Celebrating Robert Schumann

An eclectic survey of the composer’s work in honor of the 150th anniversary of his death, is presented on Sunday, October 8 at 8 PM in the Fulkerson Recital Hall on the HSU campus in Arcata. This Faculty Artist Series concert is performed by faculty members of the HSU Music and German departments. It features early, late, famous and off-the-beaten track selections for instrumental ensembles and voice. Tickets are $8 general, $3 students and seniors, at the HSU box office and at the door. 826-3928.


Schumann’s early work is represented by the very earliest: the “Abegg Variations, Opus 1,” featuring John Chernoff on piano, is the first piece Schumann wrote that he thought was good enough to give an opus number.

At the other extreme, Schumann composed “Fairytales,” Op. 132” for clarinet (Virginia Ryder), viola (Karen Davy) and piano (Robert Elfline), in the last healthy period of his creative life.

His “Quintet for Piano and Strings, Op. 44” is one of Schumann’s most famous compositions, considered among the greatest chamber music pieces of all time. It will be played at HSU by Cindy Moyer (violin), John Chernoff (piano), Halim Beere (violin), Carol Jacobson (cello) and Karen Davy (viola.)

Schumann was famous for his songs, and his song cycle “Frauenliebe und Leben” is considered a masterpiece. This selection features soprano Elisabeth Harrington.

In the “off-the-beaten-path” category are several Melodramas he composed, matching music with poetic ballads (the word “melodrama” basically means drama with melody.) This unusual combination features piano (Robert Elfline) and spoken texts (by narrators Kay LaBahn Clark and Dorothy Pendelton.)

The evening begins wth Shumann’s “Phantasiestücke for Clarinet and Piano op. 73 “ performed by Kenneth Ayoob on clarinet and John Chernoff on piano.

Robert Schumann was born in 1810 in Zwickau, Germany. He was interested in music and literature, but pursued a law degree at the University of Leipzig. His engagement to Clara Wieck caused a prolonged and bitter legal battle with her father, an acclaimed piano teacher. They married in 1840. By then he had begun composing, and was also a well-known music critic. Towards the end of his life his eccentricities darkened (he would adopt different personalities for different occasions, each with separate names), and after several suicide attempts, he lived his last two years in an asylum. Schumann died in 1856.

Musicians

Kenneth Ayoob, clarinet
Halim Beere, violin
John Chernoff, piano
Kay LaBahn Clark, narrator
Karen Davy, viola
Robert Elfline, piano
Carol Jacobson, cello
Elisabeth Harrington, soprano
Cindy Moyer, violin
Dorothy Pendelton, narrator
Virginia Ryder, clarinet.