Research paper on Robert Schumann Robert Schumann June 8, 1810—July 29, 1856 German composer, music critic, pianist
“In the end we will not know what kind of man Schumann was. And it is good that we will not know. We have no idea how he managed to do what he did. And that’s for a genius the best way.” – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Is it possible to contain the history of a composer? Is it possible to box-ify or analyze their musical output, trace their influences, and realize the juxtaposition of their place in history? Robert Schumann is an elusive figure, yet we are left with a more comprehensive record of his everyday life and compositional activities than almost any other composer in history. He once advised the artist to “keep his labor pains to himself,” yet he did not seem to take his own advice. Schumann’s music is incredibly confessional, and we may seek to understand the inner realities of his mind and his art while mapping the outer world of his time, looking at romantic culture and meaning, society, and politics. There is much to understand of his life; from his early years, his relationship with his wife, Clara, to his final years… his popular keyboard, symphonic, and vocal works, to his less recognized chamber works, dramatic choral works, and ballets. We also have information from archives that Schumann suffered greatly from emotional and physiological illnesses. Schumann was born in Zwickau, a town in Saxony, Germany on June 8th, 1810. He was the youngest of five, the son of August Schumann (born 1773) and Johanna Christiane (born 1771). August Schumann was a bookseller, publisher, and author. In the year of Robert’s birth, August was attacked by a “nervous disorder,” which disabled him
throughout the rest of his life. Robert Schumann’s education began in 1816, as he was sent to a local private school. He seemed to show no special talents, and around the same time he received his first piano lessons from Johann Gottfried Kuntzsch, an organist of St Mary’s Church. Kuntzch lacked theory training, but encouraged young Schumann’s creativity. In August 1819, he heard Moscheles play at Karlsbad – this experience made a permanent impression on him. Around the same time, he was taken to hear his first opera, Die Zauberflote, at Leipzig. In November of 1821, he played piano in Kuntzch’s recital of Friedrich Schneider’s oratorio Weltgericht in St Mary’s Church. He showed a unique talent for composition before the age of 12: in January 1822, likely under the influence of Schneider’s work, which was wildly popular at the time, he composed a setting of Psalm CL for soprano, contralto, piano and orchestra. His pupils and other young friends performed the piece. In the same year, he composed Ouverture et Chor furs grosse Orchester 1/No. 3. It is an overture followed by a brief chorus on words. Around the same time, young Schumann showed literary talent. He cultivated literature throughout his youth, constantly reading in his father’s shop and library. Robert’s father encouraged him, and he even allowed him to contribute short articles to one of his publications. Around the age of 16, he wrote an autobiographical story, Juniusabende und Julitage, discussing the love and heartbreak of his two young loves. He then left to Leipzig, Dresden, and Prague documenting his time with letters, discussing a habit of champagne drinking, which lasted years. Coming from his literary enthusiasm for Jean Paul, he began keeping many diaries, where his daily life is documented in detail. Jean Paul influenced Schumann’s “flowery prose style.” He recorded thoughts on his daily improvisation on piano, and his efforts to compose away from the instrument. One may conclude that Schumann’s compositions over the years were his musical diaries, in the same way that he kept written diaries.
