…Warum? — Compositional Surprises in Schumann’s Music

The article deals with non-standard compositional decisions in R. Schumann’s music. Particular attention is paid to the Finale of the Second Symphony that hasn’t got any generally accepted interpretation so far. Its original construction can be understood only within the context of the whole symphony, it is connected with the preceding Adagio especially closely. Separating into two great massifs, the final in its “first act” controverts the subjective imagery of Adagio, and in the “second act” looks for exit into objective and spiritual sphere. Close communication with the art of J. S. Bach in the years preceding the creation of the Symphony tells not only upon the intenseness of polyphony but on the “weaving” of the musical texture itself, resembling the baroque Fortspinnung. The tonal plan of the Finale — with its tendency to the dominant sphere in its first half (beginning from the first theme), and, after the full but not convincing cadence in the minor tonic, the new search of true support in the second half — is very unusual. A thematic parallel to this process is gradual forming and acquiring of the theme that is truly the main one for the whole Symphony and that is perceived as “a good song” — on the boundary with religious art.