Why is robert schumann important

Given his reported symptoms, one modern view is that his death was a result of syphilis, which he may have contracted during his student days, and which would have remained latent during most of his marriage.

Another possibility is that his neurological problems were the result of an intracranial mass. In particular, meningiomas are known to produce musical auditory hallucinations, such as Schumann reported. Still other sources surmise that Schumann had bipolar disorder, citing his mood swings and changes in productivity.

Critics such as Henry Fothergill Chorley were particularly harsh in their disapproval. She returned to London in and made regular appearances there in later years. However, only the Five Pieces for Cello and Piano are known to have been destroyed. Schumann had considerable influence in the nineteenth century and beyond, despite his adoption of more conservative modes of composition after his marriage.

He left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. The stamps were soon replaced by a pair featuring music written by Schumann. Skip to main content. Romantic Period.

Search for:. Schumann: Biography. Robert Schumann in Music room of Schumann. A youthful Robert Schumann. Clara Wieck in Hear the Music Kreisleriana, Op. Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser.

Hear the Music Fantasie C major, Op. Hear the Music Andante and Variations, Op. Birthplace of Robert Schumann in Zwickau in Licenses and Attributions.

CC licensed content, Shared previously. Kreisleriana, Op. Schnell und spielend Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player. Giorgi Latso, piano. Problems playing this file? See media help. Fantasie C major, Op. Sempre Fantasticamente ed Appassionatamente Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player.

He soared above the most of his contemporaries and was so far ahead of times that the knowledge of his great piano and song cycles was spread not before the second half of the century. In the next ten years, the 24 year old Schumann also decided on his second occupation besoming music writer, editor and publisher, with which he expressed his dispositive paternal and also mercantile skills.

His high literary education and his extraordinary poetic talent shaped the character of the "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik", which he founded together with friends, and make him stand out from comparable magazines. Another character trait is the constant work for the new, the promising future and concurrently the "loyal devotion to the obsolete" in music. In long term, the magazine becomes bothersome to Schumann and stops him in composing, which is the actual "productive activity".

The following years until his marriage to Clara Wieck in , are probably the most moving and important ones in Schumann's human and artistic development. He continues the series of piano works with the three sonatas, the "Symphonic Etudes", "Kreisleriana" and "Novellettes". The friendship and love for the young talented artist Clara is exposed to increasing pressures by the resistance of her father. Wieck temporarily prevented any company of the loving and knew how to sow doubt.

In desperate mood Schumann, who was as often in his life was liberating himself by work, wrote passionate rebellious Fantasy in C major. In the summer of , he renewed the promise to Clara, his wife to be, and both courageously overcame the ensuing heavy fights with Wieck. Schumann wanted to completely abandon his former sphere of influence: he went to Vienna for half a year to establish the magazine there, but was stopped by the Austrian censors.

He wrote the "Faschingsschwank from Vienna" Carnival Scenes from Vienna a reminiscence of the banned in the Imperial and Royal Monarchy Marseillaise in waltz time in his register. In February , the University of Jena venerated Schumann with an honorable diploma of the philosophical doctorate. Even before the favorable outcome of the lawsuit, Schumann felt new creative impulses. In fact, on 31 March at the Leipzig Gewandhaus his "Spring Symphony", one of the most played compositions by Schumann, was premiered under the conduction of Mendelssohn.

The same is true for the in finished oratory " The echo of this beautiful, today too little-known work, was even contributing to the reconciliation between Schumann and Wieck. In this phase of joyful productivity, Schumann must have felt irritated by the becoming increasingly urgent ideas of his wife to go on mutual concert tours together.

Clara tried her best to eliminate this discrepancy and at the same time she also tried to legitimize her own work: She encouraged Schumann, to get in appearance even more public - as conductor of his works.

With a kindly lecture on the perils of drink, perhaps. His writings about lesser composers are instructive, too — always kind, but firm, gently pointing out their failings and encouraging them to do better. Carnaval is heavily influenced by the fantastic writings of Jean-Paul, Kreisleriana based on a literary invention of ETA Hoffmann — and so on.

Another father- or at least older-brother figure was Mendelssohn, only a year older than Schumann, but light years ahead in terms of success and confidence. But there were tensions, too. Sometimes overlooked, though, is the short time-span of the friendship between the two men. They met only five months before Schumann was taken to the asylum. So it is all the more poignant to read about how important Brahms became to his former mentor, both personally and musically.

He was one of the very few to visit him in the asylum, and he kept Schumann up to date with his latest compositions — a lifeline for the poor forgotten ghost of a composer. The music that Brahms played to the Schumanns during their momentous first meeting was almost completely unlike the music for which he is now most famous.

It was wild, full of demonic fantasy — adolescent, even albeit an adolescent touched with extraordinary genius. Gone too, for the most part, are the personal messages to close friends, in the form of musical quotations; his music grows a beard, as it were, the romanticism kept firmly in check, strongly as one feels it in the underlying emotional world. It is as if the mature Brahms should have lived before the mature Schumann, not the other way round — an intriguing curiosity of musical history.

Well, this relationship is too complicated to be portrayed now with any real authority. The way it is often depicted, however — as the ideal romantic marriage — is clearly wrong.

The tensions were enormous. But Robert, gentle soul though he was, was also extremely difficult and at times passive-aggressive. Furthermore, he refused to share his new compositional projects with his former muse; how hurtful that must have been to Clara!

It is clear that there were increasing differences between them. In fact, they seem to have been worlds apart by the end of their time together. Throughout his life, Schumann struggled with his emotions and inner world. Some doctors today have suggested a diagnosis of bipolar disorder to account for alternating periods of manic energy and extreme, debilitating depression. In , Schumann attempted suicide by jumping into the Rhine River.

After being rescued, he entered an asylum at his own request, remaining there until his death in at the age of Share Post facebook twitter. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.