Ruth Slenczynska•SCHUMANNRuth Slenczynska•SCHUMANNCARNAVAL

KINDERSZENENSONATA No.2

RECORDED IN 1999

CARNAVALKINDERSZENENSONATA No.2

RECORDED IN 1999

SchumannCarnaval • Kinderszenen • Sonata No.2

Carnaval (“Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes”), Opus 9 28:46Préambule. Quasi maestoso – Più moto – Animato – Vivo – Presto 2:12Pierrot. Moderato 0:51Arlequin. Vivo 1:03Valse noble. Un poco maestoso 2:01Eusebius. Adagio 1:30Florestan. Passionato 0:55Coquette. Vivo 1:02Réplique. L’istesso tempo 0:25Papillons. Prestissimo 0:53A.S.C.H.-S.C.H.A. (letteres dansantes). Presto 0:57Chiarina. Passionato 1:18Chopin. Agitato 1:36Estrella. Con affetto 0:29Reconnaissance. Animato 1:46Pantalon et Colombine. Presto 0:56Valse allemande. Molto vivace 1:02Paganini. Intermezzo. Presto 1:29Aveu. Passionato 1:14Promenade. Comodo 2:48Pause. Vivo 0:18Marche des “Davidsbündler” contre les Philistins. Non Allegro –Molto più vivo – Animato – Vivo – Animato molto – Vivo – Più stretto 3:51

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Ruth Slenczynska, PianistOriginal 24-Bit Master

Kinderszenen (“Scenes from Childhood”), Opus 15 18:15I. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (Foreign lands and people) 1:58II. Kuriose Geschichte (Curious story) 1:08III. Hasche-Mann (Catch me if you can) 0:33IV. Bittendes Kind (Pleading child) 1:02V. Glückes genug (Happiness) 1:08VI. Wichtige Begebenheit (Important Event) 0:49VII. Träumerei (Dreaming) 2:42VIII. Am Kamin (By the fireside) 0:59IX.Ritter vom Steckenpferd (Knight of the hobby-horse) 0:40X. Fast zu ernst (Almost too serious) 1:53XI. Fürchtenmachen (Frightening) 1:10XII. Kind im Einschlummern (Child falling asleep) 2:03XIII. Der Dichter spricht (The poet speaks) 2:14

Sonata No.2 in G Minor, Opus 22 18:50I. So rasch wie möglich 7:20II. Andantino (Getragen) 3:48III. Scherzo: Sehr rasch und Markiert 1:48IV. Rondo: Presto 5:54

Total Playing Time: 66:07

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Robert SchumannIn the introduction to his critical writing, Robert Schumann bewailed the lack of good

contemporary music. “On the stage Rossini reigned; at the piano nothing was heard butHerz and Hunten; and yet but a few years had passed since Beethoven, Schubert and Weberhad lived among us.” That was written about 1833, when Schumann founded the NeueZeitschrift für Musik, and was also well started on a noble series of piano works.

As editor of the Neue Zeitschrift it was Schumann’s fancy often to sign his reviews withpen names, and people them with pen names that stood for his friends. Wherever Zilia orChiarina appears, Clara Wieck (later to become Schumann’s wife) is understood. Meritasrefers to Felix Mendelssohn; Florestan and Eusebius reflect the passionate or reflective sidesof Schumann’s nature. And so on.

While editing the Zeitschrift, Schumann also was doing his best to write piano music thatwould be a corrective to Herz and Hünten. The Carnaval, Opus 9, which dates from 1834-35, is subtitled “Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes.” But why “tiny scenes on four notes?”Well, Schumann had fallen in love with a girl named Ernestine von Fricken, and she camefrom a town named Asch. Each of the four letters in the name of that town has, a musicalequivalent in German. “S” is the same as “Es,” which is our E flat. The German “H” is our Bnatural. These four letters — ASCH — also occur in Schumann’s name. Moreover, “As” inGerman is A flat. Thus Schumann exuberantly went to work, devising a triple set of themes— A, E flat, C, B; A flat, C, B; E flat, C, B, A. The first group of notes in nearly every pieceof the Carnaval is based on one of those three combinations.

