Schumann . . . Geistervariationen

Hi Luca, when you mentioned these Schumann variations to me yesterday, I didn't quite understand exactly what you were talking about: I don't know German at all and I knew them by the name we usually give them in Italian, Variations of the Spirits.

The name derives from the fact that in 1854, Schumann, already in the grip of madness and obsessed with the fear of being surrounded by spirits, thought that it was the spirits of Schubert and Mendelssohn dictating that theme to him; but, in reality, that theme, which he followed with four variations, he had already composed himself some months earlier in his Violin Concerto.

Now, very sincerely, the comparison of this work to the Arietta and Variations Op. 111 seems wrong to me. Not only because it is like comparing Everest to a far more modest mountain, but because, precisely in the case of these variations, they have had a sequel that rises by far to truly extremely high peaks.

I am referring, naturally, to the 10 Variations on a Theme of Spirits for piano four hands Op. 23 by Johannes Brahms which, as I have already said in the past in another topic, in terms of Variations is comparable to the other two great German Bs that preceded him: Bach and Beethoven.

Brahms dedicated them to Julie Schumann, the youngest daughter of Robert and Clara, and this was his last processing of that great grief he felt at the death of his friend Robert Schumann. Now, these variations - as all Brahmsian ones are, for that matter - are truly an absolute masterpiece which, however, as often happens with much music by the Hamburg genius, is unknown to most and is also a demonstration of Brahms's tremendous ability to know how to compose for piano four hands, as only Schubert was before him.

You will be able to (you all will be able to) tell me your thoughts on this!

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Dear Daniele,

i listened with pleasure to Brahms' Variations op. 23. I had never heard them before. I found them very beautiful (and that is an understatement), but after listening, I am still convinced of the comparison I proposed between the 'spirit' variations and Beethoven's op. 111. In fact, listening to the Brahms variations clarified for me what that comparison—which I made more by "feeling" than anything else (without being able to explain it)—really consists of.

Well, I am not making it a matter of magnitude: of the "height" of the mountain (accepting the metaphor you proposed), but a matter of "material": to me, it seems that Everest and the Hill are made of the same rock.

Of course, without listening to Brahms' Variations op. 23, I don't think I would have cleared my ideas so quickly. The latter may be more elevated (I do not doubt this), but I feel them to be more akin, if anything, to Beethoven's 'Heroic' Variations op. 35: they have the same strength, vivacity, majesty, and timbral splendor.

The Geistervariationen (Spirit Variations), on the other hand, albeit on a smaller scale, move in the direction of Beethoven's op. 111, that is, towards a progressive "rarefaction" and dematerialization of the starting theme.

Dear Luca,

i wanted to listen again to both the Schumann variations and the second movement of Beethoven's Opus 111 in light of the reasoning that led you to pair them, but once again - certainly my own limitation - I cannot grasp anything that might unite them.

You speak of material, and I think it is precisely the sonic material that makes them different.

Beethoven, with the variations from his absolutely visionary final compositional period, looks toward the twentieth century. Indeed, one will have to wait for the last century, the Second Viennese School, the neoclassicists, Bartók, and even the post-serialists before the intuitions of the Bonn composer are taken up and carried to their extreme consequences.

The Romantics, on the other hand, were far from intuiting and understanding them; in fact, the sonic material of these variations is absolutely romantic and has nothing in common with the Beethovenian variations.

Only Brahms was able to partly grasp what the Beethovenian spirit was and create absolute masterpieces in this genre.

You speak to me of a progressive rarefaction of the theme, but I cannot perceive it in Schumann - always my own limitation - except, perhaps, in a small part of the last variation.

In Beethoven, however, the first four variations present a new theme, and the Arietta theme reappears only in the fifth and final variation to give life to "that farewell forever" of legendary memory.

danielescarpetti wrote:

You speak to me of a progressive rarefaction of the theme, but I cannot grasp it in Schumann - always my own limitation - except - perhaps - in a small part in the last variation.

in fact, it is so!...

But beyond that, what leaves me enchanted is that in the preceding variations, there is a 'tender' aura in all of them: not one that displays virtuosity... It is probably just me who ... needs very little