Adagio

‘I have always had a great fondness for the works by Schumann’, Aribert Reimann once said. There exists a close relationship even beyond the music: As owner of Schumann’s medical records from the mental asylum in Endenich, Reimann guarded the secret of the circumstances surrounding Schumann’s last weeks and death. When the musical world celebrated Reimann’s 70th birthday and commemorated the 150th anniversary of Schumann’s death in 2006, Reimann decided to publish the records and comment on them in his book “Robert Schumann in Endenich” (ED 9870). This book was presented to the public on 5 May 2006 at the Schumann Festival in Düsseldorf. For this occasion, as a musical bow to Schumann, Reimann composed the string quartet Adagio which the Heine Quartet premiered. Adagio is based on both Schumann’s Endenich chorales ‘Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist’ and ‘Stärk und Mittler, dein sind wir’.