Robert Schumann

Works for Piano Four Hands Vol. 1

Robert Schumann's intention to create valuable and, with regard to didactics, sensibly created music for children and young people was not limited to the world-famous Album für die Jugend Op. 68 for piano (1848). Apart from Liederalbum für die Jugend Op. 79 (1849), he also created two works which should encourage four-handed piano playing which was very popular in 19th-century domestic music: the progressively arranged 12 vierhändige Klavierstücke für kleine und große Kinder Op. 85 (1849) and Kinderball Op. 130 (1853) which put the Sechs leichte Tanzstücke together into a charming archaic suite. Based on the score of the New Schumann Complete Edition (ed. by Joachim Draheim und Bernhard Appel), the new edition of the Wiener Urtext Edition for the first time presents a reliable urtext based on the sources, including a hitherto unpublished easy piano piece which was intended for Op. 85.