Kinderszenen Op. 15 (Schumann)
Movements
i Von fremden Ländern und Menschen: From foreign parts, ii Kuriose Geschichte: Funny story, iii Hasche-Mann: Blindman’s buff, iv Bittendes Kind: Entreating Child, v Glückes genug: Perfect Happiness, vi Wichtige Begebenheit: Important Event, vii Träumerei: Dreaming, viii Am Kamin: By the fireside, ix Ritter von Steckenpferd: On the rocking horse, x Fast zu ernst: Almost too serious, xi Fürchtenmachen: Frightening, xii Kind im Einschlummern: The child falling asleep, xiii Der Dichter spricht: The Poet Speaks
Notes
Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work but chose 13 for the final version. Schumann initially intended to publish Kinderszenen together with Novelletten (Op. 21); the shared literary theme is suggested by the original title Kindergeschichten (Children’s Tales). He told his wife Clara that the “thirty small, droll things”, most of them less than a page in length, were inspired by her comment that he sometimes seemed “like a child”. He described them in 1840 as “more cheerful, gentler, more melodic” than his earlier works.
Movement No. 7 of the work, Träumerei, is one of Schumann’s best known pieces; it is the opening and closing musical theme of the 1947 Hollywood film Song of Love, and Träumerei is the title of a 1944 German biographical film on Schumann. In Russia, a hummed choral a cappella version became known as mourning music, being played annually during the Minute of Silence on Victory Day.
