Sonata in G minor Op.22 (Complete)(Schumann).

(To get the full effect of this portrayal of the slow movement, which is very quiet, it may be necessary to listen on any device other than the type incorporated in your laptop/computer).
During the first blissful weeks of their marriage, the Schumanns studied together all of Book I of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. Robert wanted to enlarge Clara’s knowledge of the piano repertoire, which, under the tutelage of her father, had mainly comprised virtuoso show pieces. In 1841, only a year after their marriage, she wrote: ‘The less I play in public the more I hate the whole mechanical world of virtuoso showpieces which have become quite repugnant to me.’ This may have been the inspiration for Robert to start his Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (see below).
At times, Robert took advice from Clara, whose judgement as a seasoned performer he respected. Such was the case with this sonata . Clara wrote in 1838: "I am enormously excited with the idea of your Second Sonata; it reminds me of so many happy as well as painful hours. I love it, as I do you. Your whole being is so clearly expressed in it, and besides, it’s not too obscure. Only one thing: Do you want to leave the last movement as it was before? Better to change it and make it a bit easier because it is much too difficult. I understand it and can play it alright, but people, the public, even the connoisseurs for whom one actually writes, don’t understand it. You won’t take this badly, will you?" Robert didn’t take it badly, and wrote another finale which he felt also went better with the first movement. The original finale, marked Presto passionato, was replaced with a less difficult movement in Vienna in December 1838.
The sonata was apparently written over a number of years. The second movement was composed in June 1830, the first and third movements in June 1833 and the original demanding Finale in October 1835. The alternative Finale was composed in Vienna in December 1838.
The opening theme, which is imitated in the bass, uses the partial descending scale that became Clara’s motto in many of his piano works-a ‘cry from the heart’ for her when they were unable to be together.
This was his last full-length attempt at the sonata genre but, because it was published before the 3rd sonata in F minor, it was given an earlier sequence number (No. 2) and still kept its later opus number (Op. 22).
The sonata is dedicated to Schumann's friend, the pianist Madame Henriette Voigt (1808-1839), and was published in September 1839.
The movements are:
1. So rasch wie möglich (as quickly as possible). However, near the end, Schumann writes "schneller" and then "noch schneller", meaning "faster" and "still faster")!!! It is in 2/4 time.
2. Andantino (fairly slow) Getragen (solemn/dignified) in 6/8 time. (This movement is based on Schumann's early song Im Herbste (in autumn) written when he was eighteen years old).
3. Scherzo: Sehr rasch und markiert (Very quick and marked). It is in 3/4 time.
4. Rondo at the speed of Presto (very fast) ending on a coda marked Prestissimo, quasi cadenza (very fast indeed, like a cadenza, and extremely fast). It is in 2/4 time.
This sonata is the one which is very frequently performed and recorded. Because of its great variety and highly virtuosic demands, it is enjoyed both by audiences and performers alike. Clara Schumann claimed to be "endlessly looking forward to the second sonata", but nevertheless Robert revised it several times.
(The first movement shows the passion and virile energy Schumann has for life, love and strength of purpose in his daily life for composition, family life and his Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music) in which he posted most of his critical writings on musicians of the period. He often lambasted the popular taste for flashy technical displays from figures whom Schumann perceived as inferior composers, encouraged by views that Clara likewise shared.
The second movement is a portrait of Clara, her delicateness and poise, and Schumann's infatuation with her.
The third movement is full of excitement with it's off-beat eagerness.
The fourth movement has the hurly-burly of every-day life, but Robert still has tender thoughts of returning home to his beloved Clara, as declared in the second subject. However, there is always the doubt that his manic depression might occur at any unseen moment, as portrayed by the out-of-context chord at 21' 14'', hurling him into a nebulous fog from which he manages to extricate himself to continue his hectic life-style!)
GlynGlynn, realiser.
Please feel free to leave any comments, be they good, bad, or indifferent as to whether the piece, or the performance, moved you in any way whatsoever!
(Since music is an aural art, and not a visual one, it is best to listen to these pieces, and other artists performances, with eyes closed, so as to be able to listen intently as to how the music is portrayed).