1. Zart und mit Ausdruck (Tender and with expression)
2. Lebhaft, leicht (Lively, light)
3. Rasch und mit Feuer (Fast and with fire)

During a feverish period of composing activity in February 1849, Schumann wrote his Fantasiestücke Op. 73 in two days, and he offered them immediately to the publisher Luckhardt in Kassel. Composer and publisher moved quickly, and Schumann returned the corrected proofs by early June 1849. The original title had been ‘Soirée Pieces’, but this was changed before publication. Originally conceived for clarinet and piano, the suggested alternative scoring for violin or cello had probably come from the publisher, but it was one which the composer was very happy. The first performance of the original clarinet and piano version was given at a concert in Leipzig on 14 January 1850. The three movements are the most poetic examples of Schumann’s lyrical writing, particularly the first two. And even in the passionately animated third movement, the ‘fire’ is not that of anger but of elation. 

Nigel Simeone 2024