Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15

The composition of the piano pieces titled Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), Op. 15 is linked to a deeply troubled period in the life of their composer, Robert Schumann. He was deeply in love with Clara Wieck and proposed marriage to her, but her father refused. Schumann plunged into a serious inner crisis. However, the Kinderszenen are a work of unparalleled gentleness, as if the German master had wanted to express a feeling of naivety that has no place in the merciless world of adults through music. When he sent the score to Clara, he wrote: "Is this an unconscious response to the meaning of the words you wrote to me one day: you sometimes make me feel like a child! If that's the case, you'll see that this child has grown wings... You will surely enjoy playing these little pieces, but you must forget that you are a virtuoso. [...] You must avoid effects and let yourself be carried away by their simple, natural, and unadorned grace." Thus, the Kinderszenen are a call to rediscover the world through the enchanted eyes of our childhood...