3 Romanzen

Clara Schumann’s tough touring schedule as a professional pianist meant that her output as a composer was modest. But her chamber music can be powerfully expressive, and with keyboard parts (intended for herself to play) of sometimes virtuosic quality—as is the case with her Drei Romanzen (Three Romances) for violin and piano. Written in 1853 in Düsseldorf, where she was living with her husband, Robert (and where, a year later, he would try to drown himself in the Rhine), the Romanzen were designed for concert touring with the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim. That Joachim was a friend as well as a colleague lends a personal dimension to the music. Starting with a spacious pathos, the first "Romance" contains a deeply personal reference to Robert’s Violin Sonata No. 1. The second packs a lot into a short duration, with embellished leaps and arpeggios. And the third—which is as long as the other two combined—supports extended melodies with a relentlessly busy keyboard accompaniment.