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Robert Schumann
b. 1810 Zwickau, Saxony; d. 1856 Endenich (Bonn), Germany
Abends am Stand
("Wir sassen am Fischerhause" or "The Evening on the Shore"),
song for voice & piano, Op. 45/3
The Lied "Abends am Strand" written in April 1840 is one of 138 Lieder composed in that same year. It turned out to be a very significant year in which Clara and Schumann finally married after four years of painful waiting.
After writing a few early pieces known as his “works of youth” Schumann was only thirty years old when he composed his first Lied with great mastery. Schumann said that his piano had gotten too small for his ideas and wanted to crush it. He also said that he would sing to death like a nightingale.
This Lied was composed on a poem written by Heine, a great romantic German poet whose works were to be the most set to music by the two masters of melody: Schubert, and later Schumann.
In "Abends am Strand" (The evening on the shore), boys are talking in a solemn, even worried tone. On the other shore, girls listen to them with great attention.
The musical pattern is the same with no overflowing or rushing. The tempo remains contained, and the chords are repeated, often supported by the low tones of the piano.
Sophie Miczke
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