Description

In February 1854, just weeks before Robert Schumann's admission to a psychiatric hospital in Endenich, he composed his variations on a theme in E-flat major. Given the extraordinary, personal, and moving events of those days, Clara Schumann guarded the manuscript pages of her husband's final piano composition - dedicated to her and later called the "Ghost Variations" - as if they were sacred relics, prohibiting their publication. The first edition was not released until 1939, and in many ways did not reflect Schumann's original work. The Henle Urtext edition, drawing upon all available primary sources, is now considered the most reliable and authoritative version of this composition, which has been performed with increasing frequency in recent years.