Dichterliebe, Op. 48

In the mid-1830s Robert Schumann passed in and out of several romantic relationships. By the end of 1835 his devotion settled on young Clara Wieck, daughter of his Leipzig piano teacher. Clara herself was a formidable pianist and composer. Forbidden to meet by Herr Wieck, Robert and Clara were married in 1840 only after much legal wrangling. The effect on Schumann was immediate and profound. A whole world of new musical ideas exploded in his head. During his so-called “Year of Song” (1840), Schumann wrote over one hundred lieder, including Dichterliebe, Frauenliebe und –Leben, and two collections titled Liederkreis. These sets essentially define the modern idea of a song cycle, which involves direct tonal relationships between successive songs, musical allusions from one song to another, and a chronological progression of action.
Schumann composed the entirety of Dichterliebe in one intense week in May 1840! He initially selected twenty poems from a massive collection by Heinrich Heine called Lyrisches Intermezzo. But Schumann withdrew four pieces before publication and added the title Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love). The cycle follows the first seven of Heine’s poems and ends with the last (65th) poem, progressing from the awakening of love with the renewal of life in spring to the burying of love and dreams of love in the Rhine River.
Schumann came to song composition from the perspective of a seasoned pianist. Thus it is no surprise that the piano takes a prominent role in these songs, at least equal to that of the voice. The piano often sets the mood or texture of individual songs. Consider the breathless evocation of rose, lily, dove and sun in Song 2; the fluttering of flowers and nightingales in Song 8; or the mock-heroic gallop in 6/8 time into the inviting world of old fairy tales in Song 15. In other cases, the piano inscribes the “time-world” of a song by establishing a continuous pulse that sets it apart from the more opaque flow of ordinary time. Such is the effect of the continuous 16th notes of Song 1, which seem to trap the singer-poet in the growth of spring. Dotted rhythms and falling melodic figures in Song 6 draw singer and listener alike into the depths of the Rhine River. And throughout Song 7 full-textured, relentless chords grind out the repeated lyric “Ich grolle nicht” (“I bear no grudge”) as inexorably as a piece of heavy road equipment. Schumann also gives the piano an extended postlude in nine songs that are at least as long as the verses that precede them. These piano “commentaries” amplify or qualify—sometimes subtly, sometimes quite dramatically—the sentiments expressed by the voice and text.
The cycle as a whole may be heard in four parts. (1) An opening scena comprised of Songs 1-5 (three of which are quite short) centers around the note B which appears first as a brief passing tone between C-sharp and A but which gradually becomes a key in its own right. (2) Two longer songs (Songs 6 and 7) form an emotional core for the cycle. (3) A second scena (Songs 8-12) lightens the mood and withdraws quickly from the assertive C major of “Ich grolle nicht.” Schumann moves deftly to B-flat as the hero is in the garden receiving a whispered rebuke from the flowers. (4) Finally, a postscript (Songs 13-16) views matters retrospectively from the standpoint of three dreams and a funeral.
The opening song (Im wunderschönen monat Mai) sets the tone for the entire cycle. Its ambiguity of key—an implied F-sharp minor for the piano’s prelude, interlude, and postlude versus the voice’s A major in the verses—and incomplete ending on an unresolved dissonant chord underscore the song’s indeterminate quality. Moreover, the tonal contrast sets the piano against the voice since the former fails to affirm the latter’s resolve.
Songs 6 and 7 fairly jump out of their context. In Song 6, the Rhine and the Cologne Cathedral (mirrored in the river) are somberly invoked. Here the hero is drawn to a painting of Our Lady around which flutter flowers and angels, reminding him of the eyes, lips, and cheeks of his beloved. This image seems frozen as the piano continues its somber downward figures into the depths of the river, prefiguring the burying of love in Song 16. Songs 15 and 16 are substantial and seem slightly out of balance with the rest of the cycle; they posit alternative endings. Song 15 invokes the richly-hued tapestry of fairy tales that vanishes with the morning sun. Song 16 bundles all the “evil songs” and bad dreams into a large coffin and buries them in the Rhine. The piece begins emphatically and seems to close in C-sharp minor. But Schumann offers one last vocal gesture (at the sinking of his “Liebe und Schmerz”) by way of transition to the dreamy piano epitaph, which reprises the closing passage from Song 12 in the remote key of D-flat major.

(c) Jason Stell