Albumblätter Op.124 No.16 "Berceuse"

Description

Berceuse, the sixteenth piece of Schumann's Albumblätter, Op. 124. Op. 124 is a set of twenty character pieces gathered together later from short works written over the years, and this one is dated 1841. It belongs to a freely assembled collection of pieces from different periods, with no single story connecting them.

In E-flat major and 6/8, a gentle, undulating melody rests above a softly repeating accompaniment figure, and the lullaby's rocking motion gradually lulls the listener toward sleep. It lasts nearly four minutes with 1,225 notes, over twelve hundred. Its range runs from G1 to A-flat 5; the bass reaches below a 61-key keyboard, though an octave shift brings it within one.

An intermediate piece, it demands the sustained concentration to keep spinning out a simple musical idea with care. The accompaniment must keep an even rocking motion while the melody sings quietly above it. Follow melody and accompaniment separately in the hand colours and practise evening out the accompaniment at a slower playback speed; the calm flow will then hold across nearly four minutes.

A set of 20 short pieces Schumann composed at various points in his life, gathering contrasting moods into a single varied collection.