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SCHUMANN, ROBERT ALEXANDER (1810-1856)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 386 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SCHUMANN, See also:ROBERT See also:ALEXANDER (1810-1856) , See also:German musical composer, was See also:born on the 8th of See also:June 1810 in See also:Zwickau in See also:Saxony. His See also:father was a publisher, and it was in the cultivation of literature quite as much as in that of See also:music that his boyhood was spent. He himself tells us that he began to compose before his seventh See also:year. At fourteen he wrote an See also:essay on the See also:aesthetics of music and also contributed to a See also:volume edited by his father and entitled Portraits of Famous Men. While still at school in Zwickau. he read, besides See also:Schiller and See also:Goethe, See also:Byron (whose Beppo and Childe Harold had been translated by his father) and the See also:Greek tragedians. But the most powerful as well as the most permanent of the See also:literary influences exercised upon him, however, was undoubtedly that of See also:Jean See also:Paul See also:Richter. This See also:influence may clearly be seen in his youthful novels Juniusabende and Selene, of which the first only was completed (1826). In 1828 he See also:left school, and after a tour, during which he met See also:Heine at See also:Munich, he went to See also:Leipzig to study See also:law. His See also:interest in music had been stimulated when he was a See also:child by See also:hearing See also:Moscheles See also:play at See also:Carlsbad, and in 1827 his See also:enthusiasm had been further excited by the See also:works of See also:Schubert and Mendelssohn. But his father, who had encouraged the boy's musical aspirations, had died in 1826, and neither his See also:mother nor his See also:guardian approved of a musical career for him. The question seemed to be set at See also:rest by Schumann's expressed intention to study law, but both at Leipzig and at See also:Heidelberg, whither he went in 1829, he neglected the law for the philosophers, and though—to use his own words—" but Nature's See also:pupil pure and See also:simple " began composing songs. The restless spirit by which he was pursued is disclosed in his letters of the See also:period.

At See also:

Easter 183o he heard See also:Paganini at Frankfurt. In See also:July in this year he wrote to his mother, " My whole See also:life has been a struggle between See also:Poetry and See also:Prose, or See also:call it Music and Law," and by See also:Christmas he was once more in Leipzig, taking piano lessons with his old See also:master, See also:Friedrich Wieck. In his anxiety to accelerate the See also:process by which he could acquire a perfect See also:execution he permanently injured his right See also:hand. His ambitions as a pianist being thus suddenly ruined, he determined to devote himself entirely to See also:composition, and began a course of theory under Heinrich Dorn, conductor of the Leipzig See also:opera. About this See also:time he contemplated an opera on the subject of See also:Hamlet. The See also:fusion of the literary See also:idea with its musical See also:illustration, which may be said to have first taken shape in Papillons (op. 2), is foreshadowed to some extent in the first See also:criticism by Schumann, an essay on See also:Chopin's See also:variations on a theme from See also:Don Juan, which appeared in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1831. Here the See also:work is discussed by the imaginary characters Florestan and See also:Eusebius (the counterparts of Vult and Walt in Jean Paul's novel Flegeljahre), and Meister Raro (representing either the composer himself or Wieck) is called upon for his See also:opinion. By the time, however, that Schumann had written Papillons (1831) he had gone a step farther. The scenes and characters of his favourite novelist had now passed definitely and consciously into the written music, and in a See also:letter from Leipzig (See also:April 1832) he bids his See also:brothers " read the last See also:scene in Jean Paul's Flegeljahre as soon as possible, because the Papillons are intended as a musical See also:representation of that masquerade." In the See also:winter of 1832 Schumann visited his relations at Zwickau and See also:Schneeberg, in both of which places was performed the first See also:movement of his See also:symphony in G See also:minor, which remains unpublished. In Zwickau the music was played at a See also:concert given by Wieck's daughter See also:Clara, who was then only thirteen. The See also:death of his See also:brother See also:Julius as well as that of his See also:sister-in-law Rosalie in 1833 seems to have affected Schumann with a profound See also:melancholy.

By the See also:

