Schumann short biography and work. Schumann's life and career
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Biography
Schumann House in Zwickau
Robert Schumann, Vienna, 1839
Major works
It presents works that are often used in concert and pedagogical practice in Russia, as well as works of a large scale, but rarely performed.
For piano
- Variations on "Abegg"
- Butterflies, Op. 2
- Dances of the Davidsbündlers, Op. 6
- Carnival, op. nine
- Three sonatas:
- Sonata No. 1 in F sharp minor, op. eleven
- Sonata No. 3 in F minor, op. fourteen
- Sonata No. 2 in G minor, op. 22
- Fantastic plays, op. 12
- Symphonic studies, op. 13
- Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15
- Kreislerian, op. 16
- Fantasia in C major, op. 17
- Arabesque, op. eighteen
- Humoresque, op. twenty
- Novelettes, op. 21
- Vienna Carnival, op. 26
- Album for youth, op. 68
- Forest scenes, op. 82
Concerts
- Konzertstück for four French horns and orchestra, op. 86
- Introduction and Allegro Appassionato for piano and orchestra, op. 92
- Concerto for cello and orchestra, op. 129
- Concerto for violin and orchestra, 1853
- Introduction and Allegro for piano and orchestra, op. 134
Vocal works
- "Myrtles", op. 25 (lyrics by various poets, 26 songs)
- "Circle of Songs", op. 39 (words by Eichendorf, 20 songs)
- "Love and life of a woman", op. 42 (to lyrics by A. von Chamisso, 8 songs)
- "The love of a poet", op. 48 (words by Heine, 16 songs)
- Genoveva. Opera (1848)
Symphonic music
- Symphony No. 2 in C major, op. 61
- Symphony No. 3 in E flat major "Rhine", op. 97
- Symphony No. 4 in D minor, op. 120
- Overture to the tragedy "Manfred" (1848)
- Overture "The Messinian Bride"
see also
Links
- Robert Schumann: Sheet Music at the International Music Score Library Project
Musical fragments
Attention! Musical excerpts in Ogg Vorbis format
- Semper Fantasticamente ed Appassionatamente(info)
- Moderato, Semper energico (info)
- Lento sostenuto Semper piano (info)
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See what "Schumann Robert" is in other dictionaries:
SCHUMANN, ROBERT ALEXANDER (Schumann, Robert Alexander) ROBERT SCHUMAN (1810 1856), German composer. Born in Zwickau (Saxony) on June 8, 1810. Schumann took his first music lessons from a local organist; at the age of 10 he began to compose, including ... ... Collier's Encyclopedia
Robert Schumann and Children's Music.
Hello, our dear listeners. Today you will listen to the music of the wonderful German composer Robert Schumann, and the students of the Children's Music School will perform it for you.
Robert Schumann lived a long time ago. He was born 200 years ago in 1810. From childhood he showed his talent - he wrote poetry and plays, studied foreign languages, tried to compose for the piano. From the age of 13, he led the school orchestra, which he himself organized from comrades, for which he himself wrote musical and choral pieces. Despite this talent, his mother insisted that Robert get a law degree. But the love of music prevailed and Schumann decided to devote himself entirely to his beloved work and become a virtuoso pianist. In secret from his teacher, he even developed his own method of developing finger fluency on the instrument, for which he designed a special mechanical device that played a fatal role in his life. This training of the fingers led to an incurable disease of the right hand. Schumann had to give up his dream of becoming a virtuoso, and he decided to devote all his strength to composing music.
Fate decreed that, having lost the opportunity to perform, he began to compose a lot, and his wife, Clara, a brilliant pianist and the daughter of Schumann's teacher, introduced the public to these compositions.
The Shumanov family toured a lot. They even went on tour in our country. The Russians received the famous couple very warmly. And Russian composers promoted Schumann's music and gave it high praise.
Unfortunately, Robert Schumann lived a short life, at the end of his life he was seriously ill, but he continued to compose until the last minutes.
All of you are still children. The world of children is different from the world of adults. Every day you have to deal with special things created just for you. These are children's books, children's games, children's films and cartoons. You wear children's clothes, and they are different from adults, you eat and drink from children's dishes. Do you think there is children's music? And if there is, then what is it?
You meet with children's music every day. In music lessons, you sing songs written by children's composers. You hear children's music on the radio, on television in special children's programs.
For children, we call music written by composers especially for you. Most often, when adults begin to compose something for children - music, poems, stories, fairy tales, they do it for their own sons or daughters, grandchildren or nephews.