“Let me make a few observations regarding this composition,” wrote Schumann, “whichowed its origin to pure chance. The name of a city in which a musical friend of mine livedconsisted of letters belonging to the scale which are also contained in my name, and this sug-gested one of those musical games that are no longer new, since Bach provided the model.One piece after the other was completed during the carnival season of 1835, in a seriousmood, by the way, and under peculiar circumstances. I afterwards gave titles to the numbers,and named the entire collection Carnaval.”

The work opens with a spirited Préambule. After the trumpet-call opening, a brillantesection follows, ending in a kind of Gilbert and Sullivan summation. Then Pierrot, the stum-bling clown makes his pompous way across the stage, joined by Arlequin in the next number.A Valse noble follows where right hand octaves introduce the expressive melody. Next the

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dual parts of Schumann’s per-sonality are paired off: Eusebius(the title is Schumann’s alias for the softer side of his own personality) and Florestan(Schumann the man of action).It is interesting to note thatFlorestan has the same initialsequence of notes as the Valsenoble, but how differentlySchumann treats the two!Coquette comes on stage, traips-ing right out of Florestan in aflirty waltz; there is a reply(Réplique); and then the funnylittle Sphinxes appear which arenever played, nor are theymeant to be, but which give theclue to the Carnaval by print-ing the three thematic combi-nations that Schumann evolvedfrom the good city of Asch.Three forms of the musicalcryptogram are given inSphinxes. First is a four noteidea, E flat, C, B, A, standingfor SCHA, an abbreviation forSchumann (SCHumAnn).Then come the three notes A flat, C, B, standing for Asch, using A flat as AS. The third is afour note phrase A, E flat, C, B, standing again for Asch. The game doesn’t end there,though, for each piece is as well a miniature cartoon or caricature of a friend, a composer, orone of the figures of Italian comedy, with an occasional valse or mood piece thrown in. The whole is then wrapped up as a document of the Davidsbündler, Schumann’s imaginary

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Robert and Clara Schumann

society for the prevention of cruelty to Romantic composers.In the music the sequence continues as follows: Papillons (a fluttery version of

Schumann’s butterflies), Lettres Dansantes (in which the cryptogram ASCH and SCHAbecome the subject now of a slightly frenzied dance that ends abruptly), Chiarina (this waltzis meant to be a characteristic description of Clara Wieck, later to become Schumann’s wife.Annotators have remarked that even here the composer seems to have given her a favoredposition and musical treatment), Chopin (in which Schumann, as a tribute, imitates the com-poser’s delicate nocturne-like writing), and Estrella (Ernestine von Fricken). Next come theReconnaissance, one of the most delightful of the pieces. Its title can be taken to meanacknowledgement or recognition but could also mean a reconnaissance in the sense of mili-tary reconnoitering of a personal kind. It is followed by those two good carnival figures,Pantalon et Colombine, providing us with more Italian comics before the footlights. A ValseAllemande is interrupted by none other than Paganini, bowing violently away. Then there isthe tender Aveu, a short, simple confession. It is followed by a Promenade, a three-quartertime stroll in a peaceful, somewhat idealistic garden. Pause is next – this “pause” is, rather, ashort headlong dive into the conclusion.

The finale is entitled Marche des “Davidsbündler” contre les Philistins. The Davidsbündlerwas a typical Schumannesque invention, supposed to represent a group consisting of thecomposer and his friends – a band dedicated to artistic ideals and the prevention of cruelty toRomantic composers. Liszt introduced Carnaval in a Leipzig concert but the work provedtoo full of startling ideas compactly presented to be immediately heard for what it is. As Lisztlater wrote: “The musicians, as well as the so-called musical experts, with few exceptions, stillwore a thick mask over their ears, which prevented them from comprehending this piece, socharming, so bejewelled, and, through artistic imagination, so variously and harmoniouslyput together.”

