4 - Songs with Opus Numbers

Summary

This chapter concentrates on Clara Schumann’s three published song opuses: the three songs from op. 12 (a collaborative song cycle that she produced with Robert), the six songs of her op. 13 collection, and the Sechs Lieder aus Jucunde, op. 23. My discussion of the songs without opus numbers shows how the songs of opp. 12, 13, and 23 bear the telltale signs of her songwriting style. At the same time, I make a broader argument about a feature that binds these three opuses together and distinguishes them from her other songs: they show a preoccupation with strophic form, deploying this commonplace song form in ways that are at once subtle and novel.