=The Romantic Movement before Schumann=.—Schubert gave a decided
impetus to the Romantic movement through his spontaneous melody and
deep fund of imagination. He infused poetry into the classic forms, his
piano works in the small forms showed the way to future achievement in
these lines, but especially he founded German song, which had scarcely
been hinted at by Mozart and Beethoven. Although Weber extended the
province of piano technic, and exhibited further possibilities of
romantic feeling in combination with the rondo and sonata forms, his
chief work was the realization of German opera, elsewhere described.
But still another German was destined to contribute richly to
romantic piano literature, to prove no mean successor to Schubert
in the province of song, and to add further proofs of his genius in
chamber-music, choral works and the symphony.
=Schumann’s Early life=.—Robert Alexander Schumann was born at
Zwickau, in Saxony, June 8, 1810. His father was a bookseller with
some attainments as an author. Schumann’s gift for music asserted
itself early. He had piano lessons from a local organist at the age of
six, and began to compose soon after. A taste for improvisation also
developed. For several years his literary interests were as pronounced
as those for music. He read assiduously, and was especially devoted to
poetry. His general education was continued at the Zwickau Academy,
where he studied until 1828. In 1827, he came under the joint influence
of the writings of Jean Paul (Richter) the poet and novelist, and of
Schubert’s music, both of which played an important part in his mental
and artistic growth. In 1828, he entered the University of Leipzig
with the intention of studying law. He kept up his music, however, and
not only became enthusiastic over the clavier works of Bach, but took
piano lessons of Friedrich Wieck, a celebrated teacher in Leipzig. In
1829, Schumann went to Heidelberg. Here he continued his law studies
in a desultory fashion, but worked with the greatest persistence at
piano playing. In 1830, he resolved to study law with more seriousness,
but it was intensely repugnant to him, and after some reflection,
he determined, with Wieck’s advice, to adopt music as a profession.
Accordingly, he returned to Leipzig to study the piano with Wieck,
but having the misfortune to injure a finger in his zeal for speedy
perfection, he was obliged to forego the career of a virtuoso, perhaps
to the great gain of music.
=Schumann’s Professional Career=.—He now devoted his attention to
thorough study of composition with Heinrich Dorn. In 1834, Schumann
founded the “New Journal of Music” in the interests of a higher
critical standard, and the furtherance of worthy compositions. During
ten years of editorship, Schumann found abundant outlet for his
literary interests, and his paper exerted a considerable force on
public opinion. Two of his greatest piano works, the Carnival, Op. 9,
and the Symphonic Studies, Op. 13, belong to the year 1834. During
the years 1836 and 1837, he had some intimacy with Mendelssohn. From
1836-39 date most of Schumann’s important works for the piano. In 1840,
Schumann married Wieck’s daughter, Clara, the celebrated pianist,
after several years’ struggle to gain her father’s consent. Schumann’s
marriage was the turning-point in his artistic career, and his wife’s
sympathy was a great stimulus to his creative activity. In the year
following his marriage, Schumann turned to song-composing, producing
more than one hundred songs in this period. In 1841, he gave himself up
wholly to orchestral composition, writing his symphony in B-flat, the
first draft of his D minor symphony, a third work, afterwards published
as Overture, Scherzo and Finale, as well as the first movement of his
piano concerto. In 1842, he confined himself almost exclusively to
chamber-music, composing three string quartets, the masterly quintet,
Op. 44, the quartet, Op. 47, for piano and strings, and a trio. To
1845 belong the “Variations” for two pianos, and a large choral work,
“Paradise and the Peri.” In 1844, Schumann began the music to Goethe’s
“Faust,” but ill-health interrupted him for more than a year. However,
in 1845 he completed the piano concerto, wrote several works for pedal
piano, and in 1846 finished his second symphony. In 1847, he began his
opera “Genoveva,” which was not given until 1850. Late in 1850 he went
to Düsseldorf to take a position as director. While here he composed
his third symphony. In the following years he wrote several overtures,
works for solo instruments and orchestra, the overture and incidental
music to Byron’s “Manfred,” “The Pilgrimage of the Rose” and many
other choral works, including a Mass and a Requiem. Early in 1854,
symptoms of a mental disorder, which had been increasing of late years,
culminated in an attempt at suicide. He passed the remaining years of
his life in an asylum near Bonn, where he died July 29, 1856.
[Illustration: ROBERT SCHUMANN.]