Robert Schumann also wrote music for his children. He had five of them, and the elders learned to play musical instruments. In those distant times when Schumann lived, when children's music was just beginning to be created, a wide variety of albums were in great fashion. They were colorfully decorated and placed in a prominent place in the living room. The guests wrote down verses, wishes, compliments, jokes in an album in a beautiful handwriting, and also drew comic portraits and pictures.
This is how Schumann's album contains a wide variety of plays under one cover. What are they about? Schumann's wife recalled that Robert Schumann was very fond of watching children's games, everything that happened around him, and turned his observations into music. In such an album, songs were recorded that children could not only listen to as performed by their mother, but also perform themselves, even if they were just starting to learn to play the piano. Gradually, the children grew up and new pieces appeared, more difficult to perform, so the second part of the album appeared.
A collection of plays was published under the title Album for Youth. It came out as a deluxe edition with gold letters and pictures.
Let's turn over the pages of this album and get acquainted with wonderful music, and through it, with the life of children of that era. After all, it was not for nothing that the composer himself noticed that the album arose "from the very thick of family life."
"Song"
The album begins with three very similar pieces. It's like a variation of the same melody. In the original gift collection one of them was called "Lullaby for Ludwig". Ludwig washed by the youngest son of Schumann, he was not yet a year old. Anna, his older sister, was entrusted with a very responsible job - to lull the baby. So my father wrote a simple song for this, very similar to a lullaby, which can be hummed without words. Its light and calm melody softly and unhurriedly sounds against the background of a regularly swaying, lulling accompaniment.
"March"
“Marsh” is also placed at the very beginning of the album, because it is very important. Why is that?
Now music accompanies our life. We hear it on radio and television. Sometimes it even sounds very loud on the street or from passing cars. But before, when there was no recording technique, everything was different. The townspeople were surrounded by silence, which was broken only by the clatter of horse hooves, and the creak of a passing carriage, the barking of a dog or slamming doors, the shouts of vendors of goods and other various noise sounds. But live sounding music was a rarity. Her performance was a whole event for the city. Only on holidays or weekends a military band sounded in the square or in the park. And this was only in those cities where the military garrison was located. The performance of the orchestra was always awaited with great impatience. Well, for a military orchestra, the main musical genre is, of course, the march.
Schumann's “March” is very energetic, vigorous, with a clear “chopped” rhythm. But it is not heavy, but light and transparent due to the large number of pauses. This gives it a touch of "childishness". We kind of see children marching playing in the military.
"Poor Orphan"
The next play is called The Poor Orphan. An orphan is a child without parents. Children from both rich and poor families remained orphans. The fate of the poor was not easy. They were brought up in special orphanages and were deprived of their home and the love of their parents. Children were dressed in the same clothes, they had no toys or sweets. The educators treated them very harshly. During their trip to Russia, Robert and Clara Schumann visited such a shelter in Moscow. The hard orphan life found its response in the play "Poor Orphan". Deeply sad music is imbued with mournful, grieving intonations, reminiscent of sobbing crying, and in a mean and measured rhythm - a funeral march.
"Stranger"
Schumann prepared for his children, and for you and me, the listeners, a musical surprise: in the second part of The Album, the sad and plaintive “Poor Orphan” unexpectedly turns into an evil “Stranger”. Why this happened is difficult to explain. Maybe this is some kind of fairy tale about witchcraft and transformation? After all, Schumann was a great master of telling different magical stories to his children. But the same melody, which evokes compassion and sorrow in the listener, sounds very energetic, energetic, harsh and frightening in the new play. Schumann's “stranger” is an aggressive, unfriendly stranger. His musical portrait is presented in the extreme parts of the play, and in the middle one can hear the fright of young children, who froze with fear and surprise and look with trepidation at The Stranger, from whom there is a clear threat.
"First loss"
Perhaps the most tender and sincerely sad play of the Album, which tells us about childhood experiences and griefs, is The First Loss. Her appearance was associated with a real event. In the Shuman family, a bird - a siskin - lived in a cage. The children were always very happy with her. Once they found a bird lifeless, lying with its legs up. The word "loss" also means the loss of a loved one. The sadly touching beautiful melody conveys the deep experience and grief of children who had to face such feelings for the first time.
In Album for Youth there are two pieces whose music tells us about horsemen. But horseback riding happens under different circumstances. The hunter rides on horseback in pursuit of the hunted animal. A circus performer gallops around the arena performing breathtaking stunts in front of the audience. And the boy rides on a stick, only playing a real rider. Each time the nature of the race and the mood of the rider will be different. So Schumann's plays turned out to be completely different from each other.
