SCIIIMANN 



though only thiru-en years of age wn* already an 

 accomplished |iianUt, made a deep iinpre*Mon on 

 Schumann, which later developed into a still deeper 

 and a mutual feeling. 



In IH33 hi* fin<t importnnt pianoforte coniposi- 

 tiium were published ( Tvmitu, \-e. ). and in the 

 following year hu overflowing energy conceived 

 the idea of a new musical pa|>er, and inspired three 

 friend* with the same enthusiasm for art criticism 

 a* he hail himself. As editor of thin Neue Zeit- 

 fkrtft fur Muxilc for more than ten years he 

 contributed many essays, some very fantastic, 

 some of inestimable value, and all showing si ion:: 

 imaginative and (loctical powers. His critiques on 

 young composers are particularly interesting for 

 their keen criiii-nl Hrniuen, their frank admission 

 and fearless proclamation of any good i| utility in any 

 artist however young or unknown, and their gener- 

 ous encoorageinent of all earnest workers. For 

 an account of Schumann's rharniing idea of an 

 imaginary society, the DaviiMuiullrr, reference 

 must be made to a more detailed notice of hi.s life. 



From the year 1836 his genius for coni|>osing 

 asserted itself more and more, and it is very inter- 

 esting to noli.-.- how it seems to have turned 

 deliberately and methodically from one branch of 

 composition to another. llin greatest pianoforte 

 works were written between 1836 and 1839 

 (/Ontario, Novelette*, Kintiertctnrn, Kreisleriana, 

 HmKoral-e, Fatdungtchtoank, &c.). The recep- 

 tion of these works was on the whole very en- 

 couraging, and against the neglect of some author- 

 ities, ana the adverse criticism of others, Schumann 

 had the support of such as Liszt and Moscheles. 



In 1835 Mendelssohn came to Lcip/i;; tilled with 

 the energy and enthusiasm which in n few years 

 raised Leipzig to the dignity of the most important 

 musical centre in (iermany. Schumann with ready 

 and generous appreciation at once fell down and 

 worshipped. * I look up to Mendelssohn as to a 

 high mountain peak,' he wrote. He accepted a 

 pntaMnhte in the new Conservator in m, but he 

 was eminently unfitted for such work, and in a 

 short time he resigned the appointment. In 1836 

 a visit to Vienna yielded important though indirect 

 results. Interested as he was in Franz Schubert's 

 writings, he made thorough investigations for pos- 

 sible MSS., and was rewarded with the score of 

 the C major symphony, which he forwarded to 

 Mendelssohn in Leipzig, and it was performed there 

 for the first time eight years after the composer's 

 death. At length in 1840, in spite of Wieck's 

 oiijKwitioii, he married hi* daughter Clara Jose- 

 phine (born 13th September 1819). And as the 

 time of trial hail inspired Home of his most 

 tender works, notnbly ninny songs, so the perfect 

 bappinem of the ne\t few years gave his com 

 position* an impulse to n richer, fuller style, char- 

 acterised by more IC|HISC. In the following year 

 he turned In- attention to instrumental work, 

 and rapidly produced three symphonies anil the 



romantic col rto in A minor. Chamber music 



next claimed 1,1- attention, ami the three beautiful 

 onartetU prcpan-d tin; way for what is probably 

 UW roost widely jiopnlar, ax it is one of the most 

 perfect of all Schuiiiniin'H conceit pieces the 

 Ownl'ii for pianoforte nnd strings. The pianoforte 

 Qmnrtrtl Mbap to the same year (1842). In 

 : the IHJ.I year of his icsideiice in Leipzig, he 

 produced two Important choral works, Pnradiie 



' U* Ptri, which t with great success, and 



scenes from /''. Hut the insidious disease 

 which ha/1 liecn winking in bin brain since early 

 youth, and which Ix-rcft him of reason before his 

 death, lirM broke out now in unmistakable symp- 

 toms, and in order to comply with medical advice 

 he left the exciting musical life of Leipzig and 

 willed in Dresden. For more tlian two years ilie 



state of his health gave his friends great anxiety, 

 but in 1847 the clouds lifted- only. alas, to gather 

 !! the last dark years. From 1848 to 1850 works 

 of all kinds appeared in rapid succession GI-H-I- 

 veva (his only opera), incidental music to Myron's 

 Mniifr-'/. songs, and much instriimentnl solo and 

 concerted music. 



