''Märchenbilder'' or ''Fairy Tale Pictures'', for Piano and Viola, Op. 113, was written by Robert Schumann in March 1851. The work is dedicated to the German

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist and conductor Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski. It consists of four

character piece A character piece is a musical composition which is expressive of a specific mood or non-musical idea. History The term "character piece" was coined by Marin Marais in the ''avertissement'' to his fifth book of viola da gamba music published in 1 ...

s and is an original composition featuring the

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

from the

Romantic period Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. Schumann gives us few clues as to what creatures or events are depicted within each movement. His 1853 composition '' Märchenerzählungen'' for clarinet, viola and piano also leaves the details to the imagination of the performers and the audience.

Movements

# ''Nicht schnell'' (Not Fast) in D minor # ''Lebhaft'' (Lively) in

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: : F major is the ...

# ''Rasch'' (Quick) in D minor # ''Langsam, mit melancholischem Ausdruck'' (Slowly, with Melancholic Expression) in

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

Sources

* Margit L. McCorkle, ''Robert Schumann. Thematisch-Bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis'', München-Mainz 2003, p. 160 *

Klaus Martin Kopitz Klaus Martin Kopitz (born January 29, 1955, Stendal) is a German composer and musicologist. He became known in particular with his album ''Mia Brentano's Hidden Sea. 20 songs for 2 pianos''. In the United States, US, it was 2018 on the annual "W ...

& Torsten Oltrogge, ''Ein Dichter namens Louis du Rieux und Schumanns „Märchenbilder“ op. 113. Annäherungen an einen geheimnisvollen Verehrer des Komponisten'', in: ''Denkströme. Journal der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften'', no. 11 (2013), p. 112–14
PDF

External links

*
Performance of Märchenbilder
by

Paul Neubauer Paul Neubauer (born in Encino, California, in 1962) is an American violist. Neubauer was a student of Paul Doktor, Alan de Veritch and William Primrose. In August 1980, aged 17, he won the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and Worksh ...

(viola) and Anne-Marie McDermott (piano) from the

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was found ...

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

format
Background and Ideas for Interpretations
by Zsuzsanna Lipták-Pikó, Masters Thesis 1851 compositions Chamber music by Robert Schumann Compositions for viola Compositions in D minor Music based on fairy tales {{chamber-composition-stub