Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810 in Zwickau in Saxony, Germany as the son of a publisher. He was a famous Romantic German composer and pianist.
Biography and Career :
At the age of fourteen he wrote an essay about music and also had his contribution to a volume edited by his father and entitled "Portraits of Famous Men".
In 1828 he left school and started a tour. During it he met Heinrich Heine in Munich.
Schumann went to Leipzig to study law.
Even if he liked very much music he couldn't study because his father died in 1826 and neither his mother nor his guardian accepted it.
The boy couldn't accept the situation, neglected law studying and started composing songs in 1829.
In 1830 he heard Niccolo Paganini sang and didn't have peace since then. He wen
t in Leipzig to take piano lessons from Friedrich Wieck, his old teacher.
His ideas about musical illustration and literature were mixed for the first time in "Papillons" in 1831.
Schumann's brother, Julius, and sister-in-law, Rosalie, died in 1833 and he suffered a lot. Some say that he had once tried to suicide.
In 1834 Robert started writing "Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik", the work in which were written most of his critics. It was published on the 3rd of April 1834 and in it Schumann tried to defense
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Carl Maria von Weber, great musicians of that period who weren't evaluated at their real talent.
In the summer of 1834 he got engaged with Ernestine von Fricken, who was only sixteen.
After one year later Schumann broke the engagement because he fall in love with Clara Wieck.
One of Schumann's most genial and most characteristic pianoforte works was "Carnival".
In 1836 Schumann and Clara, then a well known pianist, confessed their love and one year later he asked Clara's father for the consent, but was refused.
"The Kinderszenen", finished in 1838, was Schumann's favourite piano work and "The Kreisleriana" is considered one of his greatest works, was written in 1838.
Schumann visited Vienna and discovered Schubert's previously unknown "Symphony No. 9" in C, and in 1839 he wrote "The Faschingsschwank aus Wien".
Despite her father disapproval Clara and Robert married on the 12th of September 1839 in Schönefeld, near Leipzig.
In 1840 he got the degree of Doctor by the University of Jena.
When he moved to Dresden in 1884 he suffered from "nervous prostration" (now known as bipolar disorder) and also from imagining that he had the note A sounding in his ears.
In 1846 he got well and visited Vienna, Prague, Berlin and Zwickau.
Between 1851-1853 Schumann succeeded Ferdinand Hiller as musical director at Düsseldorf, he visited Switzerland and Belgium and in 1851 he finished "Rhenish symphony".
On the 27th of February 1854, Schumann threw himself into the Rhine. He was rescued by few boatmen, but after they said he was insane. Schumann wanted to be taken to an asylum, which was Dr. Franz Richarz's sanitarium in Endenich.
Schhumann passed away on the 29th of July 1856. He was buried at the Zentral Friedhof, in Bonn.
Important Works :
133 Piano Works
"Liederkreis" (Heine), nine songs (op. 24)
"Myrthen", twenty-six songs (4 books) (op. 25)
Ländliches Lied
Zigeunerleben
"Liederkreis" (Eichendorff), twelve, songs (op. 39).
"Frauenliebe und -leben" (Chamisso), eight songs 1840 (op. 42)
Belsatzar," ballad (Heine) (op. 57)
1841 Song, "Tragödie" (Heine) from op. 64 .
1851 Ballad, "Der Handschuh" (Schiller)
1844— 1853 Faust music
1848 "Genoveva", opera
Der Rose Pilgerfahrt " (Moritz Horn), for solos, chorus and orchestra (op. 112)
"Vom Pagen und der Königstochter," four ballads (Geibel) for solos, chorus and orchestra "Das Glück von Edenhall", ballad (Uhland), for solos, chorus and orchestra
Fantasiestücke for piano trio (piano, violin and cello) (op. 88)
Fantasiestücke for clarinet and pianoforte (op. 73).
1849 Five "Stücke im Volkston" for piano and violoncello
"Märchenbilder" for pianoforte and viola (op.113)
1853 "Märchenerzählungen", four pieces for clarinet, viola and pianoforte
1841 Symphony No. 1 in B flat, "Spring", op. 38
1846 Symphony No. 2 in C, op. 61
1850 Symphony No. 3 in E flat, "Rhenish", op. 97
1851 Symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 120
Overture, Scherzo and Finale
1848 Manfred Overture, op. 115
1841-1845 Piano Concerto in A minor, op. 54
1849 Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra, op. 86
1849 Introduction and Allegro Appassionato for Piano and Orchestra, op. 92
1850 Cello Concerto, op. 129
1853 Violin Concerto
1853 Introduction and Allegro for Piano and Orchestra, op. 134
Quotes :
- "Nothing right can be accomplished in art without enthusiasm."
- "If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place."
Robert Schumann Image : know-library.net
irrelevant
broken
