Karl [Carl] von Fischer (19 September 1782 – 11 February 1820) was a German architect. His drafts had enormous influence on the architecture of classicism in South Germany.

Fischer was born in Mannheim. From 1796 Fischer was trained by Maximilian von Verschaffelt before he moved to Vienna in 1799 to study architecture under Ferdinand von Hohenberg. His first work designed in the age of only 22, the Prinz-Carl-Palais in Munich, made him famous abruptly and he became a professor for architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich in 1808. From 1811 onwards Fischer constructed the National Theatre. He also created the draft for the extension of Munich, especially for the Brienner Strasse with the Karolinenplatz and the Königsplatz. Fischer, who was a representant of pure classicism and rejected romantic historism, was soon displaced by Leo von Klenze as chief architect for the Bavarian court. He died in Munich and is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof.

See also

Neoclassical architecture

Greek revival

Category:German architects Category:German artists Category:Neoclassical architects Category:Architects of the Bavarian court Category:1782 births Category:1820 deaths Category:Academy of Fine Arts, Munich faculty

de:Karl von Fischer it:Karl von Fischer ru:Фишер, Карл фон sv:Karl von Fischer

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18–19 November 17864–5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school.

Weber's operas ''Der Freischütz'', ''Euryanthe'' and ''Oberon'' greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany. His compositions for the clarinet, which include two concertos, a concertino, a quintet and a duo concertante, are regularly performed today. His piano music—including four sonatas, two concertos and the ''Konzertstück (Concert Piece) in F minor''—influenced composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Felix Mendelssohn. The ''Konzertstück'' provided a new model for the one-movement concerto in several contrasting sections (such as Liszt's, who often played the work), and was acknowledged by Igor Stravinsky as the model for his Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra.

Weber's ''Invitation to the Dance'' was later orchestrated by Hector Berlioz and his ''Polacca Brillante'' was later orchestrated by Franz Liszt. An innovative composer, Weber's Concertino for Horn and Orchestra requires the performer to simultaneously produce two notes by humming while playing—a technique known as ''multiphonics.''

Weber's contribution to vocal and choral music is also significant. His body of Catholic religious music was highly popular in 19th century Germany, and he composed one of the earliest song-cycles, ''Die Temperamente beim Verluste der Geliebten'' (Four Temperaments on the Loss of a Lover). Weber was also notable as one of the first conductors to conduct without a piano or violin.

Weber's orchestration has also been highly praised and emulated by later generations of composers - Hector Berlioz referred to him several times in his ''Treatise on Instrumentation'' while Claude Debussy remarked that the sound of the Weber orchestra was obtained through the scrutiny of the soul of each instrument.

His operas influenced the work of later opera composers, especially in Germany, such as Heinrich Marschner, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Richard Wagner, as well as several nationalist 19th-century composers such as Mikhail Glinka. Homage has been paid Weber by 20th century composers such as Debussy, Stravinsky, Gustav Mahler (who completed Weber's unfinished comic opera ''Die drei Pintos'' and made revisions of ''Euryanthe'' and ''Oberon'') and Paul Hindemith (composer of the popular ''Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Weber'').

Weber also wrote music journalism and was interested in folksong, and learned lithography to engrave his own works.

Life

Childhood

Weber was born in Eutin, Holstein, the eldest of the three children of Franz Anton von Weber and his second wife, Genovefa Brenner, a Viennese singer. The "von" was an affectation; Franz Anton von Weber was not actual aristocracy. Franz Anton began his career as a military officer in the service of the Duchy of Holstein, and after being fired, went on to hold a number of musical directorships. In 1787 Franz Anton went on to Hamburg where he founded a theatrical company.

Franz Anton's brother Fridolin married Cäcilia Weber and had four musical daughters, Josepha, Aloysia, Constanze and Sophie, all of whom became notable singers. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart attempted to woo Aloysia, composing several pieces for her. But after she rejected his advances, Mozart went on to marry Constanze.

A gifted violinist, Franz Anton had ambitions of turning Carl into a child prodigy like Franz's nephew-by-marriage, Mozart. Carl was born with a congenital hip disease and did not begin to walk until he was four. But by then, he was already a capable singer and pianist.

Education

Weber's father gave him a comprehensive education, which was however interrupted by the family's constant moves. In 1796, Weber continued his musical education in Hildburghausen, where he was instructed by the oboist Johann Peter Heuschkel.

On 13 March 1798, Weber's mother died of tuberculosis. That same year, Weber went to Salzburg to study with Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn, who agreed to teach Carl free of charge. Later that year, Weber traveled to Munich to study with the singer Johann Evangelist Wallishauser and organist J. N. Kalcher.

1798 also saw the twelve year old Weber's first published work, six fughettas for piano, published in Leipzig. Other compositions of that period, among them a mass, and his first opera, ''Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins'' (''The Power of Love and Wine''), are lost; but a set of ''Variations for the Pianoforte'' was later lithographed by Weber himself, under the guidance of Alois Senefelder, the inventor of the process.

In 1800, the family moved to Freiberg, in Saxony, where Weber, then 14 years old, wrote an opera called ''Das stumme Waldmädchen'' (''The Silent Forest Maiden''), which was produced at the Freiberg theatre. It was later performed in Vienna, Prague, and St. Petersburg. The young Weber also began to publish articles as a music critic, for example in the ''Leipziger Neue Zeitung'' in 1801.

In 1801, the family returned to Salzburg, where Weber resumed his studies with Michael Haydn. He later continued studying in Vienna with Georg Joseph Vogler, known as Abbé Vogler, founder of three important music schools (in Mannheim, Stockholm, and Darmstadt); another famous pupil of Vogler was Giacomo Meyerbeer, who became a close friend of Weber.

Early career 1803–1810

In 1803, Weber's opera, ''Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn'' (''Peter Schmoll and his Neighbors'') was produced in Augsburg, and gave Weber his first success as a popular composer.

Vogler, impressed by his pupil's talent, recommended him to the post of Director at the Opera in Breslau in 1806. Weber sought to reform the Opera by pensioning off older singers, expanding the orchestra, and tackling a more challenging repertoire. His attempts at reform were met with strong resistance from the musicians and the Breslau public. Weber's time at Breslau was further complicated one night when he accidentally ingested engraver's acid that his father had left stored in a wine bottle. Weber was found unconscious and took two months to recover. The incident permanently ruined his singing voice.

He left his post in Breslau in a fit of frustration and from 1807 to 1810, Weber served as private secretary to Duke Ludwig, brother of King Frederick I of Württemberg. Weber's time in Württemberg was plagued with troubles. He fell deeply into debt and had an ill-fated affair with Margarethe Lang, a singer at the opera. Furthermore, Weber's father Franz Anton misappropriated a vast quantity of Duke Ludwig's money. Franz Anton and Carl were charged with embezzlement and arrested on February 9, 1810. Carl was in the middle of a rehearsal for his opera ''Silvana'' when he was arrested and thrown in prison by order of the king. Though no one doubted Carl's innocence, King Frederick I had grown tired of the composer's pranks. After a summary trial, Carl and his father were banished from Württemberg. Nevertheless, Carl remained prolific as a composer during this period, writing a quantity of religious music, mainly for the Catholic mass. This however earned him the hostility of reformers working for the re-establishment of traditional chant in liturgy.

Later career 1810–1826

In 1810, Weber visited several cities throughout Germany; from 1813 to 1816 he was director of the Opera in Prague; from 1816 to 1817 he worked in Berlin, and from 1817 onwards he was director of the prestigious Opera in Dresden, working hard to establish a German Opera, in reaction to the Italian Opera which had dominated the European music scene since the 18th century. On 4 November 1817, he married Caroline Brandt, a singer who created the title role of ''Silvana''. In 1819, he wrote perhaps his most famous piano piece, ''Invitation to the Dance''.