"The Brave Rider"
The first of them is "The Courageous Rider". The nature of the music is a little mischievous: the boy saddled his wand like a horse and galloped around the room at full speed. He whips up his "horse" with a twig, now and then bumping into the table, then the door. That is why we hear sudden accents in music.
"Rider"
The play "The Horseman" is of a completely different nature. A picture of a real rapid leap unfolds before us. All music is permeated with a steady forward movement with a very clear rhythm. She is full of tension and anxiety. Abrupt changes between very quiet and very loud sounds produce a sense of unexpected danger. At the end of the play, the dying patter of horses' hooves is heard for a long time, as if the rider is hiding in the distance.
"Father Frost"
Now we are going to listen to the play, the title of which is "Santa Claus". What do you think the music should be like? Cheerful, a little humorous and always kind. After all, kindness is the main quality of Santa Claus, who brings small children a whole bag of wonderful gifts and lights up colorful lights on the New Year's holiday. Now listen to the opening bars of Schumann's play Santa Claus.
What is it? Another surprise from the composer? After all, the music does not at all correspond to the character of the good-natured Santa Claus. Or maybe Schumann made a mistake or failed to correctly portray in the music a ruddy and smiling old man who plays with children with pleasure? After all, instead of him, it turns out an angry and spiteful old man, who makes fear not only of small children. The music sounds very harsh, harsh, with accents reminiscent of biting slaps. What is the mystery that Schumann presented to us?
The answer lies in the inaccurate translation of the title of the play. In German it is called "Knecht Ruprecht" - literally means "Servant Ruprecht", and not at all Santa Claus, who would be called Santa Claus. So who is Servant Ruprecht and what does he have to do with Santa Claus?
In Russia, Santa Claus traditionally comes in the New Year with his assistant, the granddaughter of the Snow Maiden. In the Czech Republic, Santa Claus (in Czech Mikulas) comes at Christmas with his assistant - a devil in a red cloak, who rings a bell to open the doors for Mikulas.
In Germany, in the country where Schumann lived, Santa Claus is accompanied by the servant Ruprecht, an angry and vicious character who carries with him rods for children who behave badly or disobey their parents. He walks with a shuffling gait in a snow-covered long sheepskin coat with fur outside; his face is stained with soot. Instead of a gift, Ruprecht can give naughty children a piece of coal or frozen potatoes. It was he who was portrayed by Schumann in his play. But the short name cannot explain who the servant Ruprecht is, and there is no similar character in Russia. So the translator had to replace him with Santa Claus, which does not at all correspond to Schumann's plan.
Now it becomes clear why in the extreme parts of the play, which depict Ruprecht's portrait, there is such "angry" and threatening music. And in the middle, you can imagine the children, frightened by his appearance. And yet the play ends enlightened. After all, the servant Ruprecht is just a funny character in the Christmas rituals and cannot spoil the wonderful atmosphere of the holiday.
"The Merry Peasant"
Do not get the feeling that Schumann in his Album for Youth only portrayed angry and vicious characters like Ruprecht and the Stranger. He also has good-natured merry fellows. One of the plays is called “The Merry Peasant Returning from Work”. The broadly flowing melody is full of cheerfulness and joy. After all, the hard work in the field is over, and now the peasant can rest. He doesn't sing his song too fast. After all, the peasants do everything slowly, thoroughly, even when they are dancing or singing. We hear one voice singing in the first part, and a higher voice singing along in the second part. The voice sounds in the bass and is dubbed in the upper voice, as if a father and son are singing - after all, peasant children often helped their parents work in the fields. The peasant's song surprisingly subtly conveys the village flavor.
Our journey through Album for Youth ends. We heard a lot of very good music. Basically, these were a variety of musical portraits - both children and adults, a whole gallery. Only the great composer, whose name is Robert Schumann, could so reliably express in music the subtlest colors of the human mood. Let his portrait, as a reminder of our meeting, remain in memory of each of you.
Robert Schumann
Name: Robert Shuman
Age: 46 years old
Place of Birth: Zwickau, Germany
A place of death: Bonn, Germany
Activity: German composer, teacher
Family status: was married
Robert Schuman - biography
A composer, whose works were popular not only in Germany but throughout the world. Schumann found the era of romanticism in music, to which he aspired, becoming a musician, but fate decreed otherwise.
