Schumann - who is he? Failed pianist, brilliant composer or sharp music critic? Robert Schumann - biography, photo, personal life of the composer.

The work of the German composer Robert Schumann is inseparable from his personality. A representative of the Leipzig school, Schumann was a prominent exponent of the ideas of romanticism in the art of music. "The mind is wrong, the feeling - never" - this was his creative credo, to which he remained faithful throughout his short life. Such are his works, filled with deeply personal experiences - sometimes bright and sublime, sometimes gloomy and oppressive, but extremely sincere in every note.

Brief biography of Schumann

On June 8, 1810, a joyful event took place in the small Saxon town of Zwickau - the fifth child was born in the family of August Schumann, a boy named Robert. Parents then could not even suspect that this date, like the name of their youngest son, would go down in history and become the property of the world. musical culture. They were absolutely far from music.

The father of the future composer August Schumann was engaged in book publishing and was sure that son will go in his footsteps. Feeling literary talent in the boy, he managed to instill in him a love of writing from early childhood and taught him to deeply and subtly feel the artistic word. Like his father, the boy read Jean Paul and Byron, absorbing all the charm of romanticism from the pages of their works. He retained his passion for literature for the rest of his life, but music became his own life.

According to Schumann's biography, Robert began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. And two years later, an event occurred that predetermined his fate. Schumann attended a concert by pianist and composer Moscheles. The virtuoso's playing so shocked Robert's young imagination that he could not think of anything else but music. He continues to improve in playing the piano and at the same time tries to compose.

After graduating from high school, the young man, yielding to his mother's desire, enters the University of Leipzig to study law, but future profession he is not interested in anything. Studying seems unbearably boring to him. Secretly, Schumann continues to dream about music. His next teacher becomes famous musician Friedrich Wieck. Under his guidance, he improves his piano technique and, in the end, admits to his mother that he wants to be a musician. Friedrich Wieck helps break parental resistance, believing that a bright future awaits his ward. Schumann is obsessed with becoming virtuoso pianist and give concerts. But at 21, an injury to his right hand forever puts an end to his dreams.

After recovering from the shock, he decides to devote his life to composing music. From 1831 to 1838, his inspired fantasy gives birth to piano cycles"Variations", " Carnival ”,“ Butterflies ”,“ Fantastic plays ”,“ Children's scenes ”, “Kreisleriana”. At the same time, Schumann is actively engaged in journalistic activities. He creates the New Musical Newspaper, in which he advocates the development of a new direction in music that meets the aesthetic principles of romanticism, where creativity is based on feelings, emotions, experiences, and young talents are actively supported on the pages of the newspaper.

The year 1840 was marked for the composer by a coveted marriage union with Clara Wieck. Experiencing an extraordinary spiritual uplift, he creates cycles of songs that have immortalized his name. Among them - " Poet's love ”, “Myrtle”, “Love and life of a woman”. Together with his wife, they tour a lot, including giving concerts in Russia, where they are received very enthusiastically. Moscow and especially the Kremlin made a great impression on Schumann. This trip was one of the last happy moments in the composer's life. The collision with reality, filled with constant worries about daily bread, led to the first bouts of depression. In his desire to provide for his family, he moves first to Dresden, then to Düsseldorf, where he is offered the post of music director. But very quickly it turns out that a talented composer can hardly cope with the duties of a conductor. Feelings about his failure in this capacity, the material difficulties of the family, in which he considers himself guilty, become the reasons for a sharp deterioration in his state of mind. From Schumann's biography we learn that in 1954 the rapidly developing mental illness almost drove the composer to suicide. Fleeing from visions and hallucinations, he ran out of the house half-dressed and threw himself into the waters of the Rhine. He was saved, but after this incident he had to be placed in a psychiatric hospital, from where he never left. He was only 46 years old.

Interesting facts about Robert Schumann

• Schumann's name is international competition performers of academic music, which is called - Internationaler Robert-Schumann-Wettbewerb. It was first held in 1956 in Berlin.

