Now replace the first g#'' with f#'' (and omitting the last g#'', ending the ascent at f#''). If our two-note-per-measure model showed f#” instead of g#”, we would be at a loss to “explain why” Schumann chose to elaborate this f#” with g#”; it would appear to be a considerably more arbitrary decision, one of the grand (or possibly less grand) mysteries of artistic genius. Which, one cannot help noticing, is what he actually wrote. I'm sorry, but: what on Earth are you talking about? The mood of Schumann’s "In the lovely month of May" is joyful and exuberant. Unlike Schenkerian theory, chord theory does not admit the concept of structural levels -- at least beyond the two-tiered hierarchy of "part of the chord" and "not part of the chord". At this point, I had to stop reading, because although there was at least one nice musical detail pointed out (reducing the G#-F# to G# instead of F#), the arguments surrounding this were too unsupported and/or unclear. Schumann adapts the words of the poems to his needs for the songs, sometimes repeating phrases and often rewording a line to supply the desired cadence. Although frequently associated with the male voice, the work was dedicated to the great soprano Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient,[1] so that the precedent for performance by a female voice is primary. B can be a harmonic tone at one level, and an embellishing tone at another. (Dein Angesicht (Heine no 5) is one of the omitted items. The piece is scored for only male vocalist and piano, set to a wonderful poem that describes feelings of love that come with the springtime and are left unresolved. These could also be read as smaller reflections of the two larger upper embellishments in this passage: the C# decorating the B, and the IV6 - V harmonic neighbor. Are you implying that retrospective contextualization doesn't happen, or is illegitimate? Unclear. What is the form of In the lovely month of May? You should check them out. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. What is Schumann: "In the Lovely Month of May," a Poet's Love based off of ? Do you just mean to point out that G# happens in three places in the background? Change ), “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai” (“In the lovely month of May”): Piece Review, Survey of Music Literature – Spring 2015 Blog. Familiarity with my other recent writings will help, though in some sense this post might also be able to serve as an entry point into the latter. Where's the evidence for this oddly-specific assumption? The piece actually ends on a dominant 7th in F# minor, which creates a massive feeling of instability that the speaker desperately wants to be resolved. However, in part because it is so clever, it partakes of the character of many similar "motivic" observations (including most "post-tonal" analysis), in that it feels epiphenomenal. It tells a detailed story of a lost love. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. if Schumann had written two successive f#”s, he would be faced here with an argument that he ought to have written g#”-f#” instead. However, if one is sophisticated enough to do that, one really ought to be sophisticated enough to perceive the fatal deficiencies of the chord model itself and abandon it in favor of the line model. The first complete public recital of the work in London was given by Harry Plunket Greene, accompanied from memory by Leonard Borwick, on 11 January 1895 at St James's Hall. That's simply how chord theory trains you to think. Do you just mean to point out that G# happens in three places in the background? Das Buch der Lieder was given its second edition, with preface from Paris, in 1837, the songs were composed in 1840, and the first edition of Dichterliebe was published in two volumes by Peters, in Leipzig, 1844. Dichterliebe, "A Poet's Love" (composed 1840), is the best-known song cycle of Robert Schumann (Op. Thus, Schumann creates several interlinked layers of decorating notes from above, from the smallest melodic G#-F# to the larger IV6 - V. This, to me, seems as good a way as any to '"explain why" Schumann chose to elaborate this f#'' with g#''." The poet's love is a hothouse of nuanced responses to the delicate language of flowers, dreams and fairy-tales. The familiar tune quoted near the end of Gottschalk’s work The Banjo is: Camptown Races. B can be a harmonic tone at one level, and an embellishing tone at another. This catastrophe is slightly reminiscent of Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, in which the hero ends by drowning himself in the brook which he has followed through the cycle. The 65 poems follow, of which the 16 of the Dichterliebe are a selection. March, E. Greenfield, R. Layton, Penguin (revised) Guide to Compact Discs (Harmondswoth 1996). What is the form of In the lovely month of May? By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. As for g#'', what it is (i.e., its explanation at a previous level) is the upper fifth of c#''. The voice also accents this rising motion, especially in the second half of each verse, reaching the highest note of the piece (G) on the last words “rise up” and “desire”. You say that it's aesthetically preferable (which is subjective and vague, though that doesn't have to be a bad thing); but not really much more than that, as far as I can see, except when you rightly point out that it can be viewed as part of a G#-E#-C# arpeggiation. The situation is that we've got two theories that we're contrasting: chord theory, and Schenkerian theory. To say that I -- who am advocating for Schenkerian theory, which specifically introduces this concept -- am "not taking into account the possibility of different levels" is bizarre to the point of surreality. Interestingly, the answer to both questions seems to be “quite a lot”. I guarantee you that if you were given this passage to Roman-numeral-analyze as a student in a typical music theory class, and you wrote "V" under the first two measures, it would be marked wrong on the ground that you were supposed to have written "IV6" under measure 1. I went on many of these patterns until January this year. You haven't really argued that G# is "aesthetically preferable"; you've just stated that you prefer it, and then tried to hang some pretty heavy conclusions on that. This is exacerbated when you seem to misunderstand the traditions you're criticizing (like in the A#-B thing, above). False. It doesn't feel like the kind of knowledge that's involved in actually composing the passage. Instrumental music endowed with literary, philosophical, or pictorial associations is … True. ( Log Out / I'm saying that's not a good objection, because even if technically true, the character of chord theory is such that you would never have thought to formulate that interpretation if you didn't already know about Schenkerian theory (hence, "peeking at your opponent's answers"). At no point is there a strong cadence or clearly established key, rather it floats between sounding like A major and F# minor. [2], (The synopses here are made from the Heine texts), Texts of some in the Schumann form are displayed in Wikibooks. You can easily see without even listening to the piece how the piano part is always rising and constantly pushing upward, with essentially the same two-beat motive throughout. The conclusion of it all is that he is going to put the old bad songs and dreams, all his sorrowful love and suffering into a huge coffin, which twelve giants will throw into the sea. On the other hand, Schumann uses harmony to portray the unsteadiness and frustration that comes with love. Play, sing, or imagine both versions. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, More posts from the musictheory community. Im wunderschonen Monat Mai, Als alle Vogel sangen, Da hab'ich ihr gestanden Main Sehnen und Verlangen. How much do I agree with myself? It's a question of simplicity and beauty. text wise? International Music Score Library Project, Texts, translations, information on original and final editions, available published editions, recommended recordings, web and book bibliography, Recording performed by Anton Belov, baritone and Lydia Brown, piano, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dichterliebe&oldid=983382777, Musical settings of poems by Heinrich Heine, Articles with International Music Score Library Project links, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz work identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 13 October 2020, at 23:01.
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