The Life of Schumann (Musical Lives)
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 5/12/2011
EAN 9780521802482, ISBN10: 0521802482
Hardcover, 236 pages, 21.6 x 14 x 1.4 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Robert Schumann had a difficult start as a composer. Denied any significant musical upbringing, he took a long time through indirect routes to establish himself as a major composer. Persistent illness also dogged his work. His final catastrophic mental collapse has combined with the autobiographical and secretive aspects of his music to cast for posterity a veil of ominous mystery over his entire life. Yet this is only one view. Schumann battled his personal demons and was acutely self-aware and organized. He transformed himself from a brilliant youthful fantasist in small forms into a composer of extended works in every genre. This book provides a new focus on Schumann as a practical working musician interacting with the professional world to develop his creative gifts to the full, and examines the central role of Clara Wieck Schumann in helping to bring this about.
Preface
inherited images
1. A favourable upbringing
Zwickau, 1810–28
2. Undirected student
Leipzig and Heidelburg, 1828–30
3. A career in music
Leipzig, 1830–5
4. The Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Clara and new horizons
Leipzig, 1835–40
5. Married life
Leipzig, 1840–4
6. Growing ambitions
Dresden, 1844–50
7. Triumph and decline
Düsseldorf, 1850–4
8. The end
1854–6
Perspective and legacy
Further reading.