Schumann/Hermann - Bilder aus Osten, Op. 66 arr. for strings (1848/1878)

Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing. Friedrich Valentin Hermann (1 February 1828 – 27 September 1907) was a German violinist, composer and distinguished music educator at the Leipzig Conservatory. Please support my channel: https://ko-fi.com/bartjebartmans Bilder aus Osten, Op. 66 for piano 4-hands (1848) Dedication: Lida Bendemann (1821–1895), geb. Schadow Arranged for String Quartet by Friedrich Hermann (1829-1909) (1878) 1. Lebhaft (00:00) 4-hands (3:44) 2. Nicht schnell und sehr gesangvoll zu spielen (6:48) 4-hands (10:30) 3. Im Volkston (13:16) 4-hands (15:28) 4. Nicht schnell 'Chanson Orientale' (17:26) 4-hands (20:07) 5. Lebhaft (22:26) 4-hands (25:40) 6. Ruhig andächtig (28:33) 4-hands (34:40) Festival Strings Lucerne conducted by Daniel Dodds Marie & Hélène Desmoulin, piano 4-hands For the 4-hands parts I decided to use the same String Quartet score, so the listener can see how Hermann distributed the parts. Plus, to add a 4-hand score would be hours of more tedious work. Schumann dedicated his Bilder aus Osten (op. 66) to Lida Bendemann in 1849 and performed it for the first time with his wife at the Bendemanns. The Bendemanns became very close friends with the Schumann's, especially Lida and Clara developed a close relationship. Guests of the Bendemann's glamorous Düsseldorf societies included the musicians Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim, the historian Heinrich von Sybel and the genre painters Ludwig Knaus and Benjamin Vautier. In the winter of 1863, the Bendemanns took Schumann's daughter Julie (* 11 March 1845; † 10 November 1872) in Düsseldorf. Clara Schumann maintained close contact with Lida Bendemann for many years, who documented herself in a correspondence of particular musicological importance, and wrote on her death: "The loss of Mrs. Bendemann hit me hard, and it still seems to me as if it couldn't be. She was the most faithful helper to me at all times, and so was her husband. To lose such friends in old age is double hard – they are irreplaceable, for they have lived through a whole lifetime with you, shared sorrow and joy with you."