Schumann: Träumerei (Reverie) for mandolin quartet

[Martin Jonas]

Robert Schumann: Kinderszenen (Op. 15, 1838)
7. Träumerei (Reverie)

A. 55bpm - 0.00
B. 70 bpm - 2:29
C: 100 bpm - 4:25

This is one of Schumann's most famous piano pieces. I have played it as a mandolin quartet, adapted from an arrangement for string quartet I found at Musescore:

https://musescore.com/user/119066/scores/1607616

The original score uses alto clef and bass clef for the viola and cello. If you want to play it on OM and/or guitar, I attach the same score but in octave treble clef for the two low parts.

There is some dispute over the most appropriate tempo for this piece, and I have therefore recorded it at three different tempi, 55bpm, 70bpm (as marked on the score) and 100bpm. This changes the character of the piece very much. As I couldn't decide which I prefer, I have included all three in this video.

The slow version (55bpm) is roughly the tempo it's usually heard these days, e.g. in the version by Horowitz. Clara Schumann's 1887 edition was marked 80 bpm, whereas Robert Schumann's own original 1839 edition was marked 100 bpm, and is therefore arguably the most authentic. The German Wikipedia entry has more to say about the tempo of this piece:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C3%A4umerei#Tempo

1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin (x2)
Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
Suzuki MC-815 mandocello



Martin

[crisscross]

Very nice! I guess, I like the second tempo best.
The slow version also sounds fine.
The last one seems a bit hurried.

[derbex]

Interesting, I think I liked the last one, despite it seeming a bit hurried, so maybe Clara's 80 would be a happy compromise.

[Martin Jonas]

Thanks, Jeremy and crisscross. The hurried nature of the fast take may well be more in my playing than the tempo itself, and in my not slowing down on the final three bars as per Schumann's urtext -- that's hard to do when overdubbing yourself. I found it quite difficult to speed up a piece that's imprinted in my mind at a much slower tempo. I think playing it at 100bpm needs a greater change in phrasing, something that is alluded to in the German Wikipedia entry:

"Ihre Veränderungen des Charakters der Träumerei (...) betrafen außer der Verlangsamung des Tempos auch die Phrasierung und die Pedalisierung, die in ihrer Fassung dazu anregen, das Klavierstück in kleinere Sinneinheiten als von Robert Schumann notiert zu gliedern und die musikalischen Inhalte langsamer, breiter und bedächtiger auszuformen. Clara Schumann ebnete damit den Weg zu zunehmend sentimentaleren Auffassungen der Träumerei.

("[Clara Schumann's] changes to the character of the Reverie concerned not only the slowing of the tempo but also the phrasing and pedalling which in her edition encourage a subdivision of the piece into smaller units than in Robert Schumann's notation and a slower, broader and more contemplative exposition of the musical contents. With this, Clara Schumann prepared the way to progressively more sentimental interpretations of the Reverie.")

Martin

[HonketyHank]

I like all three speeds but I think the middle one fits your playing style (and the nature of the mandolin) better than the other two.

Thanks for all your posts.