Clara Schumann: Arrangements for Solo Piano

This edition presents a collection of Clara Schumann’s solo piano arrangements of instrumental works by William Sterndale Bennett (a movement from Three Diversions, op. 17) and Johannes Brahms (one movement from Serenade No. 1, op. 11, and the complete Serenade No. 2, op. 16), and of eleven lieder by Robert Schumann. Although the nineteenth century saw an unprecedented growth in the number of keyboard arrangements, few renowned musicians arranged a large number of works by other composers. Clara Schumann is a notable exception, with her arrangements demonstrating a consistently high artistic sensitivity that places them beyond the reaches of most domestic musicians and into the realm of self-sufficient artworks. Indeed, transcription became a tool to capitalize on and simultaneously to deepen her relationship with her husband Robert, to display her virtuosic gifts, to test the waters of a foreign musical marketplace, or to memorialize in music a particularly compelling and meaningful experience. This edition of arrangements thus provides a comprehensive overview of Clara Schumann’s activities as arranger, documents more comprehensively the musical intersections between her and her artistic circle, and allows for a reevaluation of the piano transcription among nineteenth-century musicians, particularly virtuosos.