Clara Schumann: Composer and Pianist

Background Information and Performance Circumstances

• Clara Wieck-Schumann was a German composer and concert pianist, born in Leipzig in 1819 and died in Frankfurt in 1896
• She was more renowned as a pianist during her lifetime but her compositions have gained recognition in recent years
• She was raised by her father, Friedrich Wieck, a piano teacher, and began performing as a child
• She performed throughout Europe as a teenager, building a foundation for her career
• Robert Schumann, a student of Clara’s father, married Clara in 1840, despite Friedrich's initial opposition
• Clara composed as part of her musical education, including a piano concerto performed at age 15 with Mendelssohn conducting
• She composed actively until early middle age, with most of her works featuring the piano
• Her compositional output decreased due to family responsibilities, including giving birth to eight children (only four survived)
• She managed household responsibilities and was the primary breadwinner due to Robert Schumann's limited income and later mental illness
• Clara collaborated with Joseph Joachim, a prominent violinist, and corresponded with and encouraged Johannes Brahms

The Piece

• The piano trio (piano, violin, and cello) was a significant form of chamber music from the late 18th to the 19th centuries
• Chamber music performances often took place in salons, with concert performances becoming more common later
• Clara Schumann likely performed her trio in both salon and concert hall settings
• Classical composers like Mozart and Haydn established the form, while Beethoven and Schubert further developed it in the early Romantic style
• Clara would have performed this core repertoire, making the trio a natural creative outlet
• The Piano Trio was written in 1846, the same year she premiered Robert Schumann’s piano concerto and had her fourth child
• It follows a four-movement pattern:
  • Allegro moderato in G minor
  • Scherzo and trio in B♭/E♭
  • Andante in G major
  • Allegretto in G minor

Performing Forces and Their Handling

• The instruments have relatively equal roles, unlike some piano trios where the piano is dominant
• The parts are not particularly virtuosic, suggesting they were intended for both capable amateurs and professionals
• Violin and cello use double-stopping during loud, dramatic moments and to enrich the texture in quieter passages
• The violin primarily plays in the two octaves above its lowest string but occasionally extends nearly another octave higher
• The cello utilizes both its low and upper ranges, extending up to an octave above middle C
• The cello provides:
  • Bass support for the harmony, including pedal notes
  • 'Tenor-like' mid-range parts that outline inner voices
  • Material in its high register, notated in the treble clef but sounding an octave lower
• The piano delivers both melodic and accompaniment textures:
  • The writing is typical of the Romantic period, yet more intimate and less virtuosic
  • Important melodic material is often presented in a single octave
  • The middle range of the keyboard is favored, with the highest note being G two and a half octaves above middle C
• Schumann is sensitive to the balance between instruments, sometimes placing the piano in a lower register to avoid masking the strings

Structure

• The movement is in sonata form, a structure from the Classical period with three main sections:
  • Exposition (bars 1–90), which is repeated
  • Development (bars 91–164)
  • Recapitulation (bars 165–288)

Exposition (bars 1–90)

• The first subject 1(a) appears in bars 1-4, and 1(b) appears in bars 5-8, played by the violin in G minor (tonic)
• In bars 9-15, 1(a) and 1(b) are played by the piano
• In bars 22-23, a chordal ff idea 1(c) in homorhythm
• In bars 23-25, the above statement is answered by legato p on violin 1(d)
• The music moves towards B♭ major (relative major) in bars 30–45
• A dominant pedal is heard in bars 41–44
• In bars 44-45, there is an Ic–V–I in B♭
• The second subject 2(a) with syncopated minims in piano and 2(b) (quavers) in B♭ major, in bars 45–48
• Rising diminished seventh figures in strings
• 2(a) and (b) are repeated in sequence a tone lower, with passing modulation to E♭ at bar 53, in bars 49–53
• A brief visit to D major (dominant) occurs at bars 56–59 poco rit.
• A sudden return to B♭, via an accented V7 chord at bar 59
• Repetitions of 2(a) and (b), moving through G minor and E♭ major at bars 61–65 and 65–69
• Sequential quaver ideas (piano) over chords (violin) and dominant pedal (cello) occur in bars 73–81
• A perfect cadence in B♭ occurs in bars 84–85
• The piano right-hand figure, in thirds, is used to return the music towards G minor in the following four bars, in bars 85–86
• The exposition is repeated

Development (bars 91–164)

• The development consists of various keys
• It opens with material based on a rising stepwise figure (bar 91) in the violin
• The piano plays downward parallel chromatic triads (some chromatic) passing through C minor (bar 94) towards E♭
• The cello begins a series of contrapuntal entries in dialogue with the violin at bar 103

Dominant Preparation for Recapitulation

• The dominant preparation is based on 1(a) in various keys, sometimes using only bar 1, and sometimes bars 1 and 2
• A downward fifth is sometimes expanded or contracted to fit harmony/tonality, creating a more angular and dramatic feel
• There is a gentler contrapuntal section with lighter piano accompaniment at bar 125
• At bar 134, the cello plays a more complete version of 1(a) altered to fit the F minor harmony
• The violin melody from bar 93 is developed in sequence over a cycle of fifths in the accompaniment at bar 139
• A climactic entry of 1a in the piano left hand in octaves occurs at bar 149
• The piano takes up violin idea from bar 139 over doubled dominant pedal in violin and cello, which leads to the recapitulation at bar 155

