Schumann: Album for the Young, Op. 68
24 of the 43 pieces, free to read, hear and print, in the composer's own order.
Open the sheet music librarySchumann wrote the Album for the Young in a few weeks of 1848 for his daughter Marie's seventh birthday, and kept going until there were forty-three pieces. The first half is for young players: The Wild Horseman, The Happy Farmer, the Soldier's March, each a little scene in under a minute. The second half was written, as he put it, for the more grown-up.
They are in Schumann's order here, easiest at the start, which makes the list a path to follow. It is still one of the best books of real first pieces ever written, and every one plays back at any speed.
About the pieces
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 1: Melody
The first piece in Schumann's Album for the Young, a collection he wrote in 1848 for his children. It is a simple singing tune in the right hand over a quiet accompaniment in the left, only twenty bars long.
Soldier's March Op. 68 No. 2
The second piece in the Album for the Young, and usually the first one a student plays from it.
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 3: Humming Song (Trällerliedchen)
The third piece in Schumann's Album for the Young, one of the easiest in the book. A smooth right-hand tune in C major is accompanied by a left hand that moves a bass line under a repeated G.
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 5: Little Piece (Stückchen)
From Schumann's Album for the Young, written in 1848, starting as a birthday present for his eldest daughter Marie. A simple melody in the right hand floats over the left hand's steady broken-chord quavers.
The Wild Horseman Op. 68 No. 8
From the Album for the Young, written for his daughter Marie's seventh birthday. The tune jumps between the hands, which is the whole game.
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 9: Little Folk Song (Volksliedchen)
From Schumann's Album for the Young of 1848. A plaintive D minor song gives way to a brighter D major section with lighter chords before the song returns.
The Merry Farmer Op. 68 No. 10
From the Album for the Young. The tune is in the LEFT hand, under the chords, which is the lesson the piece was written to teach.
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 12: Knecht Ruprecht
From Schumann's Album for the Young of 1848. Knecht Ruprecht is the gruff figure of German folklore who comes with St Nicholas and punishes naughty children (this French edition calls him Le Père Fouettard), and the piece begins with low, rumbling octaves before a gentler middle section in F major.
Album for the Young Op. 68 No. 16 First Grief
Schumann wrote the Album for the Young for his eldest daughter Marie's seventh birthday, and it is the first collection anybody wrote specifically for children to play rather than to be impressed by.
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 25: Echoes of the Theatre
From the second part of Schumann's Album for the Young, written in 1848 for older players. Its German title, Nachklänge aus dem Theater, means echoes of the theatre: an agitated A minor tune in semiquavers over repeated chords, like a dramatic scene remembered at the piano.
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 26
One of the untitled pieces in Schumann's Album for the Young, marked only with asterisks in the second half of the book, for older players. A warm melody in F major moves through chromatic inner voices, and the texture is fuller than in the early pieces.
Scheherazade, Op. 68 No. 32
From the second part of Schumann's Album for the Young, written for older players. It is named after the storyteller of the Arabian Nights, and its dreamy melody turns back to the same phrase several times, like a story being retold.
Album-fuer-die-Jugend-Nr-35-Mignon
From the birthday album Schumann wrote for his daughter Marie, the first music composed with a child player in mind rather than a child listener.
Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 36: Italian Mariners' Song
One of the later pieces in Schumann's Album for the Young of 1848. It opens with slow, heavy calls in octaves in both hands before the sailors' song sets off in a quick G minor 6/8.