The successful premiere of ''Der Freischütz'' on 18 June 1821 in Berlin led to performances all over Europe. On the very morning of the premiere, Weber finished his ''Konzertstück in F minor for Piano and Orchestra'', and he premiered it a week later.

In 1823, Weber composed the opera ''Euryanthe'' to a mediocre libretto, but containing much rich music, the overture of which in particular anticipates Richard Wagner. In 1824, Weber received an invitation from Covent Garden, London, to compose and produce ''Oberon'', based on Christoph Martin Wieland's poem of the same name. Weber accepted the invitation, and in 1826 he travelled to England, to finish the work and conduct the premiere on 12 April.

Weber was already suffering from tuberculosis when he visited London; he died at the house of Sir George Thomas Smart during the night of 4–5 June 1826. Weber was 39 years old. He was buried in London, but 18 years later his remains were transferred to the family vault in Dresden. The eulogy at the reburial was performed by Richard Wagner.

His unfinished opera ''Die drei Pintos'' (''The Three Pintos'') was originally given by Weber's widow to Giacomo Meyerbeer for completion; it was eventually completed by Gustav Mahler, who conducted the first performance in this form in Leipzig on 20 January 1888.

Legacy

Weber's piano music all but disappeared from the repertoire. One possible reason for this is that Weber had very large hands and delighted in writing music that suited them. There are several recordings of the major works for the solo piano (including complete recordings of the piano sonatas and the shorter piano pieces, by Garrick Ohlsson, Alexander Paley and others), and there are recordings of the individual sonatas by Claudio Arrau (1st Sonata), Alfred Brendel (2nd Sonata), Sviatoslav Richter (3rd Sonata) and Leon Fleisher (4th Sonata). The ''Invitation to the Dance'', although better known in Berlioz's orchestration (as part of the ballet music for a Paris production of ''Der Freischütz''), has long been played and recorded by pianists (e.g., Benno Moiseiwitsch [in Carl Tausig's arrangement]). ''Invitation to the Dance'' also served as the thematic basis for Benny Goodman's swing tune ''Let's Dance''.

Works

:''''

Operas

:See List of operas by Weber.

Church music

''Missa sancta'' No. 1 in E flat, J. 224 (1818)

''Missa sancta'' No. 2 in G, Op. 76, J. 251 (1818–19)

Symphonies

Symphony No. 1 in C (1812)

Symphony No. 2 in C (1813)

Vocal works with orchestra

Cantata ''Der erste Ton'' for chorus and orchestra, Op. 14, J. 58 (1808 / revised 1810)

Recitative and rondo '''' for soprano and orchestra, Op. 16, J. 93 (1810)

Hymn ''In seiner Ordnung schafft der Herr'' for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op. 36, J. 154 (1812)

Cantata ''Kampf und Sieg'' for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op. 44, J. 190 (1815)

Scene and Aria of Atalia ''Misera me!'' for soprano and orchestra, Op. 50, J. 121 (1811)

Jubel-Cantata for the 50th royal jubilee of King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony for soloist, chorus and orchestra, Op. 58, J. 244 (1818)

Concertos

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 11, J. 98 (1810)

Piano Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 32, J. 155 (1812)

Konzertstück in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 79, J. 282 (1821)

Bassoon Concerto in F major, Op. 75, J. 127 (1811 / revised 1822)

Andante and Rondo Hungarian (''Andante e Rondo Ongarese'') for Bassoon and Orchestra in C minor, Op. 35, J. 158 (1813), revised from J. 79 (1809) for viola

Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, Op. 73, J. 114 (1811)

Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 74, J. 118 (1811)

Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra in C minor/E flat major, Op. 26, J. 109 (1811)

Grand Potpourri for Cello and Orchestra in D major, Op. 20, J. 64 (1808)

Variations for Cello and Orchestra in D minor, J. 94 (1810)

Concertino for Horn and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 45, J. 188 (1815)

Romanza Siciliana for Flute and Orchestra, J. 47 (1805)

Six Variations on the theme ''A Schüsserl und a Reind'rl'' for Viola and Orchestra, J. 49 (1800 / revised 1806)

Andante and Hungarian Rondo for Viola and Orchestra, J. 79 (1809) - Listen to performance Viola with Organ (orch. reduction) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsgIGY6bStQ

Adagio and Rondo for Harmonichord and Orchestra in F major, J. 115 (1811)

Notes

References

Friese-Greene, A. (1993) '' Weber'', The Illustrated lives of the great composers, New ed., London : Omnibus, ISBN 0-7119-2081-8

Henderson, D.G. and Henderson, A.H. (1990) ''Carl Maria von Weber : a guide to research'', Garland composer resource manuals 24, New York ; London : Garland, ISBN 0-82404-118-6

Meyer, S.C. (2003) ''Carl Maria Von Weber and the Search for a German Opera'', Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-34185-X

Reynolds, D. (Ed.) (1976) ''Weber in London, 1826'', London : Wolff, ISBN 0-85496-403-7

Warrack, J.H. (1976) ''Carl Maria Von Weber'', Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-241-91321-7

Warrack, J.H., Macdonald, H. and Köhler, K-.H. (1985) ''Early romantic masters 2: Weber, Berlioz, Medelssohn'', The composer biography series, London : Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-39014-8

External links

Information about the new Carl Maria von Weber Edition

The works of Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria von Weber cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

Der Freischütz Soprano (free MP3)

Category:1786 births Category:1826 deaths Category:People from Eutin Category:German composers Category:German Roman Catholics Category:Opera composers Category:Romantic composers Category:Romanticism Category:Deaths from tuberculosis Category:Infectious disease deaths in England Category:19th-century German people Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society

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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (born 28 May 1925 in Berlin) is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century". Fischer-Dieskau was ranked the second greatest singer of the century (after Jussi Björling) by Classic CD (United Kingdom) "Top Singers of the Century" Critics' Poll (June 1999).

The French dubbed him "Le miracle Fischer-Dieskau" and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf called him "a born god who has it all." At his peak, he was greatly admired for his interpretive insights and exceptional control of his beautiful voice. Fischer-Dieskau has also performed and recorded a great many operatic roles. He is the most recorded singer of all time. He dominated both the opera and concert platform for over thirty years.

Recording an astonishing array of repertoire (spanning centuries) as musicologist Alan Blyth asserted, "No singer in our time, or probably any other has managed the range and versatility of repertory achieved by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Opera, Lieder and oratorio in German Italian or English came alike to him, yet he brought to each a precision and individuality that bespoke his perceptive insights into the idiom at hand." In addition, he recorded in French, Russian, Hebrew and Hungarian.

Although his vocal technique was highly accomplished, Fischer-Dieskau's voice was rather light, a lyric-chamber baritone with less-than-overwhelming power. Despite this, he performed and recorded many heavy heroic baritone and bass-baritone operatic roles such as Wotan, Hans Sachs, Amfortas, Iago, Macbeth, Scarpia, and Jokanaan.

Early years

Albert Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin to Albert, a school principal, and Dora, a teacher. He started singing as a child and began formal voice lessons at the age of 16. When he was drafted into the Wehrmacht during World War II, in 1943, Fischer-Dieskau had just completed his secondary school studies and one semester at the Berlin Conservatory. He was captured in Italy in 1945 and spent two years as an American prisoner of war. During that time, he sang Lieder in POW camps to homesick German soldiers.

Singing career

In 1947, he returned to Germany where he launched his professional career as a singer in Badenweiler, singing in Brahms' ''Ein Deutsches Requiem'' without any rehearsal. (He was a last-minute substitute for an indisposed singer.) He gave his first Lieder recital in Leipzig in the autumn of 1947 and followed it soon afterwards with a highly successful first concert at Berlin's Titania-Palast.