Some autobiographical notes from his next years document as follows: “Easter 1828. Night raptures. Constant improvisation daily. Also literary fantasies in Jean Paul’s manner. Special enthusiasm for Schubert, Beethoven too, Bach less,” and an unsent letter to Schubert. After leaving school, he begrudgingly became a law student at the University of Leipzig, at the request of his mother. He became friends with the Carus family, and met many musicians through them. He reportedly did not attend a single lecture, yet spent hours daily writing in the style of Jean Paul, still improvising on piano as well. Here and there, Schumann became troubled by fears of insanity. He had a natural approach to composing, mostly due to his lack of proper musical training or theory education. After submitting earlier compositions for criticism by Gottlob Wiedebein, he followed up by sending him a letter stating that he was “neither a connoisseur of harmony and thoroughbass nor a contrapuntist, but purely and simply guided by nature.” This is reminiscent of Jean Paul’s belief that the artist perpetually strives to shape nature (which is seen as intrinsically form-less) and blend form-less-ness nature into a work of art. There was the great philosophical belief that when a human is close to Nature, expressing their inner truth, they are close to God. In the period following this interaction with Wiedebein, he began to study with Friedrich Wieck, meeting Wieck’s nine-year-old daughter and his future wife, Clara. Under the studentship of Wieck, he composed a set of VIII Polonaises Pour le Piano a Quatre Mains, imitating Schubert’s duet polonaises. They were numbered op. 3 – number 2 being a collection of 11 of the songs he had sent to Wiedebein. Other compositions of the latter half of 1828 include a set of four-hand variations on a theme by Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who inspired Schumann greatly with his chamber music, and a “Schubertian” Piano Quartet in C minor (op. 5), which began to turn into a symphony in 1830. Schumann also developed a mysterious hand injury, destroying his hopes to
become a concert pianist. He was unable to fully recover, and all attempts to better his injury worsened the condition. In 1829, Schumann became interested in one of the law professors at Heidelberg University named Justus Thibaut, who had published a book on musical aesthetics. He persuaded his mother to allow him to move to Heidelberg and attend the university. He became acquainted with a range of choral music, specifically Italian choral music: Palestrina and Victoria, also Handel and Bach. In a letter to Wieck, Schumann told him that he had begun many symphonies, yet all were uncompleted. It seemed clear that he was spending most of his time improvising “symphonic daydreams” at the piano. He was focused on playing rather than composing. Both the Romantic period and Schumann’s romantic period reached a peak during the 1830s. Schumann’s adherence to classical tradition began to disintegrate into a newly refined approach. His unfinished Symphony in G minor is an example of his early classicism. It follows the classical model of a symphony, and reveals his influence of Beethoven. These forms were slowly replaced by the romantic pieces of his middle period. His early Polonaises were adapted for use in Papillons, and he began to flesh out his former improvisations into pieces such as Carnaval. Prior to 1830, it is clear that Schumann was influenced by classic ideas on art. During the 1830s, he is interested in romantic concepts. After 1840 continuing to his death, he returns to classic principals, “new classicism.” There may be an understanding that there was fear regarding “straying too far” from tradition, and one may relate this straying as signs of going insane. One may also draw a relationship between arts and philosophy – philosophy moving from rationalism (classicism) to idealism (romanticism) and beyond.
Schumann had the belief that music should be imbedded with the same intellectual depth as literature. This notion held true throughout his entire life. In a letter to Clara Wieck in the Spring of 1838, Schumann wrote, “I am affected by everything that goes on in the world, politics, literature, and people. I think them over in my own way, and then I express them in music. That’s why so many of my compositions are difficult to understand, because they relate to distant interests.” Schumann responded to his environment in his compositions; therefore, to try to comprehend his musical output, we must first try to comprehend his environment – namely the meaning of the eighteenth and nineteenth century contexts and nationalist movements. Romanticism was a surge of “genius,” graced with enthusiasm, a sense of exploration, emerging from a constructive desire at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, which affected the arts and produced a collection of masterpieces that we haven’t fully absorbed yet. It was a self-conscious time, the generation of Schumann, Berlioz, Heine, Liszt and more. The “simplistic” view of the eighteenth century French neoclassicism touting intellect and reason was now insufficient. There was the understanding that there were other elements to this human form, and this was the realization of human introspection. Introspection became a part of art, as did outward curiosity – an allinclusiveness, a desire to know about the whole world, rather than focusing on western Europe. It must be noted that the emergence of Romanticism was a gradual evolution, and remnants of the eighteenth century were preserved in the makeup of the nineteenth century ideas, the same as flickers of the nineteenth century were embedded within the eighteenth century. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, this conscious romantic period flourished, primarily in Germany. Friedrich Schiller wrote a book, trying to make
