The Influence Of Literature On Schumann’s Piano Composition

Robert Schumann(1810-1856)was one of the most representative German composers and music critics of the 19 th century.Composers in the Romantic period broke the model of classicism.The restraint of reason puts the composer’s personal feelings first,and they often combine music with other arts,especially literary works.Since ancient times,music and literature have been inextricably linked,especially in the period of Romantic.During this period,composers were often inspired by literary works when they making music,they often substitute the creative methods,characters,and storylines from literary works into their compositions.“Papillons” is such a piano work that combines music and literature,and typically inspired by literary works.“Papillons” was inspired by the last chapter “Dance of the larvae” of the novel “The age of youth” written by the German writer Jean Paul.The novel describes the hero Bult and his brother Walter fall in love with a woman at the same time.The reason why I chose “Papillons” to understand the literary content of Schumann’s works is because this work itself is directly derived from literary works,the composer used twelve pieces to describe the different story scenes and characters,and each of the little song has its own independent title,which corresponds to different scenes and characters in the story.This one-to-one expression method makes the music easier for the audience to capture the literary factors contained in the music.However,the connection between “Papillons” and literature is not only based on literary works,but also on the creation of literariness.There is also a great deal of use of the technique.First of all,the title of the cycle suite “Papillons” which uses the metaphors commonly used in literary works,Therefore,the “butterfly” here doesn’t mean a real butterfly,but to the author’s inspiration when the song is composed.It also refers that the hero Walter left home and flew away like a butterfly and disappeared.Furthermore,the composer gives text prompts to each piece of music,in order to make it easier for the audience to understand the literary content to be expressed in the music.Therefore,only by thoroughly understanding the background and inspiration of the literary era where “Butterfly” is located can we deeply understand this work.