Robert Schumann

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Robert Schumann; Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
Throughout this course we have learned that composers works are influenced by many things, whether it be other composers that came before them, composers they were in competition with, nature, humanity, or their own trials and tribulations. Music often reflects what a composer is feeling during the time that the piece was composed. Robert Schumann, who is viewed as one of the most influential composers of the Romantic Era, is of no exception and it is apparent in his piece Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, the first piece in the song cycle Dichterliebe, that he was heavily influenced by many aspects of his life.
Im Wunderschönen Monat mai meaning, “In the marvelous month of May”, is one of more than sixty …show more content…
There is a lot of irony in the way he contrasts the poem Im wunderschönen Monat Mai which has a joyful meaning that is typical of spring time and May, to the "yearning" and "longing" we hear in the music. This contrast adds to the overall idea of his inner struggle at the time between happy and sad, and even the fine line between “longing and desire,” which he certainly felt while in pursuit of marriage to Clara. Another example of this struggle is the fact that Schumann wrote this piece in f# minor but never cadences on the tonic chord. One can analyze the first few measures as beginning with a tonicization of f# minor, which signifies sadness he felt at the time, and then proceeding to cadence with a perfect authentic cadence in A major, signifying hope for the joy to come. However, there is a 3-4 suspension in measure 6 that keeps the cadence from truly happening in the way we would expect it. While this is going on harmonically, the melody itself has many moments where it is dissonant and the rhythm is syncopated, both of which are extremely uncommon in love songs. To me, this makes it seem like there is never a true sense of content within this piece because Schumann is struggling the whole time between being happy and sad but the fact that it didn’t actually cadence makes me think that he never actually found the happiness that he was looking for within the first few
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