Robert Schumann published his Davidsbündlertänze
at the age of 28 as a composition by
“Eusebius and Florestan”.
These names are much more than bare pseudonymes:
they reflect two key aspects of a really complex personality,
of a, to say the least, quite bipolar mind.
1854 he was still in the middle of writing his Geistervariationen,
as he attempted suicide
and threw himself in the freezing Rhein river.
He was detained in a mental hospital until his last days.
On those last days in June 1856, he went back to the desk
and scribbled some last notes.
It was the fragment of a Choral:
“Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist”.
LA NOCHE LA LOCURA
Wolfgang Rihm, Zwiesprache n.1
Robert Schumann, Davidsbündlertänze op.6
Luigi Nono, “…sofferte onde serene…” for piano and tape
Robert Schumann, Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations)
Wolfgang Rihm, Zwiesprache n.1
Robert Schumann, Choral fragment “Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist”
marino formenti 