Post Time: 2026-03-13

Country: United States, Australia, United Kingdom. City: Alexandria, Greensboro, Louisville, New York, San MateoA secret declaration of love? Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto has a motif running through it that turns a pseudonym of his wife Clara into music. Martha Argerich (piano) performs together with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the direction of Riccardo Chailly. The concert took place in 2006 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig/Germany. (00:00) I. Allegro affettuoso (15:01) II. Intermezzo (20:25) III. Allegro vivace The Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 54 by Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) is considered the most beautiful concerto for piano and orchestra of the Romantic period. Schumann initially struggled with composing a piano concerto. Three concertos remained unfinished, and with the work on one other he could not even progress beyond the first movement. The Phantasy in A minor for piano and orchestra, composed in 1841, also remained unsuccessful; even after several revisions, no publisher could be found. In 1845, Schumann finally composed two further movements and took the piano fantasia as the first movement of a piano concerto in A minor. The premiere took place on December 4, 1845 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus with Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896) as pianist. Schumann's Piano Concerto was enthusiastically received by audiences from the very beginning. By the end of her performing career, Clara is thought to have played the concerto around a hundred times. One of the special features of Schumann's only piano concerto is the perfect blending of solo instrument and orchestra. The two are not contrasted, but interweave thematically, harmonically and tonally. This “principle of fusion” gives the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra a decidedly symphonic character. The form of the Romantic solo concerto is also special: outwardly, it is traditionally in three movements. In reality, however, it consists of a single movement, that is, a set of variations based on a single theme. It is the original Fantasia in A minor that defines the entire concerto and gives it its “Romantic” character. The basic theme is profound and closely linked to Schumann's biography - in particular to the inquiry 'League of David' (Davidsbündler) and to Schumann's wife Clara. The League of David was a partly real, partly fictitious circle of artists that Schumann founded in 1833. Such secret societies were popular forums for artistic positioning in the Romantic period and were characterized by an imaginative approach to artistic historical themes. Schumann had given More Material each member of the league an alias. Clara belonged to the secret society, related under the name Chiara. From the notes of this pseudonym, CHAA (Germans used ‘H’ to represent B natural and ‘B’ to represent B flat), Schumann composed the motif with its many variations, which determines the entire structure of the Piano Concerto. In this respect, the work can be understood as a homage or even a declaration of love to Clara Schumann. © 2006 EuroArts Music International Watch more concerts in your personal concert hall: Find the best of Robert Schumann here: Check out more great piano concertos here: Subscribe to DW Classical Music: #pianoconcerto #marthaargerich #robertschumann