Childhood, musician's family
The boy Robert was born in the family of a far from poor book publisher and writer. The father gave his son a decent education. Very early, the child showed a talent for literature and music, and his father hired a teacher for him, who was a local organist. Already at the age of ten, the boy composed compositions for chorus and orchestra. Like all children, little Schumann studied at the gymnasium, loved the works of George Byron, who belonged to the romantic direction in literature.
It was difficult to predict what the boy's biography would be. After all, for a long time, Robert wrote articles that were placed in the encyclopedia. These scientific books were published by the publishing house of Schumann Sr. The boy was fascinated by philology, therefore he doubted the future choice of a profession. Poems, comedies and dramas, coming out from under his pen, were highly appreciated by specialists.
Education
First, Robert studied at the University of Leipzig, then in Heidelberg. His mother insisted on acquiring the profession of a lawyer, and the young man himself was very fond of music. He played the piano beautifully and dreamed of giving concerts playing the piano. Mother finally gave up and gave her permission to study music. Returning to his hometown, the future composer takes piano lessons. To the great regret of his parents and himself, Robert's two fingers were injured by paralysis. The cause of the paralysis is unknown, but the biography of the pianist and touring musician had to be forgotten.
The character of the young man changed abruptly: he became silent, stopped joking, became vulnerable. Now writing takes up all of Schumann's free time. In the plays of the composer, not only the plot line can be traced, but also the psychologism of the situation. Robert Schumann is a follower of F. Schubert's creativity; he uses the poetry of the great G. Heine to create his vocal works. The composer only sometimes brings his music closer to German folk songs.
Schumann's old dream
Robert Schumann had dreamed of opera for a long time, but the author did not succeed in this genre. When the opera "Genoveva" was completed, she could not find her audience and fans. The composer continues to create overtures, concerts, symphonies. All music is full of drama, lyricism and cheerfulness. Schumann is praised for his contributions to music criticism.
Franz Liszt shared the views of the composer. He also supported their creativity, creating articles in the "New Musical Newspaper" founded by him. The composer has many works, but the most significant in his work are the cycle of romances "The Circle of Songs" and "The Poet's Love". Schumann compose cycles for piano "Butterflies", "Kreisleriana" and "Carnival".
Robert Schuman - biography of personal life
Robert married at almost thirty years old, taking the daughter of his teacher as his wife. Clara Wieck understood her husband, as she herself played the piano perfectly and had already become famous in the performing arts. The marriage was the only one, and, despite all the complexity of Robert's character, happy. Eight children became the successors of the great composer's family. The love of Robert and Klara blossomed along with how, in front of the composer's eyes, a nine-year-old girl grew up and blossomed, then a teenager at 15 years old. Then Schumann confessed for the first time to Clara. But the girl's father was categorically against their relationship.
Three years later, after Clara came of age, young people came to court for permission to marry. Schumann developed health problems very early. At the age of 35, he began to show signs of a nervous disorder. Sounds, notes, orchestral cacophony haunted him. Sometimes everything was clothed in music, but more often than not it drove the composer crazy. He left the profession for two years. Gradually returning to his former duties, composing and raising children, he again plunges into depression.
At the age of 44, Robert attempts suicide by jumping into the River Rhine from a bridge. He was rescued, but placed in a hospital for the mentally ill, where he spent two years. In his life, the closest friend was Johann Brahms, who most often saw the composer and reported on all changes in Schumann's well-being. During this period, Klara gave concerts and earned money to feed the children. Death occurred at the age of 46. The biography of the great composer ended too early.
"Reason is wrong, feeling never" - these words of Schumann could become the motto of all romantic artists who firmly believed that the most precious thing in a person is his ability to feel the beauty of nature and art and to sympathize with other people.
Schumann's work attracts us, first of all, with the richness and depth of feelings. And his sharp, penetrating, brilliant mind was never a cold mind, he was always illuminated and warmed by feeling and inspiration.
Schumann's rich talent did not immediately manifest itself in music. The family was dominated by literary interests. Schumann's father was an enlightened book publisher and occasionally contributed articles himself. And in his youth, Robert was seriously engaged in linguistics, literature, wrote plays that were staged in the home circle of amateurs. He also studied music, played the piano, and improvised. Friends admired his ability to draw with music a portrait of someone he knew so that one could easily recognize his manners, gestures, his whole appearance and character.
Clara Vick
At the request of his relatives, Robert entered the university (Leipzig, and then Heidelburg). He intended to combine his studies at the Faculty of Law with music. But over time, Schumann realized that he was not a lawyer, but a musician, and began persistently to seek the consent of his mother (his father had died by that time) to devote himself entirely to music.