=Schumann’s Personality=.—By reason of his two-fold activity as critic
and composer, Schumann was a new force in music. Highly cultivated in
literature, philosophy and poetry, he possessed a keen and discerning
critical taste, and a literary style that was picturesque and eloquent.
Schumann was shy and reserved by nature, he talked little but observed
and reflected abundantly. He was never fond of society, and as years
went by he lived more and more like a hermit, absorbed in composition
and family life. For ten years, however, he was in touch with the
public by reason of his editorship of the “New Journal,” and by his
championship therein of all that was good and progressive in the music
of the day, did much for the encouragement of true art. His articles
on Schubert, Mendelssohn, Gade, Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms and
others formed a new epoch in musical criticism, and helped the cause
of Romanticism immeasurably. No estimate of Schumann’s character is
complete without taking into account these distinct tendencies as
critic and composer. His collected writings give a graphic illustration
of his views on music, and form a supplement to his personality as
expressed in his music.
=Schumann’s Compositions=.—Schumann’s most representative works include
four symphonies and the “Overture, Scherzo and Finale,” the overtures
“Genoveva” and “Manfred”; three string quartets, a piano quintet,
a piano quartet, three piano trios and two sonatas for piano and
violin; the music to “Faust” and “Manfred”; “Paradise and the Peri,”
“The Pilgrimage of the Rose” and other works for solos, chorus and
orchestra; more than two hundred songs; the piano concerto and two
smaller works for piano and orchestra, besides a monumental series
of works for piano alone. In addition there are duets, part-songs,
choruses, pieces for piano duet, a concert piece for four horns and
orchestra, a concerto for ’cello and orchestra, a fantasy for violin
and orchestra, besides short pieces for oboe, viola, clarinet and
’cello with piano accompaniment, the opera “Genoveva,” the overtures
“The Bride of Messina,” “Julius Cæsar” and “Herman and Dorothea,” the
Mass, Op. 147, and the Requiem, Op. 148.
It will be seen that Schumann wrote much in the sonata or symphonic
form, yet his command of it was far from complete. In this respect and
in instrumentation, Schumann was inferior to his romantic contemporary,
Mendelssohn. On the other hand, he was far more original and his music
has a much greater depth of sentiment, a higher sense of beauty and
a noble human breadth that forms one of the highest points in the
development of romanticism. What he lacked in technical attainment,
he more than made up in beauty of themes, vigor and spontaneity of
treatment, and thorough-going romanticism in moods. It is difficult to
say which is his best symphony, they all have merits of their own; of
the overtures, that to “Genoveva” (almost the only surviving portion of
the opera) and “Manfred” are examples of Schumann’s ardent romanticism
at its best. The string-quartets are not always in quartet style and
their structure is sometimes open to criticism, but they are individual
and contain much that is beautiful. The piano-quartet is a genial work
of great spontaneity that took Europe by storm. It was immediately
hailed as the greatest work since Beethoven, although its position
might now be assailed by the piano quintets by Brahms and César Franck.
The piano quartet, as well as the quintet, is a pioneer in this form
of chamber-music, but has not the same flow of melody as the former.
The trios and sonatas for violin and piano, although not on a level
with the other chamber-music, have nevertheless striking qualities to
commend them. Schumann’s choral music is decidedly unequal, but the
“Paradise and the Peri,” and portions of the “Faust” and “Manfred”
music display the same breadth of human emotion so characteristic of
his best music. In the field of song, Schumann is a worthy successor
to Schubert. Schumann’s songs have not the inexhaustible melody of
Schubert’s, but they are richer harmonically, the accompaniments more
individual, and the character of the poems more subtly brought out.
