Robert Schumann’s “Widmung” has to be among the greatest love songs ever composed. I like to refer to it as one of the Mona Lisa’s of music- one of those masterpieces that everyone needs to know and – if they possibly can – sing themselves. I give to many of my students without apology- and I feel like it’s a privilege whenever I get to sing it myself.
I’ve included a little bit of my spoken introduction so you get at least a taste of the Lecture Recital format that I used that day.
As it turns out, my recital fell the day after the 275th anniversary of Robert and Clara’s wedding. The day before their long-awaited nuptials was the day when Robert presented this amazing masterpiece to his young bride-to-be as a gift.