Piano Concerto in a minor, Op. 54

• Schumann composed this concerto between 1841-5, and dedicated it to his friend, pianist and composer Ferdinand Hiller.¹
• The first movement of this concerto started out as a Phantasie for piano and orchestra which Schumann wrote in 1841. He had trouble marketing this one-movement work to a publisher, so he added two more movements in 1845 in order to create a full-length concerto. This final version was published in 1846.²
• On Dec. 4, 1845, Schumann’s Piano Concerto premiered in a private performance by the Dresden orchestra, conducted by Ferdinand Hiller, with Clara Schumann as soloist.³

“How rich in invention it is, how interesting from beginning to end, how fresh, and what a beautiful coherent whole it is! I feel a true delight when studying it.” 

Clara Schumann, on Robert’s a minor Piano Concerto⁴ 

1. “Piano Concerto, Op.54 (Schumann, Robert),” IMSLP, accessed April 7, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto,_Op.54_(Schumann,_Robert).
2. John Daverio and Eric Sams, “Schumann, Robert,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 7, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040704.
3. Ibid.
4. Robert Schumann, Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke: Orchesterwerke. Werkgruppe 1, Symphonien, Bd. 2-6, ed Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller and Akio Mayeda (New York: Schott, 2003), 192.