The miracle of the Carnaval, Opus 9 is the bewildering variety Schumann achievesdespite the limiting factor of the three themes to which he confined himself. To many, thiswork is the cornerstone of the romantic period in music. The programme is secondary: it ismildly amusing and even wistful, these sophisticated days. As pure music, forgetting entirelyabout the programme, the Carnaval is a glowing, nostalgic, passionate and idealistic outpour-ing from one of the most poetic musicians who ever lived.

Music, as Schumann composed it, was meant to be expressive in itself. He possessed notonly a rare spiritual affinity to poetry, but also the soul and imagination of a poet. In his sets

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of descriptive piano pieces bearing individual titles (“Fantasiestücke,” Opus 12 in 1837 was the first among them) he in effect created the equivalent of song cycles for the piano, ascolorful and poetic as the best inspirations of his celebrated lieder.

Kinderszenen, Opus 15 dates from 1838, when Schumann was twenty-eight. It was a par-ticularly happy and productive year for the composer. Thoughts of Clara Wieck had filledhis mind and guided his pen. Composing prodigiously, he dashed off the entire set in a mat-ter of days. “I felt as if I had wings, and wrote about thirty pretty little things from which Ihave chosen twelve and called them “Kinderszenen.” I am very proud of them...” These arenot virtuoso pieces, nor were they meant to be. But they were not intended for children,either. Rather, they express the gentle, understanding feelings of an adult observing the worldof a child, linking the two worlds in an intimate relationship. A yearning for a then still unat-tainable domestic happiness might well have been the true inspiration of this collection.

The first two pieces, Von fremden Ländern und Menschen and Kuriose Geschichte, maykeep the listener puzzled as to the strange places and people depicted in the former and thenature of the story told in the latter. The composer offers not a program but a mood andinvites us to follow his flights of imagination. Easier to identify is the merry game of chase(Blindman’s Bluff) that is the subject of Hasche-Mann and the touching vignette calledBittendes Kind with its truly inspired stroke of suspended ending. Following the gentle butirresistible hint of the child’s plea, Glückes genug brings relief with a feeling of joyous satis-faction. In Wichtige Begebenheit, an important event in the day of a child is set forth in amanner of mock seriousness.

Träumerei is, of course, too well known to require comment, except that it takes on aspecial meaning of gentleness and innocence when heard in this context. Am Kamin picturesa feeling of quiet contentment that adults would wish to share with a child. The program-matic Ritter vom Steckenpferd is clearly illustrated in whimsical tempo, while Fast zu ernst(“Almost too Serious”) is a perfect title for something that music can express so much betterthan words. In Fürchtenmachen, childhood’s mysterious fears are captured in the alternatingmoods of the music. And then comes Kind im Einschlummern, its rocking, quiet melody thatsignals approaching sleep, and the suggestion of a concluding gentle sigh. Here the scenes ofchildhood come to an appropriate close, but enters the poet – Der Dichter spricht – who talksin plaintive tones, not so much to the sleeping child but to his listeners, creating a meaning-ful piano postlude for the set.

Schumann, as a youth, lived in a never-changing atmosphere of feminine adulation. He– 7 –

made no secret of his affections, and published them in the dedications of his music, in thinlydisguised musical acrostics, and in his letters. He examined and recorded the fluctuatingstates of his passion with cool detachment despite the depth of emotion. It seems that helived in the third person singular, so analytical are his epistolary descriptions of his own feel-ings. He confided his loves to his mother, to whom he was deeply devoted. He often wroteto one of his feminine friends confessing admiration for another. And once he wrote to a per-fect stranger, declaring in a curt sentence: “Clara Wieck loves, and is loved.” At that time hewas going through the torturing battle of sentiment with Clara’s father who opposedSchumann’s marriage to Clara to the bitter end.

Two other women besides Clara occupied Schumann’s mind during this early period ofhis life. One was Ernestine von Fricken, his first romantic love, the other, Henriette Voigtwho played the role of a confidante. Ernestine was Estrella, the starlet of Schumann’s imagi-nary anti-Philistine Society of David. She was immortalized in the “dancing letters” ofCarnaval, which spell the name of her native town. She was a pupilboarder at the house ofClara’s father, who never suspected that she and Schumann kept clandestine rendezvous atthe house of Henriette Voigt, the confidante. The attitude of Captain von Fricken towardsErnestine was peculiar. He wrote her: “Play duets with Schumann, but be careful not to doanything that might disturb your peace of mind or harm your good name.” But whenSchumann went to Asch, ready to sanction his relations by marriage, he found out to his dis-may that Ernestine was an illegitimate child adopted by the Captain, and not an heir to hisfortune. But the romance was already on the wane. Clara, although only sixteen, now occu-pied Schumann’s full attention. To make sure of the indivisibility of that attention, Clarawrote to Ernestine asking her whether she had any claims on Schumann, and received anadmirably unselfish reply that she had none. Much later, analyzing his mental state in retro-spect, Schumann wrote to Clara: “I feel strongly that Ernestine has been wronged. She wasthe victim of circumstances, and I know well that I was at fault.” But he found an explana-tion that mitigated his consciousness of guilt: Ernestine drove Clara from Schumann’s heartwithout being aware of it, and thus the priority of love was merely re-established whenSchumann returned to Clara. Ernestine herself, strangely self-denying creature that she musthave been, wrote to Schumann and told him she had always believed that he could love noone but Clara. Ernestine married an old aristocrat even before Schumann’s marriage toClara; her husband soon died, and she followed him, a victim of a typhoid epidemic.

Robert Schumann dedicated the Piano Sonata No.2 in G Minor, Opus 22 to Henriette– 8 –

Voigt, the accommodating confidante. Writing to Henriette in 1834, Schumann said shewas “an A-flat major soul,” but her soul must have changed key, for the Sonata is in GMinor! Schumann was slow in composing this Sonata, and it took him nearly five years tobring it to completion. The Sonata is in the orthodox four movements, but each movementindividually is far from orthodox. The first movement is feverishly impetuous. The tempo ismarked “as fast as possible,” but towards the end of the movement there are further impel-lents, piu mosso, and ancora piu animato. The second movement is an uncommonly short,Andantino in 6/8, nominally in the key of C Major, but too fluctuating to convey a definiteimpression of tonality. Then follows a nervous, syncopated Scherzo, in the tonic key of GMinor. The last movement is a Rondo. The technical style is characteristic of thepost-Beethoven period of piano literature. The accompanying figures contain wide intervals,awkward to play; there are elements or polyphony that suggest the mental image of anorchestra. Yet the Sonata is very pianistic, in the transcendental sense and pre-eminentamong the works of the period as a highly successful composition expressing the new freeand romantic spirit in a form inalienably identified with classical abstraction.

– Notes by Marina and Victor Ledin, Copyright © 1990 and 2000

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The Artist“She knows what she is doing every minute of the time. It is amazing!”

– Josef Hofmann after hearing Ruth Slenczynskain her New York debut at Town Hall, 1933

Ruth Slenczynska was born in Sacramento, California on January 15, 1925. From thetime she was two years old, Ruth’s musicianship was evident to all. She was able to recognizeand hum (in the correct keys!) themes by Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. By the age of three,she had mastered the rudiments of music theory and harmony. She began her studies with herfather, a violin teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area, and gave her first public recital at theage of four, on May 10, 1929, at Mills College in Oakland. On Sunday, March 16, 1930, shegave a “farewell recital” at Erlanger’s Columbia Theatre in San Francisco. The program fea-tured works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Grieg, C.P.E. Bach, Beethoven and Chopin. She wasawarded a scholarship by Josef Hofmann to study at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia andthis concert by the five-year-old was her last appearance before commencing studies.Hofmann taught her to lean into the piano keys on the soft part of her fingers in order to pro-duce the desired sound. Although she received a few lessons from Hofmann, because of hisbusy concert schedule, she actually studied with Madame Isabelle Vengerova. Her older class-mates were Shura Cherkassky, Jorge Bolet and Samuel Barber. Despite this brief foray into aconservatory, Ruth’s father, Josef Slenczynski, remained her primary teacher.

