Clara Schumann at the age of nine, Clara Wieck performed at the Leipzig home of Dr. Ernst Carus, director of the mental hospital at Colditz Castle. There, she met another gifted young pianist who had been invited to the musical evening, Robert Schumann, who was nine years older. Schumann admired Clara's playing so much that he asked permission from his mother to stop studying law, which had never interested him much, and take music lessons with Clara's father. While taking lessons, he rented a room in the Wieck household, staying about a year. He would sometimes dress up as a ghost and
Blumenstück (Schumann) Wieck, who was implacably opposed to the marriage. "Blumenstück" features a falling four-note motif that Schumann had previously used to refer to Clara Wieck in "Carnaval", Op. 9. Rather than in his manuscript book, Schumann sketched "Blumenstück" in his Brautbuch; it was offered, along with the song cycle "Myrthen", Op. 25, of 1840, as a bridal gift. In a letter to Clara on 24 January 1839, Schumann wrote that he had recently completed a number of small piano pieces, with the titles: The "Blumenstück" is in the form of a double theme and variations, and the "Arabeske" is in rondo