The Dances of the League of David, or Davidsbündlertänze, is a group of eighteen pieces for piano written by Robert Schumann in 1837, now regarded as one of his greatest achivements and as an essential work of the piano repertoire. The The low opus number is misleading: the work was written after Carnaval, Op. 9, and the Symphonic Studies, Op. 13. The theme of the Davidsbündlertänze is based on a mazurka by Clara Wieck. The pieces, however, are not true dances, but musical dialogues between Schumann's characters Florestan and Eusebius: these respectively represent the impetuous and the lyrical, poetic sides of Schumann's nature. Each piece is ascribed to one or both of them.
