Robert Schumann is one of the most poetic figures of musical Romanticism. His work is a world of dreams, passions, literary images, and deeply personal experiences, in which the real and the fantastic intertwine.
Schumann became famous above all for his piano cycles — “Carnaval,” “Papillons,” “Scenes from Childhood” (with the tender “Träumerei”), “Kreisleriana” — where each miniature is a little poem. He is also the author of wonderful song cycles, symphonies, and a piano concerto. Schumann was a brilliant music critic who revealed Chopin and Brahms to the world. All his life he was torn by an inner struggle between two “alter egos” — the ardent Florestan and the dreamy Eusebius. Schumann's music is the confession of a Romantic heart, boundlessly sincere and humane.
