Adagio and Allegro in A flat major, Op.70

Langsam, mit innigem Ausdruck - Rasch und feurig

Although it is an essentially horn inspiration – written to register Schumann’s enthusiastic preference for the recently developed valve horn over the old hand horn – the Adagio and Allegro was published in 1849 with official alternative versions for violin and cello. These other versions are particularly appropriate in the opening Langsam section where, in his efforts to demonstrate the capabilities of the valve horn, Schumann treats it with the respect usually reserved for a string instrument. It draws long legato lines in the treble register, drops down into the bass and rises dramatically up again in wide leaps or arpeggios.

While it might seem unlikely that Schumann would have written the fanfare-like opening of the main theme of the Allegro for any string instrument at all – it is obviously characteristic horn material – the main theme would surely retain its heroic, triplet-propelled rhythmic vigour whatever colour is applied to it. The slower B major episode, where Schumann recalls the theme of the introduction and seeks to blend the two instruments in sensitively calculated chromatic harmonies, is scarcely less interesting on cello and piano than on horn and piano – until, that is, the fanfare motif returns to effect an abrupt dismissal of the poetry and to restore the heroism with even more vigour than before.

Langsam, mit innigem Ausdruck - Rasch und feurig

Although it is an essentially horn inspiration - written to register Schumann’s enthusiastic preference for the recently developed valve horn over the old hand horn - the Adagio and Allegro was published in 1849 with official alternative versions for violin and cello. It is just as appropriate for viola. It could even be that the chromatically expressive melody at the beginning of the Adagio section is more effective on viola than on either violin or cello. The long legato lines and wide leaps featured in its development are testing for a horn but no problem for an instrument with a supple bow.

While it might seem unlikely that Schumann would have written the fanfare-like opening of the main theme of the Allegro for any string instrument at all - it is obviously characteristic horn material - the not entirely dissimilar rondo theme of the second of the Märchenbilder for viola and piano suggests that it was by no means out of the question. If there is some loss of brilliance in this case the main theme retains its heroic, triplet-propelled rhythmic vigour whatever colour is applied to it. The slower B major episode, where Schumann recalls the theme of the introduction and seeks to blend the two instruments in sensitively calculated chromatic harmonies, should prove no less interesting on viola and piano than on horn and piano - until, that is, the fanfare motif returns to effect an abrupt dismissal of the poetry and to restore the heroism with even more vigour than before.

Anyone who knows Schumann’s symphonies must also know that he always had a special affection for the horn and that he wrote for it more effectively than for most instruments of the orchestra. In 1849 the affection amounted to an obsession, as Schumann’s affections often did: within a period of a few months he wrote not only the Adagio and Allegro in A flat but also the Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra and the Jagdlieder for four horns and male voices.

In the Adagio and Allegro he was writing specifically for the valve horn, a comparatively recent invention, which allowed the hornist easy accurate access to all the notes of the chromatic scale. Not every musician approved of it - Brahms, for example, continued to prefer the sound of the old hand horn, in spite of its limitations - but Schumann was obviously all for it. Indeed, the opening theme of his Op.70 is deliberately designed to show what a lovely chromatic melody the valve horn can produce. In the Adagio section Schumann treats the horn with the respect usually reserved for the cello. It draws long legato lines in the treble register, drops down into the bass and rises dramatically up again in wide leaps or arpeggios.

The Allegro section begins with the horn involved in a conventionally characteristic fanfare in triplet rhythms but then propels it, without so much as a pause for breath, into a theme of heroic vigour and brilliance. There is a slower middle section in B major, where Schumann achieves a most subtle blend of horn and piano sound in chromatic harmonies, before the fanfare dismisses the poetry and confirms the heroism with even more brilliance than before.