Robert and Clara Schumann:

The brilliant composer – pianist combination

by Gwen Herat

If ever there were a couple who together could have produced magnificent scores, it was Robert Schumann and his wife, Clara (Wiock) who mesmerised the world of classical music overcoming many obstacles made to prevent their marriage. A strong relationship that father-in-law to be, Fedrich Wiock violently opposed.

The battle for his daughter's hand lasted for seven long years. He forced them to stay apart and initiated a personal vilification campaign against Schumann. Clara would insist on what her father rejected and ultimately succeeded in court where the judgement was given in their favour.

Robert and Clara married in September, 1840 which was a day short of Clara's twenty first birthday. With love and understanding for each other, their career entered a new phase in musicality. She at the piano and he at composing. In 1840 alone, Schumann wrote over 100 songs and in the following sketched out his Symphony No. 1 in B flat in just four days. It was known as the ‘Spring’ Symphony. Many of Schumann's brilliant scores followed very quickly. Clara was intensely ambitious for quick movement which threw him off his balance. It was not easy for a pianist to practise and a composer to work in silence and they found it hard to balance.

Determination

During those rising years, he told someone ‘Everything beautiful is difficult, the short the most difficult’ but with determination scored such vibrant pieces such as:

Symphony No. 1,
in B Major. OP 38
Andante un poco
maestoso
Larghetto
Scherzo
Allegre animato
c grazioso
Symphony No. 2 in
S Major, OP 61
Allegro ma non troppo
Scherzo. Allegro vivace
Adagio espressive
Allegro molto vivace

Early years

Famous for investigating the Romantic's obsession for feeling and passion, he continued its research thoroughly and came out exceedingly accurate. Born into a well-to-do family, Schumann was the son of a Saxon bookseller and publisher.

Cultured and respected in his community, young Schumann was the fifth child among several. His parents were not musically gifted but encouraged their son's aspirations to be a musician.

When he was barely 10, his parents commenced his piano lessons and their persuaded him to study law in Leipzig. The young Schumann was trained under the famous composer, Frederich Wiech who was later to become his son-in-law.

However, tragedy hit Schumann that twisted and turned his paths that prevented his travelling. His elder sister, Emille committed suicide in 1826 and after a short time his father died leaving him devastated.

Among his three brothers, only one reached middle age. To take his mind off personal tragedy, he engaged himself in the fashionable Romantic malaise of Weltschmerz or better known as world-weariness.

It led many to die young in romantically tragic circumstances. With his mother's blessings, he had the opportunity to study music again under Fredrich Wiech. When everything was going all right, tragedy hit him again. His middle finger was rendered lifeless after he developed an ailment which crippled and put an end to his career as a pianist. Another disaster followed when he was diagonised with syphilis and the treatment for it had side effects of mercury being used.

Insomnia

Schumann was a handsome man who enjoyed the company of women one of whom had infected him with syphilis. It resulted in bouts of insomnia along with aural hallucinations. He recorded them in his diary and was afraid of going mad. He thought of putting an end to his life. However, through the decades that followed, his career as a composer grew from strength to strength. He also developed literary activities that made him a sharp critic of the era.

Schumann's musical criticism was as fine as the style of his prose. He formed an association of intimate friends called Davidsbundler which meant David against Philistines. The group opposed philistinism in the arts and gave support to new and imaginative people.

In return, Schumann immortalised his friends in his piano score of Davidsbundlertanze. He rose fast and famous with Clara besides his translating his scores on keyboard. However, he was not happy on being introduced as Clara Schumann's husband. It made him small.

While touring Russia, he returned to Clara as his mental health began to fail. He resigned from his teaching post that Mendelssohn had created for him at the conservatory in Leipzig and moved over to Dresden and accepted the post of music director, Dusseldorf. It proved another disaster as Liszt and Wagner found him boring.

He tried to kill himself drowning in the Rhine and was rescued and placed in an asylum at his own request. Schumann lived for another two years under this hallucination and refused to see Clara and his seven children.

However, Clara visited him later and found him aged so much that she was hardly able to recognise the once handsome husband of hers. She was shaken with his condition and moved to tears. Schumann died in her arms and was buried the following day in Bonn.

His music

He wrote the finest music for the piano followed by songs and wrote less for the voice as he mainly concentrated to reach every heart of pianists. His melodic facility was extraordinary and made him a worthy successor and companion to Schubert.

There was tenderness, passion, and enormous repertoire like in sensitive literature of Shakespeare. Schumann was gifted at writing poetry, prose, verse and stanzas. They all melted into his works that were found missing in the works of other great Romantics. The lyrical beauty he summoned at will, their warmth and beauty, silenced all critics once and for all.

And such a great composer died the cruellest and most unromantic death.

His selected music

Piano music

Carnival, OP 9 (1835) This was word play which Schumann loved most in a captivating collection on four notes. He wrote it for Ernestine von Frick when he was in love with her when in a brief departure form Clara. Written in German notations as notes A, E flat, C and B natural becomes A, Es.

Fantasiestuck OP, 12 (1837) Schumann used two pen names for them: Zeitschrift and Musik. The personality of forceful and dominant gentle dreams. Etudes Symphoniqe Op 13 (1834-52) a theme of 12 variations describing the work Kinderszened, OP 15 (1838), an album of childhood dreams through an adult's eyes.

Fantasie in C, Op 17 (1838) dedicated to Liszt, yet another revered piano work. Schumann wrote for Clara. It is a pure stream of beautiful melody.

Orchestral music

Symphony No. 1 in B flat, Spring, OP 38 (1841), Symphony No 3 in E flat, Rhenish, OP 97 (1850), They are Schumann's fresh four symphonies and the best especially ‘Spring’ that is attractive and bursting with energy, graceful and melodious. Rhenish called the Cathedral Scene is an evocation of the enthronement of a cardinal in Cologne Cathedral which Schumann had witnessed and dedicated to him.