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Schumann was unusual in that he tended to focus on one genre at a time. He wrote most of his piano works between 1833 and 1839, his songs in 1840, symphonic music in 1841, chamber music in 1842, oratoria in 1843, dramatic music between 1847 and 1849, and church music in 1851. It was thus untypical of him to start a piano work in 1834, and revise it so much later, in 1852, after writing so much very different music. This piano work is the set of Symphonic Etudes. Schumann spent three years (1834-1836) on it, published only a version of it in 1837, and revised it again in 1852. There are therefore several ways of presenting this work as a whole in performance today. There are the 1837 first-edition version (12 études), the 1852-edition version (in which numbers 2 and 9 were omitted and the Finale was revised), a combination of the 1837 and 1852 versions (which appears as an edition of 1862), and a version which includes the Posthumous Variations which were not included in either edition although they were initially part of the work. The titling of the work has also caused complications. Originally in 1834 Schumann called the work 'Variations Path?tiques', and then he announced it in his journal as '10études of an orchestral character for pianoforte by Florestan and Eusebius' (the two characters Schumann created to reflect the two opposite sides of himself). It appeared in 1837 as Symphonic études, but later, in 1852, he gave it another new title: études en forme de variations. The origin of this work is another unusual story. The father of a girl he loved composed a set of variations which appeared to Schumann to lack artistry. He took the theme from the variations of this amateur composer/flautist, Hauptmann von Fricken, and composed a new set of variations, which later became the set of Symphonic études. The theme itself from Fricken was neither inspiring nor harmonically or structurally interesting which was perhaps why it took Schumann years to develop it into the music of a more profound nature. In general, Schumann preferred variation form and used it frequently in many of his piano works. In his works before the Abegg Variations op. 1, he had already applied variation form in Eight Polonaises for four hands (1828). In his cycles of sets of character pieces, he still based his writings on a theme or a short melody. For example, Papillons op. 2 was actually a set of variation sections; most pieces in Carnavel op. 9 were developed from three sets of four notes, and Symphonic Etudes op. 13 was again a set of variations based on Fricken's theme. Even in his late works, in Drei Clavier-Sonaten für die Jugend op. 118 (1853) and Gesäng der Frühe op. 133 (1853), variation was still his favourite form. As to how themes or short melodic figures were varied, Schumann explored the possibilities much more extensively than his forerunners. In the Symphonic études, he used one theme throughout the work, but he in fact wrote each variation as a new piece, each with a different character and with new materials which appear to have dominated the character of each variation. The theme was either used as hidden material (Vars. 1, 5, 8, 9), varied in a new context (Vars. 10, 11), appeared surprisingly as a contrapuntal voice to another melodic line (e.g. Var. 2), or treated as a strict, free or varied canon form (Vars. 4, 6, 8). The character of the work is just as the title études indicates. It was the fashion at the time for composers to write music which challenged pianists' performing technique. Schumann was always fascinated by the brilliance and virtuosity of the music of Paganini and Hummel. In these variations Schumann actually developed this response further, presenting his brilliance and virtuosic music in a much grander and more symphonic style. Orchestral effect was produced by full chords, octaves, and the use of the sustaining pedal. |