Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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extending from Scarlatti and Bach to Mendelssohn,
Chopin, and Brahms, and it would be
difficult to say that she excelled in her rendering
of any one composer's works rather than
another's, unless it be in her interpretation of
her husband's music. And even here, if she
was pronounced by general opinion to be
greatest in her playing of Schumann, it is
probably because it was to her inimitable
performances that we owe, in this country at
least, the appreciation and love of his music
now happily become universal, and thus the
player shared in the acknowledgment she won
for the composer.
Mme. Schumann's compositions, though not
very numerous, evince that earnestness of purpose
which distinguished her work in general.
Even her earliest essays, which are short pianoforte-pieces
written for the most part in danceform,
are redeemed from any approach to
triviality by their interesting rhythms, and in
particular by the freshness of their modulations,
the latter being indeed in some cases original
even to abruptness. Their general characteristic
is that of delicacy rather than force, their
frequent staccato passages and the many skipping
grace-notes which are constantly met with
requiring for their performance a touch of the
daintiest lightness ; although qualities of an
opposite kind are occasionally shown, as in the
'Souvenir de Vienne,' op. 9, which is a set of
variations in bravura style on Haydn's Austrian
Hymn. Among her more serious compositions
of later date are a, Trio in G minor for pianoforte,
violin and violoncello, op. 17, which is
thoroughly musicianlike and interesting, three
charming Cadenzas to Beethoven's Concertos,
opp. 37 and 58, and a set of three Preludes and
Fugues, op. 16, which deserve mention not
only on account of their excellent construction,
but as forming a most valuable study in legato
part-playing. There is also a Piano Concerto,
op. 7, dedicated to Spohr, of which the passages
(though not the modulations) remind one of
Hummel ; but it is a short work and not well
balanced, the first movement being reduced to
a single solo, which ends on the dominant, and
leads at once to the Andante.
In the later works, as might naturally be
expected, there are many movements which
bear traces of the influence of Schumann's
music both in harmony and rhythm, but this
influence, which first seems perceptible in the
•Soir&s Musicales,' opp. 5, 6, is afterwards less
noticeable in the pianoforte works than in the
songs, many of which are of great beauty, and
some of which (see op. 12) were incorporated
into collections by Schumann. Her ' Liebst du
um Schonheit ' is one of the most expressive
songs in existence. Schumann himself has
made use of themes by Mme. Schumann in
several instances, namely in his Impromptus, op.
5 (on the theme of her Variations op. 3, which
SCHUMANN 345
are dedicated to him), in the Andantino of his
Sonata in F minor op. 14, and (as a 'motto')
in the 'Davidsbiindlertanze,' op. 6.
The following is a list of Mme. Schumann's
compositions :
Op.