In 1850 Schumann was invited to succeed Dr 

 Miller as musical director in Diisseldorf a poet 

 for which he was as unfitted as he had proved for 

 the professorship in Leipzig. He hail none of the 

 qualities so necessary in a conductor concentra- 

 tion of attention, -prompt decision, icsomcc ; and 

 an eyewitness of the circumstance nssured the 

 present writer that on one occasion Schumann in 

 a fit of absent-mindedness went on heating time 

 after the piece hail concluded ! 



Much desultory work, some remarkably fine, 

 some only grand fragments, some never attaining 

 IK-VOIII! ambitious design, belongs to the years in 

 Diisseldorf ( 1850-54) ; but it became ever more and 

 Mime evident that he must retire from his post as 

 a conductor, and this, naturally enough, lie could 

 not lie induced to consider necessary. Hence arose 

 ill-feeling and unpleasantness. In 1H51 his former 

 ailment broke out anew, and his eccentricity gradu- 

 ally grew more marked. He was subject to most 

 curious delusions, and devoted himself largely to 

 the art of table -turning and spiritualism. One 

 famous delusion was that the spirits of Schubert 

 and Mendelssohn visited him ; and once he 

 jumped up during the night to note down a 

 theme given him, as he imagined, by Schubert 

 the unfinished Variations on which were his last 

 work. In February 1854, during an attack of 

 extreme depression, he threw himself into the 

 Rhine, but was rescued by boatmen. Insanity 

 bad asserted its sway, and Schumann spent the last 

 two vein's of his life in a private asylum near Komi. 

 where he died in his wife's arms, July '29, 1856, 

 aged only forty-six. 



The characteristics of Schumann's compositions 

 are great originality and fertility in subjects and 

 themes, freshness, force, and piquancy in rhythm, 

 and a wealth and resource in harmony which places 

 him among composers not far from Bach himself. 

 Those works which are cost in certain forms, as 

 sonatas, symphonies, &c., do not always follow tin' 

 recognised canon, but the exuberance of what is 

 generally self-contained and restrained fancy main- 

 tains such unflagging vivacity and interest that the 

 analytical faculty is often unite disarmed. Among 

 \\ i iieis (l f songs and ballot's he is second to none. 

 The extreme originality and uncom entionnlitvof bis 

 work account for a tardy appreciation, but lie bos 

 won a secure place now among the great composers. 

 His talented and devoted wife hOiourcd incessantly 

 to obtain a hearing for bis pianoforte compositions, 

 and she lived to see her labours crowned \\illi snc- 

 cess. After his death she taught at the Finn kforl 

 Conservatoire, and played in the chief cities of 

 Europe her visit to London in IS86 was a splendid 

 success. She died 20th May 1K96. 



Other biographies and criticism* will be found in 

 Wwiclcwski's Aobert Srhui,,,ii,,, (Dresden, 1K5N; M -d. 

 Bonn, 1880; Eng. trans. 1878), tin- work of an intimate 

 friend and a Ionic recognised authority ; Dr Spitta's 

 admirable article in Grove's Dictionary of Mutie ; Keira- 

 man's Life and Work* nf Robert Schumann (Eng. trans. 

 1886); Pohl's ' Reminiscences ' (Dcutirht Rerut, voL iv. 

 Berlin, 1878); Kctix, in the Biographie UniverttVe la 



pcriodicali (nch as E. Front, in the MonMy Mu'irat 

 Rfdnrd, 1S7I 7!l ; .1. Hennet, in the Jlftmeo/ Time*, 1H7) ; 

 hut the Life (1*92) by Professor Niecks of Edinburgh, 

 who has had access to the best authorities, must hence- 

 forth rank si the standard authority. 