From early in his career he collaborated with famous lyric sopranos Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Irmgard Seefried, and the recording producer Walter Legge, issuing instantly-successful albums of lieder by Schubert and Hugo Wolf.

In the autumn of 1948, Fischer-Dieskau was engaged as principal lyric baritone at the Städtische Oper Berlin (Municipal Opera, West Berlin), making his debut as Posa in Verdi's ''Don Carlos'' under Ferenc Fricsay. This company, known after 1961 as the Deutsche Oper, would remain his artistic home until his retirement from the operatic stage, in 1978.

Subsequently, Fischer-Dieskau made guest appearances at the opera houses in Vienna and Munich. After 1949 he made concert tours in the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and Italy. In 1951, he made his Salzburg Festival concert debut with Mahler's ''Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer)'' under Wilhelm Furtwängler. That year, he also made his British debut, at the Royal Albert Hall in London during the Festival of Britain. In 1956, Fischer-Dieskau made his Boston performance debut for the Peabody Mason Concert series, and appeared again in 1958. He appeared in Frederick Delius's ''A Mass of Life'', conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. He made regular opera appearances at the Bayreuth Festival between 1954 and 1961 and at the Salzburg Festival from 1956 until the early 1970s.

As an opera singer, Fischer-Dieskau performed mainly in Berlin and at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He also made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, at the Hamburg State Opera, in Japan, and at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh, during the Edinburgh Festival. His first tour in the United States took place in 1955, when he was 29, with his concert debut in Cincinnati on 15 April (J. S. Bach's ''Kreuzstab cantata'' ) and 16 April (''Ein Deutsches Requiem''). His American Lieder debut, singing Franz Schubert songs, took place in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on 19 April. His New York City debut occurred on 2 May at The Town Hall, where he sang Schubert's song cycle ''Winterreise'' without intermission. Both American recitals were accompanied by pianist Gerald Moore.

In 1951, Fischer-Dieskau made his first of many recordings of Lieder with Gerald Moore at the EMI Studios, London, including a complete ''Die schöne Müllerin'', and they performed the work on January 31, 1952 at the Kingsway Hall, London in the Mysore Concerts of the Philharmonia Concert Society. They gave recitals together until Moore retired from public performance in 1967. They continued, however, to record together until 1972, in which year they completed their massive project of recording all of the Schubert lieder appropriate for the male voice. Gerald Moore retired completely in 1972, and died in 1987, aged 87. Their recordings of ''Die schöne Müllerin'' and ''Winterreise'' are highly prized as examples of their artistic partnership.

Fischer-Dieskau also performed many works of contemporary music, including Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, Hans Werner Henze, Karl Amadeus Hartmann (who wrote his ''Gesangsszene'' for him), Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutosławski, Siegfried Matthus, Winfried Zillig, Gottfried von Einem and Aribert Reimann. He participated in the 1975 premiere and 1993 recording of Gottfried von Einem's cantata ''An die Nachgeborenen'', written in 1973 as a commission of the UN, both with Julia Hamari and the Wiener Symphoniker conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini.

Beyond his recordings of lieder and the German opera repertoire, Fischer-Dieskau also recorded performances in the Italian operatic field. His recordings of Verdi's Rigoletto (alongside Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi) and Rodrigo in Verdi's ''Don Carlos'', are probably the most respected of these ventures. Others, such as the title role in Verdi's ''Macbeth'' (with Elena Souliotis), Giorgio Germont in Verdi's ''La traviata'', and Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's ''Tosca'' (with Birgit Nilsson), are not delivered by him with the same degree of effectiveness. They display his characteristic perceptiveness and intelligence but lack idiomatic Mediterranean vocal colour and temperament - perhaps, in short, seeming too Germanic. However, as with the operatic interpretations of Schwarzkopf and Maria Callas, Fisher-Dieskau's performances on disc always seem thought out and are often true to the score. As conductor Ferenc Fricsay put it, "I never dreamed I'd find an Italian baritone in Berlin." Fischer-Dieskau retired from opera in 1978, the year he recorded his final opera, Aribert Reimann's Lear that the composer had written at his suggestion.

To the end his musicianship and technique were flawless. As Greg Sandow of Opera News put it, "Overall, his technique is breath-taking; someone should build a monument to it." He retired from the concert hall as of New Year's Day, 1993, at 67, and dedicated himself to conducting, teaching (especially the interpretation of Lieder), painting and writing books. He has still performed as a reciter, reading for example the letters of Strauss to Hugo von Hofmannsthal, read by Gert Westphal, for the Rheingau Musik Festival in 1994; and both performing and recording Strauss's melodrama ''Enoch Arden''. He is also an honorary member of the Robert Schumann Society.

As 'the world's greatest Lieder singer' (Time magazine), he regularly sold out concert halls all over the world until his retirement at the end of 1992. The precisely articulated accuracy of his performances, in which text and music were presented as equal partners, established standards that endure today. The current widespread interest in German Romantic art song is mainly due to his efforts. Perhaps most admired as a singer of Schubert Lieder, Fischer-Dieskau had, according to critic Joachim Kaiser, only one really serious competitor - himself, as over the decades he set new standards, explored new territories and expressed unanticipated feelings and emotions.

Awards

Léonie Sonning Music Prize 1975

Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 1980

Polar Music Prize 2005

Personal life

In 1949, Fischer-Dieskau married the cellist Irmgard Poppen. Together they had three sons: Mathias (stage designer), Martin (conductor), and Manuel (cellist). Irmgard died in 1963 of complications following childbirth. Afterwards, Fischer-Dieskau was married to the actress Ruth Leuwerik, from 1965 to 1967, and Christina Pugel-Schule, from 1968 to 1975. Since 1977 he has been married to the soprano Julia Varady. His older brother Klaus Fischer-Dieskau was a notable Berlin choral director who conducted Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau several times, including in his only recording of a passion by Heinrich Schütz in 1961.

Partial discography

As singer

Fischer Dieskau recorded mainly on the labels EMI, DG and Orfeo.

Bach, ''75 Cantatas'', with Karl Richter on the Polygram label

Bach, Jesus and bass parts in the Passions under a wide host of conductors, e.g. Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Fritz Lehmann, and Karl Richter

Bartók, ''Bluebeard's Castle'', with Ferenc Fricsay

Bartók, ''Bluebeard's Castle'', with Wolfgang Sawallisch

Beethoven, ''Fidelio'', with Fricsay

Beethoven, ''Fidelio'', with Leonard Bernstein

Alban Berg, ''Wozzeck'', with Karl Böhm

Alban Berg, ''Lulu'', with Karl Böhm

Brahms, ''Ein Deutsches Requiem'', with Rudolf Kempe

Brahms, ''Ein deutsches Requiem'', with Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra on the Angel label

Brahms, ''Ein deutsches Requiem'', with Otto Klemperer, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf on the EMI label 1961 recorded at Kingsway Hall in March 1961

Brahms, ''Liebeslieder Walzer'' on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Brahms, ''Vier ernste Gesänge'', lieder, with Jörg Demus, piano on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Britten, ''War Requiem'', Benjamin Britten conducting, with Galina Vishnevskaya and Sir Peter Pears

Busoni, ''Doktor Faust'', conductor Ferdinand Leitner

Cimarosa, ''The Secret Marriage'', with Daniel Barenboim

Debussy, Mélodies, with Hartmut Höll, piano, recorded 1988 for Claves Records, available in 2006 on Brilliant Classics

Fauré, ''Requiem'', Op. 48 under André Cluytens on EMI

Gluck, ''Orpheus ed Eurydice'' with Karl Richter

Gluck, ''Iphigenie in Aulis'' with Artur Rother

Gluck, ''Iphigenie in Aulis'' with Kurt Eichhorn and Anna Moffo

Haydn, ''The Creation'', with Herbert von Karajan

Henze, ''Elegie für junge Liebende'', with Martha Mödl, the composer conducting

Paul Hindemith, ''Cardillac'', with Josef Keilberth

Paul Hindemith, ''Mathis der Maler'', with Rafael Kubelík

Paul Hindemith, ''When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd (Requiem "for those we love")'', with Wolfgang Sawallisch

