Robert Schumann
One of the great composers of the 19th century, Schumann was the quintessential artist whose life and work embodied the idea of Romanticism in music. Schumann was uncomfortable with larger musical forms, such as the symphony and the concerto (nevertheless, representative works in these genres contain moments of great beauty), expressing the full range of his lyrical genius in songs and short pieces for piano. Schumann's extraordinary ability to translate profound, delicate -- and sometimes fleeting -- states of the soul is exemplified by works such as the song cycle Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love), after Heinrich Heine, and his brilliant collections of short piano pieces, including Phantasiestücke (Fantastic Pieces), Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood), and Waldszenen (Forest Scenes). As other critics have observed, Schumann attained the elusive union of music and poetry which Romantic poets and musicians defined as the ultimate goal of art.
Schumann's father was a bookseller who encouraged Robert's musical and literary talents. Robert started studying piano at age 10. In 1828, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig as a law student, although he found music, philosophy, and Leipzig's taverns more interesting than the law. He also began studies with a prominent Leipzig piano teacher, Friedrich Wieck. There was serious mental illness in Schumann's family, and the composer, who most likely suffered from a manic-depressive condition, approached madness with the typical Romantic combination of fear and fascination. A compulsive womanizer and a heavy drinker, Schumann led a life that aggravated his psychological problems. His efforts to become a concert pianist failed after he developed partial paralysis of his right hand. According to a conventional story, the injury resulted from Schumann's compulsive use of a finger-strengthening device, but newer research points to mercury poisoning due to treatment for syphilis. Schumann settled on a career as a composer and musical writer, co-founding the influential Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and attracting attention early with his prophetic praise of Chopin. Many of his articles take the form of dialogues featuring the "League of David," young artists fighting the "Philistines," and headed by his alter egos "Florestan" and "Eusebius," intended to represent the two contrasting facets -- one ebullient, the other reserved -- of his personality. Schumann's music, with its sharp changes in mood, also reflects his tumultuous inner life. Wieck's highly talented pianist daughter Clara grew up and fell in love with Schumann, much to her father's horror. Despite Wieck's opposition, Clara and Robert gained the legal right to marry in 1840, a day before Clara's 21st birthday. During this period, Schumann composed feverishly. Spellbound by a musical thought, he would work himself to exhaustion, enthusiastically cultivating a particular genre for a period of time. (For instance, 1841 was a "year of songs" in which he brought the Romantic song cycle to its apex). He virtually invented the short, poetic, descriptive Romantic piano work, and produced such works in glorious profusion in the late 1830s. Schumann tackled larger forms in the 1840s, partly at Clara's urging; his four mature symphonies retain a place in the repertoire, but his opera Genoveva failed. He held several musical jobs, teaching at the newly founded Leipzig Conservatory, eventually becoming town music director in Düsseldorf, but without much success. On February 27, 1854, he threw himself into the freezing waters of the Rhine. After his rescue, he voluntarily entered an asylum. Although he had periods of lucidity, his condition deteriorated, and he died there in 1856, probably of tertiary syphilis.
© Zoran Minderovic /TiVo
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Beethoven: Piano Sonata - Schumann: Fantasia & Kinderszenen
Musique de chambre - Paru chez Urania le 30 avr. 2004
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Von Fremden Ländern Und Menschen (feat. Flavio Lima)
Classique - Paru chez Studio Sol Central le 1 oct. 2020
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Schumann
Classique - Paru chez Cobra Entertainment LLC le 31 déc. 2013
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Classical Romance with Robert Schumann
Lounge - Paru chez PMI Collins Classics le 1 févr. 2019
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Schumann, Concierto para Piano, Sinfonía No. 4
Berliner Philharmoniker, Walter Gieseking
Classique - Paru chez JamadaClassics le 12 nov. 2015
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Sviatoslav Richter Plays Schumann & Chopin
Classique - Paru chez Urania le 31 mars 2004
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Mikhail Voskresensky plays Schumann
Classique - Paru chez Classical Records le 1 août 2007
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Classical Masterpieces of the Millennium: Schumann
Classique - Paru chez Cobra Entertainment LLC le 29 oct. 2013
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Album für die Jugend (op. 68, Nr. 1 - Nr. 18)
Classique - Paru chez soundnotation le 22 juil. 2021
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Robert Schumann: Novelletten; Blumenstuck; Traumerei
Classique - Paru chez Romeo Records le 15 déc. 2021
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Classical Piano - The Essential, Vol. 3
Nürembeg Symphoniker, Ernst Gröschel
Classique - Paru chez ISTJDigital le 17 nov. 2016
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Roll over Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15 & Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54
Classique - Paru chez Blue Music Group le 15 avr. 2019
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Classical Revision: Schumann
Lounge - Paru chez PMI Collins Classics le 8 sept. 2020
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Schumann - Sonata for Violin & Piano in A Minor
Mikhail Kopelman, Marian Lapsansky
Classique - Paru chez ClassicalPirosDigital le 8 juil. 2015
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The Best of Schumann
Classique - Paru chez JamadaDigital le 9 janv. 2015
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Robert Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16 (1955)
Classique - Paru chez Classical Moments le 9 mai 2013
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Finest Recordings - Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
Musique de chambre - Paru chez MD Digital Classical PD le 20 févr. 2015
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Schumann - Prior - Liszt
Classique - Paru chez Dal Segno le 8 sept. 2014
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Symphony No. 3 In E Flat Major, Op. 97, “Rhenish”
New York Philharmonic, Robert Schumann, Leonard Bernstein
Classique - Paru chez Music Manager le 6 févr. 2013
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Amazing Schumann
Classique - Paru chez Paradise Classical le 3 oct. 2017
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Chill Classical Music
Classique - Paru chez Paradise Classical le 20 juin 2017
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