Evoking the Exotic: Schumann's 'Danish' Manner

Author(s): Balázs Mikusi

Source: The Musical Times , Summer, 2008, Vol. 149, No. 1903 (Summer, 2008), pp. 36-46
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25434537

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 36
As far as musicology goes, few aspects of Schumann's music have been
Walter Rehberg find that, of the six movements in the ostensible 'Images
i. Paula & Walter Rehberg:
Robert Schumann: sein Leben
und sein Werk (Zurich &
Stuttgart, 1954), p. 500. Fritz
Hug confirms this almost
word by word in his Robert
Schumann: ein Leben f?r die
Musik (Zurich, 1965), p.175.
2. Kathleen Dale: 'The piano
music', in Gerald Abraham,
ed.: Schumann: a symposium
(London, 1952), pp.12-97
(p.88).
3. Martin Cooper: 'The
songs', in Abraham, ed.:
Schumann, pp.98?137 (p. 117).
4. All three quotations from
Cooper: 'The songs', p.n5.
5. G?nther Spies: Reclams
Musikf?hrer: Robert
Schumann (Stuttgart, 1997),
p.172.
6. James Parakilas: 'How
Spain got a soul', in Jonathan
Bellman, ed.: The exotic in
western music (Boston, 1998),
pp.i37-93(P-l6?)
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BAL?ZS MIKUSI
Evoking the exotic: Schumann's
'Danish' manner
'misunderestimated' so often and so consistently as his evocations of
the exotic. Some of his most extensive, supposedly 'exotic' works ?
like the four-hand piano cycle Bilder aus Osten (op.66) or the two Spanish
Liederspiele (opp.74 and 138) - have regularly been criticised for the faintness
of their couleur locale. To quote only a few representative samples, Paula and
from the East', it is only the first piece that 'shows a little Turkish colour',
while the others 'have nothing programmatic nor anything explicitly folk
loristic about them; nevertheless, slight national traits are palpable, to which,
however, under 'East' one has to understand the area from the Pleisse to the
Bosporus.'1 In her overview of the piano music in Schumann: a symposium
Kathleen Dale finds even fewer traces of exoticism in the work, claiming that
[t]he musical substance of Op.66 is [...] no less occidental than that of Schumann's other
compositions, and even if the player is aware of the composer's intentions, he must search
deeply for any specifically oriental attributes ? except perhaps for the profusion of repetitive
figuration and the rarity of breathing-spaces which are commonly considered to be character
istics of exotic music, but which are already prominent features of Schumann's style.2
A similar dissatisfaction is also apparent in the song chapter of the same volume,
where Martin Cooper asserts that, with regard to the Spanische Liebeslieder
(op. 138), 'none of these solos or duets bears the remotest resemblance to
anything genuinely Spanish.'3 This, of course, holds hardly less true for the
Spanisches Liederspiel (op. 74), whose attempt at imitating the Spanish idiom
results in a similarity 'only occasional and superficial'. Ironically, however,
this occasional Spanishness casts an even darker shadow on the rest of the
cycle: thus the 'Intermezzo' is described as 'a very German serenade', simi
lar to the following 'In der Nacht', with 'its most un-Spanish combination of
Bach-like chromaticism and sweet, warm German sentiment.'4 G?nther
Spies also agrees that in this work 'Spanish elements are generally lacking',5
and James Parakilas essentially confirms the common opinion by stating that
'the predominant musical colour is of folk style - German folk style - with
just an occasional number in bolero rhythm as a needed reminder of the
allegory at work.'6
Although one should not believe that even the most qualified modern
musicologist could have the same sensitivity for what might have sounded
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7- Quoted in Kazuko Ozawa:
Quellenstudien ^u Robert
Schumanns Liedern nach
Adelbert Chamisso (Frankfurt
am Main, 1989), p.63. English both Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann and Niels Gade - he called them 'interest
translation from Jon William
Finson: 'Between Lied and
Ballade ? Schumann's Op.40
and the tradition of genre ',
in Bernhard. R. Appel,
Ute B?r & Matthias Wendt,
edd.: Schumanniana nova:
Festschrift GerdNauhaus ^um
60. Geburtstag (Sinzig, 2002),
pp.250-65 (p.250). Christian
Adolph Overbeck's poem
'Bl?he liebes Veilchen'
survived in countless settings
from the 1780s on.
8. Letter of 3 November
1842, quoted in Ozawa:
Quellenstudien, p. 64; see
also Finson: 'Between Lied
and Ballade', p.250.
9. Finson: 'Between Lied
and Ballade', p.257.
10. Finson: 'Between Lied
and Ballade', p.265.
11. Carl Dahlhaus:
Nineteenth-century music,
trans. J. Bradford Robinson
(Berkeley, Los Angeles &
London, 1989), pp.69?70;
cited in Finson: 'Between
Lied and Ballade', p.265.
'exotic' in Schumann's time as that of his best contemporaries, there is little
doubt that all these stylistic descriptions are essentially cogent. However, the
widespread subtext, namely that these works would somehow fail to fulfil
