On Listening to Schumann

I discovered this German composer through A Little Life, and have recently been listening to his piano pieces.

Listening to Schumann, I recognize how freaking hard his compositions are, but also how rewarding they sound: I think if you can play a piece by Schumann, I think you can play pretty much anything.

We own a piano in our home; my sister usually plays on it when she’s home from college. When I play on it, I plunk at the keys, going by feel, going by what emotionally sounds right. They are songs I’m creating, but ones that I play for myself. I’ve recorded a few of my pieces, but haven’t listened to them in years.

Schumann is one of those composers that I’d love to write poems to. One of his songs in particular conjures an image of people going to the races, watching the horses run around the track, with comical things happening all the while. I will write this poem someday, I just need the inspiration and the song to do it.

Listening to Vladimir Horowitz play pieces by Robert Schumann is impressive. Like I said, these pieces are hard, something you have to really focus to play. Or at least this is what it sounds like, until you have it down. Schumann’s pieces are all over the place, but in a good way: they are whimsical, they are fun to listen to.

One his well-known pieces is Fantasie in C.

Schumann Fantasie in C. (op. 17 in C major.)

Listening to these pieces brings a smile to my face. I like classical music, I just forget to listen to it. Hearing these pieces also makes my imagination take flight, because these works are so well thought out. They let stream of consciousness happen, which is what you want when you’re creating something.

I love listening to Schumann, and am very glad that he wrote such wonderfully complex piano pieces. I’m happy I discovered Fantasie in C., which is a great influential piano piece. I enjoy classical music, and am glad I found a new composer to listen to while I write or read.

Thank you Robert Schumann, for your influence on the Romantic era. Thank you Hanya Yanagihara, for mentioning Schumann in A Little Life.