spring of 1834, however, he had sufficiently recovered to be able to start See also:Die neue Zeitschrift fiir Musik, the See also:paper in which appeared the greater See also:part of his See also:critical writings. The first number was published on the 3rd of April 1834. It effected a revolution in the See also:taste of the time, when See also:Mozart, See also:Beethoven and See also:Weber were being neglected for the shallow works of men whose names are now forgotten. To bestow praise on Chopin and See also:Berlioz in those days was to See also:court the See also:charge of eccentricity in taste, yet the See also:genius of both these masters was appreciated and openly proclaimed in the new See also:journal. Schumann's editorial duties, which kept him closely occupied during the summer of 1834, were interrupted by his relations with Ernestine von Fricken, a girl of sixteen, to whom he became engaged. She was the adopted daughter of a See also:rich Bohemian, from whose variations on a theme in C$$ minor Schumann constructed his own Etudes symphoniques. The engagement was broken off by Schumann, for reasons which have always remained obscure. In the Carnaval (op. 9 =1834), one of his most genial and most characteristic See also:pianoforte works, Schumann commenced nearly all the sections of which it is composed with the musical notes signified in German by the letters that spell Asch, the See also:town in which Ernestine was born, which also are the musical letters in Schumann's own name. By the sub-See also:title " Estrella " to one of the sections in the Carnaval, Ernestine is meant, and by the sub-title " Chiarina " Clara Wieck. Eusebius and Florestan, the imaginary figures appearing so often in his critical writings, also occur, besides brilliant imitations of Chopin and Paganini, and the work comes to a See also:close with a See also:march of the men of See also:David against the See also:Philistines in which may be heard the clear accents of truth in contest with the dull clamour of falsehood. In the Carnaval Schumann went farther than in Papillons, for in it he himself conceived the See also:story of which it was the musical illustration.

On the 3rd of See also:

October 1835 Schumann met Mendelssohn at Wieck's See also:house in Leipzig, and his appreciation of his See also:great contemporary was shown with the same generous freedom that distinguished him in all his relations to other musicians, and which later enabled him to recognize the genius of See also:Brahms when he was still obscure. In 1836 Schumann's acquaintance with Clara Wieck, already famous as a pianist, ripened into love, and a year later he asked her father's consent to their See also:marriage, but was met with a refusal. In the See also:series Phantasiestiicke for the piano (op. 12) he once more gives a See also:sublime illustration of the fusion of literary and musical ideas as embodied conceptions in such pieces as" Warum " and " In der Nacht." After he had written the latter of these two he detected in the music the fanciful See also:suggestion of a series of episodes from the story of See also:Hero and Leander. The Kreisleriana, which he regarded as one of his most successful works, was written in 1838, and in this the composer's See also:realism is again carried a step farther. Kreisler, the romantic poet brought into contact with the real See also:world, was a See also:character See also:drawn from life by the poet E. T. A. See also:Hoffmann (q.v.), and Schumann utilized him as an imaginary See also:mouthpiece for the See also:recital in music of his own See also:personal experiences. The Phantasie (op. 17), written in the summer of 1836, is a work of the highest quality of See also:passion. With the Faschingschwank aus Wien, his most pictorial work for the piano, written in 1839, after a visit to See also:Vienna, this period of his life comes to an end.

As Wieck still withheld his consent to their marriage, Robert and Clara at last dispensed with it, and were married on the 12th of See also:

September at Schonefeld near Leipzig. The year 184o may be said to have yielded the most extra-See also:ordinary results in Schumann's career. Until now he had written almost solely for the pianoforte, but in this one year he wrote about a See also:hundred and fifty songs. Schumann's biographers represent him as caught in a See also:tempest of See also:song, the sweetness, the doubt and the despair of which are all to be attributed to varying emotions aroused by his love for Clara. Yet it would be idle to ascribe to this influence alone the lyrical perfection of such songs as " Fruhlingsnacht," " See also:Im wunderschonen Monat See also:Mai " and " Schone Wiege meiner See also:Leiden." His See also:chief song-cycles of this period were his settings of the Liederkreis of J. von See also:Eichendorff (op. 39), the Frauenliebe and Leben of See also:Chamisso (op. 42), the Dichterliebe of Heine (op. 48) and Myrthen, a collection of songs, including poems by Goethe, See also:Ruckert, Heine, Byron, See also:Burns and See also:Moore. The songs " Belsatzar " (op. 57) and " Die beiden Grenadiere " (op. 49), each to Heine's words, show Schumann at his best as a ballad writer, though the dramatic ballad is less congenial to him than the introspective lyric. As See also:Grillparzer said, " He has made himself a new ideal world in which he moves almost as he See also:wills." Yet it was not until See also:long after-wards that he met with adequate recognition.

In his lifetime the See also:

sole tokens of See also:honour bestowed upon Schumann were the degree of See also:Doctor by the University of See also:Jena in 1840, and in 1843 a professorship in the Conservatorium of Leipzig. Probably no composer ever rivalled Schumann in concentrating his energies on one See also:form of music at a time. At first all his creative impulses were translated into pianoforte music, then followed the miraculous year of the songs. In 1841 he wrote two of his four symphonies. The year 1842 was devoted to the composition of chamber music, and includes the pianoforte quintet (op. 44), now one of his best known and most admired works. In 1843 he wrote See also:Paradise and the See also:Peri, his first essay at concerted vocal music. He had now mastered the See also:separate forms, and from this time forward his compositions are not confined during any particular period to any one of them. In Schumann, above all musicians, the acquisition of technical knowledge was closely See also:bound up with the growth of his own experience and the impulse to See also:express it. The See also:stage in his life when he was deeply engaged in his music to Goethe's See also:Faust (1844—1853) was a critical one for his See also:health. The first See also:half of the year 1844 had been spent with his wife in See also:Russia. On returning to See also:Germany he had abandoned his editorial work, and left Leipzig for See also:Dresden, where he suffered from persistent See also:nervous prostration.

