[...] The composer Clara Schumann neither needed help from her husband Robert to be able to compose, but sorely missed his constant encouragement after his death in 1856, nor did she ever try to copy him slavishly. Her not very extensive oeuvre (Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 7, Concerto movement in F minor for piano and orchestra, Piano Trio in G minor, op. 17, three Romances for piano and violin, op. 22, numerous, in part highly virtuoso piano works, three mixed choruses and 27 songs) has its own, in part outstanding profile, is now available almost in its entirety in (not always) reliable new editions and has even found its way into the standard repertoire in parts. Apart from some piano works and the Romances for Piano and Violin op. 22, this applies above all to her songs. She has also congenially edited works by her husband, e.g. the piano reduction of his only opera Genoveva, edited his compositions left behind and supervised the first, albeit incomplete, complete edition of his works. [...]
Until the year 2000, most of Clara Schumann's compositions (and arrangements) were available in new and first editions, after which there were still some additions, some of them very valuable, also in view of the anniversary year 2019, so that now only a very few works remain unpublished or can only be reached in print in remote places. The present volume aims to fill these gaps in the field of two-hand piano music, also including arrangements by Clara Schumann (of works by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms) as well as a highly interesting transcription by August Horn of one of her most successful songs (Liebeszauber op. 13, No. 3). The result was a varied and multi-faceted selection from Clara Schumann's piano works and piano arrangements, spanning from 1838 to 1895, a year before her death in 1896. [...]
From the preface by Joachim Draheim
