Liebst du um Schönheit (Op. 12 No. 4)

Clara Schumann · Level 5 (Advanced) · Romantic · Piano

One of the songs Clara published with Robert Schumann in the collection Liebesfrühling (1841), to a poem by Friedrich Rückert: “If you love for beauty, do not love me… love for love’s sake”. A song (voice and piano) arranged for solo piano: the right hand plays the vocal line, with the accompaniment notes that lie below it; the left hand plays the piano part as written. D♭ major, 4/4, 41 bars (about 2 minutes), complete score.

▶ Play this piece with the interactive score

How to practise it

• Listen first: the site plays it while the score scrolls.
• Wait mode: the score waits for you at every note, at your own pace.
• Tempo challenge: play in time, with a score and a map of the bars you got right.
• A tender, intimate piece: soft dynamics, well-joined phrases and a slight rubato at the ends of phrases. Key signature with 5 flats: name them aloud before playing and spot the places where accidentals cancel them. One hand sometimes plays two voices: hold the long notes for their full value and let the main line sing louder than the accompaniment. For chords, shape the hand in the air before landing, all notes together.

Source : Arrangement Note after Note d’après la saisie CC0 du corpus OpenScore Lieder · CC0 1.0