A Poet's Love

"Ich grolle nicht" is not, in Heine's mind, exactly what it means, and again Schumann supposes that he means something else. The poet is thinking of sympathy and forgiveness--even reconciliation. This time however, it is Schumann who has the harsher meaning, following the scene with the angry elements of moral superiority (added iterations of "ich grolle nicht" and the pounding C major cadence at the end). 22 Also of note are the occasional flashes of pain in the chromatic elements amid the tonal, resolute harmonies of C major (Example 4):


Example 4. Robert Schumann, Dichterliebe (op. 48)
(ed. Arthur Komar, New York: Norton, 1971).
"Ich grolle nicht," bars 1-4.

Additionally, Schumann's insertion of more instances of the phrase "ich grolle nicht" serve more than merely to fill out phrase lengths. It is his way of dealing with this public grief while still wearing the best face possible.

The next three movements are more personal. "Und wüßten's die Blumen, die kleinen" begins in the relative minor of the previous movement with the flowers, birds and stars, typically imagined in a cosmic sense, are depicted here by Schumann as comforters of grief.23 It is apparent Schumann brings something personal to this movement. Each of the three Clara tunes discussed so far makes an appearance--the P/P1 tune is found at the beginning in the voice line, the Y tune occurs in bar 13--and X appears twice in bars 29--32, sounding here as almost accusing. 24 At the climactic word "zerissen," the heretofore-smooth texture completely breaks down into a desolate and violent postlude.

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