Schumann: Carnaval op. 9
1. Préambule
2. Pierrot
3. Arlequin
4. Valse noble
5. Eusebius
6. Florestan
7. Coquette
8. Réplique
(Sphinxes)
9. Papillons
10. A.S.C.H.-S.C.H.A (Lettres dansantes)
11. Chiarina
12. Chopin
13. Estrella
14. Reconnaissance
15. Pantalon et Colombine
16. Valse allemande
17. Paganini
18. Aveu
19. Promenade
20. Pause
21. Marche des “Davidsbündler” contre les Philistines
Carnaval is Robert Schumann’s most popular piece for piano. An early work, it exposes some of
his most brilliant, inventive, and bedeviling piano writing, and it helped establish him as a master of the
Romantic-era character piece. The work is peopled by figures from the Italian Commedia dell’arte (Pierrot,
Arlequin, Pantalon and Colombine), prominent musical contemporaries (Chopin, Paganini), and personal
acquaintances: Chiarina is the young Clara Wieck, whom Schumann would eventually marry, and Estrella is his
then-fiancée, Ernestine von Fricken. There are also numerous references to Schumann’s League of David, a
musical society of his own invention (Florestan, Eusebius, and the Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins).
During Schumann’s tenure as editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, the colorful characters Florestan and
Eusebius, aided often by a Master Raro, waged war through his pen against detractors of contemporary
music, the Philistines. In Carnaval, the notions of masks and of the masked ball figure heavily, as does the
waltz, which recurs in a number of different guises. The movement Reconnaissance is thought to describe a
fleeting encounter between lovers at a masked ball. Pierrot, Arlequin, Pantalon, and Colombine were among the
stock characters presented in sixteenth-century Commedia dell’arte masked spectacles.
Carnaval’s subtitle is Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes (Little Scenes on Four Notes). These four notes, A-flat, E-
flat, C, and C-flat (spelled in the German system As-Es-C-H), begin every movement but Pierrot and Paganini.
They are plainly laid out in the movement Sphinxes, which, with characteristic eccentricity, Schumann insists
must not be played! These letters have several meanings: Asch (now Aš in the Czech Republic) was the
birthplace of Ernestine von Fricken. It also makes up part of the German word for carnival, Fasching, it
appears in Schumann’s name, and it references Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch). In its basis on letters, this
work is not alone in Schumann’s oeuvre. For example, in the Abegg Variations, Schumann used the five letters
of a Countess Abegg’s name as pitches to form the basis of each variation. John Daverio notes in The
Cambridge Companion to Schumann that Schumann’s use of such devices has led some scholars to view him as a
sort of musical cryptographer. However, he observes that if Schumann’s desire were to obscure these building
blocks, “...[he] was a singularly inept cryptographer, for the invariable tendency in his pieces built from
musical ‘ciphers’ is to reveal, not to conceal….the full title of Carnaval indicates that the cycle is based ‘sur
quatre notes’ (‘on four notes’), which Schumann obligingly lays out in the ‘Sphinxes’ and whose meaning can be
easily inferred from the tenth piece, entitled A.S.C.H.- S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes). In other words, Schumann
behaves less like a cryptographer than an excitable child who gives himself away during a game of hide-and-
seek by giggling from behind the sofa or under the table.” It is indeed with a spirit of glee that Schumann
weaves this jumble of characters, references, and themes into a rich tapestry.
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata in A major, wq. 55 no. 4
Allegro assai
Poco adagio
Allegro
Today, Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach’s reception and reputation never quite escapes the great shadow
of Johann Sebastian, though the tendency to introduce him by that connection undermines the tremendous
influence he had in the music world of his time. Haydn graciously credited him as a primary source of
inspiration, and Mozart famously asserted that “He is the father, we are the children. Those of us who know
anything at all learned it from him.” The A major sonata Wq. 55 No. 4 belongs to the collection of
sonatas, rondos, and fantasies entitled Clavier-Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber (Keyboard Sonatas for
Connoisseurs and Amateurs), issued late in Bach’s life in an effort to secure his posthumous reputation. After
the commercial success in 1789 of the first volume, to which this sonata belongs, Bach published five more
over the course of eight years, however no successive volume was as popular as the first.
Bach’s music, along with that of a small number of North German contemporaries, comprises what
musicologists call the empfindsamer Stil (literally, the sensitive style) for its dramatic contrasts, bold treatment of
dissonance, and affectual depth. The A major sonata displays the hallmarks of this style, especially in the
second and third movements. Perhaps most fascinating about this sonata - and the entirety of the Clavier-
Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber - is the space it occupies in a curious slice of time too often passed over in
music history lessons and textbooks. Here, the baroque period has not totally receded into the distance, but
the classical period has yet to reach full bloom. The first movement is a perfect example of sonata form in its
embryonic stages for despite its full symphonic sonorities and grand scope, it lacks a contrasting second
theme. The second movement takes the form of a baroque aria or lamento, and the third movement falls
somewhere between a bright rondo and a loosely constructed sonata movement, packed with material.