Consent was eventually given. An important role was played by the guarantee of the prominent teacher Friedrich Wieck, who assured Schumann's mother that her son, provided serious studies, would make an outstanding pianist. Vic's authority was not disputed, because his daughter and student Klara, then still a girl, was already a concert pianist.
Robert moved again from Heidelberg to Leipzig and became a diligent and obedient student. Considering that he needed to make up for lost time as soon as possible, he studied tirelessly, and in order to achieve freedom of movement of his fingers, he invented a mechanical device. This invention played a fatal role in his life - it led to an incurable disease of the right hand.
Fatal blow of fate
It was a terrible blow. After all, Schumann, with the greatest difficulty, achieved permission from his relatives to quit almost completed education and devote himself entirely to music, but in the end he could only play something "for himself" with somehow disobedient fingers ... There was something to despair. But without music, he could no longer exist. Even before the disaster with the hand, he began to take theory lessons and seriously study composition. This second line is now the first. But not the only one. Schumann began to act as a music critic, and his articles - well-aimed, sharp, penetrating into the very essence of a musical work and the peculiarities of musical performance - immediately attracted attention.
Schumann the critic
The fame of Schumann the critic preceded the fame of Schumann the composer.
Schumann was only twenty-five years old when he ventured to organize his own music magazine. He became the publisher, editor and primary author of articles appearing on behalf of members of the David Brotherhood, the Davidsbund.
David, the legendary biblical king-psalmist, fought with a hostile people - the Philistines and defeated them. The word "philistine" is consonant with the German "philistine" - a philistine, a philistine, a retrograde. The goal of the Davidsbündler members of the “brotherhood of David” was the struggle against philistine tastes in art, with clinging to the old, obsolete, or, conversely, with the pursuit of the newest, but empty fashion.
The brotherhood on whose behalf Schumann's New Musical Journal spoke did not really exist; it was a literary hoax. There was a small circle of like-minded people, but Schumann considered all the leading musicians, in particular Berlioz, and whose creative debut he greeted with an enthusiastic article, as members of the fraternity. Schumann himself signed with two pseudonyms, which embodied different sides of his contradictory nature and different facets of romanticism. We find the image of Florestan as a romantic rebel and Eusebius as a romantic dreamer not only in Schumann's literary articles, but also in his musical works.
Schumann composer
And he wrote a lot of music during these years. One after another, notebooks of his piano pieces were created under the names unusual for that time: "Butterflies", "Fantastic Pieces", "Kreisleriana", "Children's Scenes", etc. Schumann's impressions. “In Kreislerian, for example, the image of the musician Kreisler, created by the romantic writer ETA Hoffman, challenged the philistine environment around him by his behavior and even by his very existence. "Children's Scenes" - fleeting sketches of the life of children: games, fairy tales, children's fantasies, sometimes scary ("Scare"), then bright ("Dreams").
All of this relates to the field of program music. The titles of the pieces should give impetus to the listener's imagination, direct his attention in a certain direction. Most of the plays are miniatures, in a laconic form embodying one image, one impression. But Schumann often combines them into cycles. The most famous of these works - "Carnival" - consists of a number of small pieces. There are waltzes, lyrical scenes of meetings at the ball, and portraits of real and fictional characters. Among them, along with the traditional carnival masks of Pierrot, Harlequin, Columbine, we meet Chopin and, finally, we will meet Schumann himself in two persons - Florestan and Eusebius, and the young Chiarina - Clara Wieck.
The love of Robert and Clara
Robert and Clara Brotherly affection for this talented girl, the daughter of the teacher Schumann, eventually turned into a deep heartfelt feeling. Young people realized that they were made for each other: they had the same life goals, the same artistic tastes. But this conviction was not shared by Friedrich Wieck, who believed that Clara's husband must first of all provide for her financially, and there is nothing to expect from a failed pianist, as in the eyes of Vic Schumann. He was also afraid that marriage would interfere with Clara's concert triumphs.
The "fight for Clara" lasted for five whole years, and only in 1840, having won a lawsuit, the young people received official permission to marry. 
Robert and Clara Schumann
Schumann's biographers call this year the year of songs. Schumann created several song cycles at that time: "The Love of a Poet" (to verses by Heine), "Love and the Life of a Woman" (to lyrics by A. Chamisso), "Myrthas" - a cycle written as a wedding gift to Clara. The composer's ideal was a complete fusion of music and words, and he really achieved this.
