Schumann..Please help..
David John Spencer
I recently saw on A&E that the Russian War Memorial plays Schummann's
"Traumerei" constantly..24 hours a day..7 days a week..etc. I was wondering
if *anyone* knew why the Soviets would have decided upon that particular
piece...written by a German...to play in memorium of 20 million dead at the
hands of the Germans..Surely, there was no lack of possibilities from Russian
composers..Prokofiev comes to mind..Im not a musician..just a music lover...
so if you email me..or post to me..please keep it in laymans terms..German
or English is fine...thank you.
David J. Spencer
--
No manipulation or spellbinding the masses. Be concrete and direct.
Politicise the trivial aspects of everyday life.
That is where the energy of revolution is.
Mother, is there anymore milk?
William B. Guerin
seen is when Horowitz played Traumerei as an encore at his last concert
in Moscow. I saw it on television with my father when I was -oh I
don't remember, maybe 12 or so, and what really left an impression on
me seeing one person after another literally in sobs of tears.
There are many reasons why a Russian work may not have been
selected. Prokofiev had many tensions with the Russian goverment, so
that may have prevented it. One could make a case for various works by
Tchaikovsky or Borodin, but I think the answer is probably much
simpler:
I suspect that when a country has gone through something as
horrendous as what the Russians went through in the Second World War,
its perpective changes on a lot of things. I think that in the face of
20,000,000 people dead, things such as governments and flags and
national identities probably seem rather frivolous, or even stupid, in
comparison.
Traumerei is a very profound expression of the longing for the
idyllic and innocent days of youth. I think to have it at a memorial
for war dead makes a profound and yet simple statement about the
tragedy of losing so many young lives. These expressions are far above
the concerns of nationalism or politics. In fact, I think that
selecting a German piece is a significant admission that the Second
World War was a tragedy borne not just by Russians, but by all of
humanity.
These are the reasons that I suspect Traumerei was selected. From
a purely musical standpoint, I can think of few pieces as appropriate
for this use. If anyone knows any definite facts about why it was
selected I'd be interested in hearing...
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William B. Guerin
Dartmouth College
pas...@dartmouth.edu
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R. Wilmer
>
> I recently saw on A&E that the Russian War Memorial plays Schummann's
>"Traumerei" constantly..24 hours a day..7 days a week..etc. I was wondering
>if *anyone* knew why the Soviets would have decided upon that particular
>piece...written by a German...to play in memorium of 20 million dead at the
>hands of the Germans.
I would respond by saying that great composers are not
usually limited by the boundaries of their native countries.
Although Schumann may have been born in Germany, I would
not say that the music to Traumerei (Dreams) is more representative
of German dreams than any other kind.
To me Schumann is a composer of imagination, dreams, fantasy,
emotion, romance, idealism, naivete that make him a composer
who speaks to the soul of anyone and that free him from
particular national identification.
Another thought is that the pianist I most identify with Traumerei
is Vladimir Horowitz, who, I believe, also used that piece
in his famous concert in Moscow as music of reconciliation
and peace.
Richard
Jonathan A. Cook
encore in Moscow of Schumann's "Traumerei." That was perhaps
the most moving performance, both for performer and for
audience, of a piece that I have yet seen. The entire concert
reached incredible levels of passion and virtuosity, yet
the sight of the Russian audience dreaming, swaying on the
sadly evocative sounds of the piano was and is moving to
the extreme.
Jon,
ja...@virginia.edu
"In all our dreaming..."