Schumann life and creative path briefly. Schumann's life and work

Robert Schumann short biography German composer is set out in this article.

Biography and work of Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann was born June 8, 1810 in the small town of Zwickau, in absolutely no musical family. His parents were publishing books. They also wanted to addict the child to this business, but being at the age of seven, Robert showed a passion for music.

He enters the University of Leipzig in 1828 at the faculty of jurisprudence. While in Leipzig, Robert meets Wieck, the best piano teacher, and begins taking lessons from him. A year later, realizing that a lawyer is far from the profession that he wants to master, Schumann moves to Heidelberg University. He returned to Leipzig in 1830 and continued to take piano lessons from Wieck. In 1831 he gets injured right hand and the career of the great pianist came to an end. But Schumann did not even think about giving up music - he began to write musical works and mastered the profession of music critic.

Robert Schumann founded the New Musical Journal in Leipzig, and until 1844 was its editor, principal author and publisher. He paid special attention to writing musical works for the piano. The most significant cycles are Butterflies, Variations, Carnival, Davidsbüdler Dances, Fantastic Pieces. In 1838, he wrote several real masterpieces - Novels, Children's scenes and Kreisleriana.

When it was time to get married, in 1840 Robert married Clara Wieck, the daughter of his music teacher. She was known as a talented pianist. During the years of his marriage, he also wrote a number of symphonic works - Paradise and Peri, Requiem and Mass, Requiem for Mignon, scenes from the work "Faust".

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 already from early years 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 - a 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 publication, 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 experiences about the failed career of a pianist were reflected in the composer's musical works. 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 were published: “Love and the Life of a Woman”, “The 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 a psychiatric clinic. Treatment did not bring much result in 1856. R. Schumann died, leaving behind a rich musical legacy.

They are rightfully called the greatest composers of the 19th century. But more often the phrase Schumann's period is heard, this name is given to the era of romanticism in the world of music.

Childhood and youth

German composer and musical critic Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810 in Saxony (Germany) to a loving couple, Friedrich August and Johann Christiana. Because of his love for Johanna, whose parents opposed the marriage with Friedrich because of poverty, the father of the future musician earned money for a year as an assistant in a bookstore for a wedding with a girl and for starting his own business.

Robert Schumann grew up in a family with five children. The boy grew up mischievous and cheerful, like his mother, and was very different from his father, a reserved and silent person.

Robert Schumann started school at the age of six, was distinguished by leadership qualities and creativity. A year later, the parents noticed musical talent child and sent to learn to play the piano. He soon developed the ability to compose orchestral music.

The young man could not decide for a long time future profession- to take up music or go into literature, as my father wanted and insisted. But the concert of the pianist and conductor Moscheles, which Robert Schumann attended, left no chance for literature. The composer's mother had plans to make a lawyer out of her son, but in 1830 he nevertheless received the blessing of his parents to devote his life to music.

Music

After moving to Leipzig, Robert Schumann began attending piano lessons by Friedrich Wieck, who promised him a career as a famous pianist. But life makes its own adjustments. Schumann developed paralysis of his right hand - the problem forced the young man to abandon his dream of becoming a pianist, and he joined the ranks of composers.

There are two very strange versions of the reasons why the composer began to develop the disease. One of them is a simulator made by the musician himself to warm up his fingers, the second story is even more mysterious. It was rumored that the composer tried to remove tendons from his hand in order to achieve virtuosity on the piano.

But none of the versions has been proven, they are refuted in the diaries of his wife Clara, whom Robert Schumann knew, so to speak, from childhood. Enlisting the support of a mentor, Robert Schumann founded the New Musical Gazette in 1834. Published in the newspaper, he criticized and ridiculed indifference to creativity and art under fictitious names.

The composer challenged the depressive and miserable Germany of that time, putting harmony, colors and romanticism into his works. For example, in one of the most famous cycles for piano "Carnival" simultaneously present female images, colorful scenes, carnival masks. In parallel, the composer developed in vocal creativity, the genre of lyrical song.

The story about the creation and the work itself "Album for Youth" deserves special attention. On the day when the eldest daughter of Robert Schumann turned 7 years old, the girl received a notebook with the title "Album for Youth" as a gift. The notebook consisted of works by famous composers and 8 of them were written by Robert Schumann.

The composer attached importance to this work not because he loved his children and wanted to please, he was disgusted by the artistic level of musical education - songs and music that children studied at school. The album includes the plays "Spring Song", "Santa Claus", "Merry Peasant", "Winter", which, in the author's opinion, are easy and understandable for children's perception.

