Abstract
The Kinderszenen is the first significant piece of instrumental music inspired by impressions of childhood. Why did Schumann devote an entire cycle to this subject ? What gave the decisive impulse to the composition ? It is well known that memories of the young Clara Wieck (whom Robert first met at the age of nine) played a part in it. The autobiographical aspect is just one side of the question. The other one is, once more, literature and poetry. An examination of the readings, diaries, fictional and critical writings of Schumann in the decade preceeding the composition of the Kinderszenen (1828-1838) reveals his constant interest in the romantic cult of childhood. Through Jean Paul, Hoffmann or Thibaut, the composer built a symbolic conception of childhood which defined quite exactely his ideal of poetic music : depth at the heart of simplicity. These two aspects of the genesis (in a larger sense) of the Kinderszenen are intimately connected. Firstly because Schumann projected literary images on the Wunderkind who seemed to be the incarnation of a romantic ideal. Secondly because Clara possessed the purity which, in the aesthetics of Hoffmann, was a moral a priori for every great creation. Schumann felt unworthy of her and aimed to return with her help to the lost paradise of innocence.
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