Schumann writes to Switzerland

The Schumann letter edition is extraordinarily comprehensive - it is almost unbelievable what Robert and Clara wrote. The "Correspondence with Theodor Kirchner, Alfred Volkland and other correspondents in Switzerland" has just been published, offering a fascinating insight into the development of music in this country.
The most extensive correspondence is with Theodor Kirchner, who, on the recommendation of Mendelssohn and Schumann, held an organist position in Winterthur from 1843 and who later became close friends with Clara Schumann. The largest part of the collection of over 100 documents was written by Clara Schumann; unfortunately, many of Kirchner's letters have been lost. Thanks to Clara Schumann's contributions, however, we learn a great deal about Kirchner's work in Switzerland and indirectly about Jakob Rieter-Biedermann.

The Winterthur publisher, with whom Clara Schumann published her late husband's works, was one of a large number of recipients of letters, many of which were only a few pages long. In Basel, for example, it was the Riggenbach-Stehlin couple, whom Clara Schumann had met at a concert there in 1857, whereupon a friendship soon developed. There is evidence of 58 letters in total, although not all of them have survived.

One particular example is the composer Wilhelm Baumgartner, of whom only a single letter from December 1851 has survived. In it, he introduces Robert Schumann as the dedicatee of his piano songs op. 10. It is precisely such "micro-correspondence" that provides a comprehensive picture. And not only through the letters themselves, but also through the extremely helpful and instructive editorial work of Annegret Rosenmüller. Not only is the annotation apparatus meticulously designed, there is also a short biography for each person, in which the relationship to the Schumanns and to Switzerland is illuminated.

Rosenmüller has thus created a veritable treasure trove, allowing us to linger and, thanks to her extensive research, learn a great deal about the enormous upswing in music in Switzerland that began in 1850. For example, in the brief correspondence with the Basel composer August Walter or with the musician Heinrich Szadrowsky, who organized a guest performance for Clara Schumann in St. Gallen, which was apparently arranged by Rieter-Biedermann. Or from his correspondence partner Joseph Viktor Widmann, a companion of Brahms. The latter had introduced his friend Clara to the Widmann couple in Baden-Baden in 1889.

The "Swiss Letters" are so numerous that it would take two volumes with a total of over 1000 pages to contain everything.

Schumann-Briefedition, Serie II Briefwechsel mit Freunden und Künstlerkollegen, Band 10, Briefwechsel Robert und Clara Schumanns mit Theodor Kirchner, Alfred Volkland und anderen Korrespondenten in der Schweiz, ed. by Annegret Rosenmüller, 2 Teilbände, 1121 p., € 158.00, Dohr, Cologne 2022, ISBN 978-3-86846-021-6