Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

380 SCHUMANN
fact which Schumann thought an advantage.
This may perhaps be explained by remembering
his opinion that in an opera the greatest stress
should be laid on the representation of the
emotions, and that this object might most easily
be attained by treating the external conditions
of an operatic story as simply and broadly as
possible. He also probably felt that a great
part of the Genoveva legend is epic rather than
dramatic. He was mistaken, however, in
thinking that after the reductions which he
made in the plot, it would remain sufficiently
interesting to the general public. He himself,
as we have said, arranged his own libretto.
His chief model was Hebbel's Genoveva,' ' a
tragedy which had affected him in a wonderful
way ; though he also made use of Tteck's
'Genoveva.' Besides these he took Weber's
'
Euryanthe ' as a pattern. The mixture of
three poems, so widely differing from one another,
resulted in a confusion of motives and an
uncertainty of delineation which add to the uninteresting
impression produced by the libretto.
The character of Golo, particularly, is very
indistinctly drawn, and yet on him falls almost
the chief responsibility of the drama. The
details cannot but suffer by such a method of
compilation as this. A great deal is taken word
for word from Hebbel and Tieok, and their two
utterly different styles appear side by side without
any compromise whatever. Hebbel, however,
predominates. Tieck's work appears in the finale
of the first act, and in the duet (No. 9) in the
second act, e.g. the line 'Du liebst mieh, holde
Braut, da ist der Tag begonuen.' Genoveva's
taunt on Golo's birth is also taken from Tieck,
although he makes the reproach come first from
Wolf and afterwards from Genoveva herself, but
the last chorus it is a chain of musical gems,
a perfectly unique contribution to concert literature,
in the first rank of those works of art of
which the German nation may well be proud. without making it a prominent motive in the
The second division of the ' Faust ' music, consisting
drama. Beside this several Volkslieder are
of three other scenes from the Second interspersed. This confusion of styles is surpris-
Part of the poem, is also of considerable merit. ing in a man of such fine discrimination and
It is, however, evident in many passages that delicate taste as Schuraitnn displays elsewhere.
Schumann has set words which Goethe never The chief defect of the opera, however, lies in
intended to be sung. This is felt still more the music. In the opera of 'Genoveva,' the
in the scenes from the First Part, which are, characters all sing more or less the same kind
moreover, very inferior in respect of the music. of music ; that which Schumann puts to the
The overture is the least important of all ; in words is absolute music, not relative, i.e. such
fact the merit of the work decreases gradually as would be accordant with the character of
as we survey it backwards from the end to the each individual. Neither in outline nor detail
beginning ; a circumstance corresponding to is his music sufficiently generated by the situations
the method pursued in its composition, which
of the drama. Lastly, he lacks appreciation
began in Schumann's freshest, happiest, and for that liveliness of contrast which appears
most masterly time of creativeness, and ended forced and out of place in the concert-room, but
close upon the time when his noble spirit was is absolutely indispensable on the stage. Genoveva'
' plunged in the dark gloom of insanity.
has no strict recitatives, but neither is
' There exist only two dramatic works of Schumann's
there spoken dialogue ; even the ordinary quiet
intended for the theatre : the opera of parts of the dialogue are sung in strict time,
'
Genoveva ' and the music to Byron's ' Manfred.' and usually accompanied with the fall orchestra.
The text of the opera may justly be objected Schumann considered the recitative a superannuated
to, for it scarcely treats of the proper legend of
form of art, and in his other works
Genoveva at all ; almost all that made the story also makes scarcely any use of it. This point
characteristic and touching being discarded, a is of course open to dispute ; but it is not open
to dispute that in an opera, some kind of calm,
even neutral form of expression is wanted, which,
while allowing the action to proceed quickly,
may serve as a foil to the chief parts in which
highly-wrought emotions are to be delineated.
The want of such a foil in Genoveva ' ' weakens
the effect of the climaxes, and with them, that
of the whole. As in the formation of the libretto
Schumann took ' Euryanthe ' as his model, so
as a musician he intended to carry out Weber's
intentions still farther, and to write, not an
opera in the old-fashioned ordinary sense, but
a music-drama, which should be purely national.
At the time when ' Genoveva ' was written, he
was utterly opposed to Italian music, not in
the way we should have expected him to be,
but exactly as Weber was opposed to it in his
time. 'Let me alone with your canary-bird
music and your tunes out of the waste-paper
basket,' he once said angrily to Weber's son,
who was speaking to him of Cimarosa's ' Matrimonio
Segreto.' But although he may not
have succeeded in producing a masterpiece of
German opera, we may appreciate with gratitude
the many beauties of the music, the noble
sentiment pervading the whole, and the constant
artistic feeling, directed only to what is true
and genuine. The finest part of the work is
the overture, a masterpiece in its kind, and
worthy to rank with the classical models.
The music to Byron's Manfred ' ' (op. 115) consists
of an overture, an entr'acte, melodramas,
and several solos and choruses. Byron expressly
desired the assistance of music for his work,
though not s'o much of it as Schumann has given.