Music: Sun Apr 29

It’s difficult to think of music in the framework of “truthful” and “untruthful”, but Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana inhabits a world of illusions and deceptions. The eight pieces are subtitled “Fantasies”, and rarely has music seemed more “fantastic”. Throughout the work, it’s difficult for listeners to discern where downbeats are, what key one is in, or what wild mood will next erupt. The piece derives from the writings of E.T.A. Hoffman, whose novel Kater Murr was a direct inspiration. The book is a supposedly the memoirs of Tomcat Murr, a feline who has miraculously taught himself to read and write. His life philosophy is written on the back pages of a manuscript by an eccentric musician named Johannes Kreisler, the pages of which Murr has torn up and repurposed for his own story. The seemingly incoherent mishmash has all been published by mistake by a careless editor, who has failed to proofread his work. Hoffman’s novel is one of the great meta-novels of history, and Schumann’s piano work provides a powerful musical analogy.

The CUUC Choir is also on hand with inspirational fare, including Harold Alren’s tribute to the illusory world just “over the rainbow” as well as an uplifting Spiritual. Read on for programming details.

Centering Music: Adam Kent, piano
Kreisleriana, Op. 16

I.              Ausserst bewegt

II.            Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch

Robert Schumann

Anthem: CUUC Choir directed by Lisa N. Meyer and accompanied by Georgianna Pappas

Over the Rainbow    

Music by  Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, arr. by Mark Hayes

Offertory:
Kreisleriana, Op. 16

            IV. Sehr langsam

                                                            Schumann

Anthem:

Bound for Glory!      

American Spiritual, arr. by Douglas E.