{"id":54,"date":"2010-06-08T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2018-01-29T05:26:44","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T10:26:44","slug":"papillons-op-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/?p=54","title":{"rendered":"Papillons, op. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert Schumann zum 200. Geburtstag!<\/p>\n

In many a sleepless night I behold a far-away picture, like a goal. \u00e2\u20ac\u201cWhile writing down the Papillons<\/em> I truly feel a certain independence trying to develop itself. This is, however, the sort of thing that the critics usually reject. \u00e2\u20ac\u201cNow the Papillons<\/em> flutter in the wide, glorious world of Spring. Spring itself stands outside the door and gazes at me\u00e2\u20ac\u201da child with heavenly blue eyes. \u00e2\u20ac\u201cAnd now I begin to comprehend my own existence.<\/p>\n

–Robert Schumann to his mother, May 3, 1832 (Trans. Robert Haven Schauffler)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Introduzione<\/p>\n

I
\nAs he walked out of the small chamber, he begged God that he would happily find it again; he felt as if he were a hero thirsty for glory who embarks on his first battle . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-I.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

II
\nDue to the sort of wrong turn that plagued his life, he entered first into the punch room which he had mistaken for the dance hall . . . He did not see Wina, nor was there any sign of Vult . . . Following his inclination to examine the overflowing adjacent room, he came upon the correct hall, echoing, burning, full of seething figures . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-II1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

III
\nWhat drew his attention and astonishment most was a giant boot skidding around, seemingly worn only by itself . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-III.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

IV
\nHope [as which the young maiden was dressed] quickly turned around: an unmasked sleeping woman approached as did a modest nun in a half mask and with a fragrant strand of auricula.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-IV.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

V
\nNow he stood alone for a second next to the peaceful young maiden, whose charm emanated from behind her half mask like the promise of a glimpse of a rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s or a lily\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face from behind a sinking bud. As foreign spirits in distant twilit skies, they saw each other behind the dark masks, exactly like stars in a solar eclipse, and each soul saw the other in the distance. <\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-V1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

VI
\nDon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take it badly, but in this hall your waltzing so far counts only as a good mimicking imitation; your steps have the waggoner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side-to-side and the miner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up-and-down manner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-VI.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

VII
\nHe tossed his mask aside and a strange, hot desert dryness or dry feverishness broke into his mien and words. If you bear some love for your brother, he began in a dry voice and accepted the crown and loosened the housedress, if you value the quenching of an innermost desire for something and if your happiness is not indifferent as to whether he should have the smallest or greatest, if you will just hear one of his most beseeching requests\u00e2\u20ac\u201d[connects with IX]<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-VII.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

VIII
\nAs a youth touches the hand of a great and famous author, so, like a butterfly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wings, like auricula petals, he softly touched Wina\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s back and lost himself in limitless distance in order to see her living, breathing face. Be there a harvest dance that is the harvest, a fire wheel of passionate enchantment; to Walt, the waggoner had both.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-VIII.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

IX
\n[connects with VII] –then I can only answer you this: With joy. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s get it over with,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d replied Wult without thinking.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-IX.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

X
\nWhen he entered, it seemed to Walt as if everyone wanted to exchange masks with him; a few women noticed that, behind the flowers, Hope now had blonde hair (unlike earlier), and Walt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s steps were smaller and more ladylike, as would have been appropriate for Hope. But he soon forgot himself and the hall and everything, as the waggoner Vult, partnered at the dizzying peak of the English dance with Wina, broke off dancing without reason and, artfully casting her aside, began moving his feet\u00e2\u20ac\u201dseemingly painting with the great decorative strokes of a painter.<\/p>\n

. . . <\/p>\n

Later, at the end of the dance, amongst hurriedly reaching hands making lines criss-crossed and up and down, Vult allowed himself to escape from the strains of the Polish guitar\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnow only breaths of talking, and now undulating at sea with the butterflies of a distant island. To Wina the talking around her resonated like the summer night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s song of a seldom-heard lark.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-X1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Papillon XI.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-XI.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Papillon XII. Finale<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Papillons-XII.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Schumann did not indicate corresponding texts for numbers XI and XII.<\/p>\n

The texts come from Jean-Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/a> Flegeljahre<\/em>, a novel the author did not finish. <\/p>\n

Source: Wolfgang Boetticher. Schumann<\/em>. pp. 611-613. (My own translation.) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Schumann zum 200. Geburtstag! In many a sleepless night I behold a far-away picture, like a goal. \u00e2\u20ac\u201cWhile writing down the Papillons I truly feel a certain independence trying to develop itself. This is, however, the sort of thing that the critics usually reject. \u00e2\u20ac\u201cNow the Papillons flutter in the wide, glorious world of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quotations","category-schumann"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.albumleaves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}