Kelly Zuzic

December 5th, 2018

TH-142-01
Musicianship II
Dr. Helvering

A Bittersweet Cycle of Love

An Analysis of Schumann’s “Dichterliebe Op.48: No. 7 Ich Grolle Nicht”

Schumann’s ​Dichterliebe​ is a song cycle that is meant to tug at the heartstrings of the

listener as it tells the tale of a man who is in love. Some of the poems are wondrous and full of

excitement for a blossoming relationship. Others, like ​Ich Grolle Nicht​, are sad with the

realization that all dreams can’t come true, but don’t necessarily give up hope for all future love.

As one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era, Schumann was able to skillfully captivate

audience members and get them to listen to what he had to convey through music, which is why

we still study his music today.

Robert Schumann was born on June 8th, 1810 as the youngest of 5 children. He was born

into hard times politically. Zwickau, modern day Germany where they lived, was allies with the

French and began housing french soldiers in the town. They brought with them a scarcity of food

and typhus, which Schumann’s mother ended up contracting but survived (Jensen). Schumann’s

father was a successful scholar and had a publishing business. He was a hard-working man and

did all that he could to support his children, enrolling young Schumann into a private school,

piano lessons, and encouraging him to explore his thoughts and express himself. However, when

Schumann was 16, his eldest sister also died from typhus, and his father was so distraught he

committed suicide (Eckley). All of this hardship put a giant emotional burden unto Schumann,

which is reflected in some his works.

Schumann had a great love and admiration for his father, so it is no surprise he would

have the same level admiration for a woman he fancied. Schumann was engaged in 1834, but he
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fell madly in love with another woman other than his betrothed named Clara. Though her father

originally said no, Schumann persisted and fought his rejection in court. He married Clara in

1840 (Eckley). This is also the year he composed ​Ditcherliebe​. The years of frustration he went

through in order to marry Clara, and then the release and joy of finally getting to be with her, can

be seen throughout this song cycle. The work as a whole takes a journey through various modes

of music and tempos, giving the listener the idea that they are going on a metaphorical journey

while listening to the songs. The translation of “ditcherlibe” is “A Poet’s Love”, and the poet is

representative of Schumann.

Ich Grolle Nicht​, movement 7 out of 16, is a perfect piece to be in the center of the cycle.

The translation being: “I don’t hold the fact that I love you against you, even though my heart is

breaking. You shine with a diamond like splendor, but there is no light in the night of your heart.

I know this. You are a very sad person who cannot love you the way that I love you, and I cannot

blame you for this” (IPA Source). This is a profound statement for anyone to say, as it is much

easier to place blame on other people. This is a loose translation of the lyrics written by the

German poet Heinrich Heine. He was famous for his lyric poetry that not only Schumann

composed from but Schubert as well. In fact, the entire ​Ditcherliebe​ uses Heine’s poetry.

Specifically in​ Ich Grolle Nicht​, the poet, though clearly upset and heartbroken, feels

comfortable in his declaration and has accepted the fact that he cannot love who he originally

intended to. Therefore, it is appropriate that the piece sticks primarily to the familiar key of C

major. It does fluctuate a little bit with a sequential modulation in measures 12-16, going to the

relative minor. Additionally, it takes a sudden and quick trip to b minor by adding f#, c#, and the

leading tone a# in the second half of measure 14, before going back to C major in the second half
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of measure 16. This little modulation could represent a piece of the bittersweet reluctance to

accept the fate of his relationship before coming to terms with it.

“Bittersweet” would be a good word to describe the entirety of the piece, because even

though the key signature might suggest happy, the lyrics are anything but. Schumann however

does do a good job of balancing out the gloominess of the lyrics and the confident sound of the

key signature by adding in a lot of secondary dominants and borrowed chords. In the second half

of measure 4, he uses the first secondary dominant introduced in the piece, giving us an E Major

second inversion triad with a suspended C natural in it. This chord adds suspension to go along

with the lyric that is being sung, which is “break”. It then resolves to it’s tonic a minor, which is

more melancholy sounding than C major. It takes awhile for the I chord to appear again, and it

doesn’t appear until measure 12, after the long phrase of not holding a grudge is sung in its’

entirety.

Ich Grolle Nicht​ is a piece that is easy to follow. The chords change every two beats, and

there is never a time where the two bass notes aren’t a doubled octave aside from the end.

Schumann may have doubled the bass note an octave apart for the entire song so it has a very

grounded feeling even if the upper chords and the vocal line try to say otherwise. The bass line

never does anything jarring. In measures 4-7 the bass line simply descends down the C major

scale. Even in the modulated parts the bass does not do anything other than dominant (sol) to

tonic (do), and throughout the song tries to move in stepwise motion wherever feasible. This

means that Schumann had to be very creative with the type of chords he implemented in this

piece. There is a lot of experimentation with chords that are out of the key entirely, such as in

measures 11 and 28. In measure 10, Schumann goes from V to IV6, which is the opposite of the
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expected subdominant - dominant pattern. In measure 11, he follows the IV6 chord with a #vi०

7. This is an extremely interesting chord because it is very unexpected yet fits in well with the

transition to G7 in the second half of the measure with A# in the bass resolving to B, then B

resolving to the tonic, C.

This piece is in Ternary form. It begins with an A section that is about 12 measures long.

Then we see the B section from the second half of measure 12 to the first half of measure 19. In

the second half of 19, the A section appears again as A’. The first eight measures in A’ are

exactly the same in the piano part as A; the first 4 measures are identical in the melody as well.

After that, the two sections are different and Schumann plays with extending the ending of A’ to

be longer than that of A. The repetition of the first part of the song is good for the listener

because it brings them a sense of familiarity. The elongated A’ ending of this song is the only

time where the ever-sturdy bass turns from half notes to eighth notes just like the rest of the

piano, and the piece ends on an accented cadential 6/4 pattern. The bass finally joining the piano

in rhythm here could be seen as the lover becoming carried away, and overwhelmed by their

emotions. It is like a chase that leaves the listener wondering if the lover will ever find what he

desires. This is a good “halfway” point in the song cycle because it could end after this song with

such a finite cadence, but after listening to all of the dissonant chords and unique progressions

that brought you to such a simple ending, it’s hard to believe that he would end his song cycle

just like that. Thankfully for us, it does not.

It’s funny how the theme of the poem ​Ich Grolle Nicht ​in regards to loving people in the

1800’s is still relatable to people loving in 2018. Through the twists and turns of the music, it

describes the art of loving something so much that you set it free. Knowing you cannot have
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something and accepting that is a powerful emotion to convey. Schumann does a great job of

expressing the feelings depicted in the poem by the musical ideas he uses in his composition. By

the use of non-chord tones and dissonance he expresses the bitter, and by the familiarity that

comes with Ternary Form and C major he expresses the sweet. Life can’t always give you

everything that you want but this is something you need to accept. This is how Schumann puts

that into music theory that we analyze today.

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Works Cited

Eckley, Wilton. “Robert Schumann.” ​Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia​, 2013.

EBSCOhost​, athena.rider.edu:6443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?di
rect=true&db=ers&AN=88807417&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Jensen, Eric Frederick. ​Schumann​. Oxford University Press, 2011. ​EBSCOhost​,

athena.rider.edu:6443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=e000xna&AN=422269&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Schumann, Robert. ​Ditcherliebe​. 1840.

SheetMusicVideo. “Ditcherliebe Complete - Fritz Wunderlich - Schumann.” ​Youtube,​ 18 Mar.

2015, https://youtu.be/L-Nkm8cBLgE.

Suverkrop, Brad. “Ich grolle nicht, und wenn das Herz auch bricht (Heine).” ​IPA Source​, 2008.
https://athena.rider.edu:2500/ich-grolle-nicht-7756.html.