How are you?
This week's lecture is “Robert
Schumann”, the 13th topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “98.
Classical Music: 13. Robert Schumann” introduced on August
12th, 2017.
Robert Schumann, born
on June 8, 1810 and died on July 29, 1856, was a German composer, pianist and
music critic, regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.
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| Birthplace of Robert Schumann, Zwickau |
He was born in Zwickau,
in the Kingdom of Saxony (today Central Germany), the fifth and last child of
Johanna Christiane Schnabel and August Schumann. Although he already began
composing before the age of seven, in his boyhood, he spent his time for the
cultivation of literature as much as music, absolutely influenced by his
father, a bookseller, publisher and novelist.
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| Johanna Christiane Schnabel |
He began studying
general music and piano at the age of seven with Johann Gottfried Kuntzsch, a
teacher at the Zwickau high school, and at 14 he wrote an essay on the
aesthetics of music and also contributed to the book "Portraits of Famous
Men" edited by his father.
Schumann's interest in music was sparked when he attended a concert of Ignaz Moscheles at Karlsbad, and he later developed an interest in the works of Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn.
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| Ignaz Moscheles |
In 1828, while traveling, he met the poet Heinrich Heine in Munich and then he began studying law at the University of Leipzig. But he instead focused on improvisation, song composition, and writing novels there.
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| Heinrich Heine |
He also
began to seriously study piano with a famous pianist Friedrick Wieck, who
assured him that he could become the best pianist in Europe. However, his dream
of being a pianist was ended by his hand injury, and Schumann then concentrated
his musical energies on composing.
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| Friedrich Wieck |
In 1840, Schumann married Clara Wieck, the daughter of his teacher Friedrick Wieck, after a long and fierce legal struggle with Friedrick, who opposed the marriage to his daughter.
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| Clara Wieck |
As a result, Clara, who herself was a good pianist and musical
prodigy, became a lifelong musical partner with Schumann, and the two also
maintained a close relationship with German composer Johannes Brahms.
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| Johannes Brahms |
Schumann first suffered
from a mental disorder in 1833 that is now thought to have resulted from a
combination of bipolar disorder and mercury poisoning, which led him from an
active composer to a depressed patient.
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| Schumann House, Leipzig |
On February 27, 1854, Schumann, who attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine River but was rescued by boatmen and returned home, asked to be taken to a psychiatric hospital.
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| Robert and Clara Schumann |
He entered Dr. Franz Richarz's hospital in Endenich, near Bonn, where
he stayed until he died of pneumonia on July 29, 1856 at the age of 46. While
he stayed there, Brahms was free to visit him, but he was not allowed to see
Clara and finally Clara was able to see him two days before he died.
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| Grave of Robert and Clara Schumann, Bonn |
Despite adopting more conservative modes of composition after his marriage, Schumann's music had considerable influence in the 19th century and beyond. Until 1840, he composed exclusively for the piano, but after that he composed various forms of music, leaving a legacy of acclaimed music in almost all the forms known at the time.
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| Robert Schumann monument, Zwickau, Germany |
His most famous works include Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C.
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| Bust of Robert Schumann, Museum of Zwickau |
Schumann was known for infusing characters
into his music through motifs as well as references to works of literature, and
these characters also influenced his editorial writing in the Neue Zeitschrift
für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication that he
co-founded.
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| Schumann's music room, Zwickau |
Thank you.
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