Bay Area socialites, rallied by violinist Mischa Elman, raised money for Ruth’s studyabroad under such masters as Egon Petri, Artur Schnabel, Alfred Cortot and SergeiRachmaninov. When she was six, long lines formed around the historic Bachsaal in Berlin forher German debut. The cabled report to The New York Times declared her to be “the mostastounding of all prodigies heard in recent years on either side of the ocean.” After her Berlinconcert, the German critics mounted the stage to examine the full-sized piano on which thelegs and pedal mechanisms had been shortened to enable her to play. They were seeking somesort of concealed mechanism or wires to account for the undersized six-year-old’s ability toproduce the glorious sounds she had just drawn from the instrument. Apologizing for theirdisbelief, they departed just as dumbfounded as the rest of the frenzied audience.

On the evening of November 13, 1933, the eight-year-old Ruth trotted confidently from– 10 –

the wings of New York’s TownHall, poised herself on the veryedge of her piano seat and pro-pelled a pair of tiny hands throughan almost unbelievable perfor-mance of masterpieces by Bach,Beethoven, Mendelssohn andChopin. This was her New Yorkdebut. The next day, The NewYork Times declared the playing“an electrifying experience, full ofthe excitement and wonder of hear-ing what nature had produced inone of her most bounteousmoods.” At nine she filled an entirecancelled tour of the immortalIgnacy Jan Paderewski; had herstory serialized in 18 daily chapterssyndicated to 500 leadingAmerican newspapers; swappedriddles with Herbert Hoover;received floral tributes from QueenAstrid of Belgium, Queen Marie ofRomania, and King Christian X ofDenmark; and earned more money than the President of the United States. Her musicalcareer was to last another five years before she came to the heroic decision to withdraw fromthe concert stage.

This was followed by a period of maturation, reassessment and personal growth. Sheworked at odd jobs to put herself through the University of California, Berkeley, where sheearned a degree in psychology. She then served as professor of music at the College of OurLady of Mercy in Burlingame, California. Ruth Slenczynska returned to the concert stage atthe Carmel Bach Festival in California in 1951. This appearance led to a performance withArthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops in San Francisco. Ruth was then invited to play in

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Ruth Slenczynska

Boston and was also asked to goon tour with the Boston Popsthat following winter. The tourwould require Ruth to performwith the orchestra for a three-month period, performing everynight, and twice-a-day onSaturdays and Sundays. Thegruelling schedule would requirethat she travel every day by busbetween concert venues.Nervous about forsaking herteaching position at the Collegeof Our Lady of Mercy, shesought the advice of ArturRubinstein in Los Angeles.Rubinstein encouraged Ruth topursue the Boston Pops invita-tion. The first year of touringled to three more years with the

Boston Pops. During that period she gave more than 360 performances with the orchestra –a record number of appearances by one artist with an orchestra! In 1956 she performed theChopin F Minor Concerto with the New York Philharmonic conducted by DimitriMitropoulos at Carnegie Hall. Mitropoulos, who had conducted her appearance with theMinneapolis Orchestra when she was twelve, considered this 1956 engagement as the“discovery of a brilliant new artist on the threshold of a great career ahead.” He inscribed aphotograph to her: “To a great pianist and musician.” In May of that year, some 35 milliontelevision viewers watched and listened with amazement as Ralph Edwards applied hisunique “This Is Your Life” formula to Ruth Slenczynska’s stranger-than-fiction real life story.Six months later it was set forth again, when the “best-of” “This Is Your Life” was highlightedon Arlene Francis’ coast-to-coast NBC “Home Show.” Also in 1956, her profile, sculpturedby famed Malvina Hoffman, was designated as the symbol of achievement for the 1956Kimber Award in Instrumental Music of the San Francisco Foundation. Delta Omicron, the

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Earl Wild and Ruth Slenczynska, 1999

International Music Fraternityfounded in 1909, elected her tonational honorary membership,conferring the title to a “musi-cian who has attained outstand-ing recognition in the field ofmusic.”

