Piano Works (Kreisleriana)

Schumann was deeply influenced by the writing of E. T. A. Hoffmann and in Kreisleriana, completed in 1838 and dedicated on publication to Chopin, he pays tribute to Hoffmann and his fictional character Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler, used by Hoffmann to express his own ideas of the conflict between the artist and Philistine society. In a letter to Clara, Schumann tells her that the new work is one in which she and one of her ideas play the main part; it is to be dedicated to her and no-one else and as she recognizes herself in it she may smile fondly. Comparison between Clara and Kreisler could hardly be flattering, bearing in mind Hoffmann's original descriptive title "Lucid Intervals of an Insane Musician."