The choral works of Robert Schumann (1810-56)

Schumann's choral music provides a focus for an account of his later compositional career. Various original contributions to research are made. The Handelian influence behind his early choral writing is identified in Das Paradies und die Peri. An account of Schumann's choral societies gives an insight into the smaller-scale works. The Manfred music and the Corsar fragment show his use of melodrama. The Faustscenen are illuminated by the occasions which inspired them, especially the 1849 Goethe Festival. The unachieved oratorio Luther is described; and in Der Rose Pilgerfahrt the Biedermeier influence on Schumann is demonstrated. The Mass and Requiem show his response to Dusseldorf liturgical practice, and the four choral ballads stand on the threshold of opera, if not music drama. Consideration of Schumann's libretti shows his obsession for a type of redemption drama, possibly influenced by his struggle in the late 1830s to marry Clara Wieck. Appendices contain a worklist and select list of MS. sources; relevant diary entries; synopses of the narrative works; transcriptions of unpublished or unavailable works from 1847 and 1848; a transcription of Schumann's Luther scenario; the repertoire of his choral societies; and information on the size of his orchestra.