Schumann: Andante und Variationen, Op.46

Introduction

This Andante and Variations is an interesting item in Schumann's catalog. Written soon after the piano quintet and piano quartet, it is also piano-driven, scored for the unusual combination of two pianos, two cellos, and one horn. One can imagine the volume such a combination achieves and, therefore, can understand why Schumann gave up listening to his friends' attempts to play it in his house. He eventually had to borrow a room at his publishing house, Breitkopf & Härtel. Arpeggiated chords and a cry from the horn introduce the Andante theme, which has an AB structure, with the latter section being an inversion of the shape of the lyrical opening motive. The whole theme is presented with chordal harmony and is passed between the two pianos. The cellos and horn round out the harmony. In fact, for much of the entire piece, the majority of the work is left to the pianists. The horn's one showcase variation is a Romantic-era hunting call. There is also a processional variation that allows the cellos and horn to come through more. A variation that reduces the theme to almost a La Folia-like, bare-bones harmonic structure allows the cellists to set aside their bows, using pizzicato to accompany the pianos. There are also a couple of faster, knuckle-cracking and finger-tangling variations and an interlude, with the briefest of quotes from the opening of his song cycle Frauenliebe und -leben, before the final restatement of the theme and a delicate, meandering coda. Although Schumann was disappointed with the work and withdrew it from his catalog, he re-published it, omitting two variations -- as well as the introduction and the interlude, in a two-piano form as Op. 46, at Mendelssohn's suggestion. However, Brahms recognized the worth of the original form and premiered it with Clara Schumann in 1868, and it is more often recorded this way.