The Schumann concerto began life as a Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra in one movement, completed by Schumann in May 1841.
Clara Schumann’s importance to the Concerto’s gestation should not be underestimated. Not only did she encourage Robert to try his hand at writing for orchestra, but she also may have provided a model.
The completion of Robert’s Concerto in mid-July 1845 was followed by total physical collapse and debilitating worry for its composer. He had to cancel appearances at a Beethoven festival in Bonn and spend the summer and fall resting.
The Concerto opens with the revised version of the 1841 Fantasy. The movement adheres loosely to the strictures of the sonata-allegro form, but it also retains the free-wheeling character of the original Fantasy.
The brief intermezzo slow movement relaxes the tension after the vigorous close of the allegro.
The intermezzo leads directly into the finale without a pause. The movement’s opening theme is a major-key reworking of the first movement’s main theme, its nobility nicely contrasted with the more playful character of the syncopated second theme.
As in the first movement, Schumann approaches form with great freedom, with a new theme introduced by oboes and piano later in the finale. A long coda, impulsive and irresistible, ends Schumann’s Concerto.
Here is Martha Argerich to perform this concerto for you:
