Robert Schumann\'s Dichterliebe Song #4

¶ … Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe Song #4

Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe: Song

Musical compositions have long sought to emulate the human voice. This is exactly the case in the Song 4 of Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe. Not only does the score emulate the sound, tone, and pitch of the vocalist, but the actual composition mirrors the rise and bittersweet ending of the tone of the poem which was used as the piece's lyrical base. All, in all, the piece is a great testament to Schumann's compositional skills and how music can emulate other artistic genres.

Schumann took great time and care on his compositions of the collection of songs in the larger song cycle. Robert Schumann began his work on Dichterliebe in the nineteenth century, and completed a show of 16 of the original 20 songs. This particular song, Song 4, uses a low voice. Thus low voice used by the vocalist is then requited with the piano playing in G major.

Within Schumann's design of the piece, one can pick apart the theoretical devices used to help convey the extreme and confused emotion of the poem used within the lyrics. Schumann, like many of his contemporaries, used primary focal points within the pieces to convey the strongest sense of emotions at carefully chosen measures. This completely shapes the experience of the listener, who feels the strong emotional impact when those highpoints are reached. Thus, Schumann prepares for the oncoming melodic highlights through the use of the rolling melodies which rise up to the focal points before the texture changes. Therefore, there is a constant build up which matches the rise of the poetic conceits associated with the joy of love, and an eventual dramatic fall when the poet expresses his bitter sadness at the knowledge that his lover loves him back. The composition deals primarily with the piano and vocalist, showing a seemingly simple timbre, which is then later complicated by the intermingling of the two as if they were answering each others' love notes. The meter presents a slow melody which contrasts against the normal associated excitement that comes with finding out one's lover loves one back. The work itself represents functional tonality with a key tonic being emphasized to express strong emotions to the listener.

The fourth song begins akin to the third which had preceded it. The fourth song uses the final D. chord of the third piece to start in G. With a very clear and open G. chord the song starts with something of the optimism found in the third song. However, it immediately turns to a repeated B, and the vocalist makes it melodramatic. The rest of the piece flows in G major. In this work, Schumann presents slow melodic periods balanced with more fervent periods, although those fervent periods are still much more slowly than the rest of the pieces in the song cycle. This rhythmic motive places a certain emphasis on the first beat of the 2nd measure. The emphasis continues throughout this through composed song in two measure units, which coincides with the two four line stanzas with an end rhyme scheme narrative told in couplets. The song builds with increasing levels of intimacy towards a bitter end, and follows the narrative pattern of the poem itself. The principal linear motion in the piece seems to stem from the displacement of the B. By its upper neighbor, C. In measures 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6 were to be sliced internally, the rhythmic motive in its full repetition, shows a reversal of the measures. In Schumann's high melodic point comes early, only about a third of the way into the actual piece. Yet this is later juxtaposed with a second highpoint later in the work. This second high point comes later from the G-A-B stepwise ascent, and represents more of an after tone than a new concept within the musical score. There is an ascent to a highlight which heightens between 1-6, peaks and then descends from 7-8. This then represents a simple melodic peak within the song

The entire piece is set within a melodramatic tone, one which is primarily set by the low voice of the vocalist. Within the work, the piano and voice go back and forth; effectively echoing each other and answering each other's high points. Therefore, the piano rises when voice does and vice versa. In the compositional structure, the piano treble mimics the human voice, and seems to present the voice of the lover the vocalist is reminiscing about. Schumann emphasized and supported the vocalist's recitative-like testimony by mirroring and echoing the vocal line in the piano treble. The rhythmic pattern is exchanged between voice and piano, often on a repeated note, and is a distinctive feature of the piece. Additionally, the vocalist leads the presentation of the melody, but the accompaniment is the most musical, especially at the plugging notes immediately following the words "doch wenn du sprichst," (but when you say). This methodology represents a synergetic blend between voice and piano which compliments one another both in pitch and in tone. The piano repeats his bitter weeping through repeated tones. In m. 12, for the first time the piano and voice are parallel in those repeating tones. Immediately afterwards, we see a half ton increase in the melody of the piano, from G. To Gis, creating a diminished chord that gets tremendous attention. Then, the motive around "liebe" and "bitterlich" creates a relationship between both. Finally, the piano repeats a variation on this motive twice, giving it an accent, and also bringing it both to the tonic and to a lower pitch. Then, the postlude is quiet, and is then replaced by the same rhythmic pattern -- only one measure in length, an event which happens three times within the compositional score.

The rolling tones within the measures then lead up to the two high points and texture change. Starting with the end of m. 2, the piece goes through e towards a. Thus, we have V-I-IV-I. However, at the end of m. 5, this makes a dramatic change towards the major parallel C. And makes again a V of it through the seventh measure. M. 6 shows a move towards F. At the end of m. 7, it transforms, making the II a V7 of C. And then goes to the parallel a, stated clearly with II-V-I-II7-V7. In m. 14-16, it goes from e through the fifth circle towards G, with a suggestion of continuing to C. By the seventh in m. 16. Yet, it once again finds its sad rest at the end of the piece by returning to rest in G. Thus, this rolling pattern begins and falls at G, emphasizing the low rolling voice of the vocalist.

The first melodic point does occur relatively early within the work. This then follows the highpoint of the poem in which the composition was built around. The melodic highpoint first comes about a third of the way through, which makes the rest of the song seem like an afterthought. In this highpoint the treble cleft is set at G-cleft, which is used primarily for most music voices, including woodwind instruments, but in this case for the piano in order to create the image of the piano as a voice echoing the voice of the singer. Thus, it has a rolling, waving signature during the melodic highpoint, which lands just directly after m. 4. Additionally it is played in 1/16 notes, played flat and at a semitone higher than normal. The arc connecting the notes at this section representing the melodic highpoint is the tie, or phrase mark which occurs within two notes that are the same pitch. This then signifies that the notes are to be articulated much less than traditional accompaniments. In this, the repetition of the piano and voice momentarily breaks. The same syllable continues to be sung, while the pitch changes.

There are multiple eighth points within the melodic highpoint as well -- played flat -- played at a semitone higher than normal, held by the beam. Thus there is a 1/8 note at the end of the strand signifying the melodic highpoint in its conclusion.

Next, comes the texture change within the work. Here the 1/16th notes flip and continue to be in wave formation that is slowly pulling the listener out of the first highpoint and foreshadowing the second. The second treble source stays silent, along with the bass leaving the treble to take center stage. After the texture change, Schumann presents 1/2 notes with a 1/16th reset. This is accompanied along with a very long slur at the end of the string.

The texture change then leads back into the melody, which is again eventually jolted by yet another melodic highpoint. The second melodic highpoint comes later in he work, and is not an exact repetition of the first one seen much earlier in the piece. The next string also hits a temperature change at the same location in the composition scale. Schumann forestalls by making transition to another dimension by creating a second highpoint, different in effect from the first direct link. Yet -- it is not the same as the previous bar. Here the third bar turns from bass to treble, with three eighth notes on the second bar, and on the third bar -- two eighth notes. This represents a highpoint, yet one that is not as significant as the first one witnessed earlier in the work.