Kinderszenen was one of the projects Schumann worked on during the spring of 1838 to get through a difficult period of separation from his fiancée,
Clara Wieck, who was on tour as a pianist and whose father objected to the idea of her marriage to the composer. In March of that year, Schumann wrote to Clara, "I have been waiting for your letter and have in the meantime filled several books with pieces.... You once said to me that I often seemed like a child, and I suddenly got inspired and knocked off around 30 quaint little pieces....
I selected several and titled them Kinderszenen. You will enjoy them, though you will need to forget that you are a virtuoso when you play them."
The collection, perhaps the most popular of Schumann´s compositions, captures the innocence of childhood and evokes its feelings and dreams in a quite wonderful way. The seventh piece of the set, Träumerei is one of the most famous piano pieces ever written: it exists in myriad forms and transcriptions, and has been a favourite encore of many pianists.
