Kreisleriana

16, is a composition in eight movements by Robert Schumann for solo piano, subtitled Phantasien für das Pianoforte.

The work was dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, but when a copy was sent to the Polish composer, "he commented favorably only on the design of the title page".

[3][4][5] In 1839, soon after publishing it, Schumann called it in a letter "my favourite work," remarking that "The title conveys nothing to any but Germans.

[8] Like the kaleidoscopic Kreisler, each number has multiple contrasting sections, resembling the imaginary musician's manic depression, and recalling Schumann's own "Florestan" and "Eusebius," the two characters Schumann used to indicate his own contrasting impulsive and dreamy sides.

Johannes Kreisler appears in several books by Hoffmann, including Kater Murr and most notably in the Kreisleriana section of Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier, published in 1814.