Kreisleriana, Op. 16, is a composition in eight-movements by Robert Schumann for solo piano, titled Phantasien für das Pianoforte, written in April 1838. Dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, it is a very dramatic work and is considered to be one of Schumann's finest-written compositions for the piano.

The work is intended to represent the fictional character Johannes Kreisler from the works of E. T. A. Hoffmann. Like Kreisler, each piece has 2 very different sections, resembling the imaginary musician's manic-depression, and perhaps recalling Florestan and Eusebius, the two imaginary characters created by Schumann himself, who said that they represented his impulsive and dreamy sides, respectively. Johannes Kreisler appeared in three books by E. T. A. Hoffmann, most notably in Kreisleriana (1813).

Schumann used material from the eighth movement, "Schnell und spielend", for the fourth movement of his first symphony.

Movements

1. Äußerst bewegt (Extremely moved), D minor
2. Sehr innig und nicht zu rasch (Very inwardly and not too quickly), B-flat major
3. Sehr aufgeregt (Very agitated), G minor
4. Sehr langsam (Very slowly), B-flat major-D minor
5. Sehr lebhaft (Very lively), G minor
6. Sehr langsam (Very slowly), B-flat major
7. Sehr rasch (Very fast), C minor-E-flat major
8. Schnell und spielend (Fast and playful), G minor

The above text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ( creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ). It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kreisleriana" ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreisleriana ).