It is the slower, dreamier pieces in Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood) that have proven the most popular. The first, "Von fremden Ländern und Menschen" (About Foreign Lands and Peoples), despite its title, has a dreamy character, as does the ever-popular seventh, Träumerie (Dreaming). This piece, "Kind im Einschlummern" (Child Falling Asleep) joins the group, and with Träumerie is often featured on theme albums about children falling asleep or whatever catchy idea marketers dream up relating to nighttime music for toddlers. The popularity of these pieces is easy to understand: the music has memorable, simple melodies and a soothing character. "Kind im Einschlummern" features a gentle repetitive motif at the outset that eventually yields to a warmer variant that begins in the lower middle register with a sort of rocking, mesmerizing lilt. In the middle section, the music briefly takes on a more soaring lyrical character. The opening material returns and the piece fades softly, slumber apparently having come. This is one of the longer works in this set of miniatures, with a duration of around two minutes, though, oddly, some performances vary widely from this timing.

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When Schumann wrote Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), he was deeply in love with Clara Wieck, soon to become his wife over the objections of her overbearing father. The composer worked at a feverish pace, composing these pieces in just several days. Actually, he wrote about thirty small pieces, but trimmed them to the thirteen that comprise the set. They are fairly simple in terms of execution, and, of course, their subject matter deals with the world of children. Schumann, however, pointed out that they were not intended for children.

The seventh item here, "Träumerei" (Dreaming), is the most popular in the set. It is a depiction of childhood innocence, vulnerability and gentleness. Many pianists have interpreted this piece in a sentimental, almost saccharine way, while others (Horowitz notably) have insisted on a more objective approach. The main theme is sweetly innocent and sentimental, clearly representing the adult Schumann's fond view of aspects of his own childhood. The melody is unforgettable, the harmonies simple, but distinctive, and the overall mood dreamy and soothing. Of the many themes associated with children—that in Brahms' Lullaby, several in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf—the "Träumerei" melody is among the most memorable. The whole piece lasts under three minutes, but is the longest in the Kinderszenen set.

Most pianists who play inderszenen rarely excerpt it, but when an individual piece from it is played by them in concert, "Träumerei" is usually their choice. Horowitz was known to play it as an encore on several occasions.

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There are 13 pieces comprising Schumann's Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood), all imaginative works not necessarily intended by the composer for young listeners or performers. While children can enjoy the charming simplicities of the music, adult listeners find them quite to their tastes as well, and most pieces in the set are generally beyond the technical reach of younger pianists. This one, "Hasche-Mann" (Catch me if you can), is one of the more challenging works in the set and also—at about a half-minute—one of the shortest. The piece brims with energy in its playful main theme, a mischievous creation perfectly capturing the scene suggested by its title. The right hand's music takes off in the upper register, hustling upward then breathlessly heading back down. The left hand's bouncy rhythms seem to propel the main line along, the whole thing kinetically swirling and bubbling until the abrupt and entirely unexpected ending where the music simply stops. But Schumann intended for such endings to serve as a sort of bridge to the next piece, in this case, the deftly cute "Bittendes Kind" (Pleading Child).

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While Schumann wrote Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood) about children, he consciously targeted adult audiences. In a sense, then, this set of 13 pieces is a kind of vicarious reliving of childhood experiences. This work, "Ritter vom Steckenpferd" (Knight of the Hobbyhorse), is among the most direct and child-like of them, owing to its simple thematic material and sense of youthful elation. The vivacious music here seems to imitate laughter in its short-breathed main theme, which in one variant form or another repeats throughout the piece. It is a four-note motif whose final note rises or falls in an alternating pattern. While the thematic material is undeniably threadbare—quite simplistic, actually—it is rich in color and mood, the sense of utter happiness and fun conveyed in the rather giddy descending appearances of the motif. Alternating variants project a more muscular and slightly less-ecstatic manner, but hardly break the sense of joy and innocent wonderment the hobbyhorse obviously gives its enthusiastic rider. This masterful little gem typically lasts a mere half-minute or so.

