The Davidsbündler was an imaginary music society

Society

A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

 created by Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

 in his writings. The group was created to defend the cause of contemporary music against its detractors. Its two main members were supposed to be named Florestan and Eusebius, respectively symbolising the extroverted and introspective sides of his personality (also the masculine and feminine sides). Schumann occasionally mentioned the group in his music, such as in the finale of Carnaval

Carnaval (Schumann)

Carnaval, Op. 9, is a work by Robert Schumann for piano solo, written in 1834-1835, and subtitled Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes . It consists of a collection of short pieces representing masked revelers at Carnival, a festival before Lent...

; he also dedicated his Davidsbündlertänze

Davidsbündlertänze

Davidsbündlertänze , Op. 6, is a group of eighteen pieces for solo piano composed by Robert Schumann in 1837. Schumann named them after the imaginary Davidsbündler. The pieces are not true dances, but are characteristic pieces, musical dialogues about contemporary music between Schumann's...

to its members.