Robert Schumann - 4. Whatever Happened to Christian Friedrich Hebbel?
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Episode 4 of 5: Whatever Happened to Christian Friedrich Hebbel?
Donald Macleod investigates the literary catalysts that fired Schumann's musical imagination. Today, Christian Friedrich Hebbel, the writer behind Schumann's only opera.
"Get your head out of that book!" is probably not a reprimand the young Robert Schumann was used to receiving. He grew up in a household that lived and breathed literature. His father was a novelist, bookseller and publisher who made a small fortune from his pocket editions of foreign-language classics in translation. As a teenager Schumann wrote copiously, trying his hand at fiction, poetry and plays, and it took him several years to satisfy himself that he was a composer rather than a writer. But his literary passion persisted, informing not only the texts he set but his whole conception of musical narrative and structure.
"A great honour has befallen our house - Friedrich Hebbel visited us on his journey through. He is arguably the greatest genius of our day." Well that's as may be, but for us, Hebbel - the focus of today's programme - is certainly one of the less familiar giants in Schumann's literary pantheon. He wrote novellas, poems and essays, but was best known to his contemporaries for his biblical and historical dramas, and it was one of these - Genoveva, a decidedly pre-feminist tale of male weakness and wifely devotion set in the 8th century - that gave Schumann the impetus for his one and only opera.
00:00 Robert Schumann Lieder-Album fur die Jugend Op.79 Singer: Felicity Lott. Singer: Ann Murray. Performer: Graham Johnson.
00:01 Robert Schumann Lieder-Album fur die Jugend Op.79 Singer: Felicity Lott. Singer: Ann Murray. Performer: Graham Johnson.
00:04 Robert Schumann Schon Hedwig - declamation Op.106 for reciter and piano Narrator: Christoph Banzer.
00:12 Robert Schumann Nachtlied Op.108 for chorus and orchestra Ensemble: Florestan Piano Trio. Orchestra: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Choir: Monteverdi Choir.
00:24 Robert Schumann Waldscenen Op.82 for piano - no.7; Vogel als Prophet Performer: Marc-André Hamelin.
00:49 Robert Schumann Genoveva - opera Op.81 - Act 4; O lass es ruh'n, dein Aug, auf mir! Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Singer: Oliver Widmer. Singer: Ruth Ziesak.
First broadcast: 11 Dec 2014 (b04tc9gj) http://vk.com/wall-71199334_20