melody reappears in minor, creating a deeply moving transformation. This slow movement is the most intimate in the work and is very characteristic of Schumann. The orchestration is chamber-like almost throughout the entire movement, reflecting the composer’s most inner musical personality. The syncopated cello theme urges a speeding up that leads to the finale. This movement, in Polonaise style, is relatively slow for a concerto finale. This is an engaging movement, in which the syncopated theme returns to cast a shadow over the festivities. The violin’s repetitions add fantasy colors and inflection and rise above the somber theme of the cellos. The concerto was published in Germany only in 1937 against the expressed wish of Clara and Eugenie Schumann, the sole surviving Schumann child. In an article in which she protested its publication, she wrote: “Never shall I forget the moment in our home at Frankfurtam-Main when my mother came in to see us and said with deep but suppressed emotion visible on her face: “I just settled with Joachim and Johannes that the concerto is not to be published, not now or at any other time. We are quite agreed on the subject.” No wonder that its premiere was delayed, and it was first performed in Berlin on 26 November of the same year. Tsilli Rudik
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