Prokofiev & Schumann

What are you going to listen to?

Sometimes it is an excellent idea to leave previously composed work for a while and then finish it or take it firmly in hand. Prokofiev did that with his Third Piano Concerto and Schumann with his Fourth Symphony. It resulted in two masterpieces.

In 1833, Felix Mendelssohn had seen Conradin Kreutzer's romantic opera Melusina . It was a fairy tale about a water nymph who looks like a beautiful girl, but turns into a mermaid every Saturday , complete with fish tail. Her husband is not allowed to know her secret, but when he discovers it anyway, she disappears from his life forever. Mendelssohn thought Kreutzer's music, especially the overture, was so wretchedly bad that he decided to create a much better version. That opportunity arose some time later when his sister Fanny celebrated her 29th birthday. In her honor, he wrote his Overture Die schöne Melusine. Fanny was delighted, but, herself a gifted composer, did give some pointers for improvement. Whether she ever heard it? In any case, the premiere took place far from her Berlin home in London in 1834.

Brittany

In the summer of 1921, Sergei Prokofiev found himself in Brittany. He had by now been through a lot of rough years. In Russia, he had made a name for himself as an idiosyncratic composer and pianist, but had also caused scandals with his First and especially Second Piano Concerto. "They should lock him up in a straitjacket" and "the cats on the roof make better music," were reactions to that Last concerto. In 1913 he had begun a series of variations for piano and orchestra. He had then abandoned it for years but picked it up again that Breton summer and transformed it into a complete piano concerto of which the original series of variations formed the middle movement.

As poorly as his first two piano concertos were received, his Third Piano Concerto was appreciated so positively. Now he had also lost some wild hair. As daring as the previous concertos were, this third concerto was attractive. Basically, it is a romantic work, but still with the occasional shaggy lock of hair that makes it a true work of the twentieth century. And here and there you can also hear the unadulterated Russian melancholy, if only the brilliant mildly wistful clarinet solo with which the work begins. Add that to the humor that so characterizes much of Prokofiev's music and you have a perfect solo concert.

Symphonic fantasy

Passionately in love Robert Schumann was with Clara, and the love was mutual. For her, he wrote numerous piano pieces between 1837, when their romance began, and 1839. But the piano alone was not enough. He needed words to reinforce his feelings. In 1840, the year of their marriage, he wrote no fewer than 138 songs. His brand-new wife, however, challenged him to look further. A symphony had to come. It came in 1841, and this First Symphony was performed with great success under Mendelssohn's direction. Immediately he wrote a second but it was less well received. Schumann withdrew the work and left it for ten years. Meanwhile, the Schumann family had settled with some children in Düsseldorf, where the composer was put in charge of the city's choir and orchestra. There he took up the symphony again and made a thorough revision. Schumann himself conducted the orchestra of this renewed premiere at the 1851 Niederrheinisches Musikfest, where the piece was received with great enthusiasm. Because he had since composed two other symphonies, this one therefore became known as the Fourth.

When Schumann began this symphony in 1841, his intention had been to write a large one-movement fantasy for orchestra. Eventually it became a four-movement piece but the original idea of a fantasy can be heard. For example, certain melodies can be heard throughout the work. The slow introduction of the first movement is repeated at the beginning of the second. And in the introduction of the finale, the first theme of the opening movement returns. Add to this the fact that the movements flow into each other without interruption and you have almost a symphonic fantasy.

Kees Wisse