At this point, one might be inclined to think that it was no coincidence that Ignaz Xaver, Ritter von Seyfried chose precisely an Impromptu to dedicate to the young and rising Clara Wieck. In 1838 the concert pianist was nineteen years old—an adolescent performing on the Viennese stage, the most unforgiving musical arena of the time. Determination, energy, vitality and remarkable grit: the piece itself seems to reflect precisely these qualities, though it also contains delicate passages typical of a feminine sensibility. Seyfried’s Impromptu brings to mind the “crushed” figures (acciaccaturas) that Clara writes in her Impromptu No. 1 from Op. 5, known as Le Sabbat. In Seyfried’s work too, the acciaccaturas play a decisive role.

It is well known that Clara, from a very early age, was a concert pianist of renown throughout Europe.

During her concert tour in Vienna in 1838 she was received with great enthusiasm, and her public performances marked the height of her glory (the very glory that would be denied her in the same city eight years later). It was here that Clara met Franz Liszt in person. The young girl’s reputation had preceded her, and some time earlier Liszt had already written a favourable review of several of her compositions in the journal Revue et Gazette Musicale de Paris: the Impromptus (Op. 5), the Sonata (Op. 11) and the Concerto without Orchestra (Op. 14).

Clara’s personal acquaintance with Liszt is documented in the letters she wrote constantly to her beloved Robert Schumann, who was not yet her husband at the time.

The concert repertoire she performed was managed by her father, Friedrich Wieck, who did not allow the young pianist to perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach or Ludwig van Beethoven. Clara only introduced these composers into her repertoire from 1840 onwards, the year in which she became Mrs Schumann.

There are no documents attesting to a meeting between Clara and Seyfried, apart from the holograph manuscript preserved at the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.

One might suppose that, since Seyfried was a Viennese citizen closely connected with the foremost musical circles of the city, Clara’s concerts led him to recognise her talent and admire the young performer, prompting him to compose the piece in question. The work does not appear to have been published by any publisher. The date recorded—“1 January 1838”—may indicate the date of composition, which does not necessarily coincide with the date on which the composer might have presented it to Clara, if indeed he ever did. It might even have been offered as a New Year’s greeting, perhaps accompanied by small lucky sweets typical of Austrian culture, in a grand Viennese salon filled with music and dancing for the New Year celebrations. Many hypotheses could be advanced, each capable of telling a different story.

Who knows whether Clara ever played these notes, whether she noticed the resemblance to her own Impromptu, and whether she smiled while reading Seyfried’s musical texture.

Bibliography

rodoni.ch/schumann

jstor.org – 19th-Century Music, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Summer 1980), pp. 70–76; University of California Press

Wikipedia.org

imslp.org

Treccani.it/enciclopedia