Program Notes cont.

in mind.” Ever aware of the act of performing, Schumann is engaging the pianist as much as the audience in the psychological processes at work.

At this point, Schumann’s form has become quite unhinged, and he wanders through sudden and drastic character changes so quickly that we can hardly keep up. Moments of fury give way to brief, almost elegiac moments of repose, and the fleeting sight of B-flat major becomes increasingly distant, swallowed up into the G-minor mode that comes to predominate the piece. The finale embodies instability and mercuriality. Frequent fermatas break up the melodic line, and the pianist is asked to pause, almost as though deep in thought. This greatly contrasts the character of the melody itself which is meandering, sinuous, and wandering, almost as though it could go on indefinitely. A poignant and introspective ending of this final “resolution” movement at last grants us peace. Yet Florestan, the fiery extrovert to Eusebius’ pensive embodiment, seems to get the last word, as a brief coda almost yells in triumph. However, Schumann carefully balances the two personalities. Though Florestan speaks loudest, and last, he did not speak longest, and the introspective, melancholic nature of the work, and of Schumann’s own personality, echoes long after the “grand finale” to the Humoreske.