• There is a music award named after Robert Schumann, established by the city hall of Zwickau. The laureates of the award are honored, according to tradition, on the composer's birthday - June 8th. Among them are musicians, conductors and musicologists who have made a significant contribution to the popularization of the composer's works.
• Schumann can be considered godfather» Johannes Brahms. Being the editor-in-chief of the Novaya Musical Newspaper and a respected music critic, he was very flattering about the talent of the young Brahms, calling him a genius. Thus, for the first time, he drew the attention of the general public to the novice composer.
• Adherents of music therapy recommend listening to Schumann's "Dreams" for a restful sleep.
• As a teenager, Schumann, under the strict guidance of his father, worked as a proofreader on the creation of a dictionary from Latin.
• In honor of the 200th anniversary of Schumann in Germany, a 10 euro silver coin with a portrait of the composer was issued. The coin is engraved with a phrase from the composer's diary: "Sounds are sublime words."

• Schumann left not only the rich musical heritage, but also literary - mostly autobiographical. Throughout his life, he kept diaries - "Studententagebuch" (Student diaries), "Lebensbucher" (Books of life), there is also "Eheta-gebiicher" (Diaries of marriage) and "Reiseta-gebucher" (Road diaries). In addition, his pen belongs literary notes"Brautbuch" (Diary for the bride), "Erinnerungsbtichelchen fiir unsere Kinder" (Books of memories for our children), Lebensskizze (Outline of life) 1840, "Musikalischer Lebenslauf -Materialien - alteste musikalische Erinne-rungen" (Musical life - materials - early musical memories), "The Book of Projects", which describes the process of writing his own musical works, as well as his childhood poems.
• On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the German romantic, a postage stamp was issued in the USSR.
• On their wedding day, Schumann presented his fiancee Clara Wieck with a cycle of romantic songs "Myrtle", which he wrote in her honor. Clara did not remain in debt and decorated the wedding dress with a myrtle wreath.

• Schumann's wife Clara tried all her life to promote her husband's work, including his works in her concerts. She gave her last concert at the age of 72.
• The composer's youngest son was named Felix - in honor of Schumann's friend and colleague Felix Mendelssohn.
• romantic love story Clara and Robert Schumann was filmed. In 1947, the American film Song of Love was shot, where the role of Clara was played by Katharine Hepburn.

To shed light into the depths of the human heart - such is the vocation of the artist.
R. Schumann

P. Tchaikovsky believed that future generations would call the 19th century. Schumann's period in the history of music. Indeed, Schumann's music captured the main thing in the art of his time - its content was the "mysteriously deep processes of the spiritual life" of a person, its purpose - penetration into the "depths of the human heart."

R. Schumann was born in the provincial Saxon town of Zwickau, in the family of the publisher and bookseller August Schumann, who died early (1826), but managed to pass on to his son a reverent attitude towards art and encouraged him to study music with the local organist I. Kuntsch. FROM early years Schumann loved to improvise on the piano, at the age of 13 he wrote a Psalm for choir and orchestra, but no less than music, he was attracted to literature, in the study of which he made great strides during his years at the gymnasium. The romantically inclined young man was not at all interested in jurisprudence, which he studied at the universities of Leipzig and Heidelberg (1828-30).

Classes with the famous piano teacher F. Wieck, attending concerts in Leipzig, acquaintance with the works of F. Schubert contributed to the decision to devote himself to music. With difficulty overcoming the resistance of his relatives, Schumann began intensive piano lessons, but a disease in his right hand (due to mechanical training of the fingers) closed his career as a pianist for him. With all the greater enthusiasm, Schumann devotes himself to composing music, takes composition lessons from G. Dorn, studies the work of J. S. Bach and L. Beethoven. Already the first published piano works (Variations on a theme by Abegg, "Butterflies", 1830-31) showed the independence of the young author.

Since 1834, Schumann became the editor and then the publisher of the New Musical Journal, which aimed to fight against the superficial works of virtuoso composers who flooded the concert stage at that time, with handicraft imitation of the classics, for a new, deep art, illuminated by poetic inspiration . In their articles, written in the original art form- often in the form of scenes, dialogues, aphorisms, etc. - Schumann presents the reader with an ideal true art, which he sees in the works of F. Schubert and F. Mendelssohn, F. Chopin and G. Berlioz, in the music of the Viennese classics, in the play of N. Paganini and the young pianist Clara Wieck, the daughter of his teacher. Schumann managed to gather around him like-minded people who appeared on the pages of the magazine as Davidsbündlers - members of the "David Brotherhood" ("Davidsbund"), a kind of spiritual union of genuine musicians. Schumann himself often signed his reviews with the names of fictitious Davidsbündlers Florestan and Eusebius. Florestan is prone to violent ups and downs of fantasy, to paradoxes, the judgments of the dreamy Eusebius are softer. In the suite of characteristic plays "Carnival" (1834-35), Schumann creates musical portraits Davidsbündlers - Chopin, Paganini, Clara (under the name of Chiarina), Eusebius, Florestan.

The highest tension of mental strength and the highest ups of creative genius (“Fantastic Pieces”, “Dances of the Davidsbündlers”, Fantasia in C major, “Kreislerian”, “Novelettes”, “Humoresque”, “Viennese Carnival”) brought Schumann the second half of the 30s. , which passed under the sign of the struggle for the right to unite with Clara Wieck (F. Wieck in every possible way prevented this marriage). In an effort to find a wider arena for his musical and journalistic activities, Schumann spends the 1838-39 season. in Vienna, but the Metternich administration and censorship prevented the journal from being published there. In Vienna, Schumann discovered the manuscript of Schubert's "great" Symphony in C major, one of the pinnacles of romantic symphonism.

1840 - the year of the long-awaited union with Clara - became for Schumann the year of songs. An extraordinary sensitivity to poetry, a deep knowledge of the work of contemporaries contributed to the realization in numerous song cycles and individual songs of a true union with poetry, the exact embodiment in music of the individual poetic intonation of H. Heine (“Circle of Songs” op. 24, “The Poet's Love”), I. Eichendorff (“Circle of Songs”, op. 39), A. Chamisso (“Love and Life of a Woman”), R. Burns, F. Ruckert, J. Byron, H. X. Andersen and others. And subsequently, the field of vocal creativity continued to grow wonderful works (“Six poems by N. Lenau” and Requiem - 1850, “Songs from“ Wilhelm Meister “by I. V. Goethe” - 1849, etc.).

The life and work of Schumann in the 40-50s. flowed in an alternation of ups and downs, largely associated with bouts of mental illness, the first signs of which appeared as early as 1833. Upsurges in creative energy marked the beginning of the 40s, the end of the Dresden period (the Schumanns lived in the capital of Saxony in 1845-50. ), coinciding with the revolutionary events in Europe, and the beginning of life in Düsseldorf (1850). Schumann composes a lot, teaches at the Leipzig Conservatory, which opened in 1843, and from the same year begins to perform as a conductor. In Dresden and Düsseldorf, he also directs the choir, devoting himself to this work with enthusiasm. Of the few tours made with Clara, the longest and most impressive was a trip to Russia (1844). Since the 60-70s. Schumann's music very quickly became an integral part of Russian musical culture. She was loved by M. Balakirev and M. Mussorgsky, A. Borodin and especially Tchaikovsky, who considered Schumann the most outstanding contemporary composer. Brilliant performer piano works Schumann was A. Rubinstein.

Creativity of the 40-50s. marked by a significant expansion of the range of genres. Schumann writes symphonies (First - "Spring", 1841, Second, 1845-46; Third - "Rhine", 1850; Fourth, 1841-1st edition, 1851 - 2nd edition), chamber ensembles (3 string quartet- 1842; 3 trios; piano quartet and quintet; ensembles with the participation of the clarinet - including "Fabulous Narratives" for clarinet, viola and piano; 2 sonatas for violin and piano, etc.); concertos for pianoforte 1841-45), cello (1850), violin (1853); program concert overtures ("The Bride of Messina" by Schiller, 1851; "Hermann and Dorothea" by Goethe and "Julius Caesar" by Shakespeare - 1851), demonstrating mastery in handling classical forms. The courage in their renewal stands out piano concert and the Fourth Symphony, the exceptional harmony of the embodiment and the inspiration of musical thoughts - Quintet in E flat major. One of the culminations of the composer's entire work was the music for Byron's dramatic poem Manfred (1848) - milestone in the development of romantic symphonism on the way from Beethoven to Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Brahms. Schumann does not betray his beloved piano either (Forest Scenes, 1848-49 and other pieces) - it is his sound that endows his chamber ensembles and vocal lyrics with special expressiveness. The search for the composer in the field of vocal and dramatic music was tireless (the oratorio "Paradise and Peri" by T. Moore - 1843; Scenes from Goethe's "Faust", 1844-53; ballads for soloists, choir and orchestra; works of sacred genres, etc.) . The staging in Leipzig of Schumann's only opera Genoveva (1847-48) after F. Gobbel and L. Tieck, close in plot to the German romantic "knightly" operas by K. M. Weber and R. Wagner, did not bring him success.

big event recent years Schumann's life was his meeting with the twenty-year-old Brahms. The article "New Ways", in which Schumann predicted a great future for his spiritual heir (he always treated young composers with extraordinary sensitivity), completed it. journalistic activity. In February 1854, a severe attack of illness led to a suicide attempt. After spending 2 years in a hospital (Endenich, near Bonn), Schumann died. Most of the manuscripts and documents are kept in his House-Museum in Zwickau (Germany), where competitions for pianists, vocalists and chamber ensembles composer's name.

Schumann's work marked the mature stage of musical romanticism with its heightened attention to the embodiment of complex psychological processes human life. Piano and vocal cycles by Schumann, many of the chamber-instrumental, symphonic works opened a new artistic world, new forms of musical expression. Schumann's music can be imagined as a series of surprisingly capacious musical moments, capturing the changing and very finely differentiated mental states of a person. These can also be musical portraits, accurately capturing both the external character and inner essence depicted.

Schumann gave programmatic titles to many of his works, which were designed to excite the imagination of the listener and performer. His work is very closely connected with literature - with the work of Jean Paul (I. P. Richter), T. A. Hoffmann, G. Heine and others. Schumann's miniatures can be compared with lyric poems, more detailed plays - with poems, romantic stories, where sometimes different storylines, the real turns into the fantastic, arise digressions etc. Hoffmann's hero - the insane Kapellmeister Johannes Kreisler, who frightens the townsfolk with his fanatical devotion to music - gave the name "Kreislerians" - one of the most inspired Schumann creations. In this cycle of piano fantasy pieces, as in vocal cycle based on Heine's poems "The Love of a Poet", the image of a romantic artist arises, a true poet, capable of feeling infinitely sharp, "strong, fiery and tender", sometimes forced to hide his true essence under the guise of irony and buffoonery, in order to reveal it even more sincerely and cordially or plunge into deep thought... Byron's Manfred is endowed by Schumann with sharpness and strength of feeling, the madness of a rebellious impulse, in whose image there are also philosophical and tragic features. Lyrically animated images of nature, fantastic dreams, ancient legends and legends, images of childhood (“Children's Scenes” - 1838; piano (1848) and vocal (1849) “Albums for Youth”) complement the artistic world of the great musician, “a poet par excellence”, as V. Stasov called it.

E. Tsareva

Schuman's words "to illuminate the depths of the human heart - this is the purpose of the artist" - a direct path to the knowledge of his art. Few people can compare with Schumann in the penetration with which he conveys the finest nuances of life with sounds. human soul. The world of feelings is an inexhaustible spring of his musical and poetic images.

No less remarkable is another statement by Schumann: “One should not plunge too much into oneself, while it is easy to lose a sharp look at the world". And Schumann followed his own advice. At the age of twenty he took up the struggle against inertia and philistinism. (philistine is a collective German word that personifies a tradesman, a person with backward philistine views on life, politics, art) in art. A fighting spirit, rebellious and passionate, filled his musical works and his bold, daring critical articles, which paved the way for new progressive phenomena of art.

Irreconcilability to routinism, vulgarity Schumann carried through his whole life. But the disease, which grew stronger every year, aggravated the nervousness and romantic sensitivity of his nature, often hindered the enthusiasm and energy with which he devoted himself to musical and social activities. The complexity of the ideological socio-political situation in Germany at that time also had an effect. However, under conditions of semi-feudal reactionary state structure Schumann managed to preserve the purity of moral ideals, to constantly maintain in himself and arouse in others creative burning.

“Nothing real is created in art without enthusiasm,” these wonderful words of the composer reveal the essence of his creative aspirations. A sensitive and deeply thinking artist, he could not help but respond to the call of the times, to succumb to the inspiring influence of the era of revolutions and national liberation wars that shook Europe in the first half of the 19th century.

Romantic oddity musical images and compositions, the passion that Schumann brought into all his activities disturbed the sleepy peace of the German philistines. It is no coincidence that Schumann's work was hushed up by the press and did not find recognition in his homeland for a long time. life path Schumann was difficult. From the very beginning, the struggle for the right to become a musician determined the tense and sometimes nervous atmosphere of his life. The collapse of dreams was sometimes replaced by a sudden realization of hopes, moments of acute joy - deep depression. All this was imprinted in the quivering pages of Schumann's music.

