Robert Schumann (1810- 1856) was one of most important composers of Romanticism during the 19th century. Born in a scholarly family, Schumann had a good background knowledge, which prompted him to combine literature and musical cryptogram as his own special composing skill. Take Carnaval, Op.9 for example, he used “Asch”, the hometown’s name of his first girlfriend Ernestine von Fricken (1816- 1844), with its note name as the main motivation and variation, to make his character piece, this approach of composing then became his conventional style.

‘‘Carnaval’’, Schumann’s early work, was finished in 1835. The piano suite is made up of twenty-one character pieces, and each of them has a title, which comes from clowns of Commedia Dell’arte, Schumann’s friends, or lovers.

There are five chapters in this thesis. Chapter 1 is the introduction, the motivation, the purpose, and the methods of study are included. Chapter 2 is Schumann’s biography and compositions. Chapter 3 is the exploration of Carnaval, the study of the Character Piece, the background of composing, and the composing motivation of words “Asch” are the focus of this chapter. Chapter 4 is the interpretation of performing. Chapter 5 is the conclusion. For better understandings of Schumann’s works, Carnaval provides a great example for analyzing the ways of composing in terms of harmony and structure. Furthermore, the artistic conception of Carnaval is trans-domain in literature and music. Hopefully this thesis could help performers to promote interpretation and artistic literacy.