Papillons
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Papillons, Op. 2, is a piano piece written in 1831 by Robert Schumann. Meaning 'butterflies,' Papillons begins with a 6 measure introduction before launching into a variety of dance-like movements. Each dance movement is unrelated to the preceding ones, until the finale, which is tonally similar to the introduction. Papillons is meant to represent a masque ball scene from a novel, with each movement giving the impression of a different character at that ball. The genre is character piece/suite. It was written in Germany during the romantic period.
Tchaikovsky used the basic theme from the Finale of the Papillons (an old folk dance) for the Grossvater Tanz (Grandfather Dance) in the Christmas party scene from his ballet The Nutcracker.