172 MTSU MUSIC FACULTY PRESENT ‘AN EVENING OF SCHUMANN’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 16, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Tim Musselman, 615-898-2493

Public Encouraged to Attend Free Nov. 27 Performance

(MURFREESBORO)—MTSU’s H. Stephen Smith, associate professor of voice, and collaborative pianist Caleb Harris will present "An Evening of Schumann" at 8 p.m. Nov. 27 in the T. Earl Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.
"This year ... marks the 150th anniversary of the year of Shumann's death," observed Smith, who—along with Harris—will perform two song cycles from the year 1840, which is known as Schumann’s “Year of Song.” These cycles are Liederkreis (Song Cycle) Op. 39 and Dichterliebe (Poet’s Love) Op. 48.
“The Liederkreis is a cycle of 12 songs about life and love,” Smith explained. “Dichterliebe is a cycle of 16 songs, reflecting the intense feeling of the joy that only true love can give, and the intense feeling of sadness one can feel having been rejected by the object of that true love.”
Schumann is known as a Romantic German composer and pianist. According to scholars, he believed that classical form and structure was too restrictive, leading him to write music outside of that popular tradition.
The Nov. 27 concert is free and open to the public.
For more information about this and other events in the McLean School of Music, call 615-898-2493 or visit the calendar of events at www.mtsumusic.com.





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