Thus began the happy years of Schumann's life. The horizons of creativity have expanded. If earlier his attention was almost entirely focused on piano music, now after the year of songs comes the time of symphonic music, music for chamber ensembles, the oratorio "Paradise and Peri" is being created. Schumann also begins teaching at the newly opened Leipzig Conservatory, accompanies Klara on her concert trips, thanks to which his works are gaining more and more widespread fame. In 1944, Robert and Klara spent several months in Russia, where they were greeted by the warm, friendly attention of musicians and music lovers.
The final blow of fate
Together forever But the happy years were clouded by the imperceptibly creeping Schumann's disease, which at first seemed to be a simple overwork. The matter, however, turned out to be more serious. It was a mental illness, sometimes receding - and then the composer returned to creative work and his talent remained the same bright and original, sometimes exacerbated - and then he could no longer work or communicate with people. The disease gradually eroded his body, and he spent the last two years of his life in the hospital.
Robert Schumann(June 8, 1810 - July 29, 1856), German composer and music critic.
German composer Robert Schumann wanted "the music to come from the depths of the present and be not only pleasant fun and beautiful in sound, but also strive for something else." This desire itself sharply distinguishes Robert Schumann from many composers of his generation, who sinned with meaningless writing.
P. Tchaikovsky believed that future generations will be called the 19th century. Schumann period in the history of music. Indeed, the music of Schumann captured the main thing in the art of his time - its content was the "Mysteriously deep processes of the spiritual life" of a person, its purpose - penetration into the "depths of the human heart." Schumann fought for progress in music with all his might.
Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810, into a very non-musical family. His father was the famous bookseller Friedrich August Schumann in Zwickau, and he himself was the youngest of five children. At the age of seven, he began taking piano lessons from the organist I. Kunsht, improvising, composing plays.
Schumann's first daring attempt was to compose instrumental and choral music on Psalm 150 in his twelfth year. This experiment was daring because at the time he did not have the slightest idea of the theory of composition.
The parents insisted that the young man become a lawyer. For several years he waged a stubborn struggle for the right to follow his calling. To please his mother and guardian, Schumann practiced law in Leipzig, as far as the duty ordered, but no more, perhaps even less. At that time, an attraction to music had already begun to manifest in him. He took piano lessons from Friedrich Wieck (Clara's father - future wife). He was inspired by the works of Franz Schubert, with whom he first met.
A vacation trip in 1829 to beautiful Venice planted in his soul more than one sprout of future musical flowers.
The following year, Schumann traveled to Frankfurt am Main to listen to Paganini. Some apt words in his diary betray a poet who admires the beauties of nature and art. After all this enthusiasm, of course, it was not easy to sit down again decorously and, starting in order from the first chapter of the pandects, puzzled over the articles on the "Division of Royal Law".
Finally, on June 30, 1830, Robert decided to take an important step - to devote himself to music. He wrote to his mother a long letter in which he explicitly announced his intention. The kind woman became deeply alarmed, doubting whether Robert would be able to "earn his daily bread" through his musical talent. However, she turned to Vick for advice in writing, and when he approved Robert's intention, then his mother agreed. Robert moved to Leipzig and became Vic's apprentice and tenant.
But soon his fate changed again. The operation which Schumann underwent on his right hand in order to quickly acquire fluency on the piano was insane. The middle finger has ceased to function; despite medical attention, the hand was permanently unable to play the piano. Schumann had to give up his desire to become a pianist forever. But now he was more and more interested in the composition of musical pieces.
Schumann finally decided to seriously study the theory of musical compositions. He did not take lessons from the director of music Kuntsch for long and completed a thorough study of his subject under the guidance of Heinrich Dorn. His attitude to Vic was still the best. The extraordinary musical abilities of Clara Wieck, who was then barely out of childhood, aroused the lively participation of Robert, who, however, was then only interested in her talent.
In 1833, the musician Schunke came to Leipzig from Stuttgart, and Schumann concluded an almost chimerical friendship with him.
He found a musical friend-woman in Henrietta Focht, a student of Ludwig Berger; but his heart was ruled at that time by Ernestine von F. of Asch, in Bohemia.
At the end of 1833, as Schumann himself said, “Every evening, as if by chance, several people came together, most of them young musicians; the immediate goal of these gatherings was an ordinary public meeting; but, nevertheless, there was a mutual exchange of thoughts about music, art, which was an urgent need for them. " The then far from brilliant state of music was the reason that "one day it occurred to young, hot heads not to be idle spectators of this decline, but to try again to elevate poetry and art."
