Happy New Year!
In this first episode of 2023, we resume our discussion of whether Nineteenth century music can best be understood by a situation in which such contradictions as truth and fairy tales, reason and blind emotion, science and magic, patriotic republican fervor to move forward and a longing for a past feudal fantasy, can be merged into a bland porridge; or whether our appreciation shall be much enhanced by a fine analysis of the battle between the continuing Classical tradition and the upstart Romantic movement.
Shortly after the death of Beethoven in 1827, Robert Schumann and his friends saw that musical composition is deteriorating, as classical rigor was being replaced with unbounded fantasy and its flip side, literalism (as found in program music). He and his friends met informally to play and discuss new music. He called this informal grouping the Davidsbund—referring to the Biblical David fighting the Philistines. He founded a periodical called "Neue Zeitschrift für Music" in 1834, in order to establish a level of music criticism, which, unlike the puffed-up, self-important reviewers whose columns appeared in news publications, would establish a consistent level of rigor for future musical composition.
Without reference to the terms, which would only later become clear, he was delineating the differences between the classical and romantic methods: he was fighting the Philistines (a Philistine is someone who has no use for beauty, art or intellect. There are plenty of them around today, the kind of person who only wants to know " What's the bottom line?")
One of his associates wished to publish only positive reviews. Schumann's famous response was: "He who fails to attack the bad, only half-way defends the good."
Schumann's first review came earlier in 1831. On obtaining the score for an unknown named Chopin, he penned an article entitled "An Opus 2!" Chopin had composed his Variations on "La ci Darem la Mano", an aria from Mozart's “Don Giovanni”, in 1827 in Poland at the age of 17 ((news travelled much slower in those days). Poland was considered far removed from the musical capitals of the world, and for a teenager to accomplish this was considered unfathomable. In his review, Schumann remarked, "Hats off Gentlemen, a Genius."
For those not familiar with this wonderful music, here is Mozart's seemingly innocent duet, where Don Giovanni is out to seduce a woman on her wedding day. He calls it, "an innocent love," ...
... and here is Chopin's wonderful set of variations on that same theme. Before stating the theme, Chopin begins with an introduction that hints at it. Schumann says of it: "I thought I could hear Mozart's "La ci Darem la Mano", woven through a hundred chords."
However, most of this early review by Schumann is too flowery, too literal, and too romantic. Schumann was grounded in Bach, Plato and Beethoven, and also supported the idea of a republic. This grounding, I believe, enabled him to sort things out as he grew.
Five years later, he published a review of Chopin's Piano Concerti. He attacked supercilious critics, who declared Chopin's works as "not worth burning", and wrote:
“What are an entire year's issues of a musical journal against a Concerto by Chopin? What are the ravings of a pedant against those of a poet? What are ten editors' crowns against the Adagio of the Second Concerto?”
Chopin was informed by the music of Bach and bel-canto singing. He had a simple but beautiful poetic idea for the opening of this Adagio. "Imagine yourself in a beloved childhood area that you have not seen in years. It's dark and you can't see anything. Gradually your eyes adjust and it comes into clear view." When this Adagio is played well, Chopin's mastery of the bel-canto singing voice also comes into clear view.
More to come from Chopin.