what the composer set out to achieve with their composition, seems overly
simplistic to me. So let me first turn to a single concrete example, the four
Andersen settings in the song cycle op.40, and pose the provocatively simple
question: do these exemplify a specifically 'Danish' manner in Schumann's
oeuvre?
Most INTRIGUINGLY, in this special case Schumann himself felt that
these songs were at variance with his 'normal' style. When sending
a complimentary copy to Andersen on 1 October 1842, he found it
necessary to explain that his music 'will probably appear rather odd to you at
first glance. But your poems seemed equally so to me at first. As I immersed
myself more in them, my music assumed an ever stranger character. The fault,
then, is yours alone. Andersenian poems must be set differently from "Bl?he
liebes Veilchen".'7 Indeed, this fremdartig quality must not have escaped
Andersen's attention either, for ? after hearing the songs as performed by
ing and characteristic' in his letter of thanks.8
Examining what this 'strangeness' might have meant, Jon Finson's thought
ful essay describes the most unusual features of each song, mentioning the
metrically displaced accompaniment of 'M?rzveilchen', the eerie 'stile antico'
piano part of 'Muttertraum' (which reminds one of the dread of 'Zwielicht'
from the Eichendorff Liederkreis), the frightful 'marcia f?nebre ' character in
'Der Soldat' and the demented reel of 'Der Spielmann' (which, again, brings
a better-known example, 'Das ist ein Fl?ten und Geigen' from Dichterliebe,
to the listener's mind). The suggested parallels seem important, since Finson
? as is evident from his mere title, 'Between Lied and Ballade' ? puts the
Andersen settings into a specifically German literary context, relating their
poetic genre to the traditional Moritat or B?nkeIgesang.9 However, in his con
clusion he opens another door as well, mentioning that 'the "characteristic"
serves mainly as a emblem of "local colour" in nineteenth-century music, of
the folkish, a vein Schumann mined sparingly in his Lieder, though he was
entirely capable when he put his mind to it.'10
So, is there perhaps a 'Danish' manner at work here? Finson quotes Carl
Dahlhaus's description of the Charakteristische, which is 'idiosyncratic rather
than general or typical, the exception rather than the rule, "interesting" and
"striking" ratherthan "nobly simple".'11 However, while all these features amply
circumscribe the 'colour', they seem to say little of the 'local' aspect. Further
more, any reference to the locale would connect the music to a more or less
concrete 'setting' (as, paradigmatically, on the operatic stage), but Schumann
the musical Times Summer 2008 37
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 38 Evoking the exotic: Schumann 's 'Danish ' manner
12. Robert Schumann:
'Charakter, musikalischer',
in Carl Herlo?sohn, ed.:
Damen- Conversationslexikon,
vol.2 (Leipzig, 1834), p.330.
Quoted in Bernhard R.
Appel : ' Charakterst?ck',
in Die Musik in Geschichte
und Gegenwart, Sachteil,
vol.2 (Kassel & Basel, 1995),
pp.636-42 (p.638).
13. Apart from the
'pentatonish' middle section
of 'Hochl?nders Abschied',
these three songs evoke
more the heroic, 'Ossianic'
Scotland than a simple
'folkish' ideal. For a more
detailed examination of this
distinction, see John Daverio:
'Schumann's Ossianic
Manner', in 19th-century
Music 21 (1998), pp.247?73.
himself insisted that 'characteristic music differs from the picturesque in that
it represents the states of mind, while the other the states of life.'12 To be sure,
he immediately added that 'the two mostly occur mixed', but the differenti
ation he proposes leaves little doubt that, at least for him, 'character' was
more a feature of expressive, than of necessarily 'exotic' music.
Of course, charakteristisch was Andersen's, not Schumann's, term to de
scribe the op.40 songs, but the above quotation, I believe, should inspire us
to understand the composer's own words in a similar light. Although he
indeed describes his own pieces as fremdartig, what the letter unmistakably
implies is that this 'strangeness' was inspired by Andersen's poetry, not by his
birthplace. Certainly, no one can objectively prove that there is nothing
'Danish' in these songs, but - as Finson's careful analysis shows - there is
arguably nothing in them that would require the 'ancillary hypothesis' of a
foreign country. Rather than trying to capture the essence of 'the Danish'
(whatever that could be), these songs strive to capture the atmosphere of four
peculiar poems, whose author happened to be Danish.
With this important distinction in mind, we may now turn to
Schumann's exoticisms in general. Of course, by arguing that there
is probably nothing in op.40 we could understand better by learn
ing that Andersen held a Danish passport, I did not want to imply that Schu
mann would never ever have intended to be exotic in a more straightforward
