Chopin vs. Schumann's Kreisleriana

As much as I enjoy Robert Schumann’s music, I understand why it rubbed Fryderyk Chopin the wrong way. Case in point, Schumann dedicated his Kreisleriana, Op. 16 to Chopin, who commented unfavorably on it. Even though this assessment likely discouraged Schumann, as he was an admirer of Chopin’s genius, it is hardly surprising. By this time, both composers had already struck out and developed their own unique styles, and Schumann’s Kreisleriana in particular strikes me as very anti-Chopin.

Though Schumann and Chopin were born in the same year, they are different as night and day, with Schumann’s wildly bipolar nature contrasting against Chopin’s delicate melancholy. They hardly met, as Chopin was in the French school of Romanticism and Schumann was in the German school, but their fleeting conversations were fraught with tension. To someone like Fryderyk Chopin, who favored grounded refinement and thematic unity in his music, Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana may have come across as confused and jarring in its wild themes and dramatic dynamic changes.

I personally enjoy both composers, though I prefer Chopin due to mostly personal reasons. Nevertheless, I find it fascinating how Chopin and Schumann both represent the evolving world of Romanticism, one that is elegant and sophisticated as well as stormy and untameable.