Robert Schumann tra letteratura, musica e infanzia. I “contorni” letterari e pedagogici della narrazione musicale dell’Ottocento

This essay aims at creating a link, in a relationship of pedagogical dependance, between literature and music, thus introducing a new paradigm, a sort of artistic meta-language, able to “catch” childhood recovering the most hidden fields and the most essential psychological traits of this dimension.

We have examined, on the basis of a consolidated experience in both fields, the relationship between these two forms of art, also using an interdisciplinary approach.

As concerns the task of divulgation as well as that of the aesthetic analysis, the formula of lecture-concert has been adopted, as it is an excellent tool of compromise between the artistic performance and the didactic communication, being situated on a thin border between these two forms of art, that are among the highest forms of art, but traditionally (and unfortunately) separated by theoretical as well as practical barriers.

In terms of content our proposal is based on a very specific artistic and literary contextualization as it takes, as subject focus of the present research, a composer lived in the 19th century, the so-called Romantic Age.

This composer., during the period of his professional training as well as that of his subsequent musical production, has made all efforts aiming at uniting these two different forms of art, transforming this matter as the central one of his activity.

The result is, on the one hand, the creation of a very original and valid effect, never experienced before, a unique mixture of music and literature (which constitutes the prelude to the fertile period of the Poema Sinfonico). On the other hand the urgent necessity of returning to a childish vision of reality, able to catch reflections, feelings, emotions and sensations of this enchanted phase of human life.

Schumann aesthetically analyses the childish dimension transforming himself into a sort of musical storyteller, able to portray a full vision of the childhood experience, starting from the subtle psychological traits of children up to the complete intersection of this dimension with the musical notes, considered carriers of the same factors.

The result is the transposition in music of the characters and the narrations belonging to the great children literature.

In this regard we examine (and listen to) three collections of this great German composer, during a decade, which – starting from the description of the childish universe – as it is contained in literary works of high literary standards (ETA Hoffman) – give us a full new vision of this dimension, concerning children of all ages, complete in its artistic, pedagogical as well as literary aspects.

The two piano compositions of 1838, Kinderzenen op. 15 and Kreisleriana op. 16, show on the one hand, the ability to catch the essence of the childish psychology and that of the marvelous tales, and, on the other, the possibility, through the art of music, to broaden the narrative possibilities of literature, enhancing the emotional atmosphere and transposing into sounds the essence of characters, facts and internal events.

The climax of this kind of production is reached by Schumann with his Album for youth, a collection having didactic purposes, in which the composer harmonizes, in an inseparable relationship, the pedagogical, artistic and literary aspects. Thanks to this relationship it is possible to catch the primary “sense” of childhood, in the childish simplicity of sounds and gasps. The final result is the musical representation of the children literature, as in pieces like Sheherazade and Mignon, which can be considered the innovative models to identify a new paradigm being able to keep together literature, music and childhood in a successful way.