manner. Even in the very same year (1840) he composed works like 'Zigeuner
leben' (op.29 no.3) or 'Der Hidalgo' (op.30 no.3), which proudly show off
their local colour. However, these cases seem quite different from the Ander
sen songs insofar as the reference to the exotic is very explicit in both, the
former being a description of the Gypsies' life, the latter a quasi-staged 'role
poem' with Mandolinenklang and the rest. And while the musical reference is
rarely as clear-cut as in these two examples, the Myrthen cycle (op.25, also
from 1840) includes some songs wherein the couleur locale is unmistakable:
several of the Burns settings, like 'Die Hochl?nder-Witwe', 'Hochl?nders
Abschied', or 'Hauptmanns Weib',13 and the 'Zwei Venezianische Lieder' come
to mind as the most conspicuous examples - all of which are, again, much
more explicitly related to their locale than the Andersen poems. The real
question, then, seems not to be why Schumann sometimes 'failed' in his efforts
to be exotic, but rather what might have made him refrain from being con
spicuously exotic in these cases, 'though he was entirely capable when he put
his mind to it'.
While, as we have seen, the 'year of song' brought about a number of
exotic settings published in different cycles, most of Schumann's later, 'locally
coloured' works fall into a few distinct types. The most obvious of these
is that of the nationally labelled dances - polonaises, ?cossaises, fran?aises ?
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14. The 'Ungarisch' appears
in Ballscenen (that is, in a
collection of real dances),
while the 'Kroatenmarsch'
is part of the 12 vierh?ndige
Ciavierst?cke f?r kleine
und grosse Kinder (op. 8 5).
A 'B?rentanz' also appears
in this set; another (written
for, but finally omitted from,
the Album f?r die Jugend)
survives in manuscript.
15. The term appears in
Schumann's 1836 review
of Wilhelm Taubert's
Miniatures pour le Pianoforte
(op.23) and is applied to
Schumann's own pieces in
Bernhard R. Appel: Robert
Schumanns Album f?r die
Jugend': Einf?hrung und
Kommentar (Zurich & Mainz,
I998)?P-75
16. Of the several
Burns settings 'Das
H ochlandm?dchen ',
'Hochlandbursch' (op. 5 5
nos. 1 and 5), as well as
the two versions of 'John
Anderson' (op.67 no.5, op.145
no.4) exhibit conspicuously
exotic features. Among the
choral songs for women's
voices 'Tamburschl?gerin'
(op.69 no.i) provides an
unmistakable Spanish-Gypsy
example.
17. As regards the targeted
audience, the titles of opp.85
and 130 speak for themselves,
but the composer in fact
considered giving the title
Kinderball already to op. 109.
that mostly appear in the four-hand cycles Ballscenen (op. 109), Kinderball
(op. 130) and Polonaises ('Op.III'). In a sense, of course, these pieces are
exotic only in an indirect way: rather than willing to transport us to the
country described in the title, they primarily evoke the atmosphere of the
ballroom where the dances themselves were performed. This 'indirect
exoticism', however, can easily merge with the direct one, as in the more
barbaric 'Ungarisch' or in the 'Kroatenmarsch', which get very close to burst
open the doors of the ballroom and whirl us out to the market place to
experience a 'B?rentanz'.14
The bear dance takes us not merely to the market place, but also to the
second type of exoticisms, those understood by Schumann as Guckkasten
bilderf?r Kinder^ As best exemplified in his Album f?r die Jugend (op.68)
these 'snapshots' serve as an introduction for children to the real world by
providing finely polished examples of its most memorable experiences. The
presentation of unknown exotic lands, which could potentially be frighten
ing as well, plays an important role here as the number of examples ?
'Sizilianisch', 'Fremder Mann', 'Scheherazade ', 'Lied italienischer Marinari',
'Matrosenlied', 'Nordisches Lied' ? amply testifies. The somewhat conspicu
ous elimination of the Gypsy element might be intentional (for the Other
should be far away to allow for a safe experience), but the composer soon
made up for this omission with the 'Zigeunerliedchen' of his Lieder-Album
f?r die Jugend (op.79) and the third movement, titled 'Zigeunertanz', in the
last one of the Drei Clavier-Sonaten f?r die Jugend (op.i 18).
This pedagogical aspect is arguably also present in the third important
group of Schumann's smaller-scale exoticisms, which includes choral songs
for mixed voices ? these certainly served the purpose of bourgeois (self )
edification no less than the collections for children.16 Viewed from this angle,
in fact, our first type may also conform to the general trend, since ? apart
from the early 'Op.III' Polonaises ? the 'exotic' dances all appear in works
explicitly written for children: 12 vierh?ndige Ciavierst?cke f?r kleine und
grosse Kinder (op.85), Ballscenen (op. 109), Kinderball (op.130).17 Thus, with
out the least willing to believe that Schumann's world could perfectly fit such
