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eText Bonus Chapter 4
Robert Schumann
Chapter at a Glance
Listen to This First
Profile: Robert Schumann (1810 1856)
Expand Your Playlist: Robert Schumann
Ternary Form
Unconventional Harmony
Melody and Rhythm: Creating Contrast Together
Connect Your Playlist: Ternary Form
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter and listening to the work, students should be able to:
nd his marriage
to Clara Wieck.
B4.6 Describe how Schumann uses melody and rhythm together to create a ternary form
Key Concepts
ternary form, modulation to a remote key, melodic contour, rhythmic contrasts.
Chapter Highlight: Lyrical Song
This brief song illustrates many of the musical elements composers could use to
intensify the meaning and emotion of a poem: melody, rhythm, harmony, and form. The
modulation to a remote key in the middle section of this song is particularly effective.
Chapter Summary
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marriage, so the couple eloped in that year. Robert Schumann wrote almost 150 songs
during that year, including an entire group of songs dedicated to Clara, from which
strikingly different, but also there is an unconventional modulation to a distantly related
key at the end of section one. The emotional effect is breathtaking.
Listening Guide
melody/rhythm and harmony. Theme 1 (A section) is in the same key each time, has a
repeated rhythmic pattern, and changes only slightly between the two hearings of it.
MyMusicLab Resources
Automated Listening Guide: Robert Schu
Chapter Audio: eText Bonus Chapter 4
Animated Notation: Melody and Rhythm: Creating Contrast Together
Profile: Robert Schumann (1810 1856)
Connect Your Playlist: Ternary Form
Flashcards
Discussion Topics and Critical Thinking Questions
What compositional devices did Schumann use to create good contrast in the song? How
does the form of the poem fit the ternary form of the song? What unusual modulation
does Schumann make at the end of the first section? What is the emotional effect of this
key change?
Describe the contributions that Robert Schumann made to the music world in his New
Journal of Music.
Activities and Exercises
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Search the music sections of major newspapers for critiques of concerts. What are the
major topics of concern to the critics? Make a list of elements that are mentioned in the
articles. Compare them in class.
Journaling Prompt
compose a piece as a gift to someone you loved, how would you demonstrate this love in