Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

'
378 SCHUMANN
very highly of this piece, partly because, as he
wrote to Dr. Hartel, 'it was quite curious.'
It is indeed the first attempt made in modern
times to revive the form of the old Concerto
grosso which Sebastian Bach had brought to
perfection in his six so-called 'Brandenburg'
concertos. As these concertos of Bach were not
printed until 1850, and Schumann can scarcely
have known them in manuscript, it is a remarkable
and Interesting coincidence that he should
thus have followed Bach's lead without knowing
it. The piece is particularly hard for the first
horn, because of the high notes. When well
rendered it has a peculiarly sonorous, often very
romantic effect, to which, however, the ear soon
becomes insensible from the tone of the four
horns.
In his account of Marschner's Klange ' aus
Osten,' a work performed in Leipzig on Oct.
22, 1840, Schumann expresses great admiration
for the form, in which it was possible to make
use for concert performances of romantic stories,
which had hitherto been only used on the stage.
He was the first to follow this example in
his 'Paradise and the Peri.' The text was
taken from Moore's poem, of which Schumann
shortened some parts to suit his purpose, while
he lengthened others by his own insertions.
It was his first work for voices and orchestra,
and is one of his greatest and most important.
The subject was happily chosen. The longing
felt by one of those ideal beings created by the
imagination from the forces of nature, to attain
or regain a, higher and happier existence, and
using every means for the fulfilment of this
longing, is of frequent occurrence in the German
popular legends, and is still a favourite and
sympathetic idea in Germany. It is the root
of the legends of the Fair Melusina, of the
Water Nixie, and of Hans Heiling. Schumann's
fancy must have been stimulated by the magic
of the East, no less than by Moore's poem, with
its poetic pictures displayed on a background
of high moral sentiment. The fact of Schumann's
having retained so much of .Moore's
narrative is worthy of all praise ; it is the
descriptive portions of the poem that have the
greatest charm, and the music conforms to this.
True, there will always be a certain disadvantage
in using a complete self-contained poem
as a text for music, a great deal of which will
inevitably have been written without regard to
the composer. Much that we pass over lightly
in reading has, when set to music, a more
definite and insistent effect than was intended.
In other places again, the poem, from the
musician's point of view, will be deficient in
opportunities for the strong contrasts so necessary
for effect in music. This is very obvious
in Schumann's composition. The third portion
of the work, although he took much trouble to
give it greater variety by additions to the poetry,
suffers from a certain monotony. Not that the
separate numbers are weaker than those of the
former parts, but they are wanting in strong
shadows. But there is something else that
prevents the work from producing a, really
striking effect upon large audiences, and that
is, if we may say so, that there is too much
music in it. Schumann brought it forth from
the fulness of his heart, and threw, even into
its smallest interludes, all the depth of expression
of which he was capable. The beauties are
crowded together, and stand in each other's
light. If they had been fewer in number they
would have had more effect. But, with all
these allowances, ' Paradise and the Peri ' is one
of the most enchanting musical poems in existence.
And we can now confirm his own words
in a letter to a friend after the completion of
the work :
'
A soft voice within me kept saying
while I wrote. It is not in vain that thou art
writing ' : for this composition will go far to
make him immortal. All the choruses in
' Paradise and the Peri,' perhaps with the
exception of the last, are fine, original, and
effective. But it must be admitted that choral
composition was not really Schumann's strong
point. In this respect he is far inferior to
Mendelssohn. In many of his choruses he might
even seem to lack the requisite mastery over
the technical requirements of choral composition,
so Instrumental in style, so impracticable and
unnecessarily difficult do they seem. But if we
consider Schumann's skill in polyphonic writing,
and recall pieces of such grand conception and
masterly treatment as the beginning of the last
chorus of the Faust ' ' music, we feel convinced
that the true reason of the defect lies deeper.
The essential parts of a chorus are large and
simple subjects, broad and flowing development,
and divisions qlearly marked and intelligible to
all. In a good chorus there mustbe somethingto
speak to the heart of the masses. Schumann
took exactly the opposite view. The chorus
was usually an instrument unfitted for the
expression of his ideas. His genius could have
mastered the technical part of choral composition
as quickly and surely as that of orchestral composition.
But since the case was otherwise, the
chief importance of ' Paradise and the Peri ' is
seen to be in the solos and their accompaniments,
especially in the latter, for here the orchestra
stands in the same relation to the voice as the
pianoforte does in Schumann's songs. A good
orchestral rendering of ' Paradise and the Peri
is a task of the greatest difficulty, but one rewarded
by perfect 'enjoyment.
In the fairy-tale of The ' Pilgrimage of the
Kose '
(op. 112) Schumann intended to produce
a companion picture to Paradise and the '
Peri,'
but in less definite outline and vaguer colours.
The idea of the poem is similar to that of the
former work, but Horn's execution of the idea
is entirely without taste. Schumann was
possibly attracted by its smooth versification