As soon as he began to work he was seized with fits of shivering, and an See also:

apprehension of death which was exhibited in an abhorrence for high places, for all See also:metal See also:instruments (even keys) and for drugs. He suffered perpetually also from imagining that he had the See also:note A See also:sounding in his ears. In 1846 he had recovered and in the winter revisited Vienna, travelling to See also:Prague and See also:Berlin in the spring of 1847 and in the summer to Zwickau, where he was received with enthusiasm, gratifying because Dresden and Leipzig were the only large cities in which his fame was at this time appreciated. To 1848 belongs his only opera, Genoveva, a work containing much beautiful music, but lacking dramatic force. It is interesting for its See also:attempt to abolish the recitative, which Schumann regarded as an interruption to the musical flow. The subject of Genoveva, based on See also:Tieck and See also:Hebbel, was in itself not a particularly happy choice; but it is See also:worth remembering that as See also:early as 1842 the possibilities of German opera had been keenly realized by Schumann, who wrote, " Do you know my See also:prayer as an artist, See also:night and See also:morning? It is called ` German Opera.' Here is a real See also:field for enterprise . . . something simple, profound, German." And in his notebook of suggestions for the See also:text of operas are found amongst others: Nibelungen, See also:Lohengrin and Till See also:Eulenspiegel. The music to Byron's See also:Manfred is pre-eminent in a year (1849) in which he wrote more than in any other. The insurrection of Dresden caused Schumann to move to Kreischa, a little See also:village a few See also:miles outside the See also:city. In the See also:August of this year, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Goethe's See also:birth, such scenes of Schumann's Faust as were already completed were performed in Dresden, Leipzig and See also:Weimar, See also:Liszt. as always giving unwearied assistance and encouragement. The rest of the work was written in the latter part of the year, and the See also:overture in 1853.

From 185o to 1854 the text of Schumann's works is extremely varied. In 185o he succeeded See also:

Ferdinand See also:Hiller as musical director at See also:Dusseldorf; in 1851–1853 he visited Switzer-See also:land and See also:Belgium as well as Leipzig. In See also:January 1854 Schumann went to See also:Hanover, where he heard a performance of his Paradise and the Peri. Soon after his return to Dusseldorf, where he was engaged in editing his See also:complete works and making an See also:anthology on the subject of music, a renewal of the symptoms that had threatened him before showed itself. Besides the single note he now imagined that voices sounded in his See also:ear. One night he suddenly left his See also:bed, saying that Schubert and Mendelssohn had sent him a theme which he must write down, and on this theme he wrote five variations for the pianoforte, his last work. On the 27th of See also:February he threw himself into the See also:Rhine. He was rescued by some boatmen, but when brought to land was found to be quite insane. He was taken to a private See also:asylum in Endenich near See also:Bonn, and remained there until his death on the 29th of July 1856. He was buried at Bonn and in 188o a statue by A. Donndorf was erected on his See also:tomb. His wife, CLARA SCHUMANN (1819–1896), trained from an early See also:age by Wieck, had a brilliant career as a pianist from the age of thirteen up to her marriage.

In the various See also:

tours on which she accompanied her See also:husband, she extended her own reputation beyond the See also:borders of Germany, and it was thanks to her efforts that his compositions became generally known in See also:Europe. From the time of her husband's death she devoted herself principally to the See also:interpretation of her husband's works, but when in 1856 she first visited See also:England the critics received Schumann's music with a See also:chorus of disapprobation. She returned to See also:London in 1865 and continued her visits annually, with the exception of four seasons, until 1882; and from 1885 to 1888 she appeared each year. In 1878 she was appointed teacher of the piano at the Hoch Conservatorium at Frankfurt, a See also:post which she held until 1892, and in which she contributed greatly to the See also:modern improvement in technique. As an artist she will be remembered, together with See also:Joseph See also:Joachim, as one of the first executants who really played like composers. Besides being remembered for her See also:eminence as a performer of nearly all kinds of pianoforte music, at a time when such technical ability was considerably rarer than in the See also:present See also:day, she was herself the composer of a few songs and of some charming music, mainly for the piano, and the authoritative editor of her husband's works for Breitkopf and Hartel. The following are the chief compositions of Robert Schumann. Pianoforte Works. Papillons (op. 2) . . 1829–1831 Etudes symphoniques (op. 13) - 1834 Carnaval (op.