distinctions between many kinds of literature. He believed that some belonged to a classical tradition, and others he found did not line up with classical tradition at all. In Germany, there was born a new interest in medieval literature, which the classicists “scorned.” Regarding romance, knights and kings and courter-ly love were seen as nonsense. The term “romanticism” comes from Roman, or romance – the “roman de la rose.” There was a collapse of the obsessive faith in reason. Specifically in Germany, there was a movement of looking into their own psyche, into feelings, into what is hard to verbalize. And from this emerging self-conscious nature, artists became aware of possibilities, as classicism was drifting beyond artistic grasp. This is Romanticism. During this period, there comes a preoccupation with the insane person. The insane person becomes a symbol of the romantic spirit. The period has an emergence of the “feminine” spirit in art – emotional sensitivity, being in touch with the deepness of human nature, sexuality, and irrationality – which makes sense due to the period’s opposition to previous interest in rationality. There is also a realization of childish-ness in art, which seems like a natural direction for the period to go, given the realization of curious nature about the world and the self. The child is open to possibilities, and is defined by a lack of limitations – one may draw a connection between childlike behavior and “the insane.” Schumann is said to have had a childlike personality. Germans at the start of the nineteenth century became interested in William Shakespeare, viewing him as a figure embodying rebellion against or departure from classicism. His output opposed everything that the French academia upheld. He wrote eccentric characters, whom were difficult to pigeonhole into classical dramatic tradition. Shakespeare’s language was rich and stimulating, challenging common vocabulary in dramatic works. Schumann’s Fantasiestucke (op. 12, 1837) is a set of 8 pieces for piano. The title was inspired by a collection of novels by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The pieces of Fantasiestucke
carry dramatic and descriptive titles such as “Aufschwung,” which means Soaring, or literally Upswing. The piece exemplifies it’s name, and may have the listener feel as if carried by wind. Aufschwung is a soaring, exciting, virtuosic piece, lasting approximately three and a half minutes and spanning just over five pages. It can be considered Classical sonata-rondo form (A B A C A B A), with thematic recurrence and contrast as opposed to great development. It is meant to be lyrical, revealing an inner emotion, and shows great harmonic and melodic counterpoint, bringing out contrasting melodies. It’s details are Romantic – it begins in an unstable B flat minor roar, seeming to change function as it then becomes F minor (the main key of the piece), yet only touches this briefly at the beginning of the second phrase, and then moves onto the relative A flat major. This key duality is found throughout the 8 pieces in Fantasiestucke. The first 16 measures of Aufschwung are Classical periodic formal structure, antecedent and consequent phrases beginning with the same motif. The second theme (B section) at measure 17 is centered on D flat, with six phrases of equal length following one after the other creating a mini-ternary structure, with the phrases all displaced by half a measure while still preserving a 24 measure theme. The initial theme suddenly returns, now shorter, and with dominant pedals in the bass changing the harmonic implications, prolonging an F minor dominant-seventh chords. Now, the piece descends into an imaginative episode, at the place of development in a sonata form movement. The texture here has clear accompaniment under melody. There is a long, dramatic retransition where the initial theme returns as a fragment before it is recapitulated in full. The initial section is repeated, yet shortened again, and the B section returns in the key of A flat major, relative to the tonic F minor. This creates a less sudden retransition to the final full statement of the main theme (A), which ends with a clear statement of F minor. This is a great example revealing Schumann’s conservation of the past, while illustrating the