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The 13 pieces that constitute Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen for piano (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15 (1838) showcase their creator's musical imagination at the peak of its poetic clarity. As a result, the Kinderszenen have long been staples of the repertoire as utterly charming yet substantial miniatures, the sort of compact keyboard essays in which Schumann's genius found full expression. Kinderszenen was one of the projects Schumann worked on during the spring of 1838 to get through a difficult period of separation from his fiancée, Clara Wieck, who was on tour as a pianist and whose father objected to the idea of her marriage to the composer. In March of that year, Schumann wrote to Clara, "I have been waiting for your letter and have in the meantime filled several books with pieces.... You once said to me that I often seemed like a child, and I suddenly got inspired and knocked off around 30 quaint little pieces.... I selected several and titled them Kinderszenen. You will enjoy them, though you will need to forget that you are a virtuoso when you play them." The Kinderszenen are a touching tribute to the eternal, universal memories and feelings of childhood from a nostalgic adult perspective; unlike a number of Schumann's collections of piano character pieces (e.g. Album for the Young, Op. 68), the Kinderszenen are not intended to be played by children. Schumann claimed that the picturesque titles attached to the pieces were added as an afterthought in order to provide subtle suggestions to the player, a model Debussy followed decades later in his Preludes. Almost all of the Kinderszenen are miniature ternary (ABA) forms. Scene No. 1, "Von fremden Ländern und Menschen" (Of Foreign Lands and People), opens with a lovely melody whose basic motivic substance, by appearing in several vague guises throughout many of the other pieces, serves as a general unifying element. The seventh Scene, "Träumerei" (Reverie), is easily the most famous piece in the set; its charming melody and quieting power have recommended it to generations of concert pianists who wish to calm audiences after a long series of rousing encores. The Kinderszenen contain many delicate musical touches; Scene No. 4, "Bittendes Kind" (Pleading Child), for example, is harmonically resolved only when an unseen force (a parent?) gives in and grant the child's wish at the beginning of No. 5, "Glückes genug" (Quite Happy). In the final piece, "Der Dichter spricht" (The Poet Speaks), Schumann removes himself just a bit from the indulgent reverie to formulate a narrator's omniscient view of the child. Quietly, gently, the many moods and feelings that Schumann touched upon over the course of this remarkable 20-minute work are lovingly recalled, and the composition concludes, contentedly, in the same key of G major in which it began.

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The year 1838 was a happy and exciting time for Schumann: he was in love with Clara Wieck, whom he would marry in 1840 over the vociferous objections of her spiteful father Friedrich. He was filled with musical inspiration, also producing Kreisleriana that same year and his piano concerto in A minor the next. Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood) is comprised of 13 pieces about children, often requiring a less-than-first-rate piano technique. But in a sense, the music is more than what it seems to be: like much other good "children's music," it appeals to adult listeners as well, and its technical aspects are at times quite challenging. This piece, "Curiose Geschichte" (Curious story), is only of moderate difficulty to the performer, but requires a good measure of interpretive insight. The piece opens with a playful, cocky theme that bounces gaily about. The mood turns somewhat ponderous in its brief second subject, deftly contrasting with the colorful, lively character of the main theme. Both subjects are heard again, but the main theme closes out this one-minute piece with one more jaunty appearance.

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The 13 pieces comprising Kinderszenen last about 20 minutes and are played as a continuous set. Thus, after one ends the next is performed without the usual long pause between separate works in a collection. Here, "Bittendes Kind" (Pleading Child) follows the energetic mischief of "Hasche-Mann" (Catch Me if You Can) with a sudden and quite effective change of mood: now the child pleads and as listeners take in Schumann's music, they will be disarmed by the lovely melody and its completely ingenuous innocence and sweetness. The theme is a typical Schumann creation in its arched, short-breathed character and in its changing manner on subsequent appearances, where its cute charm eventually yields to a more serious and expressive demeanor. The melody is restated at the end in much the same manner as Schumann presented it at the outset, then meekly closes on a single ascending note as if the child is making one final, half-hearted plea. Like most pieces in Kinderszenen, this one is short, having a duration of a minute in a typical performance.

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While several pieces among the 13 that comprise Kinderszenen are often performed apart from the set—such as the ever-popular No. 7, "Träumerie" (Dreaming)—most are exclusively played as part of the collection, owing either to their brevity, their dependence on contrast, or to both. This one, "Wichtige Begebenheit" (Important Event), is both brief (typically lasting a bit less than a minute) and artistically less effective when heard out of context. It brilliantly contrasts with the previous piece in Kinderszenen, "Glückes genug" (Happiness), which brims with gleeful innocence. In many ways, the pieces are a chain, each quite dependent on its siblings. It is brilliantly colorful in its eager pomposity and its deliberately overblown manner. The main theme is a short-breathed march-like creation that loses its heft as it descends the keyboard, its dynamics turning softer as if whatever "important event" being depicted here is marching away in the distance. The brief second subject, however, takes on truly muscular proportions, verging on the rowdy. The piece closes with a reprise of the main theme.

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In the composer's original tempo (of a quarter note = 108 MM), "From Foreign Lands and People" has the spirit and sound of a happy folk dance with a trace of nostalgia in its lovely, innocent arching melody. The "accompaniment" in lower triplets has the nature of a lilting, perhaps twirling step. One can imagine a celebration to the sound of guitars and perhaps a flute and/or a basic, spontaneous chorus composed of "tra-la's." When played at the slower neo-Romantic tempo (circa quarter note = 80 MM) preferred by several editors of Schumann's works, the music expresses itself as a flowing ballad, a song perhaps about past times, to which the lower triplets provide a harp-like accompaniment.

The G major melody is comprised of a series of small phrases that each initially skip a wide, joyful interval and then descend scalewise. The melody always ends on the third note of the scale leaving the feeling floating in the air, sweetly unresolved. The melody is played twice before a bridge brings it into a slightly lower range. To play this simple passage calls upon the performer's sense of nuance to a rather fine degree. Should these measures be played with a gradual ritardando or can the tempo continue and only held back gracefully on the two notes before the melody returns? What is the effect then of re-starting the melody with the brief triplet at full tempo or still in the ritardando mode? The interesting musical problem (in the good sense) that the composer has put forward is one of asymmetry: the bridge consists of six measures, whereas we have become accustomed to expected the melody to cover eight measures. How does the interpreter make this bridge sound "natural"? (Now you can see why this set of Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) is not meant to be performed by children.) From the bridge, the music then returns to an exact recapitulation of the melody and closes on that hanging third step leaving the listener with a wonderful image in mind.

