Abegg Variations

Historical context

Robert Schumann referred to his Variations on the name Abegg, Op. 1, as a “fine, healthy infant” and his “first leaf of my fancy which flutters into ether” in 1831, expressing the “first joys of authorship.” He stated that being engaged could be nothing to it, and that he felt “as proud as the Doge of Venice wedding the sea.” Schumann called this his “first work” and “child,” explaining in 1831 that he didn’t dedicate it to his family because it wasn’t “good enough” and he had “many better things in my desk with your names on them.” He clarified the dedication, laughing at his mother’s “sentimental suspicions” about a countess, stating the countess was “snappish and ugly” and the younger sister, Emily, was “a perfect angel.”

In 1831, Schumann sent twelve copies of his Variations on the name Abegg to Heckel at Mannheim for distribution among music friends, noting he was “braving public opinion for the first time.” L. Rellstab’s criticism of the “Abegg Variations” in 1832 found the theme “somewhat laboured, and yet monotonous,” but praised the variations as “the work of a skilful pianist” and a “grateful and brilliant bravura-piece.” Schumann thanked Rellstab for this “friendly, kind-hearted criticism,” noting the work “hardly deserve higher praise,” and that the criticism did not affect him much as the theme was not his own. Reflecting on his early work in 1840, Schumann stated, “How little I thought when I published Op. 1 that I should ever reach Op. 22!”

Drawn from Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856, The letters of Robert Schumann (1907); May Herbert, Early Letters Of Robert Schumann (1888); Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856; Storck, Karl, 1873-1920; Bryant, Hannah, The letters of Robert Schumann; (1907) — public domain, archive.org.