Mahler, ''Das Lied von der Erde'', with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic

Mahler, ''Lieder'', with Daniel Barenboim, piano, on the EMI label

Mahler, ''Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen'' and ''Des Knaben Wunderhorn'', with Daniel Barenboim, piano, on the Sony label

Mahler, ''Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen'' and ''Kindertotenlieder'' with orchestra, with Wilhelm Furtwängler and Rudolf Kempe, on the EMI label

Mahler, ''Kindertotenlieder'', with Karl Böhm

Mahler, ''Rückert-Lieder'', on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Felix Mendelssohn, Lieder, with Hartmut Höll, piano, recorded 1989 and 1991 for Claves Records, available in 2006 on Brilliant Classics

Mozart and Haydn Discoveries, with Reinhard Peters and the Vienna Haydn Orchestra on the Decca label

Mozart, ''The Magic Flute'' with Ferenc Fricsay

Mozart, ''The Magic Flute'', with Karl Böhm

Mozart, ''The Magic Flute'', with Georg Solti (as the Sprecher)

Mozart, ''The Marriage of Figaro'', with Karl Böhm

Mozart, ''The Marriage of Figaro'', with Ferenc Fricsay

Mozart, ''Don Giovanni'', with Ferenc Fricsay

Mozart, ''Don Giovanni'', with Karl Böhm

Mozart, ''Così fan tutte'', at least two different recordings are available, one starring Gundula Janowitz as Fiordiligi; the other starring Irmgard Seefried, both conducted by Karl Böhm.

Mozart, ''Requiem'', with Daniel Barenboim

Orff, ''Carmina Burana'', with Eugen Jochum and the Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Puccini, ''Tosca'', with Birgit Nilsson, as well as excerpts in German with Anja Silja, on Decca Records

Reger, ''Hebbel Requiem'' with the Philharmoniker Hamburg and Gerd Albrecht

Reimann, ''Lear'', with the Bavarian State Orchestra on the Polygram label

Schoeck, ''Lebendig begraben'', with Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Schoeck, ''Notturno'', five movements für voice and string quartet, on EMI Classics

Schoeck, ''Lieder'', with Margrit Weber (piano) and Karl Engel (piano), on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Schubert, ''Deutsche Messe'', with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks on the Capitol label

Schubert, ''Winterreise'', with Gerald Moore, piano, on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Schubert, ''Die Winterreise'', with Jörg Demus, piano, on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Schubert, ''Die schöne Müllerin'', with Gerald Moore, piano, on the Angel label

Schubert, ''Lieder'', with Gerald Moore, piano on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Schubert, ''Missa Solemnis and Masses in C major and E flat major'', with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on the EMI label

Schubert, ''Schwanengesang'', with Gerald Moore, piano on the EMI label

Schubert, Lieder, with Hartmut Höll, piano, recorded 1987 for Claves Records, available in 2006 on Brilliant Classics

Schumann, ''Dichterliebe'', ''Liederkreis'', and the complete lieder for male voice, with Christoph Eschenbach, piano, on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Schumann, ''Liederkreis'', with Gerald Moore, piano, on the EMI label

Schütz ''St Matthew Passion'' SWV 479. Berlin Hugo-Distler Chor, dir. Klaus Fischer-Dieskau Archiv LP 1961

Shostakovich, ''Suite on Verses of Michelangelo Buonarroti'' and ''Four Verses of Captain Lebyadkin'', with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin on the Polygram label

Shostakovich, ''Symphony No. 14'' with Bernard Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra on the Decca label

Richard Strauss, ''Elektra'', with Karl Böhm

Strauss, ''Arabella'', with Wolfgang Sawallisch

Strauss, ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'', with Joseph Keilberth (Deutsche Grammophon; re-released on Brilliant Classics)

Strauss, ''Salome'', with Karl Böhm

Strauss, ''Der Rosenkavalier'', with Karl Böhm

Strauss, ''Ariadne auf Naxos'', with Kurt Masur

Strauss, ''Capriccio'', with Wolfgang Sawallisch

Johann Strauss, ''Die Fledermaus'', with Willi Boskovsky

Verdi, ''Un ballo in maschera'' (in German), with Fritz Busch

Verdi, ''La traviata'', with Lorin Maazel

Verdi, ''Otello''

Verdi, ''Falstaff'', with Leonard Bernstein

Verdi, ''Macbeth'', with Elena Souliotis

Verdi, ''Rigoletto'' with Renata Scotto, Carlo Bergonzi, Rafael Kubelík and the La Scala Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Verdi, ''Don Carlos'', in German, with Ferenc Fricsay and Josef Greindl, 1948 (his operatic debut)

Verdi, ''Don Carlos'', in Italian, with Georg Solti

Wagner, ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', as Hans Sachs, with Eugen Jochum and the Berliner Staatsopernorchester on the Deutsche Grammophon label

Wagner, ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', as Fritz Kothner the baker, with Andre Clutyens, at Bayreuth, 1956

Wagner, ''Lohengrin'' with Rudolf Kempe (EMI), as Friedrich von Telramund

Wagner, ''Lohengrin'', with Eugen Jochum (Conductor), Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, 1954, as the Heerrufer

Wagner, ''Lohengrin'', with Georg Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, as the Heerrufer (Decca)

Wagner, ''The Flying Dutchman'', with Franz Konwitschny (EMI)

Wagner, ''Tannhäuser'', with Franz Konwitschny (EMI)

Wagner, ''Das Rheingold'', with Herbert von Karajan (DG)

Wagner, ''Götterdämmerung'', with Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on the Decca label

Wagner, ''Tristan und Isolde'', with Wilhelm Furtwängler

Wagner, ''Tristan und Isolde'', with Carlos Kleiber

Wagner, ''Parsifal'', with Hans Knappertsbusch (live at Bayreuth, 1956, CD manufactured by Arkadia)

Wagner, ''Parsifal'', in studio with Georg Solti

Weber, Lieder, with Hartmut Höll, piano, recorded 1991 for Claves Records, available in 2006 on Brilliant Classics

Wolf, ''Frühe Lieder'', with Hartmut Höll, piano, recorded 1986 for Claves Records, available in 2006 on Brilliant Classics

Zemlinsky, ''Lyrische Symphonie'', with Lorin Maazel

As reciter

Strauss, ''Enoch Arden'', with Burkhard Kehring, piano

On video

Schubert, ''Winterreise'', recorded July 1990, with Murray Perahia (piano), from Sony Classical.

Schubert, ''Winterreise'', recorded January 1979, with Alfred Brendel (piano), Sender Freies Berlin (SFB), from TDK 2005.

Mozart, ''Don Giovanni'', Deutsche Oper Berlin, with Ferenc Fricsay, live performance in German, recorded September 24, 1961. Cast includes Pilar Lorengar, Elisabeth Grümmer, Walter Berry, Erika Köth, Donald Grobe, and Josef Greindl.

Strauss (Richard), Mahler, and Schubert: "Schwarzkopf, Seefried, and Fischer-Dieskau", a DVD from EMI Classics. Includes Schwarzkopf playing the Marschallin and Fischer-Dieskau singing "Der Erlkönig".

Mozart, ''Le nozze di Figaro'' Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel, from the Salzburg Festival, 1963. A DVD from VAI.

