I just heard these lovely pieces and was overwhelmed by their beauty. I think I can play the slower "easier" one. Does anyone know where I might get a copy of the sheet music on-line? Many thanks.

Best to all,
Kathleen

IMSLP?

I'm not sure whether you can get the music online but i got it from a charity shop, and the first and second pieces aren't as difficult as they sound, but i cannot speak for the thrid one as i have never played it. They're very beautiful though, no.2 being my favourite.

Oh, and there is a good chance there are hidden messages in these pieces.

All of Schumann's piano music is available online at IMSLP.

Regards,

I always figured Op. 28 No. 2 (the one in F#) is the encapsulated story of Robert and Clara. First the two of them sing their theme in close harmony. Then Papa Wieck shows up in the bass to tell them they can't see each other any more; things get a bit stormy, but with a surprise modulation to G he relents, and the two lovers are singing together again. But wait, it's sounding stormy again, they're having a fight, and, and... they apologize to each other, and a reassuring II-V-I cadence tells us everything's OK now. Then they sing their song one last time -- except this time a third little voice pipes up in the treble. It finally fades away with repeated C#s at an octave, like two hearts beating together.

I don't usually hear those kinds of stories -- or anything else that could be put into words -- in a piece of music (unless it really is a "song"), but the program seems very close to the surface in this one.

Although this wasn't what i was implying it is a very apt story! i never thought of that before but it seems to fit very well! i am indeed infatuated with the life of Schumann and his relationships, and this idea you have presented seems very idyllic.
Originally though, I was actually referring to the purported cryptic messages Schumann included in some of his pieces, like love notes to Clara and the likes.

To each his own, I know, but these programmatic "stories" attached to pieces of abstract music do absolutely nothing for me. In some ways, they even seem to trivialize what is really great music. But that's just me, I guess.

Regards,

I think the same, i rarely add images or stories to a piece, i was merely commenting that the story indeed related to piece rather well.

Maybe, but OTOH the idea of "love" could relate well to half the pieces ever written.

It would, but the story posted described each scene with the music, almost like a play! or maybe a silent movie (where the music depicts the scene).
I always get that feeling for Beethoven's Rage Over a Lost Penny.

As others have said, IMSLP is the best resource. Here is a link to the Romances Op.28.

I have to agree with BruceD that attaching a story as trite as the one I posted for the F# Romanze seems to trivialize it in a way. (At least Beethoven was asking for it when he went with the Lost Penny title instead of just Rondo a capriccio!) On the other hand, Schumann was a very self-aware composer who constantly tossed in little tidbits for listeners to pick up (for example, the quote from the finale of the Appassionata in Kreisleriana No. 4). I think he must have realized, in writing that Romanze, that some listeners would hear the same things I did in it. Of course, he may have done that simply as a diversion to throw people off from its "real meaning".

Or maybe the piece had no real meaning. I think your story could apply equally well to Chopin's F major Nocturne or the Schumann F major Romance or any piece with with contrasting lyrical and stormier sections.

I recall reading that Clara Schumann asked one of her sons to play the Romance #2 for her immediately before she passed away. The piece apparently held some significance for her.

I also read that Liszt, on the evening that he died, was heard playing one of the Chopin Nouvelle Etudes. The man certainly had good taste !!