The Musicological Analysis On Robert Schumann’s Song Cycle Zwolf Gedichte,0p.35

Art song is an important genre in the history of western music in19th century. Germany has contributed to the flourishing of of art songs with all kinds of favorable conditions, and gradually occupies a central position in this field. Robert Schuman (1810-1856) is a famous composer, pianist and music critic in German,who has created a huge number of works including piano works, art songs, symphony and other forms of music. About300art songs with a high artistic level have been composed by Schumann during his life, making an important part in the field of art songs in German.The great skills in composing piano works and high attainments in literature lead to Schumann’s unique advantages in the field of songs, and he is praised as a "poetic musician". In his songs, the poems are selected more delicately, mainly focusing on the psychological portrayal of people and the theme of nature with extremely deep thought. Variety of emotions are expressed perfectly in his songs, sometimes reflecting Shumann’s own experiences and feelings with strong lyrical and romantic fantasy temperament. Schumann’s Zwolf Gedichte,op.35is completed as the last vocal work in1840which is called his "year of song", and perfect combination of poetry and music is presented in this work.This study is according to the method of musicology analysis. In the first chapter, Schumann’s personal life and creation as well as Kerner’s are introduced, and the composing background of Zwolf Gedichte is also included. In the second chapter, the artistic features of Zwolf Gedichte is analyzed from two aspects of literary and music. In the first part, the themes of the poems, the style of expression, the poems’ structures and the features of words are analyzed. In the following part, the melodies, harmony, mode, music structure, and piano accompaniment of this work are studied, interpreting the close contact of poetry and music at the same time. In the third chapter, the deep connotation of this work is elaborated. Both of the European romanticism ideological trend in19th century and Schumann’s survival situation have exerted great influences on this work.