
''Davidsbündlertänze'' (''Dances of the League of David''),
Op. 6, is a group of eighteen pieces for
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
composed in 1837 by
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
, who named them after his music society
Davidsbündler The ''Davidsbündler'' (League of David) was a music society created by German Romantic composer Robert Schumann in his writings. It was inspired by literary societies, real and imagined ones, such as the ''Serapionsbrüder'' ( The Serapion Brethren ...
. The low opus number is misleading: the work was written after ''
Carnaval'', Op. 9, and the ''
Symphonic Studies'', Op. 13.
Background
Robert Schumann's early piano works were substantially influenced by his relationship with
Clara Wieck
Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course o ...
. On September 5, 1839, Schumann wrote to his former professor: "She was practically my sole motivation for writing the ''Davidsbündlertänze'', the
Concerto
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...
, the
Sonata
In music a sonata (; pl. ''sonate'') literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cantare'', "to sing"), a piece ''sung''. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until th ...
and the
'Novelettes'." They are an expression of his passionate love, anxieties, longings, visions, dreams and fantasies.
The theme of the ''Davidsbündlertänze'' is based on a
mazurka
The Mazurka ( Polish: ''mazurek'') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character defined mostly by the prominent mazur's "strong accents unsystematically placed on the seco ...
by Clara Wieck. The intimate character pieces are his most personal work. In 1838, Schumann told Clara that the ''Dances'' contained "many wedding thoughts" and that "the story is an entire ''
Polterabend
Polterabend () is a German and to a lesser extent Polish, Austrian and Swiss wedding custom in which, on the night before the wedding, the guests break porcelain to bring luck to the couple's marriage. The belief in the effectiveness of this custo ...
'' (German wedding eve party, during which old crockery is smashed to bring good luck)".
The pieces are not true
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
s, but characteristic pieces, musical
dialogue
Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...
s about contemporary music between Schumann's characters Florestan and Eusebius. These respectively represent the impetuous and the lyrical, poetic sides of Schumann's nature. Each piece is ascribed to one or both of them. Their names follow the first piece and the appropriate initial or initials follow each of the others except the sixteenth (which leads directly into the seventeenth, the ascription for which applies to both) and the ninth and eighteenth, which are respectively preceded by the following remarks: "Here Florestan made an end, and his lips quivered painfully", and "Quite superfluously Eusebius remarked as follows: but all the time great bliss spoke from his eyes."
In the second edition of the work, Schumann removed these ascriptions and remarks and the ''Tänze'' from the title, as well as making various alterations, including the addition of some repeats. The first edition is generally favored, though some readings from the second are often used. The suite ends with the striking of twelve low Cs to signify the coming of midnight.
Peter Kaminsky has analysed the structure of the work in detail.
The first edition is preceded by the following
epigraph:
In all und jeder Zeit
Verknüpft sich Lust und Leid:
Bleibt fromm in Lust und seid
Dem Leid mit Mut bereit
In each and every age
joy and sorrow are mingled:
Remain pious in joy,
and be ready for sorrow with courage.
Sections
The individual pieces, unnamed, have the following tempo markings, keys and ascriptions:
# Lebhaft: ''Lively'' (Vivace), G major, Florestan and Eusebius;
# Innig: ''Intimately'' (Con intimo sentimento), B minor, Eusebius;
# Etwas hahnbüchen: ''Somewhat clumsily'' (Un poco impetuoso) (1st edition), Mit Humor: ''With humor'' (Con umore) (2nd edition), G major, Florestan (''hahnbüchen'', now usually ''
hanebüchen'' or ''hagebüchen'', is an untranslatable colloquialism roughly meaning "coarse" or "clumsy".
Ernest Hutcheson translated it as "cockeyed" in his book ''The Literature of the Piano.'');
# Ungeduldig: ''Impatiently'' (Con impazienza), B minor, Florestan;
# Einfach: ''Simply'' (Semplice), D major, Eusebius;
# Sehr rasch und in sich hinein: ''Very quickly and inwardly'' (Molto vivo, con intimo fervore) (1st edition), Sehr rasch: ''Very quickly'' (Molto vivo) (2nd edition), D minor, Florestan;
# Nicht schnell mit äußerst starker Empfindung: ''Not fast, with very great feeling'' (Non presto profondamente espressivo) (1st edition), Nicht schnell: ''Not fast'' (Non presto) (2nd edition), G minor, Eusebius;
# Frisch: ''Freshly'' (Con freschezza), C minor, Florestan;
# No tempo indication (metronome mark of = 126) (1st edition), Lebhaft: ''Lively'' (Vivace) (2nd edition), C major, Florestan;
# Balladenmäßig sehr rasch: ''Balladically very fast'' (Alla ballata molto vivo) (1st edition), ("Sehr" and "Molto" capitalized in 2nd edition), D minor (ends major), Florestan;
# Einfach: ''Simply'' (Semplice), B minor–D major, Eusebius;
# Mit Humor: ''With humor'' (Con umore), B minor–E minor and major, Florestan;
# Wild und lustig: ''Wildly and merrily'' (Selvaggio e gaio), B minor and major, Florestan and Eusebius;
# Zart und singend: ''Tenderly and singing'' (Dolce e cantando), E major, Eusebius;
# Frisch: ''Freshly'' (Con freschezza), B major – Etwas bewegter: ''With agitation'' (poco piu mosso), E major with a return to the opening section (with the option to go round the piece once more), Florestan and Eusebius;
# Mit gutem Humor: ''With good humor'' (Con buon umore) (in 2nd edition, "Con umore"), G major – Etwas langsamer: ''A little slower'' (Un poco più lento), B minor; leading without a break into
# Wie aus der Ferne: ''As if from afar'' (Come da lontano), B major and minor (including a full reprise of No. 2), Florestan and Eusebius; and finally,
# Nicht schnell: ''Not fast'' (Non presto), C major, Eusebius.
References
Further reading
*David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of Concert Music''. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.
*Robert Schumann, ''Complete Piano Works'', Volume I, edited by Clara Schumann, originally published by Breitkopf & Härtel.
External links
*
*, No. 6: Mazurka
Performance of ''Davidsbündlertänze''by
Jeremy Denk
Jeremy Denk (born May 16, 1970 in Durham, North Carolina) is an American classical pianist and author of the memoir ''Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons'' (2022).
Early life
Denk did not come from a musical family. After s ...
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 under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
format
*, performed by Catherine Collard
* Piano Soloist:
Jerome Rose
Jerome Rose is an American pianist and educator. He has served on the faculty of the Mannes School of Music and has given masterclasses.
Career
Rose made his concert debut at the age of 15 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He was a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davidsbundlertanze
Piano music by Robert Schumann
Compositions for solo piano
1837 compositions
Suites (music)