To Schumann's contemporaries, his work seemed mysterious and inaccessible. A peculiar musical language, new images, new forms - all this required too deep listening and tension, unusual for the audience of concert halls.

The experience of Liszt, who tried to promote Schumann's music, ended rather sadly. In a letter to Schumann's biographer, Liszt wrote: "Many times I had such a failure with Schumann's plays both in private homes and in public concerts that I lost the courage to put them on my posters."

But even among musicians, Schumann's art made its way to understanding with difficulty. Not to mention Mendelssohn, to whom the rebellious spirit of Schumann was deeply alien, the same Liszt - one of the most insightful and sensitive artists - accepted Schumann only partially, allowing himself such liberties as performing "Carnival" with cuts.

Only since the 1950s, Schumann's music began to take root in the musical and concert life, to acquire ever wider circles of adherents and admirers. Among the first people who noted its true value were leading Russian musicians. Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein played Schumann a lot and willingly, and it was precisely with the performance of "Carnival" and "Symphonic Etudes" that he made a huge impression on the audience.

Love for Schumann was repeatedly testified by Tchaikovsky and the figures " mighty handful". Tchaikovsky spoke especially penetratingly about Schumann, noting the exciting modernity of Schumann's work, the novelty of the content, the novelty of the musical thinking composer. “Schumann's music,” wrote Tchaikovsky, “organically adjoining Beethoven's work and at the same time sharply separating from it, opens up to us a whole world of new musical forms, touches strings that have not yet been touched by his great predecessors. In it we find an echo of those mysterious spiritual processes of our spiritual life, those doubts, despairs and impulses towards the ideal that overwhelm the heart of modern man.

Schumann belongs to the second generation of romantic musicians who replaced Weber, Schubert. Schumann in many respects started from the late Schubert, from that line of his work, in which lyrical-dramatic and psychological elements played a decisive role.

Main creative theme Schuman - world internal states person, his psychological life. There are features in the appearance of Schumann's hero that are akin to Schubert's, there is also a lot of new, inherent in the artist of a different generation, with a complicated and contradictory system of thoughts and feelings. Artistic and poetic images of Schumann, more fragile and refined, were born in the mind, acutely perceiving the ever-increasing contradictions of the time. It was this heightened acuteness of reaction to the phenomena of life that created extraordinary tension and strength of the "impact of Schumann's ardor of feelings" (Asafiev). None of Schumann's Western European contemporaries, except for Chopin, has such passion and a variety of emotional nuances.

In the nervously receptive nature of Schumann, the feeling of a gap experienced by the leading artists of the era between a thinking, deeply feeling personality and real conditions surrounding reality. He seeks to fill the incompleteness of existence own fantasy, ugly life to oppose perfect world, the realm of dreams and poetic fiction. Ultimately, this led to the fact that the multiplicity of life phenomena began to shrink to the limits of the personal sphere, inner life. Self-deepening, focus on one's feelings, one's experiences strengthened the growth of the psychological principle in Schumann's work.

Nature, everyday life, the entire objective world, as it were, depend on the given state of the artist, are colored in the tones of his personal mood. Nature in Schumann's work does not exist outside of his experiences; it always reflects his own emotions, takes on a color corresponding to them. The same can be said about the fabulous-fantastic images. In the work of Schumann, in comparison with the work of Weber or Mendelssohn, the connection with the fabulousness generated by folk ideas is noticeably weakening. Schumann's fantasy is rather a fantasy of his own visions, sometimes bizarre and capricious, caused by the play of artistic imagination.

The strengthening of subjectivity and psychological motives, the often autobiographical nature of creativity, do not detract from the exceptional universal value of Schumann's music, for these phenomena are deeply typical of Schumann's era. Belinsky spoke remarkably about the significance of the subjective principle in art: “In a great talent, an excess of an inner, subjective element is a sign of humanity. Do not be afraid of this direction: it will not deceive you, it will not mislead you. great poet talking about himself, about his I, speaks of the general - of humanity, because in his nature lies everything that humanity lives by. And therefore, in his sadness, in his soul, everyone recognizes his own and sees in him not only poet, but human his brother in humanity. Recognizing him as a being incomparably higher than himself, everyone at the same time recognizes his kinship with him.

The famous German composer Robert Schumann, a romantic, a dreamer with a tender and vulnerable soul, brought the traditional classical dimension of the world musical art progress and innovation. Combining poetics, harmony and philosophy in his work, he ensured that his works were not just melodic and beautiful in sound, but were an external reflection of a person’s inner worldview, his desire to express his state of mind. Schuman can rightly be considered an innovator who strove for progress in the European classical music 19th century.

