Composers › Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
The Romantic who dreamed of becoming a great pianist: a hand injury turned him into one of the great composers.
Life
He was born in Zwickau, Germany, the son of a bookseller. He studied law to please his family, but gave it up for the piano and took lessons from Friedrich Wieck in Leipzig.
Around 1832 an injury to a finger of his right hand ended his dream of a career as a pianist: he turned to composition and music criticism, founding in 1834 a music journal in which he would introduce young talents such as Brahms.
In 1840 he married Clara Wieck, his teacher's daughter and a great pianist, after a court case against her father. In his last years he suffered from serious mental illness and died in an asylum in Endenich, near Bonn.
Portrait: Josef Kriehuber (1839), public domain, from Wikimedia Commons.
Curiosities
- Scenes from Childhood (1838) is not music for children but an adult's memories of childhood: the most famous piece is “Träumerei” (Dreaming).
- The Album for the Young (1848) began as a birthday present for his daughter Marie: it is full of short pieces for young pianists, such as “The Happy Farmer” and “The Wild Rider”.
- He signed his articles with two invented characters: the fiery Florestan and the dreamy Eusebius.
At the piano
- Every piece has a precise character, given by its title: before playing, imagine the scene.
- In “The Happy Farmer” the melody is in the left hand: it must sound louder than the right-hand chords.
- Look for a warm, singing tone even in the simple pieces.
Pieces to learn 3 pieces
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