Boundary-Crossing Sentences in the Piano Music of Robert Schumann

Jeremy Nowak, Palm Beach Atlantic University

This paper examines sentences in Robert Schumann's piano music that cross the boundary between the contrasting middle section and recapitulation of a small ternary form. In the Classical era, composers generally establish the boundary between these two sections through a half cadence, a perfect authentic cadence on V, or a non-cadential dominant arrival. In some of Schumann's small-ternary compositions, specifically Op. 21, No. 1 and Op. 32, No. 3, the contrasting middle section can end without reaching either a cadence or a non-cadential dominant. Instead, Schumann can construct the contrasting middle section as the presentation phrase of a sentence, leaving it harmonically open-ended. The recapitulation therefore functions as the continuation and closes out the phrase, creating a paradoxical sense of division but also continuity. Thus, my exploration of boundary-crossing sentences provides further insight into Schumann's compositional style and expands our current theories of formal conventions.