Robert Schumann wrote his Fantasy Pieces for clarinet and piano in the course of two days in February 1849. Only a few days later they were premiered by Clara Schumann and the Dresden clarinetist Johann Gottlieb Kotte. Initially choosing the title Soirée Pieces for his works, Schumann finally decided to have them published as Fantasy Pieces, thereby emphasizing their poetical aspects. These connotations are also at the centre of clarinetist Elisabeth Eichenberg's notes on interpretation with special reference to the contemporary aesthetics of the clarinet sound. The edition is based on the first edition published in 1849 and also incorporates subsequent corrections in Schumann's personal copy. The compositional manuscript that has survived served as an important corrective. Besides the original clarinet part in A the edition also includes a transposed part for the B clarinet in order to make these standard works of the Romantic clarinet repertoire available to a wider circle of the clarinet community. Instrumentation: clarinet and piano op. 73

Robert Schumann nahm in Leipzig Klavierunterricht bei Friedrich Wieck, dem Vater seiner späteren Frau Clara. Er begann zunächst ein Jurastudium, ab 1830 widmete er sich ausschließlich der Musik. Als Komponist und Musikschriftsteller (er begründete die "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik") ist Schumann der vielleicht typischste Vertreter der deutschen Romantik. Er schrieb 4 Sinfonien, Liederzyklen, große Vokalformen, Kammermusik und Klaviermusik, letztere z.T. auch für seine Kinder ("Album für die Jugend", 1848).