Robert Schumann is one of the greatest representatives of Germany Romanticism music in the early nineteenth century. As a composer, he had written many types of works, including piano music, vocal music, symphony, concerto and chamber music; Schumann was also a music critic. He frequently published his personal viewpoints and commentaries on music with different pseudonyms in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, a magazine founded by himself. Piano music plays a vital role in Schumann¡¦s music creation. To Schumann, it is literature that inspires his creativity. Therefore, he prefers to combine his music with literal works. Take Schumann¡¦s Waldszenen op. 82, for example, the composer used poems to help elaborate the great piece. The thesis sets out from the introduction of Schumann¡¦s biography, and then further explores the features of Schumann¡¦s piano music in different phases, the development of his Characteristic piece, and the interrelationship between Schumann¡¦s piano music and literature. Besides, the motive and background of writting Waldszenen is mentioned, and the poetic imagery in Waldszenen is clearly discussed. Last, the composing method and technique of this great work will be analyzed.

Zdeněk Havlíček The Piano Works of Josef Bohuslav Foerster (The Lyrical Piano Pieces of the Turn of the Century) ABSTRACT: The presented thesis deals with the piano works of Josef Bohuslav Foerster - in detail, it is concerned with his lyrical piano pieces from the turn of the century. After mapping out the relevant Foerster-related literature and sources, it approaches the issue of lyrical piano piece as a music genre, and gives a relatively detailed outline of its development in the 19th century. This becomes a background against which, at some points, the nature of the analyzed pieces is to be shown. In the analysis of the piano cycle "Snění" ("Dreamings", 1898), the motivic and thematic processes are the main object, the analysis of the cycle "Růže vzpomínek" ("Roses of Memories", 1902) is dominated by the aspect of harmony and also takes into consideration the context of the various piano genres employed. From the cycle "A jabloně kvetly" ("And the Apple trees blossom", 1905), only the first piece ("Dream") is closely observed. Finally, an attempt is made to discuss the piano works in question in broader musical-historical and musical- historiographical contexts.