hese morbid dreams, and
he again began to compose with renewed--almost abnormal--vigor and
productiveness.

The artist pair took a trip to Vienna where Clara gave several
concerts. They spent some weeks there and before returning to Dresden,
gave two splendid concerts in Prague, where Schumann received a
perfect ovation for his piano quintette and some songs. A little
later the two artists made a trip north. In Berlin Robert conducted
a performance of "Paradise and the Peri" at the Singakademie, while
Clara gave two recitals.

This year of 1847 was a very active one outside of the musical
journeys. The master composed several piano trios, much choral music,
and began the opera "Genevieve," which was not completed however,
until the middle of 1848. All the compositions of the previous year
were perfectly lucid and sane. The opera unfortunately had a text from
which all the beauty and romance had been left out.

The music, however, revealed a rare quality of creative power,
combined with deep and noble feeling. Schumann's nature was more
lyric than dramatic; he was not born to write for the stage. The lyric
portions of his opera are much the best. He did not realize that
he failed on the dramatic side in his work, indeed seemed quite
unconscious of the fact.

"Genevieve" was given in Leipsic in June 1850, directed by the
composer. Two more performances were given and then the work was laid
away.

In 1848, Schumann, who loved children dearly and often stopped his
more serious work to write for them, composed the "Album for the
Young," Op. 68, a set of forty-two pieces. The title originally was:
"Christmas Album for Children who like to play the Piano." How many
children, from that day to this have loved those little pieces, the
"Happy Farmer," "Wild Rider," "First Loss," "Reaper's Song," and all
the rest. Even the great pianists of our time are not above performing
these little classics in public. They are a gift, unique in musical
literature, often imitated, but never equaled by other writers.
Schumann wrote of them: "The first thing in the Album I wrote for my
oldest child's birthday. It seems as if I were beginning my life as a
composer anew, and there are traces of the old human here and there.
They are decidedly different from 'Scenes from Childhood' which are
retrospective glances by a parent, and for elders, while 'Album for
the Young' contains hopes, presentments and peeps into futurity _for
the young_."