posers (most of them cellists themselves) had written concertos, variations, and other concert pieces, but no cellist was actively pursuing a solo concert career in the early 19th century. Schumann had more familiarity with the instrument than did many other composers. He had in fact tried to master the cello for a while as an adult. Having been forced to give up the piano due to an injury to his right hand, he hoped he could learn the cello instead and continue as a performer. We don’t know exactly how far he got in his studies, but the year before the concerto, in 1849, he wrote five short pieces for cello and piano (published as his Opus 102). Schumann’s Cello Concerto is in three movements, to be played straight through without pauses between. The linkage of the movements is further emphasized by transitions and bridge passages unifying the whole composition through a network of motivic similarities. Thus, the three brief chords that open the work also constitute in modified form the transition to the slow movement, and finally prepare the last movement’s main melody. The introduction to the finale, moreover, contains reminiscences of themes from the first and second movements. Aside from such thematic connections, there is another feature in the concerto that almost makes it seem a work in a single movement. This is the fact that the individual movements lack strong melodic and textural contrasts — a more typical concerto would alternate sections of full orchestral playing (tutti) with solo passages, and mix together energetic musical themes with more lyrical “cantabile” ideas. But Schumann clearly had other intentions, for the first movement has only two, relatively short, orchestral sections (they are actually almost identical musically). This is followed by the extremely brief second movement, while the third is based on a single melodic idea. Therefore, each movement develops only one musical characteristic, and the notion of contrasts — so crucial in Classical and Romantic compositions — manifests itself only on the level of the entire work (comparing between the movements, rather than within each one individually). The first movement is dominated by the beautiful solo cello melody with which it opens. The second consists of a single lyrical melody for the solo instrument, accompanied, interestingly enough, by a second solo cello from the orchestra. And although the finale does contain a contrasting second theme (with an enchanting dialog between solo cello and woodwind), it is quite audibly derived from the brief rhythmic motif that is omnipresent throughout the movement. The only “solo” cadenza in the concerto comes at the end of the third movement, but it has the peculiarity of being accompanied by the orchestra. —Peter Laki © 2016 Copyright © Musical Arts Association
Peter Laki is a musicologist and frequent lecturer on classical music. He is a visiting associate professor at Bard College.
Severance Hall 2015-16
About the Music
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