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While Robert Schumann and his wife Clara Wieck Schumann would eventually have a family of eight children, the composer was unmarried when he wrote this famous set of 13 pieces, Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood). He was courting Wieck at the time, however, and must have already had a great love and understanding of children. These subtle and imaginative pieces certainly suggest as much. This one, Glückes genug (Happiness or Happy Enough), captures the child in a gleeful spirit, full of joyous wonder and innocent hopes. The chipper main theme energetically skips along, then takes a couple of excited bounces in its innocent delight. It eventually turns somewhat dreamy, but still maintains its playful, jaunty mood. The theme and its slight variant are reprised before the piece ends with an almost "adult" formality, the source of the child's happiness seeming to have somewhat faded. This piece typically has a duration of one minute. While Schumann intended for children to enjoy this and the other pieces in the set, he primarily targeted adult listeners who, in the end, made Kinderszenen a repertory staple.

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This is the concluding work in Schumann's popular set of 13 pieces about children, Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood). They are, of course, popular among adults and have been performed and recorded by the world's leading pianists. Actually, Schumann really aimed the works at adult audiences, knowing well that good "children's music" would have broad appeal. But two or three pieces in the set are rather "adult," or quite serious anyway, foremost among them being the tenth, "Fast zu Ernst" (Almost Too Serious) and this one, Der Dichter Spricht (The Poet Speaks). Both are slow and somewhat ponderous, though their writing is rather thinly textured and relatively uncomplicated. The Poet Speaks begins with an attractive gentle theme, mostly in chords, whose glacial pacing and skeletal writing impart a somber character. The melody is lovely and serene and conveys the child's maturing sense. In the middle section, the theme takes on a somewhat more songful, flowing manner, but then returns to the slower, more dignified character of the opening. At slightly over two minutes, this is one of the longer pieces in this set of charming miniatures.

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Schumann, of course, was a pre-Impressionist composer, and the scenes he depicts in the 13 works that comprise his set of children's pieces Kinderszenen (which adults, as he had intended, find utterly charming) are very general pictures and not evocations of sounds or sights, but rather of moods and feelings. Thus, "Am Camin" (At the Fireside) does not conjure images of a bright, crackling wood fire, much less of a storyteller enthralling a group of children. But it imparts a sense of childhood wonder, of warmth and joy, feelings that could accompany many scenes, but ones that are nevertheless perfectly appropriate here. Coming after the longest piece in the set, the sweet and dreamy "Träumerei," "Am Camin" comes across with brilliant contrast, its main theme gentle and playful, its pacing lively but not hurried. Schumann wisely eschewed going to the opposite emotional extreme here, instead creating a mood not altogether removed from the dreaminess of "Träumerei," but chipper and poised in its gentleness and innocent in its bright but slightly subdued character. This masterful gem typically has a duration of one minute.

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Schumann composed some of the finest solo piano miniatures of the Romantic era, but was not particularly effective in larger forms for the instrument, such as sonatas. Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood) is a set of 13 miniatures on subjects relating to children, collectively having a performance duration of about 20 minutes. Naturally, the general brevity of the pieces reflects the lighter and less introspective nature of the music. This work, "Fast zu ernst" (Almost too serious), at two minutes, is one of the longer pieces in the set. Schumann primarily had adults in mind when he wrote this work and the others in Kinderszenen, but he also hoped they would appeal to younger audiences. That said, this lovely piece is possibly the most "adult" of the 13 in the set, almost—as its title suggests—coming across as too serious a manner for children. The writing is relatively simple, however, and the somewhat wistful theme is fairly direct and easily grasped. The melody has a slightly Chopin-esque quality and imparts a nocturnal, somewhat dreamy mood. It brilliantly sets the stage for the next piece in the set.

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Most of the 13 works in Kinderszenen are light and joyous, but a few are fairly serious, even contemplative, or—like this one—are subtle and express a mixture of feelings. Fürchtenmachen, which translates as Frightening, does not sound particularly frightening. But then Kinderszenen (Scenes From Childhood) is about children and their innocent world. Most listeners have generally interpreted the subject matter of this piece as being the depiction of a ghost story, or of some scary story told to a child who mostly enjoys the tale.

The work begins with a theme that comes across as a mixture of the playful and mysterious, its notes sounding gentle, its mood tentative. The tempo suddenly increases, the music softly and creepily racing about, auguring some explosive happening. The main theme returns with its more tranquil demeanor, only to have the ghostly elements intrude again, now louder and almost comical. After yet another re-appearance of both opposing factions, the piece gently closes with a restatement of the main theme. This deftly wrought gem typically lasts a minute-and-a-half.

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