Das Liederjahr 1840

Within the year 1840, Robert Schumann composed 138 out of his 250 songs. He seemed to be possessed by a passion for songwriting. Robert wrote to his beloved Clara: “Oh, I can't do anything else. I want to sing myself to death like a nightingale!“

At Seigla’s lied recital, Kristinn Sigmundsson and Peter Máté will perform two song cycles by Schumann and both were composed in 1840. Liederkreis Op. 39 contains twelve songs written to the poetry of Joseph von Eichendorff and holds some of Schumann's most beloved songs. The poems are full of doubt and anxiety, but also overflowing with love, romanticism, and joy. They describe the super-sensitive, even neurotic, state of mind that seems to exist nowhere else in literature, except as a peculiar characteristic of Robert's.

Robert's world was not just confined to music. He was a great literary figure, as can be seen from the poems he chose to compose to: well written and profound poetry. Schumann expresses himself as a very unique soul, he is neurotic, mentally ill, super-sensitive, and overpowered by love, and he seems to receive a certain consolation in his songs.

Kristinn Sigmundsson

Bass

Peter Máté

Pianist