Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26

That is certainly the case with Robert Schumann’s Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Carnival Jest from Vienna), written in 1839. Schumann was in the Imperial capital hoping to secure a new publisher for his pivotal digest of aesthetics and philosophy, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. The effort ultimately came to nothing, but Vienna’s impact on Schumann bore immediate fruit in the form of a “Romantic showpiece” (the composer’s own description). Subtitled Phantasiebilder or “Fantastical Images,” Faschingsschwank aus Wien contains five contrasting movements. The opening Allegro is the largest by far and includes what some regard as the titular “jest”: a masked quotation from the Marseillaise—definitely musica non grata in post-Napoleonic Vienna. Schumann always struggled with larger forms, and he solves the problem here by using a boisterous “rondo” theme which recurs as unifying thread across the intervening episodes. The Romanze which follows is concise and withdrawn, relying on a few short phrases that Schumann repeats for obsessive effect. The Scherzino suggests the capriciousness of Mendelssohn. Although tempered by poignant harmonic changes, the movement never casts off its youthful exuberance.
The last two movements typify Schumann’s self-avowed musical schizophrenia, which he named Florestan (active) and Eusebius (contemplative). The latter comes through as the impassioned poetry of Intermezzo. But Schumann was also a profoundly gifted technician of the keyboard, and the brilliant toccata-like Finale reminds us that Florestan, too, must have his moment in the sun. We know Schumann cultivated virtuosity, for he somewhat famously ruined his performing career by overstraining his right hand with a finger dexterity machine. However, if it helped steer him away from the empty showmanship characteristic of many of his contemporaries, we may regard it as a lucky accident.

(c) Jason Stell