| Piano Concerto | |
|---|---|
| by Clara Schumann | |
 The composer, Clara Wieck, in 1835 | |
| Key | A minor |
| Opus | 7 |
| Period | Romantic |
| Composed | 1834–35 |
| Movements | 3 |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 9 November 1835 |
| Location | Leipzig |
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7, was composed by Clara Wieck, better known as Clara Schumann after her later marriage to Robert Schumann. She completed her only finished piano concerto in 1835, and played it first that year with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn.
Clara Wieck was an accomplished concert pianist, trained by her father Friedrich Wieck. [1] She was already making international tours at age eleven and composed piano pieces for her recitals. [1] In January 1833, at age 13, she began composing a Piano Concerto in A minor, completing in November a single-movement Konzertsatz that she orchestrated herself. In February 1834, her future husband Robert revised the orchestration, [1] and the 14-year-old prodigy then performed it in several concerts. [2]
She then expanded the work by adding two more movements, using the Konzertsatz as the finale. The new first movement was completed in June 1834, and the slow second movement "Romance" with its extended cello solo was finished the following year. She again orchestrated the work herself, including undoing Robert's revisions of the original Konzertsatz, completing her new three-movement Piano Concerto on 1 September 1835, twelve days before her 16th birthday. [2]
Wieck premiered the full concerto on 9 November 1835 as soloist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Mendelssohn. [3]
The concerto is scored for piano solo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in A, 2 trumpets in C, trombone, timpani in A & E, violins I & II, violas, cellos, and basses. With this instrumentation Clara Schumann chose the usual orchestration typical of early Romantic music. [4]
The concerto is in three movements: [1]
The duration of the concerto is under 20 minutes. Virtuoso writing for the piano dominates the composition. [3] A reviewer of a 2004 recording noted that it is a "truly remarkable piece for a 14 year old. It is a work with memorable themes and a sunny vision throughout". [1] It has been favourably compared to Chopin's piano concertos. [5] [6]
The opening movement begins dramatically, with the piano entering in a virtuosic manner. The first movement segues into the second, called a "Romance" written for piano and cello, without orchestra. It begins with an extended solo piano passage, then the solo cello enters. At the end, a timpani drum roll segues into the final movement. This movement is the heaviest, dancing in a triple metre. The woodwinds and the piano enter with counterpoint. [6]
The piano concerto was recorded in 2000 in the Neuberinhaus, Reichenbach, Vogtland, Germany, by Elena Margolina, piano soloist, with the Vogtland Philharmonie conducted by Doron Salomon (ARS SACD ARS38141, with the composer's 2nd Konzertsatz in F minor, written in 1847 and not published until 1994, and Robert Schumann's Konzertsatz in D minor, written in 1839, two years before his A minor concerto). [2]
Another recording was made in 2004 in the church Santi Marcellino e Festo in Naples, Italy, by pianist Francesco Nicolosi with the Alma Mahler Sinfonietta, Stefania Rinaldi conducting (this recording is 23 mins 21 secs) (Naxos CD 8.557552, with the composer's Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 from 1846). [1]
In 2020, the Venezuelan-American pianist Gabriela Montero recorded the concerto together with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Alexander Shelley as part of the first volume in the series Clara, Robert, Johannes. [7]
Robert Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber groups, orchestra, choir and the opera. His works typify the spirit of the Romantic era in German music.
Clara Josephine Schumann was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital by lessening the importance of purely virtuosic works. She also composed solo piano pieces, a piano concerto, chamber music, choral pieces, and songs.
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, by the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann was completed in 1845 and is the composer's only piano concerto. The complete work was premiered in Dresden on 4 December 1845. It is one of the most widely performed and recorded piano concertos from the Romantic period.
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The Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34, by Johannes Brahms was completed during the summer of 1864 and published in 1865. It was dedicated to Her Royal Highness Princess Anna of Hesse. As with most piano quintets composed after Robert Schumann's Piano Quintet (1842), it is written for piano and string quartet.
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Amanda Röntgen-Maier was a Swedish violinist and composer. She was the first female graduate in music direction from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm in 1872.
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The Piano Quartet in E♭ major, Op. 47, was composed by Robert Schumann in 1842 for piano, violin, viola and cello. Written during a productive period in which he produced several large-scale chamber music works, it has been described as the "creative double" of his Piano Quintet, finished weeks earlier. Though dedicated to the Russian cellist Mathieu Wielhorsky, it was written with Schumann's wife Clara in mind, who would be the pianist at the premiere on 8 December 1844 in Leipzig.
Composed in 1846, the Piano Trio in G minor, opus 17 by Clara Schumann is considered her greatest, most mature four-movement work. It is her only piano trio, composed while she lived in Dresden, following extensive studies in fugue writing and the publication of her Three Preludes and Fugues For Piano, opus 16 in 1845. The trio was premiered by the composer in Vienna on January 15th, 1847.
Babette Hierholzer is a German American pianist.
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