To understand the origins of this Romantic masterpiece by Robert Schumann, one must start with E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822) the German writer, painter, critique, composer and caricaturist who studied law, the sciences, arts and music at the University of Konigsberg and became one of the first creators of short fantasy and horror stories. To say that he had an unsettled life would be an understatement, yet the influence of his writings on art, music and even psychology was far-reaching. Delibes's Coppelia and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker are based on his stories and so is the opera, “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Offenbach . His tales, intertwining the fantastic into the real had an enormous influence on American writers such as Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne and especially Edgar Allan Poe.
It has been argued with much justification that Hoffmann and Schumann were kindred spirits, that Hoffmann inspired Schumann. Hoffmann, in his “Devil's Elixir” divided the artistic personality (his own, presumably) into sharply contrasting characters – Lothar the realist, Cyprian the romantic and mystic, Ottmar the skeptic and Theodore the impassioned lyrical. Each of these could champion and represent a contrasting view*. Similarly, Schumann perceived his own personality as three distinct characters and interwove them in his music. Florestan was impulsive and passionate, Eusebius dreamy and reflective and characteristically, Master Raro was the mediator. (A cipher from Cla ra and Ro bert Schumann). Furthermore, in Hoffmann's “Kreisleriana” a mad musician, the Kapellmeister Kreisler appears. Kreisler is depicted as a dashing, crazed figure of a genius musician whose personality is so hypersensitive that he is constantly drawn between his visions, dreams and reality, searching for his special heaven that might grant him the peace and serenity for the creation of his music. A better description of Schumann's personality would be hard to find, although because of the age difference, Schumann could not have been the model for Kreisler.
Schumann wrote the Kreisleriana shortly after his Kinderscenen Op. 15 (Scenes from Childhood), during the unhappy months when Frederich Wieck used every means at his disposal to keep his daughter Clara and Robert separated. Music was the most intimate means of communication between the two lovers at this unhappy moment of their life. Both of these compositions were inspired by Clara – the Kreisleriana uses an actual theme of hers, the Kinderscenen as a consequence of her unguarded remark that at times Robert seemed like a child to her.
Schumann, reading Hoffmann, initially considered reviewing the Kreisleriana in his Neue Zeitschrift fur Music but then his creative instinct and his longing for Clara got the better of him. He responded with his own Kreisleriana, a cyclical work of eight strongly contrasting pieces. Indeed it is fortunate for us that instead of verbal polemics (in which, it must be said, Schumann was second to none) he created this delicious, thought provoking, immensely engaging work for the piano. “The alternation of passion and satire must have seized Schumann's imagination, giving him, as it were, an excuse to yoke together musical ideas that seem incompatible at first sight, to change mood and expression without warning, to go directly from a lyric meditation to a strangely sinister scherzo or an outburst of rage” (Charles Rosen – The Romantic Generation). Yet structurally the diverse elements hold together, through the interplay between the tonalities of G minor and B flat major. Although in this work, unlike in the Davidsbundlertanze (referring to an imaginary band of followers of the Biblical David – that is, Schumann and his followers fighting the musical Philistines) and in the Carnaval, where Florestan, Eusebius and Raro appear either as titles or cryptically at the end of each piece, in the Kreisleriana there are no clear references. Yet it is clear that here, G minor represents Florestan, the passionate and B flat major is Eusebius, the lyrical. The 4 th piece, titled Sehr Langsam (Very Slowly) the two keys merge and the tonality becomes ambiguous. Could it be that here, Schumann found peace through a spiritual union with Clara?
Lest this technical description frightens the listener, let me hasten to state, that to enjoy this magnificent music one does not need to be conscientious of these interesting (or confusing?) details. The melodies, the shifting rhythms, the rich harmonies and the kaleidoscopic, quick mood changes will enthrall any listener who is willing to immerse himself in the genius of Schumann's music.
*With this concept Hoffmann foreshadowed and influenced Carl Jung's theory of the archetypes.
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