Carnaval

Historical context

Robert Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9, likely originated from a musical play on the name ‘Asch,’ the Fricken estate, which tallied with the musical letters S, C, H, A (E flat, A flat, B natural in German notation), as noted in a book. These letters also matched the only ‘musical’ letters in ‘Schumann,’ and the composer “rings the changes on these notes” throughout the piece, according to the same source. The town of Asch thus became the occasion for the composition, as another book stated in 1834. Robert Schumann himself noted in 1837 that the arrangement of the whole and the inscriptions over the separate pieces were added after the music was written.

The work’s character was evidently quite striking to contemporaries. In 1838, Robert Schumann recalled his father-in-law calling him ‘phlegmatic,’ to which Schumann responded, “Carnaval and phlegmatic!” and asked if his industry and simplicity were lost upon his father. Wieck, as quoted by Schumann in 1838, similarly questioned, “Phlegmatic, and write the Carnaval, the F sharp minor sonata!” Schumann was delighted when, in 1837, old Vieuxtemps spoke of the “Carnaval” he had heard Clara play. However, Schumann suggested in 1839 that Clara play the “Phantasiestücke” instead of the “Carnaval” to people unfamiliar with his work, because in the “Carnaval” “one piece always counteracts the last, a thing which everyone does not appreciate.” By 1839, a book recorded that 250 to 300 copies of the “Carnaval” and the “Phantasiestücke” had been sold.

Drawn from Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856, The letters of Robert Schumann (1907); May Herbert, Early Letters Of Robert Schumann (1888); Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856; Storck, Karl, 1873-1920; Bryant, Hannah, The letters of Robert Schumann; (1907) — public domain, archive.org.