This year's Mystery Composer is.....
Robert Schumann!

Robert Schumann (1810-1856), a composer of the Romantic period of music, is this year's Mystery Composer (M.C.)    The April Group Lessons have been devoted to the life and music of Schumann.  Each student received a packet with a brief history of Schumann, a color sheet (optional for secondary students) ,  an age appropriate assignment.

Due to the fact so many students no longer have CD players (what would I do without mine?!), I've linked all listening assignments to YouTube.   Parents of elementary children will need to be at the computer, or cell phone, or whatever, to help with the listening assignment.

I have a wonderful CD of Christoph Hammer (the professor we visited in Denton, TX last year) playing all of Album for the Young, Op. 68 on the pianoforte.  It is delightful!  Alas, that performance is not on YouTube.  If one would like to listen to a portion of it, I would be happy to cut a CD for you.  Please email me so I can get that ready for you.

​Assignments are due at your private lesson the week of April 23rd.​  However, assignments turned in early will be very cheerfully accepted.  Assignments are included in your student's packet as well as listed below by Group.

Tuesday's Combined Elementary Group

  • One color sheet was started at group; your student may finish it at home.
  • Listen to the first composer biography below  (only five minutes long).  
  • Read the brief biography included in your packet; have your student complete the questionnaire.
  • Listen to the first five tracks of Album fur die Jugend, Op 68 (Album for the Young); your student should pick one of those tracks then draw me a picture of what that music means to him/her.
  • All assignments are due at the private lesson the week of April 23rd..

Middle School Group

I.  Essay Assignment:

  • Write a two paragraph essay on Robert Schumann.  Include his date of birth and death; list three different works by Schumann including a major solo piano work;  voice and piano; then another composition of your choice. (Not the compositions listed in the listening assignment.)
  • Listen to the biography of Schumann by the Boston Symphony Classical Composers.
  • Discuss the characters of Florestan and Eusebius and the influence of them on Schumann’s compositions.
  • Please type all answers.  (You may send your essays to me at [email protected])

II. Listening Assignment:

  • Listen to Schumann’s Papillions, OP. 2  found on the website.  How does this piece make you feel?  Why do think that is?  If you chose something for piano, would you like to play this?  Why? 
  •  Listen to the Susser Freund, also found on the website.    What song cycle is this a part of?  When was this written?  Was this part of Schumann’s “year of the song”?  
  • Listen to at least 5 different tracks from Album for the Young, op. 68 on the website.  List the titles and which character “wrote” the piece—Florestan or Eusebius.   Do not use #1, #8, #10, or #16. 
  • Please type all answers.  (You may send your essays to me at [email protected])

High School Group

I.  Essay Assignment:

  • Write a three paragraph essay on Robert Schumann  Include his date of birth and death; the titles and descriptions of three compositions--one for piano, one vocal song cycle, and one orchestral.  What year is Schumann’s “year of the song”?  List two song cycles composed during this time.  (Not the compositions listed in the listening assignment.)
  • Listen to the biography of Schumann by the Boston Symphony Classical Composers. 
  • Discuss the characters of Florestan and Eusebius and the influence of them on Schumann’s compositions.
  • Please type all answers.  (You may send your essays to me at [email protected])

II. Listening Assignment:

  • Listen to Schumann’s Papillions, OP. 2  found on the website.  How does this piece make you feel?  Why do think that is?  If you chose something for piano, would you like to play this?  Why? 
  •  Listen to the Susser Freund, also found on the website.    What song cycle is this a part of?  When was this written?  Was this part of Schumann’s “year of the song”?  
  • Listen to at least 5 different tracks from Album for the Young, op. 68 on the website.  List the titles and which character “wrote” the piece—Florestan or Eusebius.   Do not use #1, #8, #10, or #16. 
  • Please type all answers.  (You may send your essays to me at [email protected])
Schumann Biography for Elementary Students
Schumann Biography for Secondary Students
The young protagonist of Robert Schumann's cycle Frauenliebe und -leben Op. 42 (‘Woman's Love and Life') is portrayed as an adolescent for the first three songs, then as a maturing woman, and in the sixth tune, "Süßer Freund, du blickest Op. 42/6" (‘Dearest One, You Look at Me'), her character gains an additional dimension when her maternity is revealed. The song was written in 1840, shortly before Schumann married Clara Wieck and approximately one year before the birth of Marie, the first of their eight children. Setting all but one of Chamisso's original verses to music, Schumann used a three-part form to maintain the text's unity. Despite the composition's interpretative challenges, the recitative-like voice line, heard over static harmonies, results in one of his most musical lines. The opening section demands great vocal restraint, because it is with tears of happiness that the woman quietly shares her secret expectation with her husband. To depict the intimacy of their tender, discreet exchange, the voice is silent and the piano plays an eloquent interlude following the words, "I shall whisper all my pleasure in your ear." In the minor key, the passionate second section exposes the scope of the woman's emotions as the tempo becomes more animated and the melody soars into an expressive flight of limitless adoration. A revival of the beginning completes the formal structure of the song, preceding a brief, upbeat piano postlude and the closing words "your likeness!" The couple's relationship deepens when the child appears in the successive song, "An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust Op. 42/7".                                                                                                                                              Description by Meredith Gailey
!