| BGR101 Liner Notes |
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The Enigmatic Novelletten, Op. 21 The eight pieces that comprise the Novelletten were composed during a period of great struggle Robert Schumann experienced in February of 1838. Friedrich Wieck's vehement opposition to the inevitable union of his daughter Clara with the unstable Robert continued to escalate with no signs of subsiding. Also, ever-increasing responsibilities as editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik kept Robert from the composing he was so eager to carry out: “I'm forced to write letters and would so much rather write sonatas and symphonies.” In spite of the external sources of duress to which he was subjected at the time, and according to Schumann, maybe even because of them, great masterpieces were produced such as the Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Novelletten. There is some speculation as to the proper origin of the work's title. Some maintain it came from the last name of Clara Novello, a singer who had taken Leipzig by storm at the time, and apparently made a favorable impression on Schumann as well. He considered naming the pieces after his beloved Clara Wieck, but ultimately rejected the idea claiming that “Wiecketten just doesn't sound good enough.” Also, possibly to guard against the misunderstanding that the work was somehow linked to the malevolent Friedrich Wieck, he opted for the other title. Another more plausible theory regarding the title is that Schumann simply borrowed the name of the popular literary genre. This makes sense as there is a strong narrative vein in these pieces, which are comprised of a sequence of dramatic episodes much like a fairytale. At any rate, the ambiguity of the title's origin only adds to the lore of this work and this was no doubt a source of great amusement for Schumann. Unlike most of Schumann's other works, which are unified by an identifiable formalistic or cyclical idea, the Novelletten seem to be an unwieldy group of schizophrenic entities whose concentrated mercurial changes of mood create an unprecedented atmosphere of unpredictability. Most of the pieces utilize a sort of rondo form and in a few cases, such as No. 5 where some development of material occurs, a kind of sonata-rondo is used. The composer himself once stated: “[This work is a series of] longish tales of adventure…intimately connected and written with passionate joy -- cheerful and flighty…but somewhere I also hit rock bottom.” Regardless of what the actual form is or where the title came from, the fact remains that these fantastic pieces contain quintessential examples of romantic exuberance and hold a unique place not only in the works of Robert Schumann, but also in the romantic repertoire as a whole. -- Notes by Nicholas Roth Copyright © 2001 Nicholas Roth
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