Every professional musician or music-loving amateur, who examines the
individual influence exerted by our great masters upon himself, should
always hold in especial veneration the name of Robert Schumann. What an
important factor in our dearest recollections is formed by his music,
whether enjoyed in great orchestral, choral or chamber concerts, or in
the familiarity and reserve of our homes! In how many directions have his
compositions and writings influenced our musical feeling, knowledge and
taste! That which has so early endeared itself to us must necessarily
remain a lifelong companion, must, indeed, become a part of our soul;
and this particular corner in our musical heart occupied by Schumann
constantly requires fresh recognition of that spirit, which has found
expression in such an enchanting language. Schumann being, however, a true
German, both personally and artistically, the essence of this spirit is
not readily recognized by foreigners. What the latter admire in him, the
Germans love, and if they wish to express that which in Schumann's music
is worthy of their highest esteem, they use words for which it would be
difficult to find an exact equivalent in the French, English or Italian
languages; as for instance, Gemüth, Innigkeit, Sinnigkeit and Schwärmerei.
This is particularly true in the case of his vocal compositions, which
suffer in translation both poetically and musically more than similar
works of any other composer and are for this reason far from being fully
appreciated outside of German speaking countries. Schumann's instrumental
works, on the contrary, have made his name famous wherever music has
become the object of a widespread interest.
Robert Schumann's career was not rich in striking events of a general
interest, but it was of a more solitary character, revealing the inward
life of a poetic dreamer whose language was to be music; of an artist who
paved the way for a new and brilliant epoch of his art, who enlarged its
domain, fought for its dignity, and by the splendid example of his own
productions proved the possibility of his artistic creed. His works were
his life; in him there was the closest union of man and artist. Just as a
knowledge of his life and personal character helps us to understand his
music, so the study of the latter reveals to us the man, for his works are
not merely results of a natural or an acquired ability, but they form the
musical history of the life of his soul.
The twenty years during which Schumann personally exerted a great
influence upon the musical world cover a red-letter period of this
century. Only a few years before, Beethoven, Schubert and Weber had died,
closing the great epoch of the classic masters, while at the same time
preparing a new one with new ideals and new prospects. In the centre
of the musical world stood the masters of French and Italian opera:
Auber, Halévy, Bellini, Donizetti, and soon Meyerbeer, while such men as
Cherubini, Méhul and Boieldieu had already stepped into the background.
Germany still had Spohr and a number of less famous composers excelling
in some special field, as for instance, Marschner in opera, Lachner in
song and instrumental music, Löwe in ballads and oratorios, Hummel and
Moscheles in pianoforte music; but they all were far surpassed by the
brilliant sun of Mendelssohn which had just risen. He, born in 1809, heads
the list of those distinguished names, which opened a new epoch of our
art, mainly represented beside himself by Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner,
Franz, and their great French contemporary, Berlioz. Italian and French
opera, and an exhibition of meaningless technical virtuosity, formed the
general musical taste; Beethoven was neglected, Schubert hardly known;
and it looks as if by some kind device of nature just in the right time
a resurrection of the higher conception of art was brought about, no one
assisting more in the great work than Robert Schumann. He was equipped not
only with rarest creative gifts, but also with a superior intellect, a
high general culture and a thorough and sincere character, which enabled
him to persevere in his great undertaking with unflagging zeal. Alas! why
has not nature been more kind to him? Why has not one so deserving been
spared the saddest of all fates? Perhaps it was to make his memory still
dearer to us, to increase our veneration for him so that even weaknesses
or errors in his life or works elicit from us an honest sympathy, which
increases whenever we read his many published letters or the story of his
life as told by able and sympathetic writers like Wasielewski, Spitta,
Reissmann, and others.
Robert Schumann was born on the 8th of June, 1810, in the town of Zwickau,
Saxony. Neither his birthplace, nor his ancestry, were such as to favor
an early development of his musical talent. His father, August Schumann,
son of a minister, had, after a long struggle between business and poetry,
finally entered into partnership with a brother as a bookseller, and
became widely known as a publisher of valuable books and magazines, and
besides as an author. He had a particular fondness for English poets,
such as Milton, Scott, and Byron, whose "Beppo" and "Childe Harold" he
translated into German. He was a self-made man, who owed all his success
to his own untiring energy. His wife, Johanna Christiana Schnabel, whom
he won only after a severe struggle, was the daughter of the town-surgeon
in Zeitz; she is described as an agreeable lady, of kind disposition,
deep feeling and a certain romantic sentimentality, which was also a
conspicuous feature of Robert's nature. Her loving care and motherly
anxiety for her son is well known to all readers of young Schumann's
correspondence.
Robert was the youngest of five children. His older brothers entered upon
a business career, and his only sister died in her twentieth year in a
state of incurable melancholy. The handsome little boy was petted by
everybody and much surrounded by women. He received his education first
in a popular private school, later in the public schools, receiving piano
instruction from a school teacher, Baccalaureus Kuntzsch, when only six
years old. Kuntzsch, who was not a professional musician, at least taught
him the most indispensable elements and was held in highest esteem by
Schumann till his death. Little Robert early showed a disposition to lead
his playmates. One particular friend was chosen to assist in four-hand
pieces and a small boys' orchestra was even formed, which Robert directed
and for which he made his first efforts as a composer, without having
had any theoretical instruction. There were overtures, even operatic
sketches, and especially a setting of the 150th psalm for chorus and
orchestra, written in Schumann's twelfth year. He also showed a rare
skill in improvising on the pianoforte, trying to portray certain persons
or dispositions. In public he played the accompaniment of Schneider's
oratorio "The Day of Judgment." He was very fond of poetry and private
theatricals, but his love of music, which was rapidly increasing,
surpassed everything else. This was particularly noticeable after the
summer of 1819, when he attended a concert given by Moscheles in Carlsbad.
The father had now become convinced that Providence intended Robert for
a musician, and notwithstanding all the violent objections on the part
of his wife, who foresaw nothing but a career full of deprivations, he
applied to Carl Maria von Weber, in Dresden, as a teacher for his son.
Weber consented to accept Robert as a pupil, but for unknown reasons the
excellent plan was abandoned and the boy's golden opportunity was lost.
In spite of this neglect of early and well directed training (which may
explain why his first compositions were so original in character and
style), Schumann instinctively kept steadily on in the right path, a fact
that greatly increases our admiration for him. Thus he pursued his musical
studies at home, besides reading as much as possible, and helping his
father in his compilations and translations. But already then he began to
grow more and more reserved and reflective, loving to be alone, in a world
of imagination and dreams. That great romanticist and humorist Jean Paul
Friedrich Richter had completely enchanted him; he knew his novels almost
by heart and never ceased to adore him as the richest source for his own
imagination.
In 1826 Schumann met with a severe loss in the death of his father,
who left the responsibility of the lad's future in the hands of his
mother and his guardian, the merchant Rudel. They wished him to learn
some profession that would promise a safe position early in life, and
obediently submitting, he was inscribed as a law student at the university
of Leipsic. Before this he had graduated brilliantly from the Zwickau
Academy and had made a trip to Southern Germany with a friend, visiting,
among other places, Bayreuth, where he stopped at Jean Paul's home, and
Munich, where he met Heinrich Heine.
[Illustration: ROBERT SCHUMANN'S BIRTHPLACE IN ZWICKAU.