Recapitulation (bars 165 – end)

• The first subject in the tonic
• Second subject in the tonic (major)
• Coda
• Bars 165–190 is a verbatim repeat of the exposition first subject group
• The bridge/transition is altered to move towards G major at bar 191
• The second subject 2(a) and (b) are in G major (tonic major) at bar 210
• The music moves towards B major (very remote from G minor) at bar 220
• Codetta material from exposition, bar 236
• Return to G minor at bar 250
• Music based on development of material from bars 85–86
• A final statement of 1(a) in violin/cello leading to repeated cadential figures and imitative interplay between violin and cello at bar 266
• Bars 276 – end sees a series of diminished chords resolving onto chord I, over a tonic pedal. The final cadence in the piano is plagal.

Texture

• Chamber music involves ideas being passed around the ensemble, like a conversation
• Textures change frequently
• Homophonic textures are common at the beginning (bars 1–8), where the violin melody is accompanied by the piano
• When the idea is repeated (from bar 9), the texture is still mostly homophonic, augmented by counter-melodies in both violin and cello
• This texture has been described as polyphonically animated homophony
• Passages of close imitation (bars 115–130) between cello and violin create a busy polyphonic texture
• There is also interplay between violin and piano (bars 34–38)
• Pedal textures are used in several instances:
  • Dominant pedal in cello (bars 73–84)
  • Dominant pedal in violin and cello (two octaves apart) (bars 155–164)
• The left hand uses some doubled octaves in the lower register (bars 99–104)
• Block chord textures (bars 45–57)
• Octave doubling between the hands (bar 73) and in sixths (first 5 quavers of bars 74, 75 and 76)
• Rising and falling arpeggio figures (reminiscent of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata) act as a ‘backdrop’ to the loudest parts of the development section (bars 107–121)
• Accompaniment textures include:
  • Rocking quavers (bars 1–4)
  • Light, offbeat chords in the right hand against left-hand notes on the beat (bars 5–6)
  • Arpeggio textures (bars 139–145)

Tonality

• The work and movement are in G minor
• Sonata form involves key contrast
  • Exposition: first subject in G minor (tonic), second subject in B♭ major (relative major)
  • Development: a set of modulations including E♭/F minor/G minor/C minor/F minor
  • Recapitulation: first subject in G minor (tonic), second subject in G major (tonic major)
  • Closing coda: returns to G minor (tonic)
• There are brief passing modulations, including excursions to D major (bars 56–59) and B major (bar 223)
• Modulations are prepared with perfect cadences
• The return to the home key is sometimes abrupt, such as in bar 59
• Tonic and dominant pedals reinforce the sense of tonality:
  • Dominant pedal (bars 155–164)
  • Tonic pedal (bars 276–end)

Harmony

• The harmony is predominantly tonal and diatonic, utilizing functional progressions
• Major and minor chords in root position and first inversion form the basis of the harmonic style
• There are frequent cadence points
• Traditional progressions include perfect cadences (bars 84–85) and Ic–V–I (bars 21–22)
• Chromatic harmony is used, including:
  • Diminished seventh chords as a substitute chord for V7
  • Augmented sixth chords used to approach chord V or Ic
  • Chords involving more dissonant extensions
  • Suspensions, e.g. 7–6 in bar 129 and 4–3 in bar 143
• Secondary dominant chords are used as part of otherwise diatonic progressions
• Progressions follow a chromatic bass line downwards, using parallel triadic movement (bars 17–20)
• Use of cycle of fifth progression at bars 139–143

Melody

• Sonata form involves melodic contrast
• First subject (a) and (b) (bars 1–8) is an 8-bar theme, made of two balanced 4-bar sections
  • (a) bars 1–4 features a plaintive downward fifth and a tied rhythm ending with an imperfect cadence
  • (b) bars 5–8 answers with a more animated rhythm through a rising sequence and with an upwards octave leap
  • 1(c) and (d) are shorter ideas with 'Brahmsian’ dotted idea against a more lyrical answer through a falling sequence
• The second subject contains two 2-bar ideas:
  • (a) bars 45–47 syncopated descending stepwise ending with an appoggiatura
  • (b) bars 47–49 repeated ‘chattering’ quaver figures beginning on the sixth quaver against a melodic diminished seventh in the violin
• The development section focuses on the first two bars of 1(a)
• Chromatic writing occurs in bars 243–245

Rhythm, Tempo, and Meter

• Allegro moderato
• There is a short poco rit. in the second subject group
• The 4/4 metre has four crotchet beats, but often feels more like 2/2
• The themes each have a rhythm
  • 1(c) has dotted rhythms
  • 2(a) is syncopated
• 1(c) and (d) both open with an anacrusis
• Some lyrical melodies are aided by ties over the bar line
• Lively rhythms and much quaver passage work
• There are frequent syncopations