Mad about Schumann

We have been analyzing Schumann's song cycle, Dichterliebe, in the analysis class that I'm in on Tuesday nights. Talk about peeling the layers of the onion.....(ref. Schubert's Onion post.) I have grown to hate conducting class even more, but have grown to love analysis class that much more. Say what you will about Schumann, but I grew up playing his music. Started out with Kinderscenen, and I loved them. He went away for a while during the time I had to study Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven, but then came back to him with his Fantasie op.17, and started to attempt (before I changed my focus), Carnaval and Papillons. I am studying his Song 12 from Dichterliebe, and it is interesting to study a song that seems unassuming when you hear it at first, and then when you peel the layers, something that sounded simple becomes complex and thoughtful. Although it has almost blown my head off (particularly in mm.8-10), every time I find a new piece to the puzzle, I get all giddy. It's ridiculous, I know..... it's very nerdy, I know.

Schumann went a little mad at the end though. How close does madness and genius relate to one another? I am surprised that there hasn't been one of those composer movies (ie. Amadeus, Immortal Beloved, Impromptu), made about him. Who wouldn't want to hear about some guy who went to law school, dropped out to become a composer, a great pianist who ruined his hands with some crazy device he invented, fought to win his wife (who at the time was only 15 years old), and a great composer who eventually went insane and had to be institutionalized. Not to mention, that his wife and his best friend had a crush on each other.............speculating, of course.

A big cheers and a Bloomin' Onion for Schumann.