Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Germany

The son of a German bookseller, Schumann grew up with a great inclination towards literature, which would later show up in when he pays homage to E.T.A. Hoffman in Kreisleriana op. 16 (1838). However, his mother insisted on his studying law in Leipzig, which Schumann hated bitterly. While in Leipzig, he studied piano with Frederick Weick, his future father-in-law. In 1834, he edited the music periodical, Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, which was "instrumental" to the development of Romanticism in music. At this time, Schumann had quit law school, which he thought very banal and restrictive. Schumann had a paranoia of insanity, of which he was never able to escape. His work reflected this paranoia and his enigmatic personality, yet he also developed his own individual musical style influenced by Beethoven, Schubert (of whom he was very fond of), Hummel, Haydn, Mozart, and Dussek. His creativity was at its height in 1840, in which he wrote 127 songs and married Clara Weick after many years of legal opposition by her father, who raised her in the hopes of her becoming a great musician. Yet she was still to achieve that position even with her marriage to Robert Schumann. Nevertheless the couple spent many years of happiness together touring, composing and performing until Schumann's mental health started to deteriorate. This resulted in his resignation as conductor in Düsseldorf in 1853. In 1854, he felt his mental health growing increasingly worse; subsequently he jumped into the river Rhine in a suicide attempt. Following his rescue from the river, he voluntarily stayed in a mental asylum, where he was visited by Johannes Brahms, whom he admired very much, and later, his wife Clara. His fears of insanity were finally realized in these last two years of his life. However, his legacy and contributions to music, of which his greatest contribution were his creativity in form and the melding of literary and musical ideals, made him a lasting inspiration to following generations.

Works
Lieder
- Frauenliebe und Leben (A Woman's Love and Life, 1840)
- Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love, 1840)
Orchestral music
- Symphony No. 3 op. 97 ("Rhenish," Piano Concerto in A minor (1841-1845)
- Davidsbündlertänze (1837)
- Symphony No. 1 "Spring" (1841)
- Symphony No. 2 (1845)
Chamber music
- Fantasiestücke op. 73
- Märchenerzählungen op. 132
Choral music
- Manfred, op. 115 (1848-49)
- Scenes from Faust (1844-1853)
Piano music
- Papillons (Butterflies, 1831)
- Carnaval (1835)
- Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood, 1838)
- Symphonic Etudes (1835-1837)
- Fantasy in C (1836-1838)
- Kreisleriana op. 16 (1838)
- Fantasiestücke, op 12, Piano Quintet in E Flat (1842)
Opera
- Genoveva (1850)

Additional Information
The Poet Speaks- Life of Robert Schumann
< http://www.roangelo.net/schumann/ >

Sources:

Longyear, Ray M. Nineteenth-Century Romanticism in Music. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1988.

Rosen, Charles. The Romantic Generation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Sony Classical. Sony Music Entertainment. 2001. <http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/eras/romhist.html>