Fantasiestücke, Op. 12

1. Des Abends#

The first piece is “Des Abends” (“In the Evening”) in D major. It is marked Sehr innig zu spielen (Play very intimately). : Schumann, after completing the work, then gave the piece its title, which introduces the character of Eusebius, who serves as a symbolic representation of Schumann’s dreamy self. He intended the imagery to be a “gentle picture of dusk.”

2. Aufschwung#

The second piece is “Aufschwung” (“Soaring”, literally “Upswing”) in F minor. It is marked Sehr rasch (Very rapidly). : Schumann conceived of “Aufschwung” as a depiction of the character Florestan indulging in his desires, and as the Norton Anthology of Western Music describes “at the height of his passions.”

3. Warum?#

The third piece is “Warum?” (“Why?”) in D major. It is marked Langsam und zart. : The title “Why?” was intended by Schumann to signify Eusebius’s reflection on the excesses of Florestan in “Aufschwung”. The piece proceeds with “gentle questioning” and ends with an “inconclusive answer.”

4. Grillen#

The fourth piece is “Grillen” (“Whims”) in D major. It is marked Mit Humor (With humor). : With its whimsical, quirky nature, this piece solely represents Florestan and his eccentricities.

5. “In der Nacht”#

The fifth piece is “In der Nacht” (“In the Night”) in F minor. It is marked Mit Leidenschaft (With passion). : The two characters of Florestan and Eusebius (the interaction of which Schumann was attempting to represent within the Fantasiestücke) unite for the first time in this piece, which has both “passion together with nocturnal calm.”

6. “Fabel”#

The sixth piece is “Fabel” (“Fable”) in C major. It is marked Langsam (Slowly). : Like the previous piece, this also juxtaposes both the passionate and dreamy side of Schumann within the same work (as opposed to representing each separately, as in the first subset). The key of C major breaks from the pattern of D major/F minor established by the previous pieces. In this piece, the whimsical nature of Florestan is set against the ethereal tranquility of Eusebius, resulting in a “placid narrative together with rich veins of humor.”

7. “Traumes Wirren”#

The seventh piece is “Traumes Wirren” (“Dream’s Confusions”) in F major. It is marked Äußerst lebhaft (Extremely lively). : The title is implicative of the struggle between the dreams and the passions within Schumann. In this piece the dreamy quality of Schumann, represented by the character of Eusebius, becomes entangled by the passions of Florestan, who symbolizes Schumann’s more emotional side. Like the previous piece, this piece also departs from the established D major/F minor key signature scheme, as it is written in the key of F major which is also the key of “Ende vom Lied”, the next piece. The piece is rhythmically intense and a rapid pulse permeates it.

8. “Ende vom Lied”#

The eighth piece is “Ende vom Lied” (“End of the Song”) in F major. It is marked Mit gutem Humor (With good humor). : Schumann described this piece as a combination of wedding bells and funeral bells. In a letter to his fiancée Clara Wieck, who would become his wife, Clara Schumann, three years later, he wrote about this last piece: “everything ultimately dissolves into a merry wedding – but my distress for you came back at the end, and the wedding bells sound as if commingled with a death knell.”

See also#

• List of solo piano compositions by Robert Schumann
• Fantasiestücke, Op. 73
• Three Fantasiestücke, Op. 111

External links#

• Free score at kostenlose-klaviernoten.de
• Notes at Naxos Records
• “Fabel” and “Traumeswirren” from Fantasiestücke played by Arthur Rubinstein at Internet Archive (Open Source Movies)
• , Martha Argerich
• , Seong-Jin Cho