Kreisleriana, Op. 16, is a composition in eight movements by Robert Schumann for solo piano, subtitled . Schumann claimed to have written it in only four days in April 1838Eric Frederick Jensen states that it was composed between early May and mid-September 1838 – Schumann, Oxford University Press, 2001, p. 168 – but does not cite a reference. and a revised version appeared in 1850. The work was dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, but when a copy was sent to the Polish composer, "he commented favorably only on the design of the title page".Charles Rosen, The Romantic Generation, p. 284
Movements (Extremely animated), D minor (Very inwardly and not too quickly), B major. This movement in ABACA form, with its lyrical main theme, includes two contrasting intermezzi. In his 1850 edition, Schumann extended the first reprise of the theme by twenty measures in order to repeat it in full.Fisk, Charles, "Performance, Analysis and Musical Imagining Part II: Schumann's Kreisleriana, No. 2", College Music Symposium, vol. 37 (1997), p. 95. (Very agitated), G minor (Very slowly), B major/G minor (Very lively), G minor (Very slowly), B major (Very fast), C minor/E major (Fast and playful), G minor. Schumann used material from this movement in the fourth movement of his first symphony.
Analysis Kreisleriana is a very dramatic work and is viewed by some critics as one of Schumann's finest compositions. In 1839, soon after publishing it, Schumann called it in a letter "my favourite work", remarking that "The title conveys nothing to any but Germans. Kreisler is one of E. T. A. Hoffmann's creations, an eccentric, wild, and witty conductor." In 1843, when he had moved from writing for solo piano to much larger works, in particular Paradise and the Peri, he still listed it as one of his best piano works.
The work's title was inspired by the character of Johannes Kreisler from works of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Like the kaleidoscopic Kreisler, each number has multiple contrasting sections, resembling the imaginary musician's manic depression, and recalling Schumann's own "Florestan" and "Eusebius", the two characters Schumann used to indicate his own contrasting impulsive and dreamy sides. Johannes Kreisler appears in several books by Hoffmann, including Kater Murr and most notably in the "Kreisleriana" sections of Fantasy Pieces in Callot's Manner, published in 1814.
In a letter to his wife Clara, Schumann reveals that she figured prominently in the composition of Kreisleriana:
References
Further reading Ingo Müller: "Die Rezeption E.T.A. Hoffmanns in der klassischen Musik des 19. bis 21. Jahrhunderts". In: Unheimlich Fantastisch – E.T.A. Hoffmann 2022. Publication accompanying the exhibition of the Berlin State Library in collaboration with the Deutsches Romantik-Museum, Frankfurt, and the Bamberg State Library, Benjamin Schlodder, Christina Schmitz, Bettina Wagner and Wolfgang Bunzel (eds), Leipzig 2022, pp. 315–322
External links
"Kreisleriana, Op. 16", detailed analysis and description, PianoSociety.com "Performance of Kreisleriana" by Jonathan Biss from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format , , California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 2012 , Leon McCawley, Wigmore Hall, October 2020