Piano Concerto (Schumann)

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The Piano Concerto in A minor, a famous Romantic concerto by Robert Schumann, was completed in 1845.

Schumann had begun several piano concerti before this one. In 1828, he had begun one in E flat major; from 1829-31 he worked on one in F major, and in 1839, he wrote one movement of a concerto in D minor. None of these works were completed.

In 1841, Schumann wrote his Phantasie for piano and orchestra, which would eventually become the first movement of his concerto. In 1845 he added the intermezzo and finale to make the completed work. It turned out to be the only piano concerto Schumann wrote.

The piece, as marked in the score, is in three movements:

Allegro affettuoso
Intermezzo: Andantino grazioso
Allegro vivace

There is no break between these last two movements.

Schumann preferred that the movements be listed in concert programs as only two movements:

Allegro affettuoso
Andantino and Rondo

The three movement listing is the more common form used.

The work was premiered in Leipzig on 1 January 1846 with Clara Schumann, Robert's wife, playing the solo part. Ferdinand Hiller, the work's dedicatee, conducted.

The work may have been used as a model by Edvard Grieg in composing his own Piano Concerto.

Following this concerto, Schumann wrote two other pieces for piano and orchestra, the Introduction and Allegro Appassionato in G major (Op. 92), and the Introduction and Allegro Concertante in D minor (Op. 134). He also wrote two other concerti for other instruments, the Cello Concerto (1850) and the Violin Concerto (1853).

[edit] Further reading

Donald Francis Tovey, Essays in Musical Analysis: Concertos (London, 1936)
Alfred Nieman, "The Concertos", in Robert Schumann: The Man and his Music, edited by Alan Walker (London, 1972)
Michael Steinberg, "The Concerto: A Listener's Guide", (Oxford, 1998)