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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Schumann: Piano Quintet • Mächenbilder • Fünf Stücke im Volkston
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei AVIE Records am 24.08.2016
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Robert Schumann: Concerto For Piano And Orchestra No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 64 / Franz Liszt: Selection of Hungarian Rhapsodies
Klassik - Erschienen bei RHI am 05.06.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: The Complete Works for Piano, Vol. 5
Klassik - Erschienen bei Claves Records am 02.05.2011
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann Recital
Maurice Bourgue, Jean-Bernard Pommier
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Gega New am 08.12.2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Romantic Melody
Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 10.04.2024
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Wigmore Hall Live - Schumann: Märchenerzählungen / Moschekes: Fantasy, Variations, And Finale / Brahms: Clarinet Quintet In B Minor
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Wigmore Hall Live am 01.01.2006
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Best of Romantic Music
Pyotr Illitch Tchaïkovski, Robert Schumann, Gioachino Rossini, Christian Lindberg
Klassik - Erschienen bei EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE am 11.09.2021
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Classical in Winter: Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, Robert Schumann
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 07.12.2023
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Les 3 Quatuors à cordes
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Claves Records am 01.01.2004
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Peaceful Brahms & Schumann
Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 19.11.2020
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Robert & Clara Schumann
Berliner Symphoniker, Shoko Sugitani
Klassik - Erschienen bei ClassicalPirosDigital am 09.07.2015
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Brahms & Schumann: Transcriptions for Viola & Piano
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Claves Records am 13.11.2015
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Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major Op. 97 "Rheinische Symphonie"
Christian Lindberg, Robert Schumann, ADDA Simfònica
Klassik - Erschienen bei EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE am 17.08.2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Widmung, Op. 25, No. 1 (Digitally Remastered)
Klassik - Erschienen bei EMG Classical am 17.02.2015
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Schumann Violin Sonatas, Op. 105 & Op. 121
Arvid Engegard, Nils Anders Mortensen
Klassik - Erschienen bei Lawo Classics am 07.11.2016
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Scenes from Childhood, Op. 15
Klassik - Erschienen bei MFF Records am 20.05.2020
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Schumann - Classical Best
Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Sir Neville Marriner
Symphonieorchester - Erschienen bei Classical Masters am 01.06.2009
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Schumann, Loeffler, Klughardt & Kahn: Romantic Trios for Oboe, Viola and Piano
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei MSR Classics am 11.11.2014
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Schumann : Carnaval - Etudes Symphoniques - Papillons
Klassik - Erschienen bei Saphir Productions am 08.04.2010
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Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6 (Arranged by Hans van der Heide & Micha Hamel)
Klassik - Erschienen bei NBELive am 19.01.2017
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Richter plays Schumann & Chopin
Klassik - Erschienen bei Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica am 14.11.2006
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