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The nineteenth century was a period of growth in industrialism and nationalism along with the cultural enlightenment of the Romantic era, effectively transforming medicine, customs, and the way in which artists chose to express themselves through visual media and music. With music becoming a gateway into a composer’s thoughts, ideas, and occasionally mental state, psychology became increasingly connected to that composer’s music. Clara Schumann’s “Di Lorelei” is an example of a composition displaying the pain of post-partum depression, a psychological disorder that was misunderstood in nineteenth-century society and medicine.
For composer Clara Schumann, a life-long internal battle raged that tore her between raising her family and composing music. Constantly self-critical of her own work, she personally saw the feminine in her music as weak. In June of 1843 Clara’s husband Robert wrote in their marriage diary:
On my 33rd birthday, June 8, Klara, as always, bestowed gifts upon me. The reason for her melancholy that I notice these days is unknown to me; she would like to heap gifts for those that belong to her; yet there is no luck that would be complete, and we shall accept our possessions with gratitude: talent, health, thriving children, a warm affection. [1]
Robert’s inability to recognize Clara’s melancholy as a possible mental health issue is not uncommon for most people of this time. Coincidently, the study of modern medicine was just being established and was in its infancy during this period of advancement in the nineteenth century. With little known about the anatomy of the human brain or what causes psychological disorder, the term ‘melancholia’ was used to describe the condition of any person displaying a mental anomaly. However, eight weeks prior to Robert’s journal entry, Clara had given birth to the couple’s second daughter. The short timeframe between these two events suggests that Clara had been suffering from Postpartum Depression (PPD). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 9 women experience symptoms of PPD and up to 1 in 5 mothers experience full-blown PPD. [2]
Clara Schumann
Mlle Toutain
As gender binarism was the societal normality, the medical world abided to a vast difference in how woman were examined and diagnosed compared to men. At this time, “when the hysterical woman became sick, she no longer played the role of the self-sacrificing daughter or wife,” which caused doctors to find “hysterical patients [women] personally and morally repulsive, idle, intractable, and manipulative.” [3] As seen in the journal entry, Robert misconstrued Clara’s possible mental health disorder as a lack of gratitude for her talent, health, and children. Furthermore, several years later when Robert became too mentally ill to function normally in society, he was committed to a mental health institution without doctors or Clara questioning the validity of his mental illness.
Regarding the shaming misdiagnosis of Clara’s possible PPD, her true emotions likely emerged in a composition she had written for Robert’s birthday in 1843. One of the “bestowed gifts” of which Robert wrote in the aforementioned quote was Clara’s “Die Lorelei.” Any indication of how Clara fared psychologically during the composition of “Die Lorelei” is possibly related to the 1903 publication of Musica in which French stage actress Mlle Toutain wrote, “The receptive nature of the woman, her capacity to feel very deeply and very quickly the slightest things, her gifts of assimilation prove the woman as a being particularly able to seize and render the beauty of forms and sounds”. [4] Although this may relate to Clara’s writing of “Die Lorelei”, she struggled to see beauty in her music.
Musically, a woman’s ability or inability to feel and then to conjure those emotions into a piece of art will undoubtedly be influenced by the society and time in which she lives. During the life of Clara Schumann, “[A] woman’s life revolves around repetition, and thereby cyclic organization of time is commonly attached to femininity in various historical and cultural contexts, such as nineteenth-century music.” [5] “Die Lorelei” is fueled by a forward-moving ostinato bassline built on the fifth of the tonic chord G-minor. The instability of the fifth in the bass on an unrelenting ostinato suggests a frustration of living through the daily expectations as a woman during the nineteenth century. Raised as house maidens with a daily schedule, it was difficult for women to express themselves without falling back on their upbringing. Clara constructs the majority of her composition in a cyclic manner that suggests her inability to escape depression while remaining true to the scheduled mentality ingrained in her psyche.
Robert Schumann
"Die Lorelei" m. 1-11
Another manner in which a depressive state can be personified is through unsettling speech and thought such as the violent staccato recitative of “Die Lorelei.” Through the syllabic style of singing, Schumann creates a strong sense of discomfort in the first several bars of the lyrical melody. An example of this would be the intervallic movement in the first three notes sung: perfect fourth to major second, followed by a minor second. This pattern continues and the first consonant interval in the melody is not until measure 9. Then after a long awaited consonant tone, Schumann follows with another string of falling dissonances comparative to the inability to escape the troubles of depression.
