Robert Schumann

Carnaval op. 9

Robert Schumann's Carnaval op. 9 is one of the composer's most important piano cycles alongside the Papillons, the Davidsbündlertänze and the Kreisleriana. Similar to the Faschingsschwank aus Wien op. 26, the individual character pieces revolve around carnivalesque scenes from a masked ball, in which not only the composer himself (under the pseudonyms Florestan and Eusebius) takes part, but also other representatives of his field such as Frédéric Chopin and Niccolò Paganini as well as his later wife Clara (as Chiarina). The new edition is based on the original text of the New Schumann Complete Edition. In the absence of manuscript sources (with the exception of sketches), the edition can essentially only be based on the German first edition; the incomplete French first edition was used for critical comparison. The notes on interpretation take into account the instruments of Schumann's time as well as historical sources on performance practice.