Celebrating Chopin and Schumann at 200

Chopin_Schumann

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2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the births of both Frédéric Chopin and Robert Schumann, two towering innovators in Romantic-era piano composition. The Chopin year is celebrated throughout Carnegie Hall’s season, with three solo piano recitals by Maurizio Pollini, Louis Lortie’s performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 with Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and a solo recital by pianist Yundi.

Pianist Emanuel Ax performs a trio of concerts—including a solo recital and performances with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and soprano Dawn Upshaw—in tribute to both Chopin and Schumann.

Events

This bicentennial celebration features Romantic music for cello and piano, written by two great pianist-composers. But the dark tone of the instrument suits their music perfectly. The celebrated performers also present a searching new work by one of the most thoughtful and passionate composers living today.

Program Details

Yo-Yo Ma, Cello
Emanuel Ax, Piano

SCHUMANN Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70
SCHUMANN Five Pieces in Folk Style
PETER LIEBERSON Remembering Schumann (NY Premiere, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall)
CHOPIN Polonaise brillante in C Major
SCHUMANN Fantasiestücke, Op. 73
CHOPIN Cello Sonata in G Minor

Limited ticket availability

Articles

Posted March 7, 2010

A CLOSER LOOK: FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN

When an eight-year-old Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) performed a polonaise he had composed the previous year, he made a powerful impression. “A true musical genius,” the Warsaw Diary noted. “The boldest and most magnificent poet of our time,” declared Robert Schumann. Celebrated throughout his life, Chopin continues to be praised today. “Chopin was the greatest master of counterpoint since Mozart,” writes American pianist and critic Charles Rosen.

Though Chopin’s musical gifts were clear from an early age, it wasn’t until he left his native Poland at age 20 that the rest of Europe heard him play. After a brief stay in Vienna, Chopin settled in Paris, where he quickly established a reputation as a brilliant pianist and a sought-after teacher. While virtuoso composer-pianists largely made their livings by playing public concerts, Chopin preferred the intimate settings of exclusive salons. “You cannot imagine what a torture the three days before a public appearance are to me,” he wrote. At small gatherings of artists and aristocrats, he was free from the anxieties of public performance, and able to play and improvise without inhibition.

Posted March 6, 2010

A CLOSER LOOK: ROBERT SCHUMANN

“What I really am I myself do not know clearly,” wrote a 16-year-old Robert Schumann. His two great passions were music and literature, but he wasn’t sure which art to pursue. “Excellent in music and poetry—but not a musical genius—my talents as musician and poet are at the same level,” he wrote in his diary a few years later.

The son of a publisher, Schumann spent many childhood hours devouring classic literature. He tried his hand at writing lyric poetry, drama, fiction, and even translated Greek poetry while still a teenager. He was also a gifted pianist and enjoyed improvising and composing, particularly musical portraits of people he knew.

Since his parents thought that neither music nor literature would lead to a practical career, Schumann was sent to Leipzig to study law. But he had little patience for the “ice-cold definitions” of the law; according to a roommate, he never went to a single law lecture.

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Emanuel Ax Maurizio Pollini Yo-Yo Ma Dawn Upshaw Louis Lortie Dawn Upshaw