Phantasiestücke

Prior to 1840, the year of Schumann’s longed-for marriage to Clara Wieck, most of his music had consisted of piano miniatures, many of which he compiled into albums to which he gave fanciful titles. In 1837, he had encountered the Yorkshire-born pianist Anna Robena Laidlaw at a concert she gave at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and dedicated to her one such set, the Op. 12 Fantasiestücke (Fantasy Pieces), borrowing the title from a literary collection by the author, critic and composer E.T.A. Hoffmann—himself later immortalised in Offenbach’s operetta The Tales of Hoffmann. Each of the eight pieces has a poetic title reflecting the music’s mood: the fickle “Grillen” (Whims), for example, or the swirling “Traumes Wirren” (Troubled Dreams). The turbulent “Aufschwung” (Soaring) is a popular highlight, while the composer’s own favourite was the restless “In der Nacht” (In the Night), and the collection draws to an upbeat close with the rhapsodic “Ende vom Lied” (End of the Song).