Kinderszenen

Historical context

Kinderszenen, Op. 15, arose from a creative burst, with Robert Schumann recalling in 1838 that he “knocked off about thirty quaint little things” after Clara’s observation that he sometimes seemed like a child. He dedicated the collection to Clara, selecting twelve pieces and christening them Kinderszenen. Schumann noted in 1838 that a vision of children’s heads haunted him as he wrote, and the familiar inscriptions, such as ‘Bogeys,’ ‘By the Fireside,’ and ‘From Foreign Lands,’ were added afterwards as “tiny finger-posts to the interpretation and conception.” He also described the pieces as easy to play and self-explanatory.

Schumann himself was very fond of the Kinderszenen, making a great impression when he played them, especially upon himself, as he noted in 1838. He believed his work had become “gayer, gentler, and more melodious in character,” as seen in these pieces, though he considered them “mere bagatelles” in 1840. Despite this, the Kinderszenen quickly found an audience, with Schumann observing in 1843 that they “appeal, indeed, to a wide circle.” This popularity was evident in sales figures from 1839, which showed 300 to 350 copies sold within six months of publication by Breitkopf and Härtel. Schumann did, however, find Rellstab’s criticism of the work “clumsy and commonplace” in 1839, as Rellstab seemed to think he imagined a screaming child and then fit notes to it, rather than the other way around.

Drawn from Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856, The letters of Robert Schumann (1907); May Herbert, Early Letters Of Robert Schumann (1888); Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856; Storck, Karl, 1873-1920; Bryant, Hannah, The letters of Robert Schumann; (1907) — public domain, archive.org.