As conductor

Berlioz, ''Harold in Italy'' with violist Josef Suk and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on the Supraphon label

Brahms, Symphony No. 4, with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra on the Supraphon label

Mahler, ''Das Lied von der Erde'' with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart on the Orfeo label

Schubert, Symphonies #5 and 8 "Unfinished," with the New Philharmonia Orchestra on the EMI label

Richard Strauss, Arias from ''Salome'', ''Ariadne auf Naxos'', ''Die Liebe der Danae'', and ''Capriccio'', with Julia Varady and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra on the Orfeo label

Footnotes

Books

''The Fischer-Dieskau Book of Lieder: The Original Texts of over 750 Songs'', translated by Richard Stokes and George Bird. Random House, 1977. (ISBN 0-394-49435-0)

''Reverberations: The Memoirs of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau'', translated by Ruth Hein. Fromm International, 1989. (ISBN 0-88064-137-1)

''Robert Schumann Words and Music: The Vocal Compositions'', translated by Reinhard G. Pauly. Hal Leonard, 1992. (ISBN 0-931340-06-3)

''Schubert's Songs: A Biographical Study''. Alfred A. Knopf, 1977. (ISBN 0-394-48048-1)

''Wagner and Nietzsche'', translated by Joachim Neugroschel. Continuum International, 1976.

''Jupiter und ich: Begegnungen mit Furtwängler'', Berlin University Press, 2009.

Further reading

Neunzig, Hans A. ''Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau'' Trans. Kenneth S Whitton. Gerald Duckworth & Co, 1998. (ISBN 0-7156-2818-6)

Whitton, Kenneth S. ''Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: Mastersinger'' Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1981. (ISBN 0-8419-0728-5)

External links

Biography at Mwolf.com

2000 Interview with Steve Holtje for CDNOW.com

Category:1925 births Category:Living people Category:Operatic baritones Category:German conductors (music) Category:German military personnel of World War II Category:German opera singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People from Berlin Category:Knight Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:World War II prisoners of war held by the United States Category:German prisoners of war Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music

Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Category:Members of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art

ca:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau de:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau es:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau fr:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau ko:디트리히 피셔디스카우 it:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau he:דיטריך פישר-דיסקאו lb:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau li:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau nl:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau ja:ディートリヒ・フィッシャー＝ディースカウ no:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau pl:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau pt:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau ru:Фишер-Дискау, Дитрих simple:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau fi:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sv:Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau zh:迪特里希·菲舍爾-迪斯考

Karl Janssen (29 May 1855 — 2 December 1927) was a German sculptor working in the Baroque revival tradition; he was born and died in Düsseldorf. Born in a family of artists, he studied at the Königlich Preußischen Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf from 1872 to 1880. In 1878 he garnered a scholarship to study in Rome; he remained in Italy from 1881 to 1884.

On his return his first notable commission was for a memorial portrait bust of the industrialist Poensgen (1883) for his monument in the Nordfriedhof, Poensgen (1883) für dessen Erbbegräbnis auf dem Nordfriedhof.

In 1884, together with Josef Tüshaus (1851–1901), whom he had known from their days at the Akademie, he was commissioned to produce a sculptured group for the visit to the city by Kaiser Wilhelm, on the theme of ''Father Rhine and his Daughters''. The result so pleased Düsseldorfers that in 1897 Janssen and Tüshaus were requested to cast a more durable version in bronze, for a city fountain (''illustrated'').

The previous year (1896), he cast the equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm, lost in the Second World War.

Since 1893 he had been teaching as a professor, taking the chair of the late August Wittig. Among his outstanding pupils were Frédéric Coubillier and Wilhelm Lehmbruck.

Following the First World War he was commissioned by Henkel to sculpt a war memorial to fallen Henkel workers, to be erected at the Henkel works in Düsseldorf-Holthausen. His last well-known work was also for the Henkel family, a mourning figure in Art Deco style for the family mausoleum (1925).

Notes

Category:German sculptors Category:1855 births Category:1927 deaths

de:Karl Janssen ru:Янссен, Карл

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, (8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law to return to music, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury caused by a device he created to develop the strength and independence of his fingers ended this dream. One of the most promising careers as a pianist had thus come to an end. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing.

Schumann's published compositions were written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composed works for piano and orchestra; many lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works. His writings about music appeared mostly in the ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.

In 1840, Schumann married pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher, when she legally came of age at 21. They no longer needed her father's consent, which had been the subject of a long and acrimonious legal battle. Clara also composed music and had a considerable concert career.

For the last two years of his life, after an attempted suicide, Schumann was confined to a mental institution, at his own request.

Biography

Early life

Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony, the fifth and last child of the family. Schumann began to compose before the age of seven, but his boyhood was spent in the cultivation of literature as much as music – undoubtedly influenced by his father, August Schumann, a bookseller, publisher, and novelist.

Schumann began receiving general musical and piano instruction at the age of seven from Baccalaureus Kuntzsch, a teacher at the Zwickau high school. The boy immediately developed a love of music and worked at creating musical compositions himself, without the aid of Kuntzsch. Even though he often disregarded the principles of musical composition, he created works regarded as admirable for his age. The ''Universal Journal of Music'' 1850 supplement included a biographical sketch of Schumann that noted, "It has been related that Schumann, as a child, possessed rare taste and talent for portraying feelings and characteristic traits in melody,—ay, he could sketch the different dispositions of his intimate friends by certain figures and passages on the piano so exactly and comically that every one burst into loud laughter at the similitude of the portrait." (W.J. von Wasielewski 17–19)

At age 14, Schumann wrote an essay on the aesthetics of music and also contributed to a volume, edited by his father, titled ''Portraits of Famous Men''. While still at school in Zwickau, he read the works of the German poet-philosophers Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as well as Byron and the Greek tragedians. His most powerful and permanent literary inspiration was Jean Paul, a German writer whose influence is seen in Schumann's youthful novels ''Juniusabende'', completed in 1826, and ''Selene''.

Schumann's interest in music was sparked by seeing a performance of Ignaz Moscheles playing at Karlsbad, and he later developed an interest in the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn. His father, who had encouraged the boy's musical aspirations, died in 1826 when Schumann was 16. Neither his mother nor his guardian thereafter encouraged a career in music. In 1828 Schumann left school, and after a tour during which he met Heinrich Heine in Munich, he went to Leipzig to study law. In 1829 his law studies continued in Heidelberg, where he became a lifelong member of Corps Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg. (See also: Corps)

1830–34

During Eastertide 1830 he heard the Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer Niccolò Paganini play in Frankfurt. In July he wrote to his mother, "My whole life has been a struggle between Poetry and Prose, or call it Music and Law." By Christmas he was back in Leipzig, at age 20 taking piano lessons from his old master Frederich Wieck, who assured him that he would be a successful concert pianist after a few years' study with him.

During his studies with Wieck, Schumann permanently injured his right hand. One suggested cause of this injury is that he damaged his finger by the use of a mechanical device designed to strengthen the weakest fingers, a device which held back one finger while he exercised the others. Another suggestion is that the injury was a side-effect of syphilis medication. A more dramatic suggestion is that in an attempt to increase the independence of his fourth finger, he may have undergone a surgical procedure to separate the tendons of the fourth finger from those of the third. The cause of the injury is not known, but Schumann abandoned ideas of a concert career and devoted himself instead to composition. To this end he began a study of music theory under Heinrich Dorn, a German composer six years his senior and, at that time, conductor of the Leipzig opera. About this time Schumann considered composing an opera on the subject of Hamlet.

''Papillons''

The fusion of literary ideas with musical ones – known as Program Music – may be said to have first taken shape in ''Papillons'', Op. 2 (''Butterflies''), a musical portrayal of events in Jean Paul's novel ''Die Flegeljahre''. In a letter from Leipzig dated April 1832, Schumann bids his brothers "read the last scene in Jean Paul's ''Flegeljahre'' as soon as possible, because the ''Papillons'' are intended as a musical representation of that masquerade." This inspiration is foreshadowed to some extent in his first written criticism, an 1831 essay on Frédéric Chopin's variations on a theme from Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'', published in the ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung''. Here Chopin's work is discussed by imaginary characters created by Schumann himself: Florestan (the embodiment of Schumann's passionate, voluble side) and Eusebius (his dreamy, introspective side) – the counterparts of Vult and Walt in ''Flegeljahre.'' A third, Meister Raro, is called upon for his opinion. Raro may represent either the composer himself, Wieck's daughter Clara, or the combination of the two (Clara + Robert).

