Schumann often experimented with new forms of music drama, such as his Scenes from Goethe's Faust, WoO 3, the choral ballads that resemble oratorios or even mini-operas, declamations such as Schön Hedwig, and his secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri. In this work, one of his earliest such experiments, he wrote a liederspiel—a combination of song cycle (Liederkreis) and singspiel—in which the poems are organized to create a semblance of a plot (Schumann also added titles to some of them to further this) and the different singers take on roles. Whereas traditional nineteenth century liederspiels were bourgeois entertainments, inserting simple songs into dramatic works and plays, Schumann's effort eliminates all elements of scenery, action, and dialogue, and so for all practical purposes amounts to a song cycle. However, Schumann's Spanisches Liederspiel maintains distinctly dramatic elements, using solos and duets for the exposition of the main characters, and part songs as choruses.

The texts for Op. 74 were compiled by Emanuel Geibel and are mostly adaptations of anonymous Spanish poems. However, two of them, "Intermezzo" and "Liebesgram" are taken from the writings of Gil Vicente and Christobal de Castillejo, respectively.

Schumann predicted that these songs would be among his most successful, but while they were well-received, they never caught on as he had hoped. Nonetheless, they are full of melodic invention, and their Spanish elements, such as bolero rhythms, give them a lively charm. All of the songs exhibit Schumann's trademark lyricism and his acute sense of poetic mood. The fourth piece in the cycle, "In der Nacht" (duet for soprano and tenor), is notable for its gently dissonant melancholy and elegiac melody; it is often excerpted from the cycle, perhaps more so than any other piece. The tenth song, "Der Kontrabandiste," was originally included in an appendix, judged by the composer to be musically and dramatically out of place in the cycle, but it also has become a concert favorite.

While Schumann was disappointed with its reception, he nonetheless followed something of the same pattern with his Minnespiel (Opus 101) to Ruckert texts, and with his Spanische Liebeslieder (Op. 138, also with texts by Geibel).

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4.In der Nacht, for soprano and tenor

Outstanding among Robert Schumann's compositions, "In der Nacht," Op. 74/4, (In the Night) also receives noteworthy recognition as one of the song literature's finest duets. It accompanies three solo songs, two quartets, and four other duets in Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74, all of which have achieved uneven success. Here the two voice parts form an overlapping dialogue to verbalize their hearts' nighttime longings. The piano prelude's melody of almost Baroque motivic structures establishes the melancholic, nocturnal mood and foreshadows the voices' intervals. The first 40 measures may easily be mistaken as a soliloquy for the soprano until the tenor's entrance confirms that this is an intimate exchange between two separated lovers who share verbatim thoughts. Characterized by harmonic instability, the work momentarily turns upward to the major mode halfway through the verse. Its text is from an anonymous poem that has been attributed to Geibel, for his translation from Spanish. With its atmosphere of nostalgic sorrow, Robert Schumann's transcendent setting of these rich, meaningful 30 words is simply unforgettable.

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6.Melancholie

Robert Schumann's "Melancholie," Op. 74/6 (Melancholy), is one of two songs of Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74, in which the lovers of the cycle are depicted as individuals. Showcasing the soprano's vocal abilities in big leaps, very uncharacteristic of the composer's style, the song is her declamation to finally be free from melancholy. Each measure of the vocal melody contains great variation, as does the piano part, which rhythmically offers anything from triplets to slurred sixteenth notes, to double-dotted quarter notes. The work has an extravagant quality of Southern temperament and is similar in style to the overly florid "Botschaft," Op. 74/8. Eventually the pain of the soprano's message is replaced by the tenor's faithful adoration in the song that follows, "Geständnis," Op. 74/7. Even though the texts of all the cycle's songs are attributed to Geibel for his translation from Spanish, they are not commonly recorded together.

© Meredith Gailey, Rovi

7.Geständnis

Placed after the sorrowful Melancholie, Op. 74/6, and before the wavering "Botschaft," Op. 74/8, in the "love story" cycle (Spanisches Liederspiel Op. 74), "Geständnis," Op. 74/7 (Confession), is a lover's passionate admission of his emotions. Based on Geibel's translation of a Spanish poem, the setting is dashing with its sixteenth notes quickly spilling primarily through the treble line of the accompaniment. To stress the passion of the faithful lover, who hesitates to acknowledge his desire toward his beloved, Robert Schumann placed numerous sforzandi in the vocal and piano lines where the singer makes considerable upward leaps. Aside from these markings, nearly all the dynamic notations are awarded to the piano part. After the first verse is delightfully touched by the few triplets near its close, its first few measures are repeated in the second verse, which is given its own enhanced, elongated ending. The tune is the only song for tenor solo in the cycle; however, it can be sung by any voice part. It requires a skillful pianist and a sensitive singer.

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10.Der Kontrabandiste

Schumann was an expert at creating musical portraits of colorful figures (as his Husarenlieder and Zigeunerliedchen demonstrate); he was especially drawn, like many other Romantic-era composers, to characters from Spanish romance and folklore. The smuggler portrayed here is closer to comic opera than Byronic grandeur, however, and the song is a playful one. The introduction is played mostly in the treble, with a quick galloping motif, and the vocal lines are hearty, with a comic contrast in the delicate runs as he sings of his "dear good horse." The song ends with an abrupt chord rather than letting the galloping motif receding into the distance, either ending the song with a bang, or offering the humorous possibility that the dear good horse has unceremoniously dumped its rider!

This work was a late addition to Schubert's Opus 74, but since it becomes the only bass or baritone solo in the collection, it is most often treated as a separate composition.



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