Kinderszenen

File:Schumann - Kinderszenen, Op15 - Score 1st page.jpg

First edition title page

Kinderszenen (German pronunciation: [ˈkɪndɐˌst͡seːnən]; original spelling Kinderscenen, "Scenes from Childhood"), Opus 15, by Robert Schumann, is a set of thirteen pieces of music for piano written in 1838. Schumann wrote 30 movements for this work, but chose 13 for the final version. The unused movements were published years later in Bunte Blätter, Opus 99, and Albumblätter, Opus 124.

Schumann initially intended to publish Kinderszenen together with Novelletten (Opus 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.

No. 7, Träumerei, is one of Schumann's best known pieces; it was the title of a 1944 German biographical film on Robert Schumann. Träumerei is also the opening and closing musical theme in the 1947 Hollywood film Song of Love, starring Katharine Hepburn as Clara Wieck Schumann.

Schumann originally called this work Leichte Stücke (Easy Pieces). The section titles were only added after the completion of the music, and Schumann described the titles as "nothing more than delicate hints for execution and interpretation". Timothy Taylor has discussed Schumann's choice of titles for this work in the context of the changing situation of music in 19th century culture and economics.

In 1974, Eric Sams noted that there was no known complete manuscript of Kinderszenen.

Movements

Movements

Title	Key	Play
01. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen 00. Of Foreign Lands and Peoples	G major	noicon
02. Kuriose Geschichte 00. A Curious Story	D major	noicon
03. Hasche-Mann 00. Blind Man's Bluff	B minor	noicon
04. Bittendes Kind 00. Pleading Child	D major	noicon
05. Glückes genug 00. Happy Enough	D major	noicon
06. Wichtige Begebenheit 00. An Important Event	A major	noicon
07. Träumerei 00. Dreaming	F major	noicon
08. Am Kamin 00. At the Fireside	F major	noicon
09. Ritter vom Steckenpferd 00. Knight of the Hobbyhorse	C major	noicon
10. Fast zu ernst 00. Almost Too Serious	G-sharp minor	noicon
11. Fürchtenmachen 00. Frightening	E minor	noicon
12. Kind im Einschlummern 00. Child Falling Asleep	E minor	noicon
13. Der Dichter spricht 00. The Poet Speaks	G major	noicon

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Kinderszenen: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project