Impossible dynamic markings, bizarre!

[Contratrombone64]

http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/0/00/IMSLP00668-Schumann_-_Album_for_the_Young__Op_68.pdf

There are plenty of examples of crescendo and diminuendo markings in these pieces that are simply not possible ... (the first and second bar of "Folk Song" on page six is a classic example). Why would Schumann bother??

 

[Soubasse]

He forgot to write it out for the violin or clarinet perhaps??

Unless it was a psychological thing (could have been with him, you never know) - frustrating students for years to come into thinking "How can I achieve that? By imagining it and hope the audience catches on as well?"

Written as it is, it's doable on a synth with aftertouch such as the Yamaha CS-80. Maybe Robert knew something we didn't ...

Seriously, I don't have the answer, it's certainly strange to be sure.

 

[Contratrombone64]

Matt, he was a strange character, I am however very fond of his music. I listened with rapt attention to your city's wonderful orchestra play his symphonies, a couple of concerti and the decidedly odd Genoveva overture, last weekend. Goodness me, there was a stage years ago where I'd never listen to the Adelaide Symphony ... not so any more, they are inspired!

 

[Krummhorn]

<> marking in music ...

From the Dolmetsch online music dictionary:

swell, closed hairpins (over a phrase) or closed accent (over a single note): to increase volume and then die away in the duration of a single note or short phrase
also called messa di voce (Italian) or mise de voix (French)

more from the same source:

in nineteenth-century German non-vocal music the < > sign can represent a stress or accent as opposed to a crescendo followed by a decrescendo music.

 

[Contratrombone64]

Lars - interesting!

 

[Soubasse]

Let's see:

Schumann
- 19 century? check
- German? check
- non-vocal music? check

Guess that solves that little problem Still seems a bit odd on the surface - why go changing things like that when the good old > had served well for so many years? Mind you, one could say the same about a great deal of inconsistencies within the arts.

There was clearly a slightly tortured soul behind the wonderful notes of Robert Schumann, that he saw out his final years in an asylum would be testament enough to that. It seems obvious to me that he found his solace in music - the simplistic beauty in so many of his works belies what must have been going on further inside his head (as it does for so many!)