Program Notes
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
MANFRED OVERTURE, Op. 115
Duration: ca. 12 minutes
Robert Schumann’s father was a publisher and
bookseller, and his son developed a keen interest
in the writings of his time, both poetry and novel,
and by his teens was well versed in European
literature. He grew up with dramatic works, and
brought them to life through youthful songs and
character pieces with colorful names such as
Butterflies and Kreisleriana. His literary inspirations
would continue throughout his life and help define
musical Romanticism by, in his own words, sending
“light into the depths of the human heart.”
A superb pianist, literary critic and advocate for
such up-and-coming talents as Brahms and Chopin,
Schumann was prescient about the culture of his
time and interpreted current trends in his role as
editor of the periodical the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik
(New Journal of Music). He wasn’t shy in voicing an
opinion or taking sides in a battle and formed the
Davidsbundler – an imaginary league that fought
against “philistinism in the arts.’’
As we look at Schumann’s career, his compositions
can be lumped into chapters, following his habit of
writing in one medium at a time: chamber music
one year, symphonies the next, and entire seasons
devoted to songs or church music. In 1842 alone,
after extensive study of Haydn and Mozart, he wrote
three string quartets, the Piano Quartet and Quintet,
and the Phantasiestucke. After this burst of creative
energy, Schumann would never again continue at
such a pace; mental illness ruled the remaining 14
years of his life.
If Schumann was the archetypal Romanticist, then
Lord Byron’s supernatural verse drama Manfred
was an ideal vehicle for his sentiment. “Wild,
metaphysical and inexplicable’’ is how Byron
described his 1,300-line poem, which was read
throughout Europe and used by Tchaikovsky as the
basis for a symphony of the same name. Brahms
loved Schumann’s treatment so much he hinted of
THE FLORIDA OR 52 CHESTRA | 2018-2019
it in his Symphony No. 1, which concludes tonight’s
program.
Schumann originally composed the hour-long work
in 15 sections for vocal solos, interludes, ensembles,
choruses and “melodramas.’’ What we normally
hear today is the overture, one of Schumann’s finest
pieces, which suggests the themes of incestuous
love, guilt and self-annihilation in a full-blooded 19th
century style. Richly orchestrated and rhythmically
urgent, the music depicts an internal struggle
that gives way to resignation. The work absorbed
Schumann as much as anything else he had written.
“Never have I devoted myself to a composition,’’ he
once said, “with such love and energy as Manfred.’’
ANNA CLYNE (1980- )
THE SEAMSTRESS for violin and orchestra
Duration: ca. 23 minutes
If a thoroughly modern orchestra wants to make
its mark beyond dusting off the busts of Beethoven
and Brahms, it needs to perform thoroughly
modern music to reflect our own time. This season,
TFO tips its hat to the new with such contemporary
composers as Andrew Norman, Steve Reich,
Tampa’s own Baljinder Sekhon, and the Londonborn
Anna Clyne, who makes her TFOpremiere this
weekend with The Seamstress.
Just what is this piece? A suite for violin and
orchestra? A violin concerto? A composer of
acoustic and electro-acoustic music, Clyne calls
The Seamstress an “imaginary one-act ballet,’’ and
describes her work as follows: “Alone on the stage,
the seamstress is seated, unravelling threads from
an antique cloth laid gently over her lap. Lost in
her thoughts, her mind begins to meander and
her imagination spirals into a series of five tales
that range from love to despair, and that combine
memory with fantasy.’’
Composed in 2015, the 23-minute piece for solo
violin, orchestra is reflective, melancholy, jarring
and at times haunting. The musical germ behind
the piece is an Irish folk melody she learned during