9) . 1834–1835 See also:

Sonata in F See also:sharp minor (op. 11) 1835 Sonata in G minor (op. 22) 1833–1835 Kindersze-1en (op. 15) 1836 See also:Fantasia in C (op. 17) 1836 Fantasiestiicke (op. 12) 1837 xxly. 13Kreisleriana (op. 16) Novelletten (op. 21) Faschingschwank aus Wien (op. 26) . Songs and Choral Works.

Songs:—" Liederkreis " (Heine), nine songs (op. 24) . 1Vlyrthen," twenty-six songs (4 books) (op. 25) " Liederkreis" (Eichendorff), twelve songs (op. 39). Frauenliebe and Leben " (Chamisso), eight songs (°P- 42) . Dichterliebe," sixteen songs from Heine's See also:

Buch der Lieder (op. 48) . Belsatzar," ballad (Heine) (op. 57) - Song, " Tragodie " (Heine) from op. 64 . 1841 Ballad, " Der Handschuh " (Schiller) .

. probably 1851 Songs from Wilhelm Meister and See also:

Requiem for See also:Mignon for chorus (op. 98) 1849 Spanische Liebeslieder (op. 138) . 1849 Choral and Dramatic Works:—" Paradise and the Peri," for solos, chorus and See also:orchestra (op. 5o) . 1843 Faust music 1844–1855 " Genoveva," opera . 1848 Manfred music 1849 " Der See also:Rose Pilgerfahrt " (See also:Moritz See also:Horn), for solos,-) chorus and orchestra (op. 112) . L 8 I " Der Konigssohn " (See also:Uhland), for solos, chorus and ( 5' orchestra (op. 103). " See also:Des Singers Fluch " (Uhland) for solos, chorus and orchestra (op. 139).

See also:

Mass for four part chorus and orchestra (op. 148) . " Vom Pagen and der Konigstochter," four See also:ballads (See also:Geibel) for solos, chorus and orchestra (op. 135) Das Gliick von Edenhall," ballad (Uhland), for solos, chorus and orchestra (op. 143) . . Festival overture on the Rheinweinlied for orchestra and chorus (op. 123) . . Chamber Music. Three quartets for strings in A minor, F and A-(op. 41) Quintet for pianoforte and strings in E See also:flat (op. 44) Quartet for pianoforte and strings in E flat (op. 47) Fantasiestiicke for pianoforte, See also:violin and See also:violoncello (op.

88) . See also:

Andante and variations for two pianofortes (op. 46)1 1843 Trio for pianoforte and strings in D minor (op. 63). 1847 Trio for pianoforte and strings in F (op. 8o) Fantasiestiicke for See also:clarinet and pianoforte (op. 73). Five " Stucke im Volkston " for piano and violoncello (op. 102) . . Three Romances for See also:oboe and piano (op. 94) • Marchenbilder " for pianoforte and See also:viola (op.113) Sonata for pianoforte and violin in A minor (op. 105) Trio for pianoforte and strings in G minor (op.

I1o). Sonata for pianoforte and violin in D minor (op. 121) Marchenerzahlungen," four pieces for clarinet, viola and pianoforte, probably written in . . 1853 Orchestral Works. B flat Symphony (op. 38) . See also:

Fourth Symphony in D minor (op. 120)2 . 1841 Overture, See also:Scherzo and See also:Finale . Second Symphony in C (op. 61) . . 1846 Third or " Rhenish " Symphony in E flat (op.

97) . 185o Concertos and Concert-Stucke. For Pianoforte in A minor (op. 54) . 1841–1845 Concert-See also:

stuck for four horns (op. 86) . Introduction and See also:Allegro-appassionato for Piano- 1849 forte (op. 92) See also:Concerto for Violoncello (op. 126) . 1852 BInL1oGRAPHY.—Wasielewski, Robert Schumann; A. Reismann, Robert Schumanns Leben and Werke; J. A.

See also:

Fuller See also:Maitland, Schumann (" Great Musicians " series) ; The Life of Robert Schumann told in his Letters (with a See also:preface by J. G. See also:Jansen), translated from the German by May See also:Herbert; Letters of R. Schumann, edited by Karl Storck (Eng. trans. by Hannah See also:Bryant) ; V. See also:Joss, Der Musikpadagoge Friedrich Wieck and See also:seine Familie; Litzmann, Clara Schumann (1902); See also:Moser's Joseph Joachim and the first volume of Kalbeck's Brahms contain much that is important as to Schumann's later years. See also W. H. Hadow, Studies in Modern Music, first series (1894). 1 Originally for two pianofortes, two violoncellos and horn. The See also:original version (which contains four additional variations) was published in 1893. 2 Revised 1851; original version published 1891.

End of Article: SCHUMANN, ROBERT ALEXANDER (1810-1856)

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