Weekend Gems #2 – Robert Schumann and the Wizard of Oz

Weekend Gems #2 – Robert Schumann and the Wizard of Oz

I’m sure you’ve heard this song:

It was written by a songwriter named Harold Alren with lyrics by Yip Harburg.  Everyone knows Dorothy’s now-classic daydream about a land she imagines, anywhere but here.  And you probably also know that she gets her wish within about a half hour of singing that, becoming magically teleported by a fierce storm to a vibrant land of Technicolor, and other wonders, called Oz.

But, do you know this tune?

This little piano piece, written by the German composer Robert Schumann in the late 1840s, is part of a collection of short, easy pieces that he wrote to help his daughters learn to play the piano.  It’s called Album for the Young, and he published it as his Opus 68.  This particular piece is roughly translated as “The merry peasant returns from work”, although you see various translations in different places.  Can you imagine the exhausted but happy serf of the title tripping briskly down the road, back to his home, whistling a happy tune?

Many violinists, pianists and cellists know this song as “The Happy Farmer” as that’s how it is titled whenever it appears in the repertoire of the Suzuki Method.  I learned to play it in middle school while my violin teacher guided me through some of the Suzuki books.  I was not Suzuki trained myself, but many violin teachers pull music for their students from the Suzuki books even if they don’t use the precise method.

When I started learning The Happy Farmer I could have sworn I had heard it before.  And then I remembered.  Watch this scene from The Wizard of Oz:

There, at the end.  Did you hear it?  It starts right at 2:30, just as Toto hops out of the basket.  Unfortunately  this clip doesn’t go on for much longer, but it’s enough to hear Schumann’s tune, written into the score by composer Herbert Stothart, and souped up in grand orchestration to fit the tone of the glittery, fast-moving film.  I don’t know why he thought to use Schumann’s song, but it fits pretty well, doesn’t it?  A good leitmotif for Toto.  I haven’t watched the whole movie lately, but I bet you will hear it in a couple other places when you see Toto running in the opening black and white scenes.

Herbert Stothart is a great example of an unsung film music hero of Hollywood’s golden age.  There are other composers whose names are a little more famous, but here is Stothart’s masterful underscore helping The Wizard of Oz to move along convincingly from beginning to end and I bet you’ve never heard his name, even if you love the movie.  Watch that scene where Dorothy pleads for Toto’s life again and listen to how subtle and effective the music is, establishing characters, enhancing the constantly shifting mood, amplifying psychological intentions, and foreshadowing upcoming events in the film.  Listen closely to the music, a constant element in this scene, and you will be rewarded with greater insights into the dramatic structure of The Wizard of Oz.

Robert Schumann’s voice, from almost 100 years earlier, sings clearly and integrates seamlessly with the rest Stothart’s score, alongside the melodies from all those wonderful songs by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg.  And the Academy recognized the merit of their efforts.  All three of those creative minds won Academy Awards for their efforts in 1939.  Unfortunately, Robert Schumann was unable to accept his award in person…

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