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Sams SchumannCiphers 1966
Sams SchumannCiphers 1966
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j M N 0 p QS~~
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In an earlier
Much more variable are the possible ways
behind Schum
the cipher-yield. Thus, it may be a melody, wh
cipher.
the given form In m
(as Ex 4 above) or inverted o
grade or both, at any pitch, in any
Schumann re octave
he notation. It may have some or all
derived a of its no
m
See peated, just asI
Ex in the well-known
abo ASCH an
The A-H line was later amended to unite Schumann's ciphers. Conversely, if two consecutive letter
names 'F' and 'E' (Florestan and Eusebius) with that
happen to yield the same pitch then they may
of Clara (Clara Wieck, later Schumann), thus: as one note. Some or all of the cipher-yield
Ex 2; Clara cipher, c1834-c1853 treated as harmony, with encipherments
h) DHABC E F G I J KLMNO P Qetc upwards in the stave, ie from left to right lik
) I J KLMNOP QRSTUVWX D etc
and then sounded simultaneously as music.
() QRSTU V WX DHABC EF G I etc
example, the enciphered notes may be spa
Each system follows the book in using conventions (eg
laterally or vertically within a preconceived
Q for CH, X for SCH) and abbreviations (eg one
work and then treated as structurally sign
symbol for ich or even dich, which-in Clara-cipher--
eg accented, notes within a total composition.
happen to occur in the same column).
These are just some of the ways in which Sch
One way of enciphering was to read all the letters
on this theory, used his cipher systems. No doub
in a given row as flat, all those in another as natural,
were many others. But the purpose would a
all those in the last as sharp. Then successive turns of
the same as in his known use of cipher, n
the cipher-wheel would yield 42 settings, ie any
device of musical composition. It follows t
of the six possible arrangements of accidentals in
governing concepts are musical, so there are no
any of the seven possible white-note scales. To take
cipher 'rules', It may be possible for a musician to tell
one example; in Clara cipher on F with D-G, t;
whether cipher is used, but that is a very different
I-P, ,; Q-X, #; thus
matter. Similarly, the cipher was never meant to be
Ex3 read, so there are no cipher 'messages'. It may be
possible for a cryptanalyst to tell what texts were
used, but that again is a very different matter.
ID HA ~ E F G I J Such a thesis may seem unconvincing, or unreward-
I J L M N O P Q R etc.
ing. What follows seeks to show that it is neither. To
I RSTUV W X D H
(CH) (scH) keep the musical interest paramount, the technical
evidence has been abridged. So far as possible the
her own name would yield
argument relies on textual reference to Schumann him-
Ex 4. self, acknowledged authorities, or other relevant
sources, as listed on page 400. As before, readers
are invited to test and judge for themselves.
c LA RA
Ex F Ee, Op 6 No 5
This is the music of reconciliation that we hear
blandly contradicting the plain sense of Heine's
A theme on these notes is attributed by Schumann words in Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen and
to Clara herself. Roger Fiske7 is in general agree- again at the end of the marvellous Dichterliebe,
essentially thus:
ment that this theme does indeed signify Clara, and
adds another such discovery of his own from the
Davidsbiindlertiinze op 6 Ex i0 Op 48, postludes to
\ No i12 and 16
Ex 6
If so,
Ex hypothesi,then a discoverable system will be one of
with substitution
charac cipher in which a sliding scale of x
in the
white notes is aligned mot with an alphabetical arrange-
hinted
ment of y letters thro in z rows. Take only the four
On this vie
different notes of Ex 4 as heard in Die Lotosblume
Clara is
(Ex 1 la). The letters A and C give thethose notes.
sense, Clara
B obviously completes each sequence. But the
letter L also gives that note and therefore must
Ex 14 x
come below the letter B, in a second row. Similarly
R must come in a third row, and we have:
Ex 16
D E .
I A B c
Ii L
:
...... .J 1 F
.................,,,,,
G ?