Cello Concerto in A Minor, Op. 129

Robert Schumann

Born: June 8, 1810 – Zwickau, Germany

Died: July 29, 1856 – Endenich, Bonn, Germany

Piece Length: Approximately 25 minutes.

The Cello Concerto in A Minor has had a difficult performance history. Schumann wrote the piece in two weeks in October 1850, hoping the cellist Robert Emil Bockmühl would perform the premiere. Upon going over the concerto, Bockmühl praised the work… but also requested numerous edits to the score. The most dramatic of these suggested edits was a complete rewrite of the Finale.

Thankfully, Schumann ignored most of these suggestions, and a performance in Frankfurt was scheduled with Bockmühl as soloist. Unfortunately, Bockmühl became ill, and the premiere was cancelled. The second attempt was scheduled to take place in Düsseldorf, but once again Bockmühl seems to have backed out. While this may suggest that Bockmühl was trying to avoid playing the work, in fact he gave a private performance of it on December 20, 1852, with Clara Schumann playing the orchestral reduction on piano. A third attempted premiere with orchestra was set for March 31, 1853, and yet again it came to naught: Bockmühl’s children had damaged his cello, rendering the instrument unplayable. It is no wonder that Schumann eventually gave up on Bockmühl, stating that he would “never be ready for anything.”

Sadly, Schumann would never hear the concerto with orchestra. The premiere finally took place four years after his death, on April 23, 1860, in Oldenburg with Ludwig Ebert as soloist. Reactions to the concerto were mixed at best. Some reviewers were critical of the work due to Schumann’s intent to avoid composing for the sake of pure virtuosity. Others had difficulty with the way Schumann deviated from the standard structure of concertos of the time.

Both viewpoints perhaps explain why it took so long for the Concerto to become part of the standard cello repertoire. While displaying some virtuosic passages – particularly in the last movement – it is far more dramatic and lyrical, rather than technical, in nature. Schumann wrote, “I cannot write a concerto for the virtuoso; I must think of something else.” To further this point, the title on the autograph score was originally Konzertstück (“Concert Piece”) as opposed to “Concerto.”

The structure also deviates from concerto tradition, thanks to Schumann’s experimental approach. While the piece does follow the fast-slow-fast three-movement format, Schumann composed bridges between those movements, effectively eliminating any breaks. The reason is spectacularly petty: Schumann despised audiences clapping between movements, because he felt it disrupted the flow of the musical narrative. Regardless of its historical obstacles, cellists have embraced the Schumann and turned it into a firm favorite for the performer and their audience.

The first movement, Nicht zu schnell, is in sonata form. Unlike most concertos, Schumann forgoes the orchestra introduction and instead opens with three chords: winds against pizzicato strings. The soloist then immediately enters, presenting the long, rhapsodic first theme. The first four notes of this theme will become an important motif used throughout the concerto. The orchestra leads a transition, moving to a contrasting section where three distinct themes are heard: a short, yearning melody in the cello; a frisky, staccato, dotted-note motif; and a third, triplet-based passage. The orchestra takes up the second theme to play over the soloist’s occupation with the third, and the juxtaposition of these ideas continues until the development begins. Schumann provides instability with rapid key changes and creates further tension through rapid alterations of mood and the exposition’s motifs. A new theme emerges, unsteadily alternating between two pitches, until Schumann combines the triplet idea with the opening four-note motif, bringing the movement to the recapitulation. While the movement appears to be coming to a traditional, exciting finish… the orchestra takes over. A mysterious, almost agitated mood settles in; here is Schumann’s bridge to the second movement.

Marked Langsam, the short second movement is in ternary form, and features Schumann’s exquisite talent for melody. The A section is all lyrical cello against a gentle, triplet rhythm in the strings. In a moving touch that might represent a conversation between Robert and his wife Clara, a great pianist and composer in her own right, the solo cello occasionally duets with the orchestral cellists. The B section features double-stop chords by the soloist as the orchestra moves to a slower duple rhythm, and the four-note motif returns, played here by the winds. As the A section returns, it functions as Schumann’s bridge to the Finale.

Sehr lebhaft is in sonata form and begins with a march-like theme in the orchestra. Three-chords are responded to by a rapidly ascending arpeggio in the solo cello. Contrast begins almost immediately: a playful melody that showcases the range of the cello, followed by a lyrical idea passed between the winds and soloist. The horn signals the development section after a brief orchestral tutti: the four-note motif against the soloist playing variants of the Finale’s first theme. Keys change rapidly, building tension, until the recapitulation arrives with a dramatic restatement of that first theme by tutti orchestra. Here, the soloist finally has the chance to play a cadenza. The placement of this virtuosic moment is not only innovative for Schumann’s time, but it features orchestral accompaniment. The music gradually gets faster, and spins out to a dramatic, brilliant coda as the concerto comes to a triumphant conclusion.