Years of life

Schumann did not live long long life marked by the seal and suffering of a severe and painful illness. He was born June 8, 1810 and died July 29, 1856. His native family was not musical at all. He was born into a family of booksellers, where in addition to him there were four older children. From the age of seven, the boy began to study music with a local organist, and at the age of 12 he tried to create his own piece of music.

Parents dreamed that their son would become a lawyer and Robert spent several years studying to please them, but it turned out that his vocation for music is much stronger than the desire to please his parents and arrange a prosperous future for himself. Studying in Leipzig at the Faculty of Law, she free time dedicated to music.

His acquaintance with Franz Schubert, a trip to the Italian Mecca of art - Venice, the delight of attending Paganini concerts, strengthened his desire to devote himself to music. He begins taking piano lessons with Friedrich Wieck, where he meets his future wife Clara, who became his faithful associate and companion until the end of his life. The hated jurisprudence is left aside, and Schumann devotes himself entirely to music.

His ambition to become a pianist ended almost tragically. To increase the fluency of the fingers, which is very important for the performer, Schumann underwent an operation that was unsuccessful, and he lost the opportunity to make a career as a musician. But now he devoted all his time to composing musical works. Together with other young musicians, Schumann begins publishing the New Musical Newspaper magazine. For this magazine Schumann writes a large number of critical articles on contemporary musical art.

The works of Robert Schumann, starting from the very first works, are full of romanticism, idyllic dreaminess and filled with echoes of his own feelings. But, despite the touch of sentimentality so fashionable for his time, he developed a desire for material success. This was especially evident when Schumann decided to start a family. His chosen one was Clara Wieck, his daughter music teacher and mentor. Clara was a gifted and very successful pianist, so the union of these two musically talented people was very harmonious and happy.

Almost every year, another child appeared in the family of Robert and Clara, there were eight in total. But this did not prevent the spouses from successfully touring European cities. In 1844 they visited Russia with concerts, where they were given a very warm welcome. His wife was an amazing woman! An excellent pianist herself, she, realizing the extraordinary talent of her husband, tried to protect him from everyday difficulties, and Schumann was able to devote himself entirely to writing.

Fate gave Schumann sixteen happy years of marriage, and only severe mental illness overshadowed this happy union. In 1854, the disease worsened, and even voluntary treatment in an advanced clinic did not help. In 1856, Schumann died.

The composer's work

Robert Schumann left behind a huge musical legacy. Starting with the first printed works "Butterflies", "Davidsbündlers", "Fantastic plays", "Kreislerian" such airy, delicate, transparent miniatures filled with air and light, and ending with the operas "Faust", "Manfred", symphonies and oratorios, he always remained true to his ideal in music.

Robert Schumann is undoubtedly a subtle and talented master, brilliantly conveys all shades of feelings and moods, therefore his famous lyrical cycles “Circle of Songs”, “Poet's Love”, “Love and Life of a Woman” are still extremely popular among performers and listeners. . Many, like his contemporaries, consider his works difficult, difficult to understand, but Schumann's works are an example of the spirituality and nobility of human nature, and not just the glitter and glamor tinsel.

He was forbidden to love, ordered to forget about Clara Wieck ... But he still married for love. The wife was not only talented, a match for her husband, but also devoted to him until her death ...

Become a genius to begin with

Born 1810, in Zwickau (Germany). He was raised, surrounded by admiration and adoration. After all, the boy from early childhood showed extraordinary abilities in literature and music. However, after Robert graduated from high school in his native Zwickau, his mother did not believe that her son could become famous composer. After all, how much can you make a living with music? And how to compete with the likes of Mendelssohn or Chopin? How wrong she was! After all, despite the years spent studying law, Robert definitely decided: music is in the first place for him.

He gave up everything to develop his talent. But another impetus was the separation from the married mistress Agnes Carus. Having met in the house of an acquaintance, he fell in love with her singing, but this romance did not have a happy ending. Although ... Whatever is done is for the best: it was Agnes who brought Robert to Professor Vic. After some time, Schumann settled in the house of a mentor and music teacher, Friedrich Wieck. Six or seven hours at the piano, developing his fingers, was not the limit for him. He would love to play all day long. By the way, due to excessive zeal, the future composer developed hand anemia.