=Schumann’s Contribution to the Short Piece=.—Perhaps Schumann’s most
conspicuous service to music lies in his development of the short
piece. In this direction he has cultivated a branch of expression,
with an originality, a freedom and a richness that have no parallel
in the Romantic movement except in Chopin. Mendelssohn undoubtedly
did something for the short piece, but his “Songs Without Words” are
limited to a few types, while Schumann made the short form serve every
variety of expression. He undoubtedly owed much to the examples of
Schubert with his waltzes and other dances, the impromptus and moments
musicals, but in richness of resource and spontaneity of expression
he went much beyond the older master. His piano style is highly
distinctive; it does not offer much that is new in finger technic, but
in polyphonic treatment of melodies, in striking rhythms and harmonic
effects and in original use of the pedal it is remarkable. Both in the
sets of small pieces, such as the “Papillons,” Op. 2, the “Davidsbund
Dances,” Op. 6, the “Carnival,” Op. 9, or the Flower pieces, Op. 19,
and in the Novellettes, Op. 21, the Fantasie pieces, Op. 12, the
Symphonic Studies, Op. 15, the Toccata, Op. 7, and the great Fantasy,
Op. 17, Schumann displays a wealth of imaginative poetry that makes him
one of the greatest romanticists in piano music. His piano works from
Op. 2 to Op. 28 are matchless, although the sonatas, Op. 11 and 22,
suffer from lack of coherence. The variations for two pianos, Op. 46,
and the concerto, Op. 54, are models of their type. The “Album for the
Young,” Op. 68, the “Forest Scenes,” Op. 82, the “Varied Leaves,” Op.
99, and the “Album Leaves,” Op. 124, are all admirable, and contain a
great variety of short pieces, many of which were composed early in his
career. Schumann’s songs and piano pieces are the best examples of his
contribution to romanticism.
Schubert and Jean Paul Richter (the romantic novelist and poet)
were the earliest influences in Schumann’s studies, nevertheless he
admired Beethoven greatly, and shut himself up with his quartets as
a preparation for his own chamber-music. As a student in Leipzig, he
was devoted to Bach’s clavier works, and later in life he renewed
his enthusiasm for Bach while writing the works for pedal piano and
the piano fugues. Fugal form and romantic sentiment do not go well
together, however, and Schumann’s compositions in this form are not his
greatest. Schumann’s influence is strongest upon composers of songs
and short piano pieces. It would be difficult to name even the most
representative, but the most signal example is Brahms, whose songs and
piano pieces could hardly exist but for Schumann. In many of the modern
Russian composers we find distinct traces of Schumann, as well as
among the Frenchmen Gabriel Fauré and Vincent d’Indy, the German Adolf
Jensen, the Italian Sgambati, and many others.
=Compositions Suggested for Study=.—The symphonies, overtures, the
chamber-music and the larger choral works are all characteristic
of Schumann at his best, but for more detailed study of his piano
music and songs the following are suggested. Of the piano works,
the “Papillons,” Op. 2; the “Paganini Caprice,” Op. 3, No. 2; the
“Davidsbund” dances, Op. 6, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 17,
18; the “Toccata,” Op. 7; the “Carnival,” Op. 9; the Sonata, Op.
11, especially the “Aria” and “Scherzo”; the “Fantasy Pieces,” Op.
12, entire except the “Fable”; the “Symphonic Studies,” Op. 13; the
“Scenes from Childhood,” Op. 15, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 13; the
“Kreisleriana,” Op. 16, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8; the “Arabesque,”
Op. 18; the “Flower Pieces,” Op. 19; the “Humoreskes,” Op. 20; the
“Novellettes,” Op. 21, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8; the Sonata, Op.
22; the “Night Piece,” Op. 23, No. 4; the “Carnival Prank,” Op. 26,
Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4; the “Romance,” Op. 28, No. 2; the Variations for
two pianos, Op. 46; the Concerto, Op. 54; the “Album for the Young,”
Op. 68; “The Happy Farmer,” “May, Lovely May,” “First Loss,” “Small
Romance,” “Remembrance,” November 4, 1847 (the date of Mendelssohn’s
death); “Canonic Song,” “Theme,” two pieces without name, “Northern
Song”; Op. 76, Nos. 1, 3 and 4; “Forest Scenes,” Op. 82; “Entrance,”
“Lovely Flower,” “Inn,” “Bird as Prophet,” “Hunting Song,” “Elves”; Op.
99, Album Leaf, and Novellette; “Album Leaves,” Op. 124, Nos. 1, 2, 3,
4, 10, 13, 15 and 17. Of the songs: “Dedication,” “The Nut Tree,” “The
Lotus Flower,” “Highland Cradle Song,” “Two Venetian Songs,” “Thou Art
like a Flower,” and “Conclusion,” “The Boy with the Magic Horn,” “To
the Sunshine,” “Forest Dialogue,” “Moonlight,” “Spring Night,” “Woman’s
Love and Life,” “Spring Journey,” “In the Wondrous Month of May,” “From
My Tears,” “The Roses, the Lily,” “When I Look into Thine Eyes,” “I
Grudge it Not,” “The Two Grenadiers,” “Folk-Song.”