Scharwenka - "Traum und Wirklichkeit"

[Reverie]

Published in 1894 whilst Director of the Berlin Conservatory.

Traum und Wirklichkeit seems to be catalogued as a tone poem as it runs without a break. However, at over 30 minutes in length and in terms of its formal structure it leans more towards a symphony of sorts.

It begins with an opening Allegro movement followed by a Scherzo. The scherzo 'dissolves' gradually to an Andante Tranquillo movement. It's a wonderful transition featuring the harp.

Muted brass fanfares prelude the last movement. An almost baroque sounding introduction leads into a fugue and then into the finale proper. Towards the end the high energy subsides and we hear Bach's "Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden" (When I must depart one day, do not depart from me then) played on full brass, softly.

I have enjoyed exploring every bar of this work whilst working on it. The last time I felt that was working on Wilhelm Berger's 1st Symphony so that says everything!

LINK BELOW:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLtha9F0XrQ&t=133s

[Alan Howe]

I am thoroughly enjoying this too! The question at the back of my mind, though, is how this exciting music would have stood up against the contemporary tone poems of, say, Richard Strauss.

I haven't (yet) been convinced of the ultimate worth of PS's orchestral music - as opposed to his chamber music which I much prefer.

But that's just me - and I did enjoy 'Traum und Wirklichkeit'.

[Reverie]

It's not constantly frenetic in a Strauss/Mahlerian mode obviously.

I think in this piece he builds towards the denouement at the end and it works if you listen to the whole in one sitting.

[Alan Howe]

Oh, I think it sort-of works, but I don't find it powerful enough. As I said, I did enjoy it.

[semloh]

Thank you Reverie, for the realisation of this very enjoyable work. How fortunate we are to have you on UC!

Traum und Wirklichkeit is a very interesting title. Is it significant for the substance of the work? Although you suggest that it is 'a symphony of sorts' it does sound programmatic.

[Mark Thomas]

As ever, thanks so much for another revelatory realisation Martin. I very much look forward to hearing this. I completely understand Alan's comparison with contemporary works by Strauss and Mahler, but I think there's much to commend Philip Scharwenka's less showy approach to late-romantic composition, not in competition with them, but along an alternative path.

[Alan Howe]

I think the problem with PS is that he's fundamentally a conservative composer (nothing wrong in that) and that tone poems require a more 'pictorial' talent, if you see what I mean. Perhaps he should have refrained from giving his composition a pretentious title like 'Dream and Reality' and left it untitled - because that's the sort of title that only a Richard Strauss could write suitable music for (think 'Death and Transfiguration').

It's still a lovely piece of music, though.

[Ilja]

Martin, thanks for your work on this! It's a greatly enjoyable work and only heightens my appreciation for Philipp Scharwenka's talents as a composer of symphonic poems of a more introspective kind than we usually see.

[Alan Howe]

I agree. This is fantastic work - and extremely enlightening.

[Rainolf]

The main difference between Scharwenka and Strauss is the movement of their compositions. The Tone Poems of Strauss are composed in a style that originates in Wagner's "Musikdrama". Wagner wants to write opera acts that are not a suite of small pieces but one large piece of music. So he works with long lasting harmonies and "unfinished melodies" that result in longer segments of form. So does Strauss. Scharwenka is no Wagnerian. He builds his forms in a similar way as, say, Schubert or Brahms. His melodies could be characterised as - to say it somewhat simplified - extended songs or dances.

[Alan Howe]

...which is why he should have refrained from giving his very attractive composition a title suggesting something Wagnerian/Straussian. Much better to have called it 'Symphonische Fantasie' or suchlike.

[Double-A]

"Traum und Wirklichkeit" is a very different title from "Tod und Verklärung".  The first suggest a let down, a downward movement from dream to reality, from illusion to sobriety and resignation, the second an upward movement from death to some sort of apotheosis.  "Traum und Wirklichkeit" is more realism than romanticism.  It seems not terribly surprising that it would inspire quite a different sort of music.

I have not heard the piece yet but its description seems to fit the title very nicely with a pensive ending and maybe a move toward religion.

BTW I have an idea that "Traum und Wirklichkeit" is the title of a poem that Scharwenka might have expected his listeners to be aware of.  I can't find such a poem though.

[Ilja]

Just a thought: it might be a riff off of Hermann Grimm's poem Traum und Erwachen (1854); the succession of emotions appear to fit the orchestral piece rather well.

[Alan Howe]

Interesting. But I still think he was unwise to lend the piece that title.

[Mark Thomas]

But he did, and so the title becomes relevant to the critical assessment of the piece. Personally, I think it a fine, if conservative, piece and that the music fits the overall title rather well.