Schumann, together with Friedrich Wieck, Ludwig Schunke and Julius Knorr, founded the magazine Novaya Muzykalnaya Gazeta, which had a tremendous influence on the development of musical art in Germany. For many years he himself wrote articles for the magazine under various pseudonyms and fought against the so-called philistines, that is, with those who, with their limitations and backwardness, hindered the development of music. As a music critic, he appreciated the importance of F. Chopin, G. Berlioz, I. Brahms, who were his contemporaries, while recognizing the great value of their predecessors - Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Schubert. Schumann was an exceptional connoisseur of German literature.
The active studies of composition have borne fruit. Schumann creates a number of interesting works. Among them are piano cycles from small pieces or miniatures: Butterflies (1831), Davidsbündlers (1837). They, like Fantastic Pieces (1837), Kreislerian (1838), have program titles born of the composer's imagination or indicating a connection with literature. So, "Kreisleriana" reminds of the works of the German romantic E. A. Hoffmann. It brings to life the image of the inspired musician Fritz Kreisler, his dreams, dreams and visions. Kreisler, deeply suffering from philistinism in life and art, leads a courageous duel with her. This lone wrestler is akin to Schumann himself.
In "Butterflies" - one of the first published works by Schumann - we see a picture of a costume ball, where, according to the composer's idea, the heroes of J. P. Richter's book "The Years of Youth" meet. These are two brothers (one is dreamy and brooding, the other is impetuous and hot) and a young girl with whom both are in love.
One of the most original Schumann's compositions is the piano cycle Carnival (1835). Many of the life, hobbies and thoughts of the young Schumann at the time of his creative heyday were embodied in these colorful, fantastic paintings.
Schumann had an amazing ability to create portraits of people in music, to express in one stroke the most characteristic in a person's appearance or in his mood. Such is his "Carnival", where it is as if the characters are circling in a rapid dance or slowly passing by, immersed in their thoughts, under the masks of Pierrot and Harlequin, cheerful butterflies or dancing letters. Here are the composer's contemporaries: the famous violinist N. Paganini and the great piano poet F. Chopin. And here is Florestan and Eusebius. So Schumann called the heroes invented by him, on whose behalf he wrote articles about music. Florestan is always in motion, in flight, in dance, he jokes sharply and caustically, his speech is hot, impetuous. Eusebius loves to dream in solitude, he says quietly, soulfully.
Florestan and Eusebius, Chopin and Paganini, Chiarina (Clara Wieck stands under this mask) are members of the union invented by Schumann. At the end of "Carnival" they all oppose the townsfolk, alien to everything new and bold in art - in the "March of the Brotherhood of David." These are the brightest and most joyful pages of his work. The novelty and uniqueness of Schumann's music was most clearly manifested in his piano pieces, created in the 1830s in Leipzig. In addition to those already mentioned, these are three sonatas (1835, 1833-1838, 1836), Symphonic Etudes (1834), Fantasy (1837), Novelettes (1838). Schumann considered the piano to be an instrument for expressing feelings and moods, inspired by both emotional experiences and natural phenomena or literary subjects.
Schumann's interest in the piano grew thanks to his happy marriage to Clara Wieck, who is known to be an excellent pianist. For her, the author has created an extremely valuable Piano Concerto in A minor. The frequently performed Cello Concerto in A minor and many of Schumann's chamber works convincingly testify to the composer's progressive neo-romantic orientation.
So, in the 1830s, Schumann was already the author of many original plays, but the composer had to learn from experience, "that fame progresses with the steps of a dwarf, while fame flies on the wings of a storm." For most amateurs, his compositions were too difficult and incomprehensible; for professional musicians, they seemed too eccentric, too deviated from traditions.
Mendelssohn had a huge influence on the work of Schumann. Schumann, in his own words, "looked at him as at a high mountain," he "daily expressed thoughts worthy of being set in gold." Schumann owes a lot to Mendelssohn. Without it, he would be in danger of wasting his extraordinary talent on a variety of witty and original musical jokes.
Meanwhile, Schumann's love for Ernestine von F. gradually weakened and, finally, completely passed away. Clara has already become an adult girl, and Schumann could not help but notice this charming creature, endowed with an extraordinary musical talent. Clara became a poetic ideal for Schumann, and since she reciprocated his feelings and both wanted a lasting union, Schumann had to take care of ensuring his existence.
In 1838 he decided to settle in Vienna and publish his magazine there. In October 1838, the composer moved to Vienna. However, he too soon became convinced that Vienna had ceased to be the soil of German classical music. In early April 1839, Schumann returned to Leipzig.
