' (, "Scenes from Childhood"), Op. 15, by

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

, is a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838.

History and description

Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work but chose 13 for the final version. The unused movements were later published in ''Bunte Blätter'', Op. 99, and '' Albumblätter'', Op. 124. Schumann initially intended to publish ''Kinderszenen'' together with '' Novelletten'' (Opus 21); the shared literary theme is suggested by the original title ''Kindergeschichten'' (Children's Tales). He told his wife Clara that the "thirty small, droll things", most of them less than a page in length, were inspired by her comment that he sometimes seemed "like a child". He described them in 1840 as "more cheerful, gentler, more melodic" than his earlier works. Movement No. 7 of the work, ', is one of Schumann's best known pieces; it is the opening and closing musical theme of the 1947 Hollywood film '' Song of Love'', and ' is the title of a 1944 German

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

on Schumann. In Russia, a hummed choral

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

version became known as mourning music, being played annually during the

Minute of Silence A moment of silence (also referred to as a minute's silence or a one-minute silence) is a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture of r ...

on Victory Day. In 2021, violinist Fenella Humphreys released an arrangement of Träumerei for violin. Originally called ''Leichte Stücke'' ("Easy Pieces"), the section titles were only added after the completion of the composition, and Schumann described them as "nothing more than delicate hints for execution and interpretation". Timothy D. Taylor, however, has discussed the choice of titles for this work in the context of the changing situation of music culturally and economically, stating that the final movement, entitled ''Der Dichter spricht'' (The Poet Speaks), marked a realisation among composers that, due to the decline of patronage structures in the 19th century, their musical works must take on new meanings. There is no known complete manuscript of ''Kinderszenen''.

Pieces

Notes

References

External links

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Cyprien Katsaris Cyprien Katsaris ( el, Κυπριανός Κατσαρής; born 5 May 1951) is a French- Cypriot virtuoso pianist, teacher and composer. Amongst his teachers were Monique de la Bruchollerie, a student of Emil von Sauer, who had been a pupil o ...

* ,

Clifford Curzon Sir Clifford Michael Curzon CBE (né Siegenberg; 18 May 19071 September 1982) was an English classical pianist. Curzon studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and subsequently with Artur Schnabel in Berlin and Wanda Landowska and Nad ...

{{Authority control Piano music by Robert Schumann Compositions for solo piano 1838 compositions