''Faschingsschwank aus Wien'' (''Carnival Scenes from Vienna'' or ''Carnival Jest from Vienna''), Op. 26, is a solo piano work by
Robert Schumann. He began composition of the work in 1839 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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. He wrote the first four movements in Vienna, and the last on his return to
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
.
Eric Sams
Eric Sams (3 May 1926 – 13 September 2004) was a British musicologist and Shakespeare scholar.
Life
Born in London, Sams was raised in Essex. His early brilliance in school ( Westcliff High School for Boys) earned him a scholarship to Cor ...
has noted that the word "Faschingsschwank" contains the letters
ASCH SCHA in that order of appearance, and that Schumann used these notes in sequence as melodic material for this work. Robert Morgan has noted Schumann's use of
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
's
Op. 26 as a model in this work, and also Schumann's use of musical symmetry. David Neumeyer has noted the similarity of the first section to the ''
Valse Noble'', Op. 77, No. 7 (D. 969) of
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...
.
Form
The work is in five
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
:
* Allegro:
Very lively ('), B
♭ major
Marked (') (very lively), this is the longest and one of the more virtuosic movements, notable for its innovative rhythms and its brief quote of "
La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...
." Of all the pieces of ''Faschingsschwank'', this one is the least single-minded in its structure, introducing entirely new themes occasionally, only to be brought back repeatedly to two repeated motifs from the beginning. The piece comes to a crashing close with almost dissonant septuplet arpeggios.
* Romanze:
Pretty slow ('), G minor
Probably the least virtuosic of the works, taking only a page of music. Despite its shortness and apparent ease, this is undoubtedly the saddest piece in the set. Despite the fact that most of the work is in G minor, the final measure brings a resolution into G major.
* Scherzino, B
♭ major
Much as the title suggests, this work is a playful respite between two somber movements. A syncopated rhythm, with a melody based almost entirely on notes of the major chord, keeps the movement light and bouncing throughout, with the possible exception of the last run, a progression of octaves into a quick and bright cadence.
* Intermezzo:
With the greatest energy ('), E
♭ minor
The Intermezzo is marked by its flowing sound, created by keeping a steady stream of right-hand notes in the background, interspersed with melody notes. The piece, almost entirely based on transpositions, appears difficult at first due to its speed (some musicologists have remarked that Schumann's metronome was calibrated such that it went faster than it should have, due to extreme tempi such as this one). While the background notes in the right hand do indeed move extremely fast, the melody is more singing. The background notes are mostly suited to the shape and position of the hand, despite a few leaps of the melody; in the end, the left hand takes a modified, E-flat major version of the E-flat minor melody, under the right hand. The work is a melancholy and emotionally charged display of a pianist's capability to convey feeling.
* Finale:
Highly vivid ('), B
♭ major
The "extremely lively" Finale begins with triumphant announcements in B-flat octaves, interspersed with brilliant moving thirds. This section is the second longest, lasting about half the length of the first movement. The patterns seen in the Finale are somewhat reminiscent of Beethoven's compositional style, using a melody that moves in both hands, while both hands also play unchanging notes beneath the melody. The energetic runs of the final bars bring the set to a dramatic close.
Reception and performance
The ''Faschingsschwank aus Wien'' has been recorded many times, including outstanding live performances by
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (; 5 January 1920 – 12 June 1995) was an Italian classical pianist. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. According to ''The New York Times'', he was perhaps the most reclusive, ...
in 1957,
Annie Fischer
Annie Fischer (July 5, 1914April 10, 1995) was a Hungarian
classical pianist.
Biography
Fischer was born into a Jewish family in Budapest and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Ernő Dohnányi and Arnold Szekely. She began he ...
in 1960 and
Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his int ...
in 1962. The Intermezzo serves as the theme music of the
Lawfare podcast, performed by journalist
Sophia Yan.
References
External links
*
Performance of ''Faschingsschwank aus Wien''by
Martina Filjak from the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was found ...
in
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
format
*, performed by Bruce Coletti
*, Piano soloist: Sviatoslav Richter
*, Piano Soloist: Alberto Lodoletti
{{Authority control
Piano music by Robert Schumann
Compositions for solo piano
1839 compositions