No. 1 Capriccio in F-sharp minor

Composed in 1871. It is said to have been presented to Clara Schumann on her birthday in September of the same year. The piece begins quietly with arpeggiated chords on the tonic of F-sharp minor, utilizing the lower register. While these arpeggios descend further into the lower register, chords struck in each measure gradually ascend to the higher register, with both converging on a fortissimo dominant chord by the ninth measure. The new melody, appearing next as C#-D-F#-E#, shifts to the lower register with each repetition, and in the latter half, an inversion appears in the middle voice. The accompanying part, played simultaneously, is distributed between the left and right hands.