The Cambridge Companion to Schumann (Cambridge Companions to Music)

Cambridge University Press, 6/28/2007
EAN 9780521783415, ISBN10: 0521783410

Hardcover, 326 pages, 24.7 x 17.4 x 2.5 cm
Language: English

This Companion is an accessible introduction to Schumann: his time, his temperament, his style and his Å“uvre. An international team of scholars explores the cultural context, musical and poetic fabric, sources of inspiration and interpretative reach of key works from the Schumann repertoire ranging from his famous lieder and piano pieces to chamber, orchestral and dramatic works. Additional chapters address Schumann's presence in nineteenth- and twentieth-century composition and the fascinating reception history of his late works. Tables, illustrations, a detailed chronology and advice on further reading make it an ideally informative handbook for both the Schumann connoisseur and the music lover. An excellent textbook for the university student of courses on key composers of nineteenth-century Western Classical music, it is an invaluable guide for all who are interested in the thought, aesthetics and affective power of one of the most intriguing figures of a culturally rich and formative period.

Part I. Contexts
1. Introduction to Schumann
life stories Beate Perrey
2. Life and literature, poetry and philosophy
Robert Schumann's aesthetics of music Ulrich Tadday
3. Schumann's heroes
Schubert, Beethoven, Bach Nicholas Marston
Part II. Works
4. The piano music I
a world of images John Daverio
5. The piano music II
afterimages Laura Tunbridge
6. Why sing? Lieder and song cycles Jonathan Dunsby
7. The chamber music Linda Roesner
8. Novel symphonies and dramatic overtures Scott Burnham
9. The concertos Joseph Kerman
10. Dramatic stage and choral works Liz Paley
Part III. Reception
11. Schumann in his time and since Reinhard Kapp
12. The compositional reception of Schumann's music since 1950 Jörn Peter Hiekel
13. Songs of dawn and dusk
coming to terms with the late music John Daverio.

‘Her own chapter, Schumann’s Lives and Afterlives: An Introduction’, is … a good overview’. London Review of Books

‘… the overall excellence of the Cambridge series, with its greater academic and analytical content than Oxford’s, is upheld by this Schumann volume.’ Classical Music

‘Readers unaware of the full extent of Schumann’s compositional mastery, or his staggering originality will surely finish this volume newly enlightened.’ Classical Music

'This companion is an excellent starting point.' Reference Reviews

'… an impressive introduction ti the many facets of Schumann's illustrious life and fascinating music.' Journal for the Society for Musicology in Ireland