Schumann On The Cello

Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was definitely not suited to the post of General Music Director of a busy opera house. His appointment in Düsseldorf, and the political, human and administrative conflicts that inevitably go with the job, were too much for his hypersensitive artistic nature and were quite probably major contributing causes of his mental breakdown, suicide attempt, and subsequent death in a psychiatric hospital. Schumann was perhaps the most “Romantic” of all composers and the music simply poured out of him: he himself said that he barely had to make any corrections to the first drafts of his compositions. If only he had kept to creating (with both music and words) and dreaming ………

Fortunately, he wrote quite a lot for the cello, but nevertheless, we offer here some other gems of his: creations for voice and for other instruments that are just too beautiful not to be stolen and played on the cello.

SONGS (LIEDER):

  1. Hor Ich das Liedchen Klingen
  2.   Am Leuchtenden Sommer Morgen (both from the song cycle “Dichterliebe”)
  3.   Mondnacht (from “Liederkreis”)

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC:

  1. Fairytale Pictures (originally for viola)

The following link opens up a compilation of passages from the music of Schumann for which we could, should, or must, use thumbposition:

  1. Schumann’s Thumb