Humoreske (Schumann)


Humoreske in B-flat major, Op. 20, is a romantic piano piece by Robert Schumann, composed in 1839 and dedicated to Julie von Webenau. Schumann cited Jean Paul's style of humour as source of inspiration, although there are no direct programmatic links to Jean Paul's oeuvre found in the piece.

Structure

The Humoreske consists of seven sections, to be played attacca after each other. Although the piece is nominally written in B-flat major, most of the piece is set in B-flat major's relative minor key, G minor. The musical texture and emotional tone, though, varies widely and differs greatly between the sections:
  1. "Einfach"
  2. :"Sehr rasch und leicht"
  3. :"Noch rascher"
  4. :"Erstes Tempo", Wie im Anfang
  5. "Hastig"
  6. :"Nach und nach immer lebhafter und stärker"
  7. :"Wie vorher" Adagio
  8. "Einfach und zart"
  9. :"Intermezzo"
  10. "Innig"
  11. :"Schneller"
  12. "Sehr lebhaft"
  13. :"Immer lebhafter" Stretto
  14. "Mit einigem Pomp"
  15. "Zum Beschluss" Allegro
A typical performance is about 27 minutes long. It is less popular with audiences than with pianists, and Robert Cummings wrote that some musicologists view it as an ill-judged attempt by Schumann to “take his formula in Kreisleriana a step further.” However, it has been championed by critics such as Judith Chernaik and John C. Tibbetts as well as Anthony Tommasini, who referred to it as one of Schumann’s “most astonishing, and most overlooked, piano works”.