Progetto Martha Argerich

italiano

Works

Clara Wieck-Schumann

Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann Op. 20

 

Clara Wieck Schumann composed the Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 20, in the spring of 1853 to celebrate the birthday of her husband, Robert, on 8 June. The former child prodigy had not tried her hand at composition in several years, but the result was fine all the same. In themselves, the Variations on a Theme of Schumann are sufficient to demonstrate that this composer’s creative gifts were by no means banal. The theme is taken from the Albumblatt No. 1 in F-sharp minor – part of the Bunte Blätter, Op. 99, which her husband had finished composing a few days earlier – and it is followed by seven variations. Johannes Brahms would use this same theme in writing his Variations on a Theme of Schumann, Op. 9.

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