Music can evoke emotions and images, energize, set moods, and more. I think it’s greatest power though is its ability to summon memories. Whenever I hear the theme song to The Office, it brings me back to High School, watching the tv show in my friend Therese’s basement. When I hear the Star Wars theme, it brings me back to my childhood when I was obsessed with the original movies, watching them over and over again. There are a couple podcasts I would listen to when I would walk to school in London. Whenever I hear the theme songs to those, it brings back vivid images of the buildings I would walk past.
There is one piece that in my mind is inextricably linked with my grandpa. My family has a long history of musicianship, five out of my eight great-grandparents were professional musicians. While my grandpa wasn’t a professional musician, he had a deep love for the piano. I began studying the instrument when I was four, and he was there at every one of my recitals. Whenever he came to visit, he would sit at the piano and play his favorite piece. I would know immediately he was there once I heard the first three or four notes of the piece.
Because of that, Traumerei always makes me think of my grandpa. It is a beautiful miniature by Robert Schumann, from his set of pieces titled Kinderszenen or Scenes from Childhood. If there was a piano in a room, you could be sure my grandpa would sit at it and play this piece. I was quite close with my grandpa, and when he passed 15 years ago, it seemed I heard the piece everywhere I went. In English, Traumerei means to be lost in a daydream or a reverie. As these memories of my grandpa become more distant in time, for me, Traumerei has become a more and more apt title.
I was planning on discussing the design of the piece, and what makes it such an effective work. However, I found this short 3 minute segment from NPR that does a better job than I think I could in a couple paragraphs. I think it does a marvelous job of explaining how such a simple and short piece can be so effective. I would encourage you to listen to that before listening to the piece embedded at the bottom.
There are countless recordings of this piece, but my favorite is by Vladmir Horowitz. He was my grandpa’s favorite pianist, and he is also my favorite pianist. Much of the way that I play the piano was inspired by Horowitz’s playing. I hope you enjoy listening to this piece, and I hope that it brings some peace to your week.
-John