Robert Schumann (1810–1856) was a German composer, pianist and music critic, and one of the defining voices of the Romantic era. He is best known for his piano cycles, such as Carnaval and Kinderszenen, and for his songs, but he also wrote four symphonies, a much-loved Piano Concerto and some of the finest chamber music of the century.
His life was as dramatic as his music. Here are 10 facts about Schumann, from his abandoned law studies to his long battle with mental illness.
The short version
Schumann gave up law for music, saw his hopes as a concert pianist end with a hand injury, married Clara Wieck after taking her father to court, and wrote music full of coded messages, as in Carnaval.
1. He Quit Law School To Study Music
1828 to 1830 · Leipzig and Heidelberg
Schumann grew up in Zwickau in a comfortable family with no musical background. After his father died in 1826, his mother persuaded him to study law, and in 1828 he entered Leipzig University. His roommate claimed he never set foot in a lecture hall, and reading and playing the piano took up most of his time.
He moved to Heidelberg to continue his law studies, but in 1830 he persuaded his mother to let him give up law and study piano with Friedrich Wieck in Leipzig. His dream of becoming a virtuoso ended when a growing paralysis in his right hand, whose cause is still uncertain, stopped him playing, so he put his energy into composition.
2. His Piano Quintet Changed A Genre
1842 · Leipzig
Start with: “Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44”
Before 1842, most piano quintets paired the piano with violin, viola, cello and double bass, as in Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet. Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44, written in a few weeks that year, paired it with a string quartet instead. After its success, most composers followed his lead, including Brahms, Dvořák, Franck and Shostakovich.
He dedicated the quintet to Clara, who was meant to play the piano part at a private first performance in December 1842. She fell ill, so Felix Mendelssohn stepped in and sight-read the fiendish part. His suggestions led Schumann to revise the inner movements, and Clara played at the first public performance in January 1843.
Listen on SpotifyApple MusicRelated: 10 interesting facts about Felix Mendelssohn
3. His Pianist Wife Inspired Many Of His Popular Works
Clara Schumann (1819–1896)
Start with: “Widmung (Myrthen, Op. 25)”
Clara Wieck was a child prodigy who made her official debut at the Leipzig Gewandhaus at nine, and she went on to become one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, with a concert career lasting 61 years. She was also a composer in her own right, writing a piano concerto, chamber music and songs.
She encouraged Robert to write more than solo piano music. In 1840, the year they married, he wrote more than half of all his songs, including the cycle Myrthen as a wedding present for her, along with Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und Leben. Clara gave the public premieres of many of his works.
Listen on SpotifyApple MusicRelated: 25 of the greatest female composers
4. Controversy Surrounded His Marriage
1836 to 1840 · Court battle with Wieck
Schumann first met Clara in 1828, when she was nine and he was 18, and he later lodged in her father’s house as Wieck’s pupil. In 1834 he became secretly engaged to another pupil, Ernestine von Fricken, but the engagement fizzled out. He fell in love with Clara as she grew into a star, and they declared their love in January 1836.
Friedrich Wieck was furious. He refused his consent, fearing Schumann could not support his daughter and that she would give up her career. Robert and Clara took him to court, and after years of bitter legal battles a judge allowed the marriage. They married on September 12, 1840, the day before Clara’s 21st birthday.
5. Schumann Suffered From Mental Illness
1854 · Endenich, near Bonn
Schumann had bouts of severe depression and mental crisis for much of his adult life. In early 1843 he suffered what was then his worst breakdown, and his mental instability later made it hard to work with the orchestra in Düsseldorf, where he resigned as music director after three years.
In February 1854 his health collapsed. On February 27 he threw himself into the Rhine, was rescued by fishermen and, at his own request, was admitted on March 4 to a private asylum at Endenich, near Bonn. His doctors’ records, which surfaced in 1991, describe symptoms that modern researchers link strongly to neurosyphilis.
6. He Used Music As Self-Expression
1838 · Kinderszenen
Start with: “Träumerei (Kinderszenen, Op. 15)”
Schumann filled his music with references to himself and the people he loved, often in the form of musical ciphers that spell out names, and quotations from his own and others’ works. In his writing he split himself into two characters: the fiery Florestan and the dreamy, poetic Eusebius, and both turn up in his piano music.
Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood, 1838) is a good example. He told Clara that these short pieces were inspired by her comment that he sometimes seemed “like a child”. Its seventh piece, “Träumerei” (Dreaming), became one of the best-known piano pieces ever written.
8. He Was A Family Man
1841 to 1854 · Eight children
Eight children
Robert and Clara had eight children in 13 years: Marie, Elise, Julie, Emil, Ludwig, Ferdinand, Eugenie and Felix. Their first son, Emil, born in 1846, died the following year, and seven children survived. The couple kept a joint diary of their musical and personal life from the day they married.
Clara’s career was constantly interrupted by motherhood, and after Robert’s illness and death she supported the family largely through her concert tours and teaching. In 1848 Robert wrote his Album for the Young, a set of easier piano pieces that has introduced generations of children to his music.
9. He Died Young
1856 · Endenich, aged 46
Schumann spent more than two years in the asylum at Endenich, slowly declining, with spells of clarity in which he wrote letters and tried to compose. The director believed patients should have little contact with family, and Clara did not see him until two days before he died.
He died on July 29, 1856, aged 46, and the cause was recorded as pneumonia. His autopsy report, rediscovered in 1973, gives no firm answer about his underlying illness. Brahms, whom Schumann had hailed in his last article as a musician destined to express his times, became a close friend and support to Clara in the hard years that followed.
Related: 12 interesting facts about Brahms
10. His Illness Has Fascinated Psychiatrists Ever Since
1854 to today · A much-debated case
Schumann’s condition has been studied by psychiatrists since he entered hospital in 1854. Over the years he has been diagnosed, at a distance, with syphilis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and personality disorders, and the results contradict each other. Some researchers have linked the bursts of creativity in his life to swings in mood.
His Endenich medical records were published in full in 2006. They show the treatment of the time, from shielding him from stimulation to a strict diet, and his doctors’ growing fear of “general paralysis”, the term then used for what is now recognized as late-stage syphilis. The debate about what was wrong with him, and how it shaped his music, still goes on.
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Summing up
Schumann crammed a remarkable amount into 46 years: piano cycles, songs, symphonies, chamber music and a decade of influential music criticism. His marriage to Clara, his support for the young Brahms and his long illness have made him one of the most written-about composers of the Romantic era.
Which Schumann fact surprised you most?