Accompanying the choice of harmonies throughout “Die Lorelei” is the tempo at which the music is to be played: Schnell. This fast tempo supports the theory of Schumann’s rapid pace of thought filled with conflicting emotions of depression. As part of historical tradition, “Most women’s songs…are sung in a manner…more softly and at a leisurely tempo that allows the melodic line to be ‘decorated’ with delicate melismas.” [6] “Die Lorelei” lacks the built-in room for beautiful melodies or melismas that flatter the vocalist’s feminine ability. Clara’s stylistic decision to compose a piece for a female vocalist that is with a fast tempo and dissonant intervals is better representative of rapid thought, confusion, and angst, instead of the expected presentation of the feminine within this era of music.
There is a representative anger and frustration in the majority of the piano lines throughout the piece, which conventionally express sadness using the emotion invoked by minor and diminished chords. Clara’s life-long challenge to accept her own music comes from the standard to which women musicians were held in the nineteenth century. This era is not far from the male dominated Sturm und Drang expression in piano music that took place in late eighteenth-century Germany. Preceding Clara’s activity in the 1800’s, “it was rare for women to publish solo keyboard music; the vast majority of their output in late eighteenth-century Germany comprised strophic song.” [7] Gender roles remained steadfast for hundreds of years in music, which left Clara within the realm of the conformity taught from the tradition of recent generations. Because of this male dominance of the piano, Clara stuck to the typical use of block chords in a method of expressing her suffering. During moments that lyrically depict pain and sadness in “Die Lorelei,” Clara uses a progression loaded with minor and diminished chords.
However, during the line, “The fairest of maidens is sitting, so marvelous up there,” Clara expresses this tender moment with a beautiful arpeggiation of a major chord progression. Throughout her apparent melancholy, Clara must have longed to return to a state of content and to feel beautiful and appreciated, which are two feelings seldom experienced during depression. This ultimate happiness becomes a message intimately shared with her husband, Robert, through this song written for his birthday. In a sharp twist, Clara returns to the minor and diminished chordal theme during the line, “I think that the waves will devour the boatman and boat as one.”
This conflicting emotion suggests that Clara was calling out to Robert for help to ease the anguish of depression. At a time in which women were vilified for experiencing psychological disorders, Clara could have been unable to explain her mental condition to Robert without a fear of him condemning her. This song became a medium on which Clara could cry out and release her sadness and frustration to Robert without directly confronting her husband.
Clara Schumann’s “Die Lorelei” is a composition suggesting the pain of post-partum depression, a psychological disorder that was misunderstood in nineteenth-century society and medicine. Examination of the piece reveals melancholic parallels derived from an unrelenting ostinato bassline, a violent staccato recitative, and moments of rapid transition between angst and beauty that represent the turmoil of depression. Through these motifs, “Die Lorelei” musically embodies the melancholy, violence, and anguish that Clara felt while suffering from post-partum depression.
[1] Quoted in Sanna Iitti, The Feminine in German Song (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006), 121.
[2] "Reproductive Health," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 13, 2017. Accessed April 23, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/depression/index.htm.
[3] Elaine Showalter, The Female Malady (New York: Random House, Inc., 1985), 133.
[4] Jane A. Bernstein, Women’s Voices Across Musical Worlds (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004), 69.
[5] Iitti, 53.
[6] Bernstein, 269.
[7] Matthew Head, Sovereign Feminine: Music and Gender in Eighteenth-Century Germany (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013), 50.
Bibliography
Bernstein, Jane A. Women’s Voices across Musical Worlds. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004.
CDC. "Reproductive Health." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 13, 2017. Accessed April 24, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/depression/index.htm.
Head, Matthew. Sovereign Feminine: Music and Gender in Eighteenth-Century Germany. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
Iitti, Sanna. The Feminine in German Song. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2006.
Reich, Nancy B. Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman. New York: Cornell University Press, 1985.
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady. New York: Random House, Inc., 1985.
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