In 1958, on the evening ofNovember 13th, she returned toTown Hall to celebrate herSilver Jubilee. That same yearshe crossed the country, playingin 56 cities, in 20 differentstates, with appearances with sixmajor symphony orchestras. In1961, when the San FranciscoSymphony was celebrating itsGolden Anniversary Season, shewas invited to perform theKhachaturian piano concertowith the 25-year-old SeijiOzawa conducting. She has per-formed more than 3000 recitals on both hemispheres and appeared with most of the world’sgreatest orchestras. In 1984 she returned to New York’s Town Hall in celebration of over 50years on the concert stage. The New York Times critic, John Rockwell wrote: “unlike toomany machine-tooled young virtuosos today, Miss Slenczynska brought an appealing lyri-cism and musicality to her interpretations... her technique remains a commanding one.”Although in 1985 she returned to the far eastern countries of Korea, Singapore, Thailand,Taiwan, Malaysia and the first visits to China and New Zealand, performing 115 concerts,she has pared back her concert schedule as follows: “Every three years I play internationally –between fifty and sixty concerts. Every year I play between twenty-five and thirty concertsand workshops all over the United States.” Although Ms. Slenczynska tried to retire fromconcertizing and teaching a couple of years ago, she has been unable to do so because of the

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Ivory Classics recording team after Ruth Slenczynska recording sessions,October 1999. Edd Kolakowski, Ed Thompson, Ruth Slenczynska,

Michael Rolland Davis and Earl Wild

constant demand for her concert performances and master classes. Today she still maintainsan active teaching schedule at Southern Illinois University as well as conducting workshopsand master classes around the country. Ruth Slenczynska is married to retired political sci-ence professor James Richard Kerr and resides in Glen Carbon, Illinois. They are avidgardeners and dog lovers and collect art from all over the world. This recording marks RuthSlenczynska’s return to the recording studio after an absence of many years and continuesIvory Classics’ commitment to documenting her incredible musical career.

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Recordings by Ruth Slenczynska on Ivory Classics®:

The Legacy of a Genius – Ivory Classics 70802Bach: Italian Concerto; Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue,

Toccata in C minor; and Sonata in D Major

Chopin/Liszt: Six Chants Polonais, Op.74

Liszt: Consolation No.1 in E Major; Hungarian Rhapsody No.15 in A minor (“Rákóczy March”)

Ruth Slenczynska in Concert – Ivory Classics 70902Haydn: Sonata No.47 in B minor

Brahms: Rhapsody in B minor, Op.79, No.1

Copland: Midsummer Nocturne (1947)

Chopin: Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58

Rachmaninov: Eight Preludes

CREDITSl l l l l l l l

Recorded at Fernleaf Abbey, Columbus, Ohio, October 5-7, 1999

Original 24-Bit Master

Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

Recording Engineer: Ed Thompson

Piano Technician: Edd Kolakowski

Generous assistance came from the Michael Palm Foundation and Ivory Classics Foundation

Liner Notes: Marina and Victor Ledin

Design: Communication Graphics

Inside Tray Photo: Ruth Slenczynska

Cover Photo: Ruth Slenczynska in 1999(Photo by Michael Rolland Davis)

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- Carnaval (“Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes”), Opus 9 28:46

- Kinderszenen (“Scenes from Childhood”), Opus 15 18:15

- Sonata No.2 in G Minor, Opus 22 18:50

Total Playing Time: 66:07

Original 24-Bit Master

Producer: Michael Rolland Davis • Engineer: Ed Thompson

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Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 U.S.A. Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799

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64405-71004 STEREO

Ruth SlenczynskaSchumann

Carnaval• Kinderszenen• Sonata No.2

Ruth SlenczynskaSchumann

Carnaval• Kinderszenen• Sonata No.2