Schumann: Ghost Variations, WoO 24 (Anderszewski, Levit)

On the night of 17 February 1854, Schumann, suffering from severe aural hallucinations, claimed that he heard angels dictating a theme to him. If Clara Schumann’s diary entries are to be believed, Schumann immediately wrote down the theme, and on either 22 or 23 February started writing variations on it. (All that survives of this first draft is a single page of music, and so we cannot know if at this stage Schumann completed work on the variations, though is likely he had not). At 2 in the afternoon of 27 February Schumann tried to drown himself in the icy Rhine; he was rescued by bargemen who dragged him ashore. The next day he returned to these variations and (it seems) completed them. He sent the work to Clara, but by then she had already left to stay with a friend at the advice of a doctor. On 4 March Schumann voluntarily committed himself to an asylum in Endenich, where he would die just a little over 2 years later.

The Geistervariationen (“Ghost Variations”) are Schumann’s last work. He did not seem to realise that the lovely chorale theme that he wrote down was one he had used several times before: in the 2nd mvt of his Violin Concerto in D min (in a fragmentary form), the 2nd mvt of his 2nd String Quartet, and the Lieder-Album für die Jugend (No.19, Frühlings Ankunft, with a different harmonic colour). Clara forbade the publication of the work (we don’t know why – possibly they were too personal, possibly she thought it was not musically up to par with Schumann’s earlier work), and it was only until 1939 that the work saw print, although Brahms wrote a set of 4-hand variations on Schumann’s theme in 1861.

The Ghost Variations are, like most of Schumann's late work, extraordinarily intimate. All the variations cleave closely to the original theme, never quite departing its soundscape, and the original melody is always present. Rather than dissect the theme, the variations eavesdrop on it: Var. 1 adds triplet counterpoint in a middle voice; Var.2 unfolds as a touching canon; Var.3 opens the theme up just slightly by placing it in the LH and giving the RH gossamer-light triplet figuration; and Var.4 drains the theme of some of its warmth with intricate note placement, glacial and clear as ice. Var.5 represents something of a break from the earlier variations; it follows the harmony of the original theme exactly, but at first blush can be hard to recognise as related to the original theme. There is for the first time something disturbing here: both upper melody and middle-voice accompaniment are awash with chromatic grace notes, with the middle voice chromatic notes given to the LH in a way that just about suggests they have a separate life of their own. If emphasised, as Levit does (19:29), these LH nonharmonic notes create a gently dissonant haze in which the melody is nearly lost – kaleidoscopically beautiful and broken at the same time. Given what we know about the circumstances of this work’s composition, it is hard to be musically objective, but it seems that there is no more appropriate ending to a work that also bookended Schumann’s life. (We’re not even entirely certain if the work is complete – Schumann might have ended it where it did because he was unable to write more, and on purely intuitive grounds I'm inclined to believe this is the case.)

[AshishXiangyiKumar]

Anderszewski:
00:00 – Theme
02:01 – Var.1
03:31 – Var.2
05:11 – Var.3, Etwas belebter (“somewhat livelier”)
06:50 – Var.4
08:58 – Var.5

Levit:
11:11 – Theme
13:01 – Var.1
14:28 – Var.2
16:01 – Var.3, Etwas belebter (“somewhat livelier”)
17:35 – Var.4
19:29 – Var.5

Anderszewski plays this worshipfully, with a nearly-inaudible rendition of the opening theme but a surprisingly taut and dynamically varied melodic line that can reach real ecstatic peaks, especially in the last variation (see e.g., 10:49). There is a lot of very subtle rubato here too, especially in the inner contrapuntal lines (see Vars. 2-4). Levit has a more straightforward approach: the theme is played simply, with and a kind of inner certainty, and the basic pulse of the music is sustained through the variations. His Var.5 is especially interesting to listen to – it’s taken considerably slower than A.’s, with less precise voicing and the chromatic notes in the LH accented in a rather disturbing way. Both recordings are beautifully voiced, with faultless handling of the counterpoint (it’s interesting to compare how A. and Levit handle the canon – A. teases apart the imitative lines, highlighting the high points in the LH, while Levit lets the trailing voice follow more naturally, like an echo).

[PC]

Heh-heh. "Ghost Variations. WoO"

[petermerelis]

the final variation is one of the most moving bits of Schumman's entire output. sublime beauty shrouded in a fog of dissonance... that's life.

[sama.]

His last work and the "dedicated to Clara Schumann" makes it even that more beautiful and tragic, the love of his life

[footlessgums]

Thank you Schumann for all of the beauty you contributed to mankind

[jabarzey]

The story of Schumann makes me tremendously somber. Thanks, as always, for the wonderful interpretations and wonderful prose to accompany the pieces. Schumann is such a terribly underrated composer and I’m glad you’re uploading his music.

[grandbluepianistofthesky]

Probably one of the most criminally underrated and underperformed pieces for classical piano ever written. It is a beautiful set of pieces despite it's rather strange history, and thus it has an eerieness to it, which may explain why it isn't played so often. Thankfully though, a select few have given their time to record it proving just how wonderful these pieces really are.
This is made all the better by a young man with a knack for writing detailed descriptions of these pieces. One who I'd highly recommend to those interested in classical piano. Thank you Ashish for your hard work.

[tg]

Obsessed with Levit's interpretation of the 5th variation.

[sherifelwan]

I was working on a very regular morning & playing music in the background, the minute this music started playing I swear my entire body totally froze for a couple of minutes while listening to this enchanting & hauntingly beautiful theme....how on Earth is this music not famous & regularly performed ? It's just surreal...Thank you Ashish for uploading this hidden gem of classical music & thank you Schumann for composing it.

[raoulu]

This piece is haunting and the pun is entirely intended. Levit's 5th variation is almost unbearable in its broken-winged beauty. May I also say as a general comment that you write so beautifully and insightfully about the pieces you upload; your channel is both an education and an inspiration.

[Tachometrically]

This is such a transcendently incomprehensible piece. It is guarded in mysterious simplicity

[WoutDC]

It's nothing less than criminal that this work is not more widely-known, not more often programmed, not more often recorded, an absolute masterpiece of the romantic piano literature if you ask me

[ganjamozart]

Ashish, your insight about Levit's emphasised dissonances in Var V gave me goosebumps.

[brycehm]

A fun challenge is to listen to the offbeat LH notes starting at 19:29. It actually makes a melody in D major if you focus on it hard enough. Thankfully Levit's voicing makes this possible!

[qx]

One of the pieces that slowly grows inside of you over time

[isakhungnes]

I find Levi's rendition of the fifth variation very interesting because of the voiceleading. Its as though he is trying to show Schumanns insanity. Kind of reminds me of Gesangen der fruhe

[PeterSchellhase]

Yet another wonderful set of piano variations I have heard for the first time on your channel--with your incomparable 'liner notes.' Thank you.

[parthoroy]

Schumann began his (at least published) piano works with Theme and Variations, "Abegg" I believe (1830), and it seems he ended that way as well, with this piece here. Fitting end to an amazing catalogue of piano compositions

[lorenzo]

Tears. The theme is incredibly lyrical and sad

[wesowen]

This piece resonates to both the part of me that is helplessly in love with performing and making music as well as the depressive part of me that feels like I'm not capable enough and that is afraid of what my future as a musician may hold. I am not sure if I've ever felt so connected to a piece before