1840 was a turning point in the life of Schumann. Leipzig University awarded him the title of Doctor of Philosophy, and thus he received the title, which in Germany meant quite a lot. On September 12, 1840, Robert and Clara were married at the church in Schönfeld. It is not surprising that at that happy time Robert Schumann, a subtle master in depicting the nuances of feelings and moods, created the cycles "Circle of Songs", "Love and the Life of a Woman", "Love of a Poet", "Myrthas" and others.
After marriage, Schumann worked with patient diligence. His most successful, most beautiful works date from this time, especially his First Symphony and Oratorio<<Пери и рай>>, performed for the first time on December 4, 1843 in Leipzig. His wife, in her feminine devotion worthy of surprise, tried as far as possible to protect him from all the everyday trifles of life, from everything that could upset and stop his musical activity, or that, perhaps, she did not consider worthy of attention. Thus, she was the mediator between her husband and practical life.
Perhaps the only area of activity where he emerged from the vicious circle of his soul was teaching in the "School of Music for Piano and Score Playing and Exercises in Compositions," founded in Leipzig in 1843 and run by Mendelssohn. The artistic journey, undertaken by him in 1844, together with his wife to St. Petersburg and Moscow, brought them a lot of pleasure - they were received everywhere with great respect. To be able to devote himself entirely to writing, he handed over the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta to its former employee, Oswald Lorenz. This newspaper fulfilled its purpose: it put an obstacle to soulless musical products, as well as frivolous frivolity in music and paved the way for the direction in art, which is imbued with a poetic spirit and strives for serious goals.
Schumann left Leipzig and settled in Dresden. Then, for the first time in 1844, signs of his mental illness appeared. The composer's nerves were completely upset due to mental strain. It wasn't until 1846 that he felt so well that he was able to compose again.
He is completing one of his major works, the Second Symphony. In total, Schumann wrote four symphonies, among which the First - "Spring" (1841) and the Fourth - in D minor (1851) stand out.
The artistic journey in the first months of 1847 to Prague and Vienna was a pleasant change and entertainment. In the same year, Schumann began composing the opera Genoveva (based on the famous medieval legend of Genevieve of Brabant). Genoveva did not make Schumann popular. Her music lacks what is decisively necessary for the opera - live, sensual tactility, strong contrasts, bright, harsh colors.
Whether or not the composer was grieved by the cold reception of "Genoveva" is unknown, only this failure did not in the least stop his desire for creativity. There is something alarming in the speed with which he, especially since 1849, creates one vast work after another. Schumann's songs "To the Sunshine", "Spring Night" and others, written during this period, became extremely popular.
Before the world had time to get acquainted with "Manfred", Schumann again performed with the oratorio "The Wandering of the Rose", with music based on a plot from "Faust", with overtures, symphonies, trios, with countless notebooks of songs, piano pieces, etc. The metaphor of his favorite author (in "Titan") is very suitable for this period: "The excessive light and sparkle of this constellation seems to herald the sunset and the last day."
In Schumann's music to the tragedies "Faust" by Wolfgang Goethe and "Manfred" by George Byron, in his revolutionary marches, choruses and songs "To the Death of a Hero", "Soldier", "Smuggler", romantic excitement, dreaminess, trepidation are combined with rebellion and love of freedom. During the days of the 1848 revolution, the composer wrote in his diary: “And people must fight so fiercely for a drop of freedom! Will there come a time when everyone will be equal in their rights? "
In 1850, Schumann received an invitation to become the city director of music in Düsseldorf. A great musical poet is not always a good conductor, and vice versa. It happened with Schumann: he did not have the qualities of a good conductor at all. The composer himself thought otherwise. In Dusseldorf, quarrels began too soon, and in the fall of 1853 the whole thing was upset: the contract was not renewed. It could also hurt the soul of Schumann in the highest degree, which was already very tender and sensitive, but he did not show his feelings due to his secretive nature.
The last ray of light was his journey to Holland in November 1853, where he and Clara were received in all cities "With joy and honor." He "was surprised to see that his music in Holland has become almost more native than in the fatherland itself." However, in the same year, painful symptoms began to appear again, and at the beginning of 1854 they suddenly appeared with even greater force. The death that followed on July 29, 1856 put an end to this suffering.
But, despite the sad fate of Schumann, we can still consider him happy. He fulfilled the task of his life: he left in the memory of posterity a model of a real German artist, who was full of honest straightforwardness, nobility and spirituality. When talking about their greatest musical poets, people will remember the name of Schumann.