Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



349 



ROBERT AND C[-ARA SCHUMANN. 



In the August number of the Bibliolheque Universelle 

 Anna D. d'Alshcim tells once more the love-story of 

 Robert Sehunuinn and Ckira Wieek. Her article is 

 based on two volumes of letters by Schumann, which 

 have recently been translated into French b\' Mathilda 

 1". Cremieux. 



THE WILL TO DO. 



At the age of eighteen Schumann adopted the plan 

 of keeping a copy of all his letters, and consecjuenllx- 

 the Berlin Library possesses a collection of 4,600 of 

 these copies. Also a;^ a young man he was always 

 busy planning out the future. " When a man reso- 

 lutely wills a thing, he can do anything." " A man 

 can do anything if he really wants. Let us be deter- 

 mined and we shall succeed." He never had time to 

 be bored. His various activities were marvellous. 

 Having seriously injured a finger, he was obliged to 

 abandon the idea of becoming a virtuoso, but he was 

 not crushed by the disaster. 



A FATEFUL PRESENTIMENT. 



The writer finds the letters selected by Madame 

 Cremieux both delightful and disconcerting, owing to 

 the comple.\ character of the personality of the artist. 

 To her Schumann appears a most incoherent and 

 heterogeneous compound. Undoubtedly he had a 

 presentiment of the cruel fate which awaited him. 

 In February, 1838, he wrote : — 



In the nighl of Oclobsr ly-iSth, 1S33, there .siuiaenly came to 

 me the most fri^jhtful thoui;ht which a human creature can 

 conceive, the thought of the most terrible accident which 

 Heaven can iiiflicl — the fear of losing my reason ! This horrible 

 idea took possession of me with such vi"l.nrc ihu 1 repuls..! all 

 consolation. 



Obsessed and tortured by such apprehension, 

 Schumann consulted a physician, who reassured him 

 and advised him to marry. He became engaged, 

 living in the same house as the Wiecks, but after a 

 few months the engagement was broken olT. 



THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE. 



-Music was not taken up as a serious profession till 

 after he had spent some time at the University studying 

 law to please his mother. ]3ut he had been a pupil of 

 Friedrich Wieik, the father of Clara, and had made 

 rapid progress. He had always admired the talent 

 of Clara, who received her training from her father, 

 hut VVicck wished to keep his daughter. Having 

 given her the musical education which was the 

 admiration of all connoisseurs, he fought, not as a 

 father, but as an artist against her marriage with 

 Schumann, knowing full well that she would devote 

 herself to the music of the young composer. He could 

 not bear the idea of the glorification of his own personal 

 work being lost to profit the work of another. 



KNO\yiNG NO FEAK. 

 When Clara was seventeen, however, shr lucaine 

 secretly engaged to Sc liumann. A short lime after 



Schumann sent a letter to her father through Clara. 

 It was to be presented to him on her eighteenth 

 birthdav. To herself Schumann wrote : — " I have 

 said to myself a thousand times that what we wish 

 will be if we really want it, and if we act. \Vrite me 

 a simple ' Yes.' " Clara's reply ran :— 



Vou ask me for a simple Vis ! How could a hean so lull of 

 an irrepressible love as mine not be able to pronounce so small a 

 word ? — so important, nevertheless ! 



I'"rom the depths of my soul, I do it, I say it. Your proj- ; 

 seems adventurous, but a loving heart should know no fear. 1 

 answer again, " Ves 1 " . . . 



I, too, feel that " it will be." Nothin,; in the world will 

 make us go back, and 1 will show my father that a young heart 

 can give proof of firmness. 



HAPPINESS AND TRAGEDY. 



I'or no adecjuate reason Wieck persisted in his 

 opposition for two years, and finally Schumann had 

 recourse to the law. The marriage took place in 

 1840 ; Clara was then twenty and Schumann twenty- 

 nine. No marriage could have been happier. Clara's 

 talents were strengthened, and Schumann composed 

 the works which his wife interpreted. After about 

 three vears Schumann had a serious attack of nervous 

 prostration ; in 1849 the headaches reappeared, and 

 (inallv he died in 1856 at Endenich, near Bonn, in the 

 house of a doctor under whose care he was under- 

 going treatment for complete nervous prostration. 

 His wife survived him till 1896. 



A GREAT CARILLONNEUR. 



AT Mechlin, on July i, there was a veritable feast of 

 bell-music in celebration of the twenty-five years 

 service of losef Denyn as city carillonneur, says the 

 Musical Times for .\ugust. 



In the afternoon a recital was given by the best 

 representative players of Belgium and Holland. 

 Another item in the day's proceedings was the presen- 

 tation to -M. Denyn of a new bell to be placed in the 

 famous carillon, with the dedication in Flemish : 

 " To the great carillonneur, Jef Denyn, by an admiring 

 public." In the evening M." Denyn, the greatest living 

 exponent of his instrument, g;ive a recital to an 

 audience numbering anything from 20,000 to 40,000 

 people, whom he held sixll-bound with his remarkable 

 performance. Finally, the King conferred upon him 

 " La Croix de Che\alier de I'Ordre de Leopold," and 

 the city of Mechlin presented him with a medal in 

 honour of the occasion. 



On Itdv 22 M. Denyn paid a visit to F.ngland to 

 give a recital on a carillon at Loughborough, composed 

 of forty bells, recently completed by Messrs. Taylor, 

 tl e well-known bell-foimdcrs. and ])l.i( ed in a tower 

 specially erected for the purpose on their ow n premises. 

 It is described as the first carillon with clavier made 

 bv an F.nglish founder, and is probabh th.- m(l^l 

 uccuratelv tuned H«t of bells in existence. 



