Schumann: Album for the Young

Featuring

Angela Brownridge
Robert Schumann

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Composition History

Schumann composed his Album for the Young, a collection of forty-three miniatures, specifically for children, ten years after his Kinderszenen.

Compositional Technique

Schumann's Album for the Young includes pieces that pay tribute to other composers, such as "Remembrance" (No. 28) dedicated to Mendelssohn and "Northern Song" (No. 41) which spells out Niels Gade's name.

Performer Biography

Angela Brownridge, the pianist on this album, was a child prodigy who performed publicly at age seven and regularly as a concerto soloist by fourteen.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Schumann's didactic purpose for the Album for the Young is evident in his original intention to supplement the pieces with extracts from other composers' works and a list of musical maxims.

Compositional Technique

The Album for the Young is divided into two parts, with the first eighteen pieces designed for young children and the later numbers for 'more grown-up' players, with a gradual increase in difficulty.

Composition History

The initial pieces of Schumann's Album for the Young were intended as a birthday gift for his eldest daughter, Marie, who was seven in September 1848.