Op. 85 No. 12

Abendlied (Evening Song) from Vierhändige Clavierstücke für kleine und grosse Kinder (Piano Duets for Small and Large Children) Op.85 No.12 (1849)

Schumann’s piano duets Op.85 were a primarily domestic inspiration. He did have them published within a year but the immediate purpose was to write a set of pieces he could play with his daughter Maria, who joined her father in performing the first of them, Geburtstagmarsch (Birthday March), as a surprise for Clara on her 30th birthday. The most successful of these very short pieces has proved to be the last, Abendlied, which has experienced many arrangements for other instruments, the oboe being particularly well suited to its expressive melodic line.