In the winter of 1832, Schumann, 22 at the time, visited relatives in Zwickau and Schneeberg, where he performed the first movement of his ''Symphony in G minor'' (without opus number, known as the "Zwickauer"). In Zwickau, the music was performed at a concert given by Clara Wieck, who was then just 13 years old. On this occasion Clara played bravura Variations by Henri Herz, a composer whom Schumann was already deriding as a philistine. Schumann's mother said to Clara, "You must marry my Robert one day." Although the ''Symphony in G minor'' was not published by Schumann during his lifetime, it has been played and recorded in recent times.

The 1833 deaths of Schumann's brother Julius and his sister-in-law Rosalie in a worldwide cholera epidemic brought on a severe depressive episode. The composer made his first apparent attempt at suicide.

''Die neue Zeitschrift für Musik''

By spring 1834, Schumann had sufficiently recovered to inaugurate ''Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' (''New Journal for Music''), first published on 3 April 1834. Schumann published most of his critical writings in the ''Journal'', and often lambasted the popular taste for flashy technical displays from figures whom Schumann perceived as inferior composers. Schumann campaigned to revive interest in major composers of the past, including Mozart, Beethoven and Weber, while he also promoted the work of some contemporary composers, including Chopin (about whom Schumann famously wrote, "Hats off, Gentlemen! A genius!") and Hector Berlioz, whom he praised for creating music of substance. On the other hand, Schumann disparaged the school of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. Among Schumann's associates at this time were composers Norbert Burgmüller and Ludwig Schuncke (to whom Schumann's ''Toccata in C'' is dedicated).

Schumann's editorial duties during the summer of 1834 were interrupted by his relations with 16-year-old Ernestine von Fricken – the adopted daughter of a rich Bohemian-born noble – to whom he became engaged. Schumann broke off that engagement due to his growing attraction to 15-year-old Clara Wieck. They made mutual declarations of love in December in Zwickau, where Clara appeared in concert.

Having learned in August 1835 that Ernestine von Fricken was born illegitimate, which meant that she would have no dowry, and fearful that her limited means would force him to earn his living like a "day-labourer", Schumann made a complete break with her toward the end of the year. His budding romance with Clara was soon brought to an end when her father learned of their trysts during the Christmas holidays; he summarily forbade them further meetings and ordered all correspondence between them burnt.

''Carnaval''

''Carnaval'', Op. 9 (1834) is one of Schumann's most characteristic piano works. Schumann begins nearly every section of ''Carnaval'' with a musical cryptogram, the musical notes signified in German by the letters that spell Asch (A, E-flat, C, and B, or alternatively A-flat, C, and B; in German these are A, Es, C and H, and As C and H respectively), the town (then in Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic) in which Ernestine was born, and the notes are also the musical letters in Schumann's own name. Schumann named sections for both Ernestine ("Estrella") and Clara ("Chiarina"). Eusebius and Florestan, the imaginary figures appearing so often in his critical writings, also appear, alongside brilliant imitations of Chopin and Paganini. The work comes to a close with a march of the ''Davidsbündler'' – the league of King David's men against the Philistines – in which may be heard the clear accents of truth in contest with the dull clamour of falsehood embodied in a quotation from the seventeenth century ''Grandfather's Dance''. The march, a step nearly always in duple meter, is here in 3/4 time (triple meter). The work ends in joy and a degree of mock-triumph. In ''Carnaval'', Schumann went further than in ''Papillons'', by conceiving the story as well as the musical representation (and also displaying a maturation of compositional resource).

1835–39

On 3 October 1835, Schumann met Felix Mendelssohn at Wieck's house in Leipzig, and his enthusiastic appreciation of that artist was shown with the same generous freedom that distinguished his acknowledgement of Chopin's greatness and most of his other colleagues, and which later prompted him to publicly pronounce the then-unknown Johannes Brahms a genius.

Despite the opposition of Clara's father, she and Robert continued a clandestine relationship which matured into a full-blown romance. In 1837, he asked her father's consent to their marriage, but was refused. Wieck ridiculed his daughter's wish to "throw herself away on a penniless composer."

In the series of piano pieces ''Fantasiestücke'', Op. 12, Schumann expresses the fusion of literary and musical ideas as embodied conceptions in such pieces as "Warum" and "In der Nacht". After he had written the latter of these two, he detected in the music the fanciful suggestion of a series of episodes from the myth of Hero and Leander. The collection begins, in "Des Abends", with a notable example of Schumann's predilection for rhythmic ambiguity, as unrelieved syncopation plays heavily against the time signature, (leading to a feeling of 3/8 in a movement marked 2/8) somewhat analogous to that of the first movement of ''Faschingsschwank aus Wien''. After a fable – and the appropriately titled "Dream's Confusion" – the collection ends on an introspective note in the manner of Eusebius.

In 1837 Schumann published his ''Symphonic Studies'', a complex set of ''étude''-like variations written in 1834–1835, which demanded a finished piano technique. These variations were based on a theme by the adoptive father of Ernestine von Fricken. The work – described as "one of the peaks of the piano literature, lofty in conception and faultless in workmanship" [Hutcheson] – was dedicated to the young English composer William Sterndale Bennett for whom Schumann had had a high regard when they worked together in Leipzig.

The ''Davidsbündlertänze'', Op.6, (also published in 1837 despite the low opus number) literally "Dances of the League of David", is an embodiment of the struggle between enlightened Romanticism and musical philistinism. Schumann credited the two sides of his character with the composition of the work (the more passionate numbers are signed F. (Florestan) and the more dreamy signed E. (Eusebius)). The work begins with the 'motto of C.W.' (Clara Wieck) denoting her support for the ideals of the ''Davidsbund'' The ''Bund'' was a work of Schumann's imagination, members of which were kindred spirits (as he saw them) such as Chopin, Paganini and Clara, as well as the personalized Florestan and Eusebius.

''Kinderszenen'', Op. 15, completed in 1838 and a favourite of Schumann's piano works, depicts the innocence and playfulness of childhood. The "Träumerei", No. 7 of the set, is one of the most famous piano pieces ever written, which has been performed in myriad forms and transcriptions. It has been the favourite encore of several great pianists, including Vladimir Horowitz. Melodic and deceptively simple, the piece has been described as "complex" in its harmonic structure.

''Kreisleriana'' (1838), considered one of Schumann's greatest works, carried his fantasy and emotional range deeper. Johannes Kreisler was the fictional poet created by poet E. T. A. Hoffmann, and characterized as a "romantic brought into contact with reality". Schumann used the figure to express emotional states in music that is "fantastic and mad." According to Hutcheson ("The Literature of the Piano"), this work is "among the finest efforts of Schumann's genius. He never surpassed the searching beauty of the slow movements (Nos. 2, 4, 6) or the urgent passion of others (Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7)...To appreciate it a high level of aesthetic intelligence is required...This is no facile music, there is severity alike in its beauty and its passion."