present. Even in Schumann’s middle period, or Romantic period, there is never a complete reversal of aesthetic style, ideals, or beliefs. After 1840 and after Robert Schumann’s marriage to Clara Wieck, he turned his focus to more baroque and classical models than typified in his 1830-1840 period. Clara served as his inspiration, his confidante, and a pianist and composer to grow with. In 1841, Schumann’s musical career met a turning point. Encouraged by Clara, he felt the need to work on larger forms, and less with small-scale media. He conception of Romanticism was now dramatically changed by the belief of older Classical musical composition as a craft to be practiced and learned. Schumann began to expand his compositional reach beyond the piano. In his choral works, he attempted to venture furthest from his piano style. He was trying to emancipate himself from the habit of composing at the keyboard. Schumann’s choral writing is homophonic and often plainly chordal, and rhythmically simple. His works for soloists, chorus, and orchestra are much more experimental. This includes his final published (posthumous) piece, Requiem (op. 148, 1852). His symphonies are lyrical, with great thematic unity across a single piece. This rivals his earlier works’ tendencies to have a loose, suite-like structure. It’s observed that Schumann had difficulty covering a large canvas with the same “playful aphorisms and lyrical melodies” as is apparent in his piano works. Requiem is conveniently rarely written about. It is a requiem for himself. Schumann attempted suicide in the coming year. The Requiem is scored for SATB, choir and orchestra. It was composed in 1852 and follows conventional liturgical format. This work is an elegant, gentle acceptance of his own death. Schumann once said in reference to the Requiem, “It is a thing that one writes for oneself.” It was written as he descended into sickness and insanity. It is written in the key of D flat major, which is infrequently used for orchestral music, and is usually exclusively for piano music. Requiem is set to Latin text, with
Catholic religious attachment. His interest in composing requiems may have been seen as a resurgence and realization of ideals of the Catholic Church in the middle ages. The piece lasts approximately 38 minutes, and is rich and lush, with incredible emotional depth. It is not considered to be one of his masterpieces, yet due to the reason of it’s creation, it may be considered a masterpiece of his humanity… possibly a cathartic experience of accepting his forthcoming death. In April 1852, Schumann experienced what Clara called a “rheumatic attack,” paired with insomnia and depression. His condition grew worse in June, as he began to show hesitancy with speaking, slow movement, and general apathy. In July, he sought a cure in Godesberg, only returning worse. Clara and Robert went to Holland where he tried the effect of sea bathing. This helped some, and he finished a few pieces throughout this time. He returned to Dusseldorf and was ordered to avoid physical exertion. He occupied his time by writing vocal scores, thus came Requiem. In 1853, at the age of twenty, Brahms came to Dusseldorf to meet Schumann. Upon playing young Brahms’ piano works, Schumann praised Brahms as a genius. He soon expressed his enthusiasm publicly in an article entitled “Neue Bahnen,” published in the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik in October of 1853. Brahms left Dusseldorf on November 3rd, and his stay coincided with Schumann’s last burst of creative activity. One of the pieces composed in this time was the Marchenerzahlungen (op. 132). On February 10 of 1854, Schumann recorded that he had “very strong and painful aural symptoms.” This grew worse in the following day, and he began having illusions of “wonderfully beautiful music” constantly sounding in his head. All of his descriptions seem to support the diagnosis of syphilis. In the coming days, he wrote a theme in E flat, which he said “the angels” had sung to him. By the next day, the angels were replaced with devils in the form of “tigers and hyenas,” who were threatening to send him to Hell,
though sometimes an angel’s voice would bring him relief. This state lasted for one week, with small moments of productive lucidity. On the evening of February 26, he asked to be taken to an asylum, but Clara and his doctor persuaded him to go to sleep instead. The next morning, he was left alone for a few moments, and ran out of the house to the Rhine Bridge. An attempt at suicide, he threw himself into the river. He was rescued and brought home. Clara was not allowed to see him, as he rested. Schumann was taken on March 4 to a private asylum. He remained there, and in September he began to correspond in letters with her and Brahms. Brahms came to visit him in April, but he was never allowed to see Clara. Brahms moved into Dusseldorf to help Clara Schumann take care of the household. He became the mediator between Clara and Robert Schumann, continually informing Clara of her husband’s health. Brahms fell in love with Clara, with the love eventually turning into their close friendship until her death 40 years later. On June 27 in 1856, Clara saw her husband for the first time after around two and a half years. He appeared to recognize her, but he was unable to speak clearly. On the 29th, at 4pm, Robert Schumann passed away. Robert Schumann is considered one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. His deeply emotional music matches his life of much suffering. A true intellectual, his memory will last in time and specifically his piano repertoire will remain some of the most admired pieces.
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