This study is devoted to a detailed performance and historical-theoretical analysis of Robert Schumann's Eighth Piano Novelette Opus 21 №8. The contained technical and methodological recommendations can be useful both for practicing teachers and future performers - students of special music schools, students, undergraduates and graduate students of music universities of the Russian Federation in the direction of "Special Piano", "Performing Skills", "Music Pedagogy" and "Musicology". ". Exploring the problems of Schumann's piano work as a whole, conducting a comparative analysis of the form, expressive means and possible performance difficulties, the authors try to reveal the fundamental iconographic meanings laid down by the composer in this work. The problem of understanding and interpreting Schumann's style can also be useful for art historians in the context of studying romanticism as one of the leading trends in world musical culture.