The ''Fantasie in C'', Op. 17, composed in the summer of 1836, is a work of passion and deep pathos, imbued with the spirit of the late Beethoven. Schumann intended to use proceeds from sales of the work toward the construction of a monument to Beethoven (who had died in 1827). The closing of the first movement of the ''Fantasie'' contains a musical quote from Beethoven's song cycle, ''An die ferne Geliebte'', Op. 98 (at the Adagio coda, taken from the last song of the cycle). The original titles of the movements were to be "Ruins", "Triumphal Arch" and "The Starry Crown". According to Liszt, who played the work for Schumann, and to whom it was dedicated, the ''Fantasie'' was apt to be played too heavily, and should have a dreamier (''träumerisch'') character than vigorous German pianists tended to impart. Liszt also said, "It is a noble work, worthy of Beethoven, whose career, by the way, it is supposed to represent." Again according to Hutcheson: "No words can describe the Phantasie, no quotations set forth the majesty of its genius. It must suffice to say that it is Schumann's greatest work in large form for piano solo."

After a visit to Vienna during which he discovered Franz Schubert's previously unknown ''Symphony No. 9 in C'', in 1839 Schumann wrote the ''Faschingsschwank aus Wien'' (''Carnival Prank from Vienna''). Most of the joke is in the central section of the first movement, in which a thinly veiled reference is made to the "Marseillaise" (the song had been banned in Vienna due to harsh memories of Napoleon's invasion). The festive mood does not preclude moments of melancholic introspection in the Intermezzo.

After a long and acrimonious legal battle with her father, Schumann married Clara Wieck on 12 September 1840, at Schönefeld. They finally resolved the battle by waiting until she was of legal age and no longer subject to her father's consent for marriage.

1840–49

In the years 1832–1839, Schumann had written almost exclusively for the piano, but in 1840 alone he wrote 168 songs. Indeed 1840 (referred to as the ''Liederjahr'' or ''year of song'') is highly significant in Schumann's musical legacy despite his earlier deriding of works for piano and voice as inferior.

Prior to the legal case and subsequent marriage, the lovers exchanged love letters and rendezvoused in secret. Robert would often wait in a cafe for hours in a nearby city just to see Clara for a few minutes after one of her concerts. The strain of this long courtship, (they finally married in 1840) and its consummation led to this great outpouring of lieder (vocal songs with piano accompaniment). This is evident in "Widmung", for example, where he uses the melody from Schubert's "Ave Maria" in the postlude – in homage to Clara. Schumann's biographers have attributed the sweetness, the doubt and the despair of these songs to the varying emotions aroused by his love for Clara and the uncertainties of their future together.

Robert and Clara had eight children, Emil (who died in infancy in 1847); Marie (1841–1929); Elise (1843–1928); Julie (1845–1872); Ludwig (1848–1899); Ferdinand (1849–1891); Eugenie (1851–1938); and Felix (1854–1879).

His chief song-cycles of this period were his settings of the ''Liederkreis'' of Joseph von Eichendorff, Op. 39 (depicting a series of moods relating to or inspired by nature); the ''Frauenliebe und -leben'' of Chamisso, Op. 42 (relating the tale of a woman's marriage, childbirth and widowhood); the ''Dichterliebe'' of Heine, Op. 48 (depicting a lover rejected, but coming to terms with his painful loss through renunciation and forgiveness); and ''Myrthen'', a collection of songs, including poems by Goethe, Rückert, Heine, Byron, Burns and Moore. The songs ''Belsatzar'', Op. 57 and ''Die beiden Grenadiere'', Op. 49, both to Heine's words, show Schumann at his best as a ballad writer, although the dramatic ballad is less congenial to him than the introspective lyric. The Opp. 35, 40 and 98a sets (words by Justinus Kerner, Chamisso and Goethe respectively), although less well known, also contain songs of lyric and dramatic quality.

Franz Grillparzer said,

"He has made himself a new ideal world in which he moves almost as he wills."

Despite his achievements, Schumann received few tokens of honour; he was awarded a doctoral degree by the University of Jena in 1840, and in 1843 a professorship in the Conservatory of Music which Felix Mendelssohn had founded in Leipzig that same year. On one occasion, accompanying his wife on a concert tour in Russia, Schumann was asked whether 'he too was a musician'. He was to remain sensitive to his wife's greater international acclaim as a pianist.

In 1841 he wrote two of his four symphonies, ''No. 1 in B flat'', Op. 38, "Spring" and ''No. 4 in D minor'', (first published in one movement, but later revised extensively and published as Op. 120 – a work that is a pioneering essay in 'cyclic form'). He devoted 1842 to composing chamber music, including the ''Piano Quintet in E flat'', Op. 44, now one of his best known and most admired works; the ''Piano Quartet'' and three string quartets. In 1843 he wrote ''Paradise and the Peri'', his first essay at concerted vocal music, an oratorio style work based on ''Lalla-Rookh'' by Thomas Moore. After this, his compositions were not confined to any one form during any particular period.

The stage in his life when he was deeply engaged in setting Goethe's ''Faust'' to music (1844–53) was a critical one for his health. He spent the first half of 1844 with Clara on tour in Russia. On returning to Germany, he abandoned his editorial work and left Leipzig for Dresden, where he suffered from persistent "nervous prostration". As soon as he began to work, he was seized with fits of shivering and an apprehension of death, experiencing an abhorrence for high places, for all metal instruments (even keys), and for drugs. Schumann's diaries also state that he suffered perpetually from imagining that he had the note A5 sounding in his ears.

His state of unease and neurasthenia is reflected in his ''Symphony in C'', numbered second but third in order of composition, in which the composer explores states of exhaustion, obsession and depression, culminating in Beethovenian spiritual triumph. Also published in 1845 was his ''Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54'', originally published as a one-movement ''Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra''. It is one of the most popular and oft-recorded of all piano concertos; pace Hutcheson "Schumann achieved a masterly work and we inherited the finest piano concerto since Mozart and Beethoven".

In 1846, he felt he had recovered. In the winter, the Schumanns revisited Vienna, traveling to Prague and Berlin in the spring of 1847 and in the summer to Zwickau, where he was received with enthusiasm. This pleased him, since at that time he was famous in only Dresden and Leipzig.

His only opera, ''Genoveva'', Op. 81, was written in 1848. In it, Schumann attempted to abolish recitative, which he regarded as an interruption to the musical flow (an influence on Richard Wagner; Schumann's consistently flowing melody can be seen as a forerunner to Wagner's ''Melos''). The subject of ''Genoveva'' – based on Ludwig Tieck and Christian Friedrich Hebbel – was not an ideal choice. The text is often considered to lack dramatic qualities; the work has not remained in the repertoire. As early as 1842 the possibilities of German opera had been keenly realized by Schumann, who wrote, "Do you know my prayer as an artist, night and morning? It is called 'German Opera.' Here is a real field for enterprise . . . something simple, profound, German." And in his notebook of suggestions for the text of operas are found amongst others: ''Nibelungen'', ''Lohengrin'' and ''Till Eulenspiegel''.

The music to Byron's ''Manfred'' was written in 1849, the overture of which is one of Schumann's most frequently performed orchestral works. The insurrection of Dresden caused Schumann to move to Kreischa, a little village a few miles outside the city. In August 1849, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Goethe's birth, such scenes of Schumann's ''Faust'' as were already completed were performed in Dresden, Leipzig and Weimar. Liszt gave him assistance and encouragement. The rest of the work was written later in 1849, and the overture (which Schumann described as "one of the sturdiest of [his] creations") in 1853.

After 1850

From 1850 to 1854, Schumann composed in a wide variety of genres. Critics have disputed the quality of his work at this time; a widely held view has been that his music showed signs of mental breakdown and creative decay. More recently, critics have suggested that the changes in style may be explained by "lucid experimentation".

In 1850, Schumann succeeded Ferdinand Hiller as musical director at Düsseldorf, but he was a poor conductor and quickly aroused the opposition of the musicians. According to Schonberg (''The Great Conductors'') "The great composer was impossible on the platform...There is something heartrending about poor Schumann's epochal inefficiency as a conductor." His contract was eventually terminated. From 1851 to 1853 he visited Switzerland, Belgium and Leipzig. In 1851 he completed his ''Symphony No. 3'', "Rhenish"'' (a work containing five movements and whose 4th movement is apparently intended to represent an episcopal coronation ceremony). He revised what would be published as his fourth symphony.