angular categories, it seems that in the vast majority of the above cases the
composer might have had a fairly simple task on his hand: to present the
exotic 'for its own sake ' - more precisely, to provide Guckkastenbilder for his
audience, whether children or adults. However, sometimes he did have
something more in mind and, as I would like to argue, this happened pre
cisely in those cases which have proven the most problematic for later com
mentators.
Turning first to the 'too German' Spanisches Liederspiela basic difference
is immediately apparent: rather than offering a single snapshot, Schumann
set a series of nine numbers here, which outline a more or less coherent plot.
the Musical times Summer 2008 39
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40 Evoking the exotic: Schumann 's 'Danish ' manner
18. Robert Schumann:
Gesammelte Schriften ?ber
Musik und Musiker, ed.
Martin Kreisig, 5th edn,
vol.2 (Leipzig, I9i4),p.i59.
Translation from Daverio:
'Schumann's Ossianic
Manner', p.264.
19. Translation from ibid.
For the German original,
see Robert Schumann:
Tageb?cher, ed. Gerd
Nauhaus, vol.2 (Leipzig,
i987),p.259.
To be sure, it would have been possible to achieve this by way of stringing
together nine exotic Guckkastenbilder, however, that would no doubt have
become a bit of a bore. And, as his oft-quoted 1844 portrait of Niels Gade
suggests, Schumann was particularly sensitive to the overuse of couleur
locale. Notwithstanding his general enthusiasm for his young Danish col
league's works, he felt it necessary to include a warning as well: 'Only one
thing is to be hoped for: that the artist will not founder on his nationality, that
his "Northern-lights-bearing" imagination [...] may prove rich and varied,
and that he might also cast his gaze on other spheres of nature and life.'18
John Daverio is certainly right in feeling that Schumann's words here are
a polite and somewhat flowery paraphrase of what his wife put more bluntly
in a private note in March 1843: '[Gade's] talent seems to go only so far, to
encompass a limited type of music [...] for the Nordic national character [...]
soon becomes monotonous, like all national music in general.'19 Apparently,
for its best effect, the local colour must be 'local' in two different senses: first
by evoking the exotic site, but also by evoking it only at certain moments,
rather than throughout the work with unflagging intensity.
Arguably, then, Schumann must have been at pains to avoid such monotony
in his own 'Spanish' songs, and rather than composing nine 'Southern-lights
bearing' numbers, he strove to 'prove rich and varied'. In this respect, in fact,
the two Liederspiele bear resemblance to theatrical works: some of the scenes
set the stage where the action takes place, but then we turn our attention to
the details of the plot instead. The appearance of explicit bolero rhythms in
nos. 5 and 8 of the Spanisches Liederspielundoubtedly suffices for this purpose
and the Spanische Liebeslieder even follow a very consistent strategy by pre
facing both parts of the cycle with an exotic instrumental piece (a Vorspiel:
Im Bolerostempo and an Intermedio: Nationaltani, respectively). After thus
having set the stage the composer turns to the love story itself, paying signi
ficantly less heed to whether his heroes are Spanish or German. Indeed, as
Parakilas suggested, these works beg to be read as allegories: rather than
concentrating on how far away the story might take place, Schumann em
phasises the essential human similarities, the feeling that 'this could have
happened to any of us'. Musical exoticism, being inspired by the distance of
the plot, inevitably creates distance from the audience, and this might easily
have been the very thing the composer strove to avoid.
Moving on to Schumann's 'oriental' works one encounters the same
variety of approaches we have experienced earlier. The few 'Hebrew'
songs (especially the Drei Ges?nge, op.95) clearly evoke the sound of
a harp, though this might represent more an ancient 'chronicler' topos than
a (geographically motivated) 'exotic' one. Settings of the supposedly exotic
Goethe poems in Myrthen bear no obvious local colour, in accordance with
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 the fact that the texts themselves are not explicitly exotic and thus well allow
for a 'topographically neutral' setting. The oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri
in essence follows the stage-music strategy: each new location is introduced
by a conspicuously exotic tableau (in a sense, an oversize snapshot), but the
Peri's individual story unfolds in more 'regular' music.20 In view of the
several straightforwardly exotic moments in this work, however, it again
seems difficult to understand how the composer might have missed the point
so completely as, supposedly, in Bilder aus Osten. However, before starting
to talk about another failure, we had better take a close look at the preface
Schumann himself provided for this work.

