Variations & Fantasies

Featuring

Annette Töpel
Robert Schumann

Did you know?

1/7

Composer's Artistic Vision

Schumann confided in his diary that Kreisleriana revealed 'entirely new worlds' to him, and he told his fiancée Clara Wieck that she and a thought of her played the main role in the work.

Composition History

Schumann originally planned a cycle of variations based on themes from six composers, including Schubert, Chopin, and Beethoven, but none of these works were ever fully completed.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The character Kreisler, after whom Schumann's Kreisleriana is named, was an eccentric, wild, and witty musical director created by E.T.A. Hoffmann in his novel 'The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr'.

Composer Biography

Schumann dedicated Kreisleriana to Frédéric Chopin as an alternative, because his relationship with his future father-in-law, Friedrich Wieck, had deteriorated, making a dedication to Clara Wieck inappropriate at the time.

Composition History

Schumann composed his Kreisleriana, Op. 16, a cycle of eight fantasias, within a few days in the spring of 1838.

Recording & Production

This album features the first-ever recording on CD of Schumann's three fragmentary variation pieces, presented together as parts of a common work project.