Fairy-Tale Pictures, Op. 113 Marchenbilder

In the summer of 1852, Vier Stucke  'Four Pieces'  for viola and piano by Robert Schumann were published under the title Marchenbilder  'Fairy-Tale Pictures'  by the Kassel publishing house Luckhardt, with a particularly expressive vignette on the titlepage. Unusual were both this title Marchenbilder, on the one hand, and the scoring with a solo viola, on the other. With the viola in a soloistic role in chamber music, Schumann's Marchenbilder, Op. 113, offers a rather unfamiliar, but all the more delightful sound.