Pianist from God

In addition to a gifted student, Vik also had a very talented daughter. Her name was Clara. When she was five, her father divorced her mother. And two years later, Friedrich had already painted further fate daughter, presenting her at the altar of music. Already at the age of eleven, she performed solo for the first time, and a year later she went on tour. Submission came to an end when she met Robert Schumann. He was nine years older than her, but the music blurred that line between them.

Robert Schumann looked at her differently

Years passed, and the little smiling girl turned into real lady. She was already seventeen, and Robert could not take away from her eyes. They spent a lot of time together, and Schumann decided to confess his feelings. It happened when she went out to walk him to the door late at night. Robert suddenly turned around and kissed her. Clara almost lost consciousness - her heart fluttered so much. He proposed to her, and the girl agreed. The lovers even went for a blessing to Schumann's mother.

The only one who did not perceive them as a couple was Clara's father. Maybe paternal jealousy surged up in him ... It is absolutely known that he refused such a dysfunctional son-in-law. Not only does he not have sufficient finances, but there are also rumors about depression and drunkenness, in which he drowns his feelings.

Friedrich Wieck took his daughter on a long tour. It was strictly forbidden to communicate or correspond with Clara! A year and a half long silence followed, followed by a four-year war for happiness.

If you really love...

Separation improved well-being Schuman but his heart is still hurt. He was going to do everything in his power and get Clara back!

“Are you still faithful and firm? - Robert wrote timidly in a letter. - No matter how unshakably I believe in you, even the most firm courage will be shaken when nothing is heard about what is dearest to a person in the world. And for me, the most precious thing in the world is you.

She was glad to hear from him, but her father still stood between them. Nevertheless, Clara replied: “Are you asking me for a simple yes? Such a tiny word, and so important? But really, a heart full of inexpressible love, like mine, should not pronounce this word with all my heart? So I do, and my soul whispers to you an eternal "yes."

Defend fate in court

In June 1839, the Royal High Court of Appeal of the city of Leipzig accepted for consideration a petition from famous composer Robert Schumann. The appeal read: “We, the undersigned and Clara Wieck, have for several years now had a joint and heartfelt desire to unite with each other. However, Clara's father, Friedrich Wieck, a piano merchant, despite numerous friendly requests, stubbornly refuses to give his consent. Therefore, we make a humble request to compel the said gentleman to give his paternal blessing to the conclusion of a marriage union by us, or to deign to give his most merciful permission instead of him.

Of course, such an action caused a huge scandal. Conciliatory meetings were held on several occasions, but Vic refused to appear in court. Moreover, he set unthinkable conditions for his son-in-law (mostly of a material nature). When Schuman refused, the father of his beloved went to a completely ungentlemanly act, denigrating the names of the young, spreading disgusting rumors.

In December, Vic had to appear before a judge. He did not leave attempts to accuse Schumann of all mortal sins. A family quarrel escalated into something completely incomprehensible. The judge had to urge Vic to calm down several times. But when Clara was asked with whom she wanted to leave the hall, and the answer was: “With my lover,” the father became completely furious, yelling: “Then I will curse you! And God forbid, one day you will come to my house as a beggar, with a bunch of children!” That day she cried a lot, and Schuman wrote in his notebook: "Never forget what Clara had to endure for you!"

Friedrich Wieck managed to delay the process for another six months, but he lost. Moreover, Clara's father after the trial was sentenced for slandering Schumann to 18 days in prison.

with Clara Wieck

joking Schuman in last time before the wedding, he warned the girl: “I have many shortcomings, dear. And one is simply unbearable. To the people I love the most, I try to prove my love by doing things to spite them. For example, you will say to me: "Dear Robert, answer this letter, it has been lying for a long time." And what do you think I'll do? I will find a thousand reasons not to do it - for nothing! .. And also, dear, you need to know that I coldly accept the most sincere expressions of love, and I offend those whom I love the most, most of all ... terrible person". But her love was too great to give up because of such a trifle.

