Nachtstücke

The Nachtstücke are a set of four character pieces for piano by the German composer and pianist Robert Schumann.

Historical background

The Nachtstücke (Night Pieces), Op. 23, were composed in 1839 together with Faschingsschwank aus Wien and published one year later. The Intermezzo from Faschingsschwank was originally published as a supplement to the Neue Zeitschrift and identified as a 'fragment from the Nachtstücke which are to appear shortly'. Schumann envisaged the following titles for the four pieces:

These titles were not included in the original edition.

Death of brother

Schumann wrote the Nachtstücke under extremely stressful circumstances. He was spending the winter in Vienna. On March 30, 1839, he received a letter concerning the imminent death of his older brother Eduard (1799–1839), which could have meant economic disaster to the family’s publishing business. In a letter to his fiancée Clara Wieck he wrote, "Wouldn’t you leave me if I were now to become a very poor man and told you to leave me because I would bring you nothing but sorrow?".