Bunte Blätter Op. 99 (Schumann)
Movements
i Stücke I ii Stücke II iii Stücke III iv Albumblätter I v Albumblätter II vi Albumblätter III vii Albumblätter IV viii Albumblätter V ix Novellete x Präludium xi Marsch xii Abendmusik xiii Scherzo xiv Geschwindmarsch
Notes
Bunte Blätter (Colorful Leaves), Op. 99, is a collection of piano pieces by Robert Schumann assembled from earlier unpublished pieces after the success of the Album for the Young (Album für die Jugend), Op. 68. Upon publication the pieces were issued both as a complete set and individual pieces, the latter in differently coloured covers.
Robert Schumann started work on assembling the collection of pieces that were eventually published as the Bunte Blätter Op. 99 and Albumblätter Op. 124 in late 1850. His original plan was to publish the pieces as a single collection entitled Spreu (Chaff). When the music publisher F. W. Arnold objected to the proposed title, Schumann decided to split the collection.
All of the pieces used, were works that Schumann had composed in the past and had either not intended for publication, or had been rejected for publication with earlier sets of pieces. Ernst Herttrich in his preface to the Henle score, comments that the specific criteria the composer used to select the pieces included in either this collection or the succeeding one are unknown, though the pieces are organised loosely from least to most difficult. Dates of composition range from 1834 to 1849.