During the period of creative upsurge, the composer wrote 4 symphonies. The main part of the works for piano consists of cycles with a lyrical mood, which are connected by one storyline.

During his lifetime, the music written by Robert Schumann was not perceived by his contemporaries. Romantic, sophisticated, harmonious, touching thin strings human soul. It would seem that Europe, shrouded in a series of changes and revolutions, was unable to appreciate the style of a composer who kept pace with the times, who fought all his life to face the new without fear.

Colleagues "in the shop" also did not perceive a contemporary - he refused to understand the music of a rebel and a rebel, Franz Liszt, being sensitive and romantic, included in concert program only the work "Carnival". The music of Robert Schumann accompanies modern cinema: "Doctor House", "Grandfather of Easy Virtue", " Misterious story Benjamin Button.

Personal life

The composer met his future wife Clara Josephine Wieck in young age in the house of a piano teacher - the girl turned out to be the daughter of Friedrich Wieck. In 1840, the marriage of the young took place. This year is considered the most fruitful for the musician - 140 songs were written, and the year is also notable for the award of a Ph.D. degree from the University of Leipzig.

Clara was famous for being a famous pianist, she traveled to concerts in which her husband accompanied her beloved. The couple had 8 children, the first years life together were like a love story with a happy ending. After 4 years, Robert Schumann begins to show acute attacks of nervous breakdown. Critics suggest that the reason for this is the composer's wife.

Before the wedding, the musician fought for the right to become the husband of the famous pianist, mostly with the girl's father, who categorically disapproved of Schumann's intentions. Despite the obstacles created by the future father-in-law (it came to litigation), Robert Schumann married for love.

After the marriage, I had to deal with the popularity and recognition of my wife. And although Robert Schumann was a recognized and famous composer, the feeling that the musician was hiding in the shadow of Clara's fame did not leave. As a result of emotional experiences, Robert Schumann takes a two-year break in his work.

The love story about the romantic relationship of the creative couple Clara and Robert Schumann is embodied in the film Love Song, which was released in America in 1947.

Death

In 1853, the famous composer and pianist set off to travel around Holland, where the couple was received with honors, but after a while the symptoms of the disease worsened sharply. The composer attempted suicide by jumping into the Rhine River, but the musician was saved.

After this incident, he was placed in psychiatric clinic near Bonn, meetings with his wife were rarely allowed. July 29, 1856 at age 46 great composer died. According to the results of the autopsy, the cause of illness and death in early age- congested blood vessels and damage to the brain.

Artworks

• 1831 - "Butterflies"
• 1834 - "Carnival"
• 1837 - "Fantastic Fragments"
• 1838 - "Children's scenes"
• 1840 - "The Love of a Poet"
• 1848 - "Album for youth"

Creative way. Musical and literary interests of childhood. University years. Musical-critical activity. Leipzig period. last decade

Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810 in Zwickau (Saxony) in the family of a book publisher. His father, an intelligent and outstanding man, encouraged the artistic inclinations of his youngest son *.

* It is known that Schumann's father even went to Dresden to see Weber to persuade him to take over his son's musical studies. Weber agreed, but because of his departure to London, these classes did not take place. Schumann's teacher was the organist I. G. Kuntsh.

Schumann began composing at the age of seven, but he drew attention early as a promising pianist and for a long time at the center of his musical activity there was a piano performance.

A huge place in the spiritual development of the young man was occupied by literary interests. During his school years, he was deeply impressed by the works of Goethe, Schiller, Byron and the ancient Greek tragedians. Later, his literary idol was the now half-forgotten favorite of the German romantics, Jean Paul. The exaggerated emotionality of this writer, his desire to depict the unusual, unbalanced, his peculiar language, overloaded with complex metaphors, had a great influence not only on Schumann's literary style, but also on his musical work. The continuity of literary and musical images is one of the most characteristic features Schumann's art.

With the death of his father in 1826, the composer's life turned, in his own words, into "a struggle between poetry and prose." Under the influence of his mother and guardian, who did not sympathize with the artistic aspirations of the young man, he entered the law faculty of the University of Leipzig after completing the gymnasium course. The university years (1828-1830), full of inner unrest and throwing, turned out to be very significant in the spiritual formation of the composer. From the very beginning, his passionate interest in music, literature, philosophy entered into acute conflict with academic routine. In Leipzig he began to study with Friedrich Wieck, good musician and piano teacher. In 1830, Schumann heard