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Analysis- Schumanns Fantasiestucke op.73 no.1 for Clarinet and Piano

Rhythm

The rhythm in Robert Schumanns Fantasiestucke op.73 no.1 is generally polyrhythm. The 2against 3 polyrhythm between the clarinet melody and triplet in the piano accompaniment is very

prominent and is used throughout the piece. The melody is mainly built up of quavers and

occasional crotchets and minims.

Metre

This piece is written in simple quadruple time, in which there are four crotchet beats in a bar.

Every beats in the piano accompaniment part are made up of triplet.

Tonality

This piece is written in the key of A minor. The first section of A-B-A starts with the homekey and modulated to its relative major key, C major in the middle section. It moves back to A

minor in the following section and then to A major towards the end of the piece. The progressive

tonality served to articulate the form of the piece.

Melody

The melody of this piece is constructed in an arch shape, in which it moves in undulating

contour. Apart from the main melody played by the clarinet, the piano also carries a melody

which functions as counter- melody.

Harmony

Harmony is a very important element in all music, particularly in the 19th

century and inSchumanns music. The harmony in this piece is planned carefully to express the feeling of

tenderness and expressiveness that Schumann intended. Chromatic harmonies such as secondary

function chord are used extensively in this to give colors to the music. Deceptive resolution ofharmony is also used. This could be seen in bar 57 where the dominant chord in the previous bar

resolves deceptively to V7/IV, the secondary function harmony, instead of the expected chord I.

This served to extend the piece with a brief section of coda.

Texture

Elements of both homophonic and polyphonic texture are presented in this piece. It can be

clearly seen that the melody in the clarinet part is accompanied by the piano. However, the

independent countermelody carried by the piano gives a polyphony element to the music. Theclarinet plays a leading role throughout the piece, but the countermelody could also be seen

anticipates the clarinet melody at times. Besides this, there is a dialogue between the melody of

the clarinet and the piano. An example of this could be seen in the first measure of the piece,

where the question (E-F) in the piano part is answered immediately by the clarinet.

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Form

This piece is written in ternary form, a form used extensively by Romantic composers to

write character piece. There are three sections (ABA) in which the middle section is contrasting

to the two outer sections. Unlike music in the Classical period, this piece starts in a moreinformal way. The phrase structure is asymmetrical, in which the length of each phrase is not

balanced.

Genre

The genre of this piece is chamber music. It was written for a solo clarinet with piano

accompaniment.

Period

This piece is written in the mid- 19th

century (Romantic period), which was the period of

Schumanns chamber music.