Molto vivace – INTERMEZZO: Presto – Tempo I: ma più vivo)

A German waltz, with an evocation of Niccolò Paganini in the middle. 16 and 17 are actually a single piece in ABA form: #16 consisting of the initial A-part (Molto vivace) entitled "Valse Allemande", followed by #17 the B-part (Intermezzo: Presto) entitled "Paganini" and a reprise of the entire Valse A-part again (Tempo I: ma più vivo).

18. Aveu (F minor – A♭ major; Passionato)

Depicting a confession of love.

19. Promenade (D♭ major; Con moto)

20. Pause (A♭ major; Vivo)

A short introduction and a quote of the first section Préambule, leads into the final section.

21. Marche des “Davidsbündler” contre les Philistins[15] (A♭ major; Non allegro – Molto più vivo – Animato – Vivo – Animato molto – Vivo – Più stretto)

Quotations from a number of the previous sections fleetingly reappear; the Grossvater Tanz, identified by Schumann in the score as a "Theme from the 17th Century" and intended to represent those holding to old-fashioned, outdated and inartistic ideals[16] (i.e., Philistines) is quoted from his earlier work Papillons, Op. 2.

Costume sketch by Léon Bakst, for the 1910 Ballet Russes production.

In 1910, Michel Fokine choreographed Carnaval for a production by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, with orchestration written collaboratively by Alexander Glazunov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Lyadov and Alexander Tcherepnin.

Among others who have orchestrated Carnaval are Maurice Ravel (1914)[17] and Giampaolo Testoni (1995).[18]

• Carnaval (Schumann): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Recording of original piano solo arrangement by Boris Giltburg (archived on the Wayback Machine)
• Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9 on YouTube, performed by Claudio Arrau