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Description
Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Germany, and became one of the most distinctive and imaginative voices of the Romantic era. Initially pursuing a career as a concert pianist, a permanent injury to his right hand redirected his energies toward composition, and he developed a deeply literary and poetic approach to music shaped by his voracious reading of German Romantic writers. His piano works in particular are among the most psychologically rich and inventive of the nineteenth century.
Carnaval, Op. 9 was composed in 1834 and 1835 as a suite of twenty-one short character pieces, each vivid and self-contained, yet unified by a hidden musical cipher — the notes A, S, C, and H, spelling out Asch, the hometown of Ernestine von Fricken, a young woman Schumann was romantically involved with at the time. Some pieces draw from the Italian commedia dell'arte tradition, while others are portraits of real figures: Eusebius and Florestan represent the twin poles of Schumann's own personality, Chiarina is Clara Wieck — the pianist who would become his wife — and Chopin appears as a tender homage to his great contemporary.
The Fantasie in C, Op. 17, composed largely in 1836, is a work of far greater emotional weight — a three-movement outpouring of longing directed at Clara Wieck, from whom Schumann was being forcibly separated by her disapproving father. The first movement is among the most turbulent and expansive pieces in the Romantic repertoire, the second provides a bold, march-like energy, and the third brings the work to a close with a profound and still tenderness. Together, these two works offer a portrait of Schumann at his most inspired — a composer for whom music was inseparable from literature, love, and the full complexity of inner life.
Track List:
- Carnaval, Op. 9: Preambule - 2:39
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Pierrot - 1:27
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Arlequin - 1:26
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Valse noble - 1:52
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Eusebius - 2:04
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Florestan - 1:12
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Coquette - 1:28
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Replique - Sphinxes - 1:12
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Papillons - 0:59
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: ASCH - SCHA (Lettres dansantes) - 1:21
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Chiarina - 1:36
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Chopin - 1:50
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Estrella - 0:39
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Reconnaissance - 2:18
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Pantalon et Colombine - 1:06
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Valse allemande - 1:15
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Intermezzo - Paganini - 1:34
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Aveu - 1:40
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Promenade - 2:36
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Pause - 0:20
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- Carnaval, Op. 9: Marche des Davidsbundler contre les Philistins - 4:03
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- Fantasie in C, Op. 17: Durchaus phantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen-Im Legendenton - 13:03
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- Fantasie in C, Op. 17: Mässig, durchaus energisch - 8:44
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- Fantasie in C, Op. 17: Langsam getragen - Durchweg leise zu halten - 11:06
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- Total Runtime - 1:08:00
