Piano Sonata No. 2 in G Minor

Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonata No. 2 packs into four movements and 20 minutes a wealth of wild romanticism. Written between 1835 and 1838, and published in 1839, it was chiefly motivated by his passion for the celebrated young pianist Clara Wieck. Schumann’s personal “Clara” motif—the four descending notes at the start—permeates the whole piece. Clara’s response was slightly cooler. “I am enormously excited with the idea of your Second Sonata; it reminds me of so many happy as well as painful hours,” she wrote. “I love it, as I do you. Your whole being is so clearly expressed in it, and besides, it’s not too obscure.” The dramatic first movement is headed “So rasch wie möglich” (“As fast as possible”)—but its coda is marked Schneller (faster) and the conclusion Noch schneller (Even faster). The second movement is an expressive “Andantino”, based on Schumann’s song “Im Herbste” (“In Autumn”). The “Scherzo” contrasts a tense, spiky idea with a lyrical theme inverting the Clara motif. Clara feared the public would not understand the original finale (“Presto passionato”); Schumann rewrote it, uniting passion and poetry, and ending with a suitably intense coda.