Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was a German composer of Romantic music, particularly piano and orchestral works, as well as over 250 songs or lieder. He was also a musical critic and founded his own magazine. His wife Clara Schumann (1819-1896), a concert pianist and composer of renown in her own right, inspired Robert to attempt larger-scale works such as symphonies.
Schumann's work was not especially popular in his own lifetime, and he was continuously troubled by the spectre of mental illness. He attempted suicide, and, suffering from hallucinations, he ended his days in an asylum. Robert Schumann is today considered one of the greatest exponents of Romantic music, where emphasis is given to personal artistic expression and experimentation, often with inspiration coming from art, literature, and nature.
Early Life
Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony, on 8 June 1810. His father, August Schumann, was a bookseller, but his interest went far deeper than merely selling literature, for he translated into German the complete works of Lord Byron (1788-1822) and Walter Scott (1771-1832). This perhaps explains Robert's life-long passion for literature, especially the work of Romantic writers like Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825), his personal favourite. Robert studied at the Zwickau Lyceum in an uneventful youth in terms of academic achievement.
Robert's life turned upside down when his father died in 1826 after suffering some sort of inner mental turmoil. There was further family tragedy when Robert's sister Emilie, who had also been troubled by mental problems, committed suicide. Robert thereafter lived in perpetual fear that he, too, would one day succumb to such an illness. Spoilt by his mother, Robert was "allowed to indulge in such expensive tastes as champagne and cigars while still at school" (Arnold, 1647). Robert had written his own music while still a child, and his skills merited taking private piano lessons in Leipzig where he also studied law from 1828. Unsettled in his studies – it was his mother who had pushed for him to study law – Robert moved on to the University of Heidelberg in 1829. Still not impressing his tutors and still showing little interest in law, which he described as "chilly jurisprudence with its ice-cold definitions", Robert decided to go on a grand tour to see the cultural sights of Switzerland and Italy (Steen, 400).
Schumann did not particularly impress with his piano playing. His hopes of becoming a concert pianist were, in any case, dashed early on in a bizarre accident involving a device he himself designed to strengthen his fingers. That is, at least, the traditional view. Some more modern historians present the theory that the injury came about as a result of a mercury treatment for syphilis (which is noted in his medical records). Whatever the real cause, Schumann certainly suffered a debilitating and permanent hand injury. Instead, then, Schumann turned to music criticism and creating his own compositions. Here he was to have much more success. At last, he had found his vocation. As Schumann himself remarked on completing his first compositions: "On sleepless nights I am conscious of a mission which rises before me like a distant peak" (Schonberg, 182).
Robert Schumann's Birthplace
Unknown Artist (Public Domain)
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