1. Préambule
2. Pierrot
3. Arlequin
4. Valse noble
5. Eusebius
6. Florestan
7. Coquette
8. Réplique
(Sphinxes)
9. Papillons
10. A.S.C.H.-S.C.H.A (Lettres dansantes)
11. Chiarina
12. Chopin
13. Estrella
14. Reconnaissance
15. Pantalon et Colombine
16. Valse allemande
17. Paganini
18. Aveu
19. Promenade
20. Pause
21. Marche des “Davidsbündler” contre les Philistines
Carnaval is Robert Schumann’s most popular piece for piano. An early work, it exposes some of
his most brilliant, inventive, and bedeviling piano writing, and it helped establish him as a master of the
Romantic-era character piece. The work is peopled by figures from the Italian Commedia dell’arte (Pierrot,
Arlequin, Pantalon and Colombine), prominent musical contemporaries (Chopin, Paganini), and personal
acquaintances: Chiarina is the young Clara Wieck, whom Schumann would eventually marry, and Estrella is his
then-fiancée, Ernestine von Fricken. There are also numerous references to Schumann’s League of David, a
musical society of his own invention (Florestan, Eusebius, and the Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins).
During Schumann’s tenure as editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, the colorful characters Florestan and
Eusebius, aided often by a Master Raro, waged war through his pen against detractors of contemporary
music, the Philistines. In Carnaval, the notions of masks and of the masked ball figure heavily, as does the
waltz, which recurs in a number of different guises. The movement Reconnaissance is thought to describe a
fleeting encounter between lovers at a masked ball. Pierrot, Arlequin, Pantalon, and Colombine were among the
stock characters presented in sixteenth-century Commedia dell’arte masked spectacles.
Carnaval’s subtitle is Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes (Little Scenes on Four Notes). These four notes, A-flat, E-
flat, C, and C-flat (spelled in the German system As-Es-C-H), begin every movement but Pierrot and Paganini.
They are plainly laid out in the movement Sphinxes, which, with characteristic eccentricity, Schumann insists
must not be played! These letters have several meanings: Asch (now Aš in the Czech Republic) was the
birthplace of Ernestine von Fricken. It also makes up part of the German word for carnival, Fasching, it
appears in Schumann’s name, and it references Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch). In its basis on letters, this
work is not alone in Schumann’s oeuvre. For example, in the Abegg Variations, Schumann used the five letters
of a Countess Abegg’s name as pitches to form the basis of each variation. John Daverio notes in The
Cambridge Companion to Schumann that Schumann’s use of such devices has led some scholars to view him as a
sort of musical cryptographer. However, he observes that if Schumann’s desire were to obscure these building
blocks, “...[he] was a singularly inept cryptographer, for the invariable tendency in his pieces built from
musical ‘ciphers’ is to reveal, not to conceal….the full title of Carnaval indicates that the cycle is based ‘sur
quatre notes’ (‘on four notes’), which Schumann obligingly lays out in the ‘Sphinxes’ and whose meaning can be
easily inferred from the tenth piece, entitled A.S.C.H.- S.C.H.A. (Lettres dansantes). In other words, Schumann
behaves less like a cryptographer than an excitable child who gives himself away during a game of hide-and-
seek by giggling from behind the sofa or under the table.” It is indeed with a spirit of glee that Schumann
weaves this jumble of characters, references, and themes into a rich tapestry.
C.P.E. Bach: Sonata in A major, wq. 55 no. 4
Allegro assai
Poco adagio
Allegro
Today, Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach’s reception and reputation never quite escapes the great shadow
of Johann Sebastian, though the tendency to introduce him by that connection undermines the tremendous
influence he had in the music world of his time. Haydn graciously credited him as a primary source of
inspiration, and Mozart famously asserted that “He is the father, we are the children. Those of us who know
anything at all learned it from him.” The A major sonata Wq. 55 No. 4 belongs to the collection of
sonatas, rondos, and fantasies entitled Clavier-Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber (Keyboard Sonatas for
Connoisseurs and Amateurs), issued late in Bach’s life in an effort to secure his posthumous reputation. After
the commercial success in 1789 of the first volume, to which this sonata belongs, Bach published five more
over the course of eight years, however no successive volume was as popular as the first.
Bach’s music, along with that of a small number of North German contemporaries, comprises what
musicologists call the empfindsamer Stil (literally, the sensitive style) for its dramatic contrasts, bold treatment of
dissonance, and affectual depth. The A major sonata displays the hallmarks of this style, especially in the
second and third movements. Perhaps most fascinating about this sonata - and the entirety of the Clavier-
Sonaten für Kenner und Liebhaber - is the space it occupies in a curious slice of time too often passed over in
music history lessons and textbooks. Here, the baroque period has not totally receded into the distance, but
the classical period has yet to reach full bloom. The first movement is a perfect example of sonata form in its
embryonic stages for despite its full symphonic sonorities and grand scope, it lacks a contrasting second
theme. The second movement takes the form of a baroque aria or lamento, and the third movement falls
somewhere between a bright rondo and a loosely constructed sonata movement, packed with material.
