RECONSTRUCTING CLARA SCHUMANN’S PEDAGOGY: ILLUMINATION THROUGH UNDERSTANDING A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts by Shin Hwang August 2020 © 2020 Shin Hwang RECONSTRUCTING CLARA SCHUMANN’S PEDAGOGY: ILLUMINATION THROUGH UNDERSTANDING Shin Hwang, D.M.A. Cornell University 2020 ABSTRACT Although Clara Schumann did not write a pedagogical manifesto of any sort, the collective accounts of her students and colleagues capture a colorful collage of her pedagogy and pianism. In this dissertation, I use these accounts to reconstruct the foundations of Clara Schumann’s school of piano playing. I rely heavily on recorded evidence to demonstrate how the praxis of Clara’s students reflect and reveal the written accounts of her teaching. This study discloses a pedagogy of musical asceticism that demands the highest level of conscientiousness and self- denial. Throughout the process of observing, interpreting, and performing the musical notation, Clara Schumann required her students to justify their musical decisions with reason rather than mere “feeling.” Clara’s pedagogy, in short, asserts that understanding is key to accessing musical truth; in other words, illumination is gained by reason. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Shin Hwang, a prize-winner of the 1st International Westfield Fortepiano Competition, is a versatile keyboardist who has won recognition in both modern and historical performance. After completing his Masters degree at the University of Michigan with Penelope Crawford and Arthur Greene, he received the Fulbright Grant to study in the Netherlands at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague with Bart van Oort and Jacques Ogg. Some of his significant performance engagements include solo and chamber performances for the Academy of Early Music in Ann Arbor, AMUZ Flanders Festival in Antwerp, Yale University Schola Cantorum, Utrecht Early Music Festival, and the American Musicological Society Lecture Series in the Library of Congress. In addition, he has performed in such venues as the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw, Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh in Utrecht, Het Bethanienklooste in Amsterdam and the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Schokland, Netherlands. As a recipient of the DAAD Grant, he completed additional studies with Robert Hill at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. In 2020, he completed a Doctorate in Musical Arts in Cornell University under the guidance of Malcolm Bilson. Dedicated to my friend Penelope Crawford & to all my teachers who inspired me to revere the good and beautiful in music. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ii Acknowledgments v Preface vii Introduction 1 I. Current Scholarship on Clara Schumann 5 II. Challenges 13 III. Leitmotif 16 Chapter One. I. Clara the Priestess 18 II. Priestess of Tradition 20 Chapter Two. I. Theory into Praxis: The Three Principles of Clara Schumann 26 according to Theodore Müller-Reuter II. Praxis into Theory: Kinderszenen, Op. 15 33 Chapter Three. In Search of “Das Getragene” 45 Chapter Four. I. On J. S. Bach, “Das Tägliche Brot” 56 II. Le Beau’s Memoirs 58 III. Illumination through Understanding (Beleuchtung durch Verstand) 62 IV. The Nitty-Gritty work: Dissecting Bach’s C-Minor Fugue 68 Chapter Five. A Curious Case of Schumann’s Arabesque 76 Chapter Six. Images into Sound; Sound into Images 84 Chapter Seven. I. On Virtuosity: Technique as the Servant of Music 98 II. The Sin of Schleppen und Eilen: A Distortion of Rhythm 103 III. The Virtue of “Doing Without” (Entbehren) 107 IV. Speed like Charity 111 V. A Concerto for (Non-)Virtuosos? 116 Conclusion 129 Postlude 132 Bibliography 133 Recordings 137 i LIST OF FIGURES Figure I. Cover of Volume III of Clara Schumannn’s Instructive Edition of Robert 7 Schumann’s works. (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 1.1 Franz von Lenbach Clara Schumann, Pastel, 1878 Robert Schumann 18 Haus (Zwickau) Figure 2.1. Excerpt from Theodore Müller-Reuter, Bilder und Klänge des Friedens, 28 (W. Hartung, 1919), 11. Figure 2.2. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen from Kinderszenen, Op. 15. 29 Instructive Edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 2.3. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen from Kinderszenen, Op. 15. 31 Instructive Edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 2.4 Bittendes Kind from Kinderszenen, Op. 15. Instructive Edition 36 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 2.5 Hasche-Mann from Kinderszenen, Op. 15. Instructive Edition 37 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 2.6 Fast zu Ernst from Kinderszenen, Op. 15. Instructive Edition 40 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 2.7 Kind im Einschlummern from Kinderszenen, Op. 15. Instructive Edition 42 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 3.1 Manuel Garcia, A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing, trans. Donald 48 Paschke. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1975), 82. Figure 3.2 Langsam getragen from Fantasie, Op 17. Instructive Edition 49 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 3.3 Romance, Op 28. Instructive Edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) 52 Figure 3.4 Romance, Op. 28. Instructive Edition Personal Copy 54 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1887) Figure 4.1 Gavotte II from Bach’s English Suite in G minor (Henle Verlag, 1971) 60 Figure 4.2 Reprint of a Christmas letter from Clara Schumann to Müller-Reuter 68 in Bilder und Klänge des Friedens (W. Hartung, 1919). Figure 4.3 Bach’s C-minor Fugue, BWV 847 Czerny’s Edition of Preludes and Fugues 69 (Leipzig, 1863) ii Figure 4.4 Excerpt from Theodore Müller-Reuter‘s Bilder und Klänge des Friedens 70 (Leipzig: Hartung, 1919) Figure 4.5 Excerpt from Theodore Müller-Reuter‘s Bilder und Klänge des Friedens 71 (Leipzig: Hartung, 1919) Figure 4.6 Excerpt from Theodore Müller-Reuter‘s Bilder und Klänge des Friedens 73 (Leipzig: Hartung, 1919) Figure 5.1 Arabesque, Op. 18, Instructive Edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) 79 Figure 5.2 Arabesque, Op. 18, Clara Schumann’s Personal Copy of Instructive Edition 80 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1887) Figure 5.3 Arabesque, Op. 18, Instructive Edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) 82 Figure 6.1 Kleiner Morgenwanderer from Album für die Jugend, Op. 68. 87 Instructive Edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 6.2 Pierrot from Carnaval, Op. 9. Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition 89 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1879) Figure 6.3 Paganini from Carnaval, Op. 9. Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition 90 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1879) Figure 6.4 Aveu from Carnaval, Op. 9. Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition 91 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1879) Figure 6.5 From Fanny Davies’ On Schumann & Reading Between the Lines 92 Figure 6.6 From Fanny Davies’ On Schumann & Reading Between the Lines 93 Figure 6.7 Vogel als Prophet from Waldszenen, Op. 68. Instructive Edition 94 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 6.8 Einsame Blumen from Waldscenen, Op. 82. First Edition (Leipzig, 1851) 95 Figure 7.1 From Fanny Davies’ On Schumann: And Reading between the Lines 104 Figure 7.2 Aufschwung from Fantasiestücke Op. 12 First Edition 104 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1851) Figure 7.3 Excerpt from Leonard Borwick’s “Rhythm as Proportion” 106 Figure 7.4 Finale from Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 10, Nr. 1 First Edition 106 (Eder: Vienna, 1798) iii Figure 7.5 Presto Agitato from Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 27, No. 2 First Edition 110 (Gio. Cappi e Comp: Vienna, 1802) Figure 7.6 Intermezzo from Faschingsschwank aus Wien, Op. 26. 111 Instructive Edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1924) Figure 7.7 Grillen from Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 Instructive Edition Personal Copy 112 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1887) Figure 7.8 Grillen from Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 Instructive Edition Personal Copy 113 (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1887) Figure 7.9 From Fanny Davies’ On Schumann: And Reading between the Lines 114 Figure 7.10 From Theodore Müller-Reuter‘s Bilder und Klänge des Friedens 118 Figure 7.11 Allegro Affettuoso from Schumann’s Concerto, Op. 54 119 Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1883) Figure 7.12 Allegro Affettuoso from Schumann’s Concerto, Op. 54 119 Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1883) Figure 7.13 Allegro Affettuoso from Schumann’s Concerto, Op. 54 121-122 (Leipzig: C. F. Peters, 1870) Figure 7.14 Cadenza from Schumann’s Concerto, Op. 54 123 Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1883) Figure 7.15 Andantino Grazioso from Schumann’s Concerto, Op. 54 125 Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1883) Figure 7.16 Allegro vivace from Schumann’s Concerto, Op. 54 126 Clara Schumann’s Complete Edition (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1883) iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My years at Cornell University were possibly the most challenging in my life, filled with uncertainty and much doubt. Yet, through the support of others, these years also yielded growth like no other – as a scholar, musician, and pedagogue. I am so grateful for my four mentors at Cornell, whose guidance helped me overcome those challenges and spurred my growth. I would first like to thank Malcolm Bilson. His musical wisdom has shaped me into the pianist that I am today. His dedication to teaching has inspired me to become the pedagogue that I am today. I thank him for awakening a curiosity in me to ask the questions that others do not ask and not cease in my search for answers. Since I have met him, I have observed in me an eagerness to challenge my assumptions and be open to the consequences they may have. I am grateful that my first seminars at Cornell were with Roger Moseley. It is with gentleness that Roger Moseley invited me into musicological discussions that have broadened my understanding of current keyboard scholarship. His nonconventional teaching methodology has also inspired me to see the affordances of alternative pedagogical methods in teaching music. As a teaching assistant to Rebecca Harris-Warrick, I witnessed a joy of teaching music – which was quite contagious. During my moments of doubt, her enthusiasm for music reminded me often of why I decided to become a musician.