Schumann, Robert, the great apostle of the Romantic school in music, was born at Zwickau in Saxony, 8th June 1810. His father was a man of a distinctly artistic turn of mind, and until his death in 1826 Robert had every encouragement to indulge any taste he had for music. No very decided manifestation, however, was apparent until Schumann's mother and guardian had to face a most unwelcome desire on the part of the young man, who should have been pursuing his law studies. His mother was sorely troubled, and sought advice from Frederick Wieck, the eminent pianoforte teacher. His answer favoured Schumann's ardent ambition, and at the age of twenty-one, after a desultory course of law and philosophy, a good deal of observant travel in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and a thorough course of Jean Paul Richter, Schumann began to qualify himself for his great mission, and settled down in Leipzig as an ardent student of music under Wieck. In his haste to become perfect in his art he defeated his own ends; for, not content with arduous practising, he had recourse to mechanical means for improving the power of his hands—one of them so violent that he permanently disabled the third finger of his right hand. He turned perforce to composition, and his misfortune has proved our gain. In 1832 Clara Wieck, his teacher's daughter, who though only thirteen years of age was already an accomplished pianist, made a deep impression on Schumann, which later developed into a still deeper and a mutual feeling.
In 1833 his first important pianoforte compositions were published (Toccata, &c.), and in the following year his overflowing energy conceived the idea of a new musical paper, and inspired three friends with the same enthusiasm for art criticism as he had himself. As editor of this Neue Zeitschrift für Musik for more than ten years he contributed many essays, some very fantastic, some of inestimable value, and all showing strong imaginative and poetical powers. His critiques on young composers are particularly interesting for their keen critical acumen, their frank admission and fearless proclamation of any good quality in any artist however young or unknown, and their generous encouragement of all earnest workers. For an account of Schumann's charming idea of an imaginary society, the Davidsbündler, reference must be made to a more detailed notice of his life.
From the year 1836 his genius for composing asserted itself more and more, and it is very interesting to notice how it seems to have turned deliberately and methodically from one branch of composition to another. His greatest pianoforte works were written between 1836 and 1839 (Fantasie, Noveletten, Kinderscenen, Kreisleriana, Humoreske, Faschingschwanke, &c.). The reception of these works was on the whole very encouraging, and against the neglect of some authorities, and the adverse criticism of others, Schumann had the support of such as Liszt and Moscheles.
In 1835 Mendelssohn came to Leipzig filled with the energy and enthusiasm which in a few years raised Leipzig to the dignity of the most important musical centre in Germany. Schumann with ready and generous appreciation at once fell down and worshipped. 'I look up to Mendelssohn as to a high mountain peak,' he wrote. He accepted a professorship in the new Conservatorium, but he was eminently unfit for such work, and in a short time he resigned the appointment. In 1836 a visit to Vienna yielded important though indirect results. Interested as he was in Franz Schubert's writings, he made thorough investigations for possible MSS., and was rewarded with the score of the C major symphony, which he forwarded to Mendelssohn in Leipzig, and it was performed there for the first time eight years after the composer's death. At length in 1840, in spite of Wieck's opposition, he married his daughter Clara Josephine (born 13th September 1819). And as the time of trial had inspired some of his most tender works, notably many songs, so the perfect happiness of the next few years gave his compositions an impulse to a richer, fuller style, characterised by more repose. In the following year he turned his attention to instrumental work, and rapidly produced three symphonies and the romantic concerto in A minor. Chamber music next claimed his attention, and the three beautiful quartetts prepared the way for what is probably the most widely popular, as it is one of the most perfect of all Schumann's concert pieces—the Quintett for pianoforte and strings. The pianoforte Quartett belongs to the same year (1842). In 1843, the last year of his residence in Leipzig, he produced two important choral works, Paradise and the Peri, which met with great success, and scenes from Faust. But the insidious disease which had been working in his brain since early youth, and which bereft him of reason before his death, first broke out now in unmistakable symptoms, and in order to comply with medical advice he left the exciting musical life of Leipzig and settled in Dresden. For more than two years the state of his health gave his friends great anxiety, but in 1847 the clouds lifted—only, alas, to gather for the last dark years. From 1848 to 1850 works of all kinds appeared in rapid succession—Genoveva (his only opera), incidental music to Byron's Manfred, songs, and much instrumental solo and concerted music.
In 1850 Schumann was invited to succeed Dr Hiller as musical director in Düsseldorf—a post for which he was as unfitted as he had proved for the professorship in Leipzig. He had none of the qualities so necessary in a conductor—concentration of attention, prompt decision, resource; and an eyewitness of the circumstance assured the present writer that on one occasion Schumann in a fit of absent-mindedness went on beating time after the piece had concluded!
Much desultory work, some remarkably fine, some only grand fragments, some never attaining beyond ambitious design, belongs to the years in Düsseldorf (1850–54); but it became ever more and more evident that he must retire from his post as a conductor, and this, naturally enough, he could not be induced to consider necessary. Hence arose ill-feeling and unpleasantness. In 1851 his former ailment broke out anew, and his eccentricity gradually grew more marked. He was subject to most curious delusions, and devoted himself largely to the art of table-turning and spiritualism. One famous delusion was that the spirits of Schubert and Mendelssohn visited him; and once he jumped up during the night to note down a theme given him, as he imagined, by Schubert—the unfinished Variations on which were his last work. In February 1854, during an attack of extreme depression, he threw himself into the Rhine, but was rescued by boatmen. Insanity had asserted its sway, and Schumann spent the last two years of his life in a private asylum near Bonn, where he died in his wife's arms, July 29, 1856, aged only forty-six.
The characteristics of Schumann's compositions are great originality and fertility in subjects and themes, freshness, force, and piquancy in rhythm, and a wealth and resource in harmony which places him among composers not far from Bach himself. Those works which are cast in certain forms, as sonatas, symphonies, &c., do not always follow the recognised canon, but the exuberance of what is generally self-contained and restrained fancy maintains such unflagging vivacity and interest that the analytical faculty is often quite disarmed. Among writers of songs and ballads he is second to none. The extreme originality and unconventionality of his work account for a tardy appreciation, but he has won a secure place now among the great composers. His talented and devoted wife laboured incessantly to obtain a hearing for his pianoforte compositions, and she lived to see her labours crowned with success. After his death she taught at the Frankfurt Conservatoire, and played in the chief cities of Europe—her visit to London in 1886 was a splendid success. She died 20th May 1896.
Other biographies and criticisms will be found in Wasielewski's Robert Schumann (Dresden, 1858; 3d ed. Bonn, 1880; Eng. trans. 1878), the work of an intimate friend and a long recognised authority; Dr Spitta's admirable article in Grove's Dictionary of Music; Reissman's Life and Works of Robert Schumann (Eng. trans. 1886); Pohl's 'Reminiscences' (Deutsche Revue, vol. iv. Berlin, 1878); Fétis, in the Biographie Universelle (a singularly unappreciative estimate); Life of Schubert told in his Letters (trans. from the German by May Herbert, 2 vols. 1890); innumerable notices and criticisms in periodicals (such as E. Prout, in the Monthly Musical Record, 1871–72; J. Bennet, in the Musical Times, 1879); but the Life (1901) by Professor Niecks of Edinburgh, who has had access to the best authorities, must henceforth rank as the standard authority.