On 30 September 1853, the 20-year-old composer Johannes Brahms knocked unannounced on the door of the Schumanns carrying a letter of introduction from violinist Joseph Joachim. (Schumann was not at home, and would not meet Brahms until the next day). Brahms amazed Clara and Robert with his music, stayed with them for several weeks, and became a close family friend. (He later worked closely with Clara to popularize Schumann's compositions during her long widowhood.)

During this time Schumann, Brahms and Schumann's pupil Albert Dietrich collaborated on the composition of the ''''F-A-E'' Sonata'' for Joachim; Schumann also published an article, "Neue Bahnen" ("New Paths") in the ''Neue Zeitschrift'' (his first article in many years), hailing the unknown young Brahms from Hamburg, a man who had published nothing, as "the Chosen One" who "was destined to give ideal expression to the times." It was an extraordinary way to present Brahms to the musical world, setting up great expectations which he did not fulfill for many years. In January 1854, Schumann went to Hanover, where he heard a performance of his ''Paradise and the Peri'' organized by Joachim and Brahms. Two years later at Schumann's request, the work received its first English performance conducted by William Sterndale Bennett.

Schumann returned to Düsseldorf and began to edit his complete works and make an anthology on the subject of music. He suffered a renewal of the symptoms that had threatened him earlier. Besides the single note (possibly evidence of tinnitus), he imagined that voices sounded in his ear and he heard angelic music. One night he suddenly left his bed, having dreamt or imagined that a ghost (purportedly the spirit of either Schubert or Mendelssohn) had dictated a "spirit theme" to him. The theme was one he had used several times before: in his Second String Quartet, again in his ''Lieder-Album für die Jugend'', and finally in the slow movement of his Violin Concerto. In the days leading up to his suicide attempt, Schumann wrote five variations on this theme for the piano, his last published work. Brahms published it in a supplementary volume to the complete edition of Schumann's piano music. In 1861 Brahms published his ''Variations for Piano Four Hands'', Op. 23, based on this theme.

In late February 1854, Schumann's symptoms increased, the angelic visions sometimes being replaced by demonic visions. He warned Clara that he feared he might do her harm. On 27 February 1854, he attempted suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the Rhine River. Rescued by boatmen and taken home, he asked to be taken to an asylum for the insane. He entered Dr. Franz Richarz's sanatorium in Endenich, a quarter of Bonn, and remained there until his death on 29 July 1856.

Given his reported symptoms, one modern view is that his death was a result of syphilis, which he may have contracted during his student days, and which would have remained latent during most of his marriage. According to studies by the musicologist and literary scholar Eric Sams, Schumann's symptoms during his terminal illness and death appear consistent with those of mercury poisoning, mercury being a common treatment for syphilis and other conditions. Another possibility is that his neurological problems were the result of an intracranial mass. A report by Janisch and Nauhaus on Schumann's autopsy indicates that he had a "gelatinous" tumor at the base of the brain; it may have represented a colloid cyst, a craniopharyngioma, a chordoma, or a chordoid meningioma. In particular, meningiomas are known to produce musical auditory hallucinations, such as Schumann reported. Still other sources surmise that Schumann had bipolar disorder, citing his mood swings and changes in productivity.

From the time of her husband's death, Clara devoted herself to the performance and interpretation of her husband's works. In 1856, she first visited England, but the critics received Schumann's music coolly. Critics such as Henry Fothergill Chorley were particularly harsh in their disapproval. She returned to London in 1865 and made regular appearances there in later years. She became the authoritative editor of her husband's works for Breitkopf & Härtel. It was rumoured that she and Brahms destroyed many of Schumann's later works, which they thought to be tainted by his madness. However, only the ''Five Pieces for Cello and Piano'' are known to have been destroyed. Most of Schumann's late works, particularly the ''Violin Concerto'', the ''Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra'' and the ''Third Violin Sonata'', all from 1853, have entered the repertoire.

Legacy

Schumann had considerable influence in the nineteenth century and beyond, despite his adoption of more conservative modes of composition after his marriage. He left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. Partly through his protégé Brahms, Schumann's ideals and musical vocabulary became widely disseminated. Composer Sir Edward Elgar called Schumann "my ideal."

Schumann has not often been confused with Austrian composer Franz Schubert, but one well-known example occurred in 1956, when East Germany issued a pair of postage stamps featuring Schumann's picture against an open score that featured Schubert's music. The stamps were soon replaced by a pair featuring music written by Schumann.

Compositions

List of compositions by Robert Schumann

:Category:Compositions by Robert Schumann

Fictional portrayals

''Song of Love'' was a 1947 film starring Paul Henreid as Schumann, Katharine Hepburn as Clara Wieck, Robert Walker as Johannes Brahms and Henry Daniell as Franz Liszt.

Peter Schamoni's 1983 movie ''Frühlingssinfonie'' (''Spring Symphony'') tells the story of Robert and Clara's romance, against her father's opposition. Robert was played by Herbert Grönemeyer, Clara by Nastassja Kinski, and Clara's father by Rolf Hoppe. The role of Niccolò Paganini was played by the violinist Gidon Kremer. The score was written by Grönemeyer and conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch.

The Andrew Crumey novel ''Mobius Dick'' has a chapter depicting Schumann at Endenich.

Notes

References

Daverio, J, "Robert Schumann," ''Grove music online'', L Macy (ed), accessed 24 June 2007 (subscription access)

Ostwald, Peter, ''Schumann – The inner voices of a musical genius'', Northeastern University Press, Boston, 1985 ISBN 1-55553-014-1.

Scholes, Percy A, ''The Oxford Companion to Music, Tenth Edition'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1970 ISBN 0-19-311306-61.

Fuller-Maitland, John Alexander. (1884). ''Schumann''. S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2009; ISBN 978-1-108-00481-7)

Rice-See, Lynn (2008). ''The Piano Teaching of Walter Hautzig with 613 Examples from the Works of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Chopin'', Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 0773449817

. The author argues that the composer was mentally normal all his life, until the sudden onset of insanity near the end resulting from tertiary syphilis.

External links

Life and works

More on Robert Schumann and his life

Robert Schumann – The World's Greatest Composer A personal appreciation

Complete list of works

Musical Rules at Home and in Life – Text by Robert Schumann

German Label Troubadisc with SACD release and Biography of Robert Schumann

Schumann-Portal

Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig: edition of all letters written by Robert and Clara Schumann

The Lied and Art Song Texts Page – Created and mantained from Emily Ezust Texts of Schumann's Lieder with translations in various languages

The city of Robert Schumann

Listings of live performances at Bachtrack

Robert and Clara Schumann and their teacher, Johann Sebastian Bach

Sheet music

Printable Schumann's piano score in PDF

Schumann's Scores by Mutopia Project

Recordings and MIDI

Schumann cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.

Recording of ''Kinderszenen'' (''Scenes from Childhood'')

Works for organ or pedal piano by Schumann played on a virtual organ

Selected Lieder (MIDI)

Kunst der Fuge Robert Schumann – MIDI files

Herbert von Karajan / Vienna Philharmonic rehearse the 4th Symphony

Yaroslav Senyshyn – Live Performance of Robert Schumann: Papillons Op. 2

Category:1810 births Category:1856 deaths Category:People from Zwickau Category:German composers Category:Opera composers Category:Romantic composers Category:Composers for pipe organ Category:German classical pianists Category:German music critics Category:People from the Kingdom of Saxony Category:People from Düsseldorf Category:University of Leipzig alumni Category:Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre faculty Category:Music from Leipzig Category:19th-century German people Category:Heinrich Heine

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