I'm curious, too about the other pieces in this Albumblatt...I haven't thought about these for years and don't remember, and of course my copy is long gone. Are these advanced level difficulty? Intermediate? Good teching pieces? Short, like Elfe, or longer?
They are all reasonably short pieces (most are 1-2 pages long). Contrary to other Schumann’s miniatures they are not part of a cycle, so they can be played individually. They are intermediate/early advanced level, and are all superior pieces of music. Apparently he composed them at the urge of Clara, who thought that his usual pieces were far too difficult for the average amateur pianist, and encouraged him to compose some easier pieces for publication (Apparently he was having a hard time publishing due to the usual difficulty of his pieces).
Together with Bunte Blatter op. 99 (a similar collection of 14 miniatures) they are ideal to make the transition from “Album for the young” op. 68 to Schumann’s advanced pieces.
My favourites are:
Op. 99 – no. 1, no. 2, no. 4, no. 5, no. 6, no. 9, and no. 10
Op. 124 – no. 1, no. 3, no. 4, no. 5, no. 6, no. 8, no. 11, no. 14, no. 15, no. 16 (Toivot’s Slumber song), no. 17 and no. 20.
You can listen to all of them here:
https://www.virtualsheetmusic.com/downloads/Schumann/Albumblatter.htmlBest wishes,
Bernhard.
Topic: Schumann "The Elf"