On September 12, 1840, Robert and Clara were finally married. Schumann thanked heaven and God for this gift. He composed 138 beautiful songs - hymns of triumphant love. And Clara gave him all this creative power. Having become a single whole, they overshadowed their rivals with their music. Only when Vic was convinced that his son-in-law had achieved universal recognition and fame did he write: “Dear Schumann! Now we don't have to be far apart. You are also a father now, why long explanations? Your father Friedrich Wieck is waiting for you with joy.”

black cloud

In Leipzig, the couple's house has become a real center musical life cities. But the whole problem was that he was called "the salon of the incomparable Clara." Despite the fact that popular and really recognized Schuman He works hard, he is loved and his house is a full bowl ... He suffers, considering his existence to be just a shadow of the bright life of his wife. In two months of concerts, Clara earned more than he did in a year. His soul inevitably plunged into the darkness of madness. Schumann fell ill, he began to see hallucinations.

“Oh, Clara, I am not worthy of your love. I know I'm sick and I want to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital."

From there he went out one day to drown himself. However, he was saved, and the rest of his life Schuman looked at the world from the window of the ward, not seeing the children and wife. Only two days before his death, Clara was allowed to visit Robert. But he could no longer tell her anything ... In 1856, the composer died.

End of Clara Schumann's journey

She moved to Baden-Baden. Successfully toured the cities of Europe. Clara remained a famous pianist until her death. In 1878 she received an invitation to become "the first piano teacher" at the newly established Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main, where she taught for 14 years. Clara edited the works Robert Schumann and published a number of his letters. Mine last concert she gave on March 12, 1891. She was 71 years old. Clara Schumann suffered a stroke five years later and died a few months later at the age of 76. According to her wish, she was buried in Bonn in the Old Cemetery next to her husband.

DATA

Robert and Clara had eight children. Schumann accompanied his wife in concert trips, and she often performed her husband's music.

Schuman was a teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory, founded by F. Mendelssohn.

In 1844, Schumann took a tour with his wife to St. Petersburg and Moscow, where they were received with great honor.

great composer and famous person, whose life was full of interesting, and sometimes tragic events. What did the musician dream about, was he able to realize his plans, how did he become a composer? Has his personal life affected his work? About this and others interesting facts from the life of the composer we will talk.
On June 8, 1810, Robert Alexander Schumann, who later became a world-famous composer and music critic, was born into the family of a book publisher. The family lived in the German town of Zwickau. The father of the future musician was a fairly wealthy man, and therefore he wanted to give his son a good education. At first, the boy studied at the local gymnasium. And from an early age he showed the ability and desire for music and literary creativity. At the age of seven, he began to study music, playing the piano.
While studying at the gymnasium, he composed his first literary works and became an organizer literary circle. And acquaintance with the work of the writer J. Paul prompted Schumann to write the first literary work- novel. But still, music attracted the boy more, and at the age of ten, Robert wrote his first piece of music, which finally determined the further musical fate of Schumann. Therefore, he diligently studies music, takes piano lessons, writes songs and musical sketches.
After graduating from high school in 1928. the young man, at the insistence of his parents, goes to the University of Leipzig. Here he is studying to be a lawyer. But music lessons still attract the young man. And he continues to take lessons, but already with the new teacher F. Wick, the best piano teacher at that time. In 1829 Robert transferred to study at the University of Geldeiberg. But even there, instead of studying law, he is actively involved in music. He convinces his parents that he will not succeed as a lawyer, because he is not interested in this work.
In 1830 he again returns to Leipzig, to his teacher F. Wik. And during one of his diligent piano lessons, Schubert stretches the tendon. The injury was serious, so a career as a pianist was out of the question. All this made the musician turn his attention to the path of music criticism and composer, which he successfully did.

1834 in the life of Schubert was marked by the opening of the "New Musical Journal" in Leipzig. The young musician became the publisher of the magazine, as well as its main author. All new young musicians found support in this edition, since Schumann was also a supporter of new trends in music and supported innovative trends in every possible way. It was at this time that the heyday of his work as a composer began. All personal feelings about the failed career of a pianist were reflected in musical works composer. But the language of his works was different from the usual music at that time. His writings can be safely called psychological. But still, the fame for the composer, despite the misunderstanding of many musical figures, came during his lifetime.
In 1840 Robert Schumann married the daughter of his music teacher F. Wieck, Clara, who was a talented pianist. Under the influence of this significant event such works of the composer saw the light of day: “Love and Life of a Woman”, “Love of a Poet”, “Myrtle”. Schumann is also known as the author of symphonic works. Among them are symphonies, the oratorio Paradise and Peri, the opera Ganoveva, etc. But happy life composer was overshadowed by deteriorating health. For two years the composer was treated in psychiatric clinic. Treatment did not bring much result in 1856. R. Schumann died, leaving behind a rich musical heritage.