The young law student had not been long in Leipsic, when he began to
thoroughly dislike the chosen profession as well as the noisy student
life. To the enthusiastic admirer of Beethoven, Schubert, Jean Paul and
Shakespeare the law seemed utterly dry and uninteresting. However he
promised his guardian that he would pursue his legal studies, although
strong signs of a melancholy disposition had begun to make their
appearance. He joined some students' societies, but preferred the company
of a few friends who were also much given to musical and poetic dreamings.
In the house of Professor Carus, whose wife was a clever singer, his
musical penchant found all desired satisfaction; here he met Marschner
and Friedrich Wieck, the eminent piano teacher, father of that wonderful
little Clara who, then nine years old, had already become famous as a
piano-player of rare ability. With his mother's consent Schumann became
Wieck's pupil, enjoying at last a rational method of technical education,
though still neglecting and even despising all theoretical studies. In
February, 1829, Wieck's instruction ended, Schumann gaining more time
for ensemble playing. Beethoven's and Prince Louis Ferdinand's chamber
compositions were frequently rendered, but especially the works of Franz
Schubert, whose early death in the preceding year had impressed Schumann
very deeply. Bach's "Well-tempered Clavichord" never left his piano. Happy
in extemporizing all kinds of new melodies and harmonies, controlled only
by his musical instinct, he wrote a number of songs and piano pieces,
and even a pianoforte quartet, none of which have ever been published.
The law lectures he neglected, but was much interested in those on the
great German philosophers Kant, Fichte and Schelling. The next year he
spent in Heidelberg, that romantic old town so beautifully situated in
the neighborhood of Switzerland and Italy. Here Schumann met the eminent
pandectist Thibaut; but even this great professor was unable to overcome
the student's aversion for the legal profession. Again music became the
centre of his existence. Life was charming, the time being much occupied
by social events and trips which were made to the neighboring towns and
valleys. On these occasions Schumann used to practice on a dumb piano
even when riding in a carriage. In the fall he enjoyed a delightful trip
to Switzerland and upper Italy, and the spirit in which he describes his
impressions, changing from wit or rapture into melancholy, from admiration
into home-sickness, is very characteristic of his peculiar nature. The
stay in Heidleberg was prolonged for another term, which, however, was
again mainly devoted to piano study and composition, it being here that
he composed his first piano pieces. His skill being widely known, he was
often invited to parties, appearing also in a public concert, where he
played variations by Moscheles. The struggle between filial obedience and
loyalty to his genius had now reached its climax. At a concert given by
Paganini in Frankfort, he was deeply impressed, and resolved to live no
longer in uncertainty. Accordingly in July, 1830, he sent his mother that
famous letter in which he pleads that his future must be devoted to art,
and offers to submit unreservedly to the decision of Wieck. To his immense
delight the latter's advice was favorable and removed all doubts and
objections. Thus Schumann returned to Leipsic as an enthusiastic student
of his beloved art.
[Illustration: From a portrait taken in 1831, Schumann being then in his
twenty-first year. During this year he wrote his opus 2--"Papillons."]
Of the four ways in which a musician may shape his practical career,
teaching, conducting, playing and composing, Schumann chose the last
two as being most congenial to him, aiming particularly at the greatest
possible virtuosity. He devoted himself to mechanical exercises with an
almost sacred energy, even inventing devices to promote his abilities in
shorter time than a natural development would allow. At the same time
he continued composing, and though having no thorough instruction, he
found by his wonderful instinct an adequate form for the expression of
his feelings and ideas, a form which could not be called unmusical or
amateurish. Indeed in looking to-day at these earlier compositions, we
forget that they were written by a man who was only half educated in
music, and we admire the genius which guided him in finding the truest
language for his rich musical nature. But this was not all. His highly
cultivated mind, his desire to promote art by every possible means,
compelled him to become also a leading literary champion of its interests.
Leipsic was at that time a great musical centre, although the famous
epoch only began in 1835, when Mendelssohn was appointed conductor of the
Gewandhaus Orchestra.
[Illustration: CLARA SCHUMANN.