68, Robert Schumann began work in late 1850 on a new collection of piano pieces.
68, this new collection would comprise material that the composer had written earlier in his career, but held back from publication.
Schumann held ambivalent feelings about the material, reflected in the proposed title for this new collection Spreu.
[3] As with Bunte Blätter the pieces span a wide period of the composers active career and come from a variety of compositions by the composer, the earliest material dates from 1832 and comprises pieces, considered for, but not included in Carnaval, Op.
Other material used included pieces intended for a composition that was never published entitled XII Burle (English 12 Burleskes), short pieces written to mark specific family occasions and, dating from 1845, a canon sketched for his Studies for Pedal piano, Op.