Schumann's Fantasiestücke, Op. 12, is a set of eight pieces for piano, written in 1837. The title was inspired by the collection of novellas Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Schumann dedicated the pieces to Fräulein Anna Robena Laidlaw (1819–1901), an accomplished and attractive 18-year old Scottish pianist with whom Schumann had carried on a brief flirtation. Schumann conceived Aufschwung as a depiction of the character Florestan (from Beethoven's Fidelio) indulging in his desires.
