Schumann's Virtuosity

"A valuable resource for musicologists, theorists, pianists, and aestheticians interested in reading about Schumann's views on virtuosity." -Notes

Considered one of the greatest composers-and music critics-of the Romantic era, Robert Schumann (1810-1856) played an important role in shaping nineteenth-century German ideas about virtuosity. Forging his career in the decades that saw abundant public fascination with the feats and creations of virtuosos (Liszt, Paganini, and Chopin among others), Schumann engaged with instrumental virtuosity through not only his compositions and performances but also his music reviews and writings about his contemporaries.

Ultimately, the discourse of virtuosity influenced the culture of Western "art music" well beyond the nineteenth century and into the present day. By examining previously unexplored archival sources, Alexander Stefaniak looks at the diverse approaches to virtuosity Schumann developed over the course of his career, revealing several distinct currents in nineteenth-century German virtuosity and the enduring flexibility of virtuosity discourse.

Autorentext

Alexander Stefaniak is Assistant Professor of Musicology at Washington University in Saint Louis.

Zusammenfassung

Considered one of the greatest composersand music criticsof the Romantic era, Robert Schumann (18101856) played an important role in shaping nineteenth-century German ideas about virtuosity. Forging his career in the decades that saw abundant public fascination with the feats and creations of virtuosos (Liszt, Paganini, and Chopin among others), Schumann engaged with instrumental virtuosity through not only his compositions and performances but also his music reviews and writings about his contemporaries. Ultimately, the discourse of virtuosity influenced the culture of Western "art music" well beyond the nineteenth century and into the present day. By examining previously unexplored archival sources, Alexander Stefaniak looks at the diverse approaches to virtuosity Schumann developed over the course of his career, revealing several distinct currents in nineteenth-century German virtuosity and the enduring flexibility of virtuosity discourse.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Virtuosity Discourse

Part I: Schumann and the Piano Virtuosity of the 1830s
Part I Introduction

1. Florestan among the Revelers: Postclassical Virtuosity and Schumann's Critique of Pleasure
2. Florestan's Wine, Clara Wieck's Spirit: Postclassical Virtuosity and Poetic Interiority
3. Poetic Showpieces in the Cultivated Salon
4. Virtuosity and the Rhetoric of the Sublime

Part II: The Virtuoso on Mount Parnassus: Schumann and the Culture of the Work Concept
Part II Introduction

5. Steps to Parnassus? Schumann's Equivocal Work Concept
6. Festivals of the Virtuoso Priesthood: Collaborating with Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim
   Epilogue
   List of Endnote Abbreviations
   Notes
   Bibliography
   Index