R. Schumann’s romantic “Fantastic Pieces” op. 88 – on the way to the piano trio
Authors: Sokolova Lidiya 
Published: November 2019

Introduction. The article analyzes R. Schumann’s “Fantastic Pieces” op. 88 as a creative debut in the subsequent development of the piano trio genre. The “Fantastic Pieces” op. 88 are the first composer’s creative experience in combining such musical instruments. Theoretical Background. The analysis of musicological literature did not reveal any special research dedicated to this score, but only its references in E. Karelina’s (1996) thesis research and D. Zhitomirsky’s (1964) monograph. Thus, this article is the first special research of the compositional and ensemble analysis of R. Schumann’s “Fantastic Pieces”, op. 88. The objectives of the research: to analyze compositional-dramatic and ensemble features of R. Schumann’s “Fantastic Pieces”, op. 88, to identify their specific features. The object of the research: R. Schumann’s chamber-instrumental creative activity. The subject of the research: to identify the value of R. Schumann’s “Fantastic Pieces”, op. 88 in the further development of the piano trio genre. Methods: musical-theoretical, aimed at analyzing the musical text of the chosen work; genre-stylistic, allowing to identify the compositional-dramatic and ensemble features of R. Schumann’s “Fantastic Pieces”, op. 88. Research material: R. Schumann’s “Fantastic Pieces” op. 88 for piano, violin and cello. Results and Discussion. The first experience in mastering the piano trio genre of R. Schumann occurred in the “Fantastic Pieces” op. 88, composed in 1842. This was the first composer’s experience in combining such musical instruments. This work is a cycle of four pieces: “Romance”, “Humoresque”, “Duetto” and “Final”. It is noteworthy that R. Schumann used these names in other works. It is useful enough to recall his 3 piano romances op. 28, Humoresque op. 20a, 4 marches op. 76. Despite the four-part character of the work, this composition does not coincide with the sonata-symphonic structure, but is organized according to the suite principle. R. Schumann’s different vision of the trio-ensemble genre is represented by a clear differentiation of works with an individual composition. Therefore, the cycles op. 88 and op. 132 receive program names: “Fantastic Pieces” and “Fairytale Narratives”, respectively, and the trio with the classical (sonata) organization of the cycle acquire sequence numbers and are referred to as “piano trios”. The very names of the parts in the cycle reveal the opposition of two metaphoric spheres, characteristic of the romantic era: lyrical and genre-scherzo ones. The paired relationship of these metaphoric spheres stands out particularly. Such a metaphoric doubling gives the matching modes the rondality features within the whole cycle. This metaphoric paired relationship between the parts allows you to single out two macro parts in a cycle. The first macro part is represented by the lyric “Romance” and the scherzo “Humoresque”, the second one – by the tender song “Duetto” and the marching “Final”. At the same time, the macro parts demonstrate individual features of one or another semantic type. The metaphoric opposition of romantic pieces is also enhanced by tempo and ear-catching contrast. Such an alternation of various metaphoric types gives the entire cycle the features of a kaleidoscopic suite. The proportion of genre parts stands out particularly, which is manifested in both their scale and complexity of the compositional organization. Thus, the lyrical parts are represented by tripartite forms. Quick genre pieces are composed in various forms (“Humoresque” is created in a complex tripartite form with a developed polythematic middle part, and the “Final” is in a rondo form, with the links acting as refrains). Despite the romantic nature of the cycle organization, the “Fantastic Pieces” tone plan is a classical one: a-moll –F-dur– d-moll – a-moll (A-dur). Conclusions. It was revealed that the suite-based principle of composition organization and genre-stylistic features of the cycle (opposition of lyrical and genre-scherzo metaphoric spheres) connect the romantic “Fantastic Pieces” op. 88 with its piano miniatures of the 1830s. Ensemble analysis of R. Schumann “Fantastic Pieces”, op. 88 showed that in his first work for the piano trio, the composer “transplanted” solo piano works into a poly-timbre ensemble, taking it in the context of piano music. At the same time, the composer did not reduce the role of strings to the “service” function, but actively used all their melodic and proper ensemble possibilities in the chosen trio. For example, if “Romance” ensemble demonstrated the piano domination, “Humoresque” – the parity of the instruments, then in “Duetto” primacy was given to stringed instruments. In “Final”, each section of the musical form is highlighted by an appeal to one of the main ensemble techniques. A series of altering various semantic spheres, defining the suite properties of the “Fantastic Pieces”, subordinates the ensemble properties used by the composer. For each number and even its individual sections, their special complex was chosen, which in different semantic contexts had a metaphoric-semantic meaning. It was revealed that the organizing means of creating the ensemble in the R. Schumann’s trio was the polyphonic technique presented in his work in a wide variety, which would later be widely developed in his piano trios.