The composer of the following pieces believes that, for their better understanding, he must
not conceal that their origin is due to a special stimulation. For the pieces were written while
reading the R?ckertian maqams (Tales after the Arabic of Hariri); the book's marvellous
hero, Abu Seid -whom one could compare to our German Eulenspiegel, but he is far more
poetic and noble - just as the figure of his worthy friend, Hareth, did not want to come out
of the composer's head while at work, which may explain the strange character of some of
the pieces. However, with the first five pieces, the composer did not have concrete situations
in mind, and only the last one could perhaps pass for an echo of the last maqam, in which
we see the hero, rueful and repentant, ending his cheerful life. Let this attempt to express the
oriental poetry and way of thinking approximately, as it has already occurred in German
poetry, also in our art be received not unfavourably by the sympathisers.

2o. To avoid any possible

misunderstandings, each of
This preface might provide a number of caveats for those in search of exotic
the exotic tableaux employs features in the cycle. Whereas in several of the snapshot-type pieces the goal
both 'Turkish' instruments
seems precisely to have been to present the exotic in a paradigmatic form
and a chorus (of the Indians,
of the geniuses of the Nile (with all its superficial, easily recognisable accessories), here Schumann set
and of Huris, respectively). out to express something infinitely more subde: the essence of Eastern poetry
With these examples in mind
the stage-setting power of and thought. And in this context it seems telling that he provides an apology
collective numbers can easily for the strangeness of only 'some of the pieces' and, when sending a copy to
be recognised in the two
'Spanish' cycles as well: the
Franz Brendel, he explicitly asked him not to judge the cycle at first hearing.21
two boleros of the Liederspiel Apparently, Schumann was well aware that the majority of the pieces might
are a quartet and a duet,
not necessarily sound particularly strange to the larger audience and that
and the instrumental pieces
in the Liebeslieder, with their even the best connoisseurs might need several hearings to understand his real
obvious dance references, intentions.
also evoke collective action.
The most fascinating aspect of this preface, however, is that the composer
2i. Letter of 17 June 1849;
wrote it at all. And his decision to do so might have had a lot to do with his
see F. Gustav Jansen, ed.:
Robert Schumanns Briefe, obvious difficulties in finding an appropriate title for the work. In a more
Neue Folge, 2nd edn musical vein he thought of labelling it ?stliche Kl?nge or ?stliche Harmonien,
(Leipzig, 1904), p.306.
but more poetic titles, like Makamen or Abu Seidiana, were also considered.22
22. See Schumann's letter to
Bartholf Wilhelm Senff on With this prehistory in mind the final version, Bilder aus Osten, seems to be
27 March 1849; quoted in a kind of compromise: straightforwardly exotic enough to raise the public's
Wolfgang Boetticher: Robert
curiosity, but void of the musically too specific 'sounds' or 'harmonies'. In
Schumann in seinen Schriften
und Briefen (Berlin, 1942), this light it seems plausible that, when writing his preface 'for the better
p.447. understanding' of these pieces, the composer might primarily have intended

the Musical Times Summer 2008 41

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42 Evoking the exotic: Schumann 9s 'Danish ' manner
23. In the same letter (ibid.)
Schumann even requested
that, on the title page of
the first edition, 'the words
"Bilder aus Osten" not be set
too conspicuously, but rather
somewhat hidden', thus
willing to call extra attention
to the rest of the suggested
title instead: '6 Impromptus
zu vier H?nden'.
24. Quoted in Christa
Jost: 'Gereimte Prosa
musikalische Poesie: Al
Hariris Makamen aus dem
Arabischen von Friedrich
R?ckert und die Entstehung
der Bilder aus Osten op.66',
in Matthias Wendt, ed.:
Schumann und seine Dichter,
Schumann Forschungen,
vol.4 (Mainz, 1993),
pp.i32-47(p.i37).
After having provided apologies of my own for Schumann's most
25. See Appel: Robert
Schumanns Album f?r die
Jugend', pp. 140-3.
26. For a detailed analysis,
see Elmar Seidel: 'Die
Methode pr?gt das Ergebnis
? Erw?gungen zu Methoden
musikalischer Analyse,
angestellt an einem
kleinen St?ck von Robert
Schumann', in A. Beer,
K. Pfarr & W Ruf, edd.:
Festschrift Christoph-Hellmut
Mahling ium 65. Geburtstag
(Tutzing, 1997XPP.1285-301.
27. Heinrich W Schwab:
'Das Lyrische Klavierst?ck
und der nordische Ton',
in Schwab & Friedhelm
Krummacher, edd.: Gattung
und Werk in der Musikgeschichte
Norddeutschlands und
Skandinaviens: Referate der
Kieler Tagung (Kassel &
Basel, 1982), pp.136-53
(p.152).
to provide an apology for the lack of surface exoticisms that the public could
have expected when looking at the title.23 The musical style in itself - at least
according to the ears of the numerous modern commentators quoted in my
introduction - would hardly have made this kind of stylistic disclaimer
necessary.
Nevertheless, we should not create a myth about the wealth of subtle
oriental features which Schumann employed in this work, but which the
chronological distance has made inaccessible to us. The 'profusion of repetit
ive figuration and the rarity of breathing-spaces' that Kathleen Dale mentions
(although, in the final analysis, dismisses for their being 'already prominent
features of Schumann's style') might have been of crucial importance to the
composer's own perception - in the draft of his preface he even noted that 'the
artfully interwoven speech-expression may also have had an influence on the
music.'24 In this respect the 'Scheherazade' from the Album f?r die Jugend
might provide an illuminating parallel with its more concrete programmatic
title. As Bernhard Appel's insightful analysis has shown, in this piece it is the
'how', rather than the 'what', that holds our attention: we never learn what
Scheherazade 's story is about, but the continuous flow of quavers and, most
intriguingly, the reappearance of the first two bars at the end leave no doubt
that it is a never-ending one.25 If in some sense still a snapshot, 'Scheherazade '
demands to be looked at again and again in endless circulation.
heavily criticised exotic works, let me return to the composer's 'Danish'
compositions. I have argued that, if anything, the op.40 settings
adumbrate Schumann's 'Andersenian' manner rather than his 'Danish' one.
But it is also worth investigating how the 'Nordic' music in the Album f?r die
Jugend, associated with Niels Gade, might colour this picture.
The well-known 'Nordisches Lied', in the first edition subtitled 'Gruss an
G.', has long been known to be an hommage ? Gade (ex.i). The first four
notes of the top voice are derived from the letters G?A?D?E and this motive
(together with its various transpositions) resurfaces numerous times through
out the piece.26 Notwithstanding this obvious 'Danish' reference and the clear
cut, song-like phrase structure of the melody, the 'Nordisches Lied' may at
times sound fairly similar to a true German chorale with its homorhythmic,
block-chordal style - Heinrich Schwab's suggestion that the piece would
have 'Nordic' character on the basis of the frequent major-minor shifts does
not contradict this impression either.27 In this light it is intriguing that the
'Nordisches Lied' is followed by a 'Figurierter Choral' in Schumann's
album: such juxtaposition easily reminds us that 'primitive' harmonic or
rhythmic features may just as successfully evoke historical periods distant in
time as exotic lands distant in space.
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Ex.i: Schumann: Album f?r die Jugendop.68, 'Nordisches Lied'
Im Volkston

ftbrj? i i\i ? ?J\iJ t^vH* i * i *?

tH^'i M? ^W0m m rs^f

mm ? t*4 4- te ^m
3- *? * i g. g: ? g * v

1*
^p ffP?
*W jL 3 S.=Hl3r
*f?
W^ ?*
?
^,jf J. J|j?j|, j.^s
Besides this well-known example, however, there is another
piece in the Jugendalbum, the plausible connection of which to Gade
escaped attention: the 'Volksliedchen' (ex.2). Although in this case
edition does not hint at a possible place of origin, later reissues of th
century Breitkopf & H?rtel complete edition (which incorporate new
ation gathered from Schumann's circle of students) contain a footno
ing to which 'this moving little melody is manifestly Norwegian in
Whether 'Danish' or 'Norwegian', this 'Volksliedchen' has much in
with the 'Nordisches Lied': bearing a key signature of one flat it stan
minor (while the latter piece waivers between this key and F major);
cadences in bar 4 are virtually identical in the two; moreover, as the
sketches reveal, the 'Volksliedchen" originally had a fairly homor

the musical times Summer 2008

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44 Evoking the exotic: Schumann's 'Danish ' manner

Ex.2: Schumann: Album f?r die Jugendop.68, ' Volksliedchen '

Im klagenden Ton

ftrijJH^Ij'i^l

.#

^jvyiujjiw III kl III \i

i?r~i? >? ? ii^ * u ni \j?

Wie im Anfang

r Jl ' I IT^ ajj i'j

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 accompaniment (void of arpeggios) that closely resembled the chordal style
28. Once recognised, of the 'Nordisches Lied'.
however, the plausible
connection to Gade may But there is a much more astonishing similarity: that of the opening motives.
easily inspire one to discover
While in the 'Nordisches Lied ' the basic unit is evidently four notes in length
further 'programmatic'
encryptions in the piece, like (the G-A-D-E motive), in the 'Volksliedchen' it is the first three pitches that
the descending A?G-E-D seem important to the composer. Reminding one of the fairly monothematic
melodic line in bar 3 -
a possible variation of
strategy exhibited in the 'Nordisches Lied', the basic motive, A-D-E, fills
G-A-D-E (I thank P?ter the whole of bar i, returns in bar 5 (thus starting a longer repetition) and
Hal?sz for this suggestion).
Whether such recombination resurfaces in bar 9 to open the middle section as well. Furthermore, whereas
of the notes might indeed in the 'Nordisches Lied' the middle section strongly varies the opening motive
have been intentional on the
(by inverting the basic melodic contour and even altering each of the inter
composer's part is of course
an open question; in any case, vals), the 'Volksliedchen' keeps both the original pitches and their metric
Heinrich Schwab has argued position: A, D and E unmistakably appear on the first three beats of bar 9 and
that in the third movement of
Schumann's G minor Piano even get repeated in bar 10. (Although the ornamental figuration may to
Trio (op. 110) the melodic some extent veil the importance of these main notes, the broken octave
sequence E?A?D?G is
meant to evoke Gade, the
embellishment clearly highlights A, while D and E are notated with longer
dedicatee of the work. See crotchet and minim - values, as is suitable for the 'structural notes' of this
Schwab's 'Clara und Robert
Schumann und der D?ne
passage.) In view of the many connections to the 'Nordisches' G?A?D?E
Niels W. Gade: Dokumente piece, could this care to emphasise the motive A-D-E in this 'Norwegisches'
ihrer k?nsderischen
folksong-imitation be mere coincidence?
Begegnung', in Matthias
Wendt, ed.: Robert und Clara To be sure, the omission of precisely the first note of the G-A?D-E
Schumann und die nationalen
motive makes the musical connection difficult to hear - as evidence it might
Musikkulturen des ?9.
Jahrhunderts, Schumann
suffice to mention that, apparently, no modern scholar has spotted the relation
Forschungen, vol.9 (Mainz, ship until now.28 However, A?D?E is not merely a 'beheaded' version of
2005),pp.2i7-33(p.23i). G-A-D-E, but also a German word in its own right meaning 'farewell' (cf.
29. My Suggestion for the French 'adieu' or the Italian 'addio').29 And we happen to have clear evid
the encoding of the word
'ade' in the 'Volksliedchen' ence that Schumann was well aware of the 'Gade-ade!' pun already several
complies with all the rules years before the composition of the Album f?r die Jugend. On 5 January 1844
John Daverio set up for he ended his letter to Johann Verhulst as follows:
Schumann's use of musical
ciphers in 'Schumann: I wish you knew Gade; that is a splendid fellow and musician; he leaves soon. Today I wrote
cryptographer or into his album:
pictographer?', in his
Crossing paths: Schubert,
Schumann and Brahms
(Oxford, 2002), pp.65-102. Auf Wie - der- sehn, auf Wie - der- sehn!
30. Jansen: Robert Schumanns
Briefe, p.234. As Ulrich
Leisinger pointed out (in
personal communication)
this 'syllabic' reading of
A?De may even inspire us
G a de a - de!
to interpret the (otherwise
commonplace) last three bass
notes of the 'Volksliedchen' See you later as well, my dear Verh
as an encryption of the name Your
Gade (G-A-De). R. Schum

