Composer
Robert Schumann
1810–1856
Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Saxony, into a literary household. His father was a publisher and bookseller, and throughout his life, Schumann remained as devoted to literature as to music, editing an influential music journal and writing eloquent criticism that championed Chopin, Berlioz, and the young Brahms.
After abandoning law studies in Leipzig, Schumann pursued a career as a concert pianist, but a growing weakness in the fingers of his right hand forced him to focus on composition. His piano works of the 1830s, including Carnaval, Kreisleriana, and Kinderszenen, established him as a leading voice of musical Romanticism. In 1840, after a long legal battle with her father, he married the celebrated pianist Clara Wieck, and their union sparked an extraordinary creative outburst: more than half of all Schumann’s songs date from that single year.
Schumann’s later years were shadowed by mental illness, which had plagued him intermittently since youth. In 1854, after attempting suicide, he was confined to an asylum near Bonn, where he died on July 29, 1856, at the age of forty-six.
Works
- Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 1
- Manfred Overture, Op. 115 2
- Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 2
- Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 38 “Spring” 4
- Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 1
- Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97 (‘Rheinische’) 1
Performed at
Upcoming
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Buchbinder at Eighty: Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann Haydn · Beethoven · Schumann
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Klaus Mäkelä conducts Beethoven’s Seventh, Lisa Batiashvili plays Sibelius Schumann · Sibelius · Beethoven
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Klaus Mäkelä in Barcelona: Schumann’s Manfred, Lisa Batiashvili plays Sibelius, Dvořák’s Seventh Schumann · Sibelius · Dvorak
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Dima Slobodeniouk and Yo-Yo Ma: Dean, Schumann and Mendelssohn Dean · Schumann · Mendelssohn
Past guides
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Schumann’s ‘Spring’ and the Symphonie fantastique Schumann · Berlioz
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Yunchan Lim’s Schumann, and Czech Tone Poems Schumann · Dvorak · Suk
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Tamestit’s Harold in Italy and Schumann’s Rhenish Berlioz · Schumann
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A Spring Awakening: From Bohemia to Vienna Dvorak · Berg · Schumann
Sources 1
- Robert Schumann, Wikipedia