the musical Tim

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46 Evoking the exotic: Schumann 's 'Danish ' manner

The connection between the bass's 'hidden' and the vocal line's 'real' texts
hardly needs commentary: in a mere four bars Schumann expresses both his
sadness over his friend's departure ('Gade, farewell!') and his hopes for reunion
('See you later!'). And a slight bit of biographical information actually puts
the 'Volksliedchen' into an extra-musical context very similar to that as
sociated with the above 'Auf Wiedersehen' miniature. It is well known that

31. To what extent such
cryptic meaning would have
name, would have recognised it immediately.31
been understood by a wider
circle of composers remains
obscure; it is intriguing, So, did Schumann have a 'Danish' manner
nevertheless, that (as both
Katalin Koml?s and Shay
Loya pointed out in personal
conversation) Grieg's use
of this motive in Peer Gynt,
was sensitive enough to respond to the peculiar atmosphere of Andersen's
especially at the beginning
of 'Aase 's death' would no
doubt be a very appropriate
recall of the 'ade ' association
(though this might be pure
coincidence, the more so,
since here the motive appears
in transposition).
Schumann started work on the Album f?rdie Jugend'during the turmoil of the
1848 revolution, in late August. Gade, although he had accepted the director
ship of the Gewandhauskonzerte after Mendelssohn's death in November
1847, decided to return to Copenhagen for good at the end of the 1847/48
season. The chronological proximity is of course not compelling, but Gade's
departure might well have inspired Schumann to say farewell to him in
this innocent-looking 'Nordic' folksong-imitation 'in plaintive tone' (Im
klagenden Ton). In contrast to the fairly easily recognisable Gade reference
of the 'Nordisches Lied', the hidden message of the 'Volksliedchen' might
have remained secret even for the somewhat initiated. But we can have no
doubt that Gade, who himself liked to play with the musical letters of his
after all? Probably not,
although he was eager to evoke certain elements of Gade's 'Northern
lights-bearing' style when paying personal homage to his friend and
poems with an accordingly 'characteristic' musical style of his own. And al
though he did have a primarily bolero-based 'Spanish' manner, he obviously
did not believe that the highest aspiration of a Spanish song cycle could be to
show off this vividly 'picturesque' style to abuse. Rather than Abu Seid's
costume, the mere surface, it was always his thoughts, the human substance,
that inspired him most.

Bal?is Mikusi read musicology at the Lis^t Academy of Music, Budapest, and is
now a PhD candidate at Cornell University. Most of his published work
concerns the music of Haydn and Mozart, but the 'exotic9 in 19th-century music
is also one of his main interests: his study about 'Mendelssohn's "Scottish"
tonality9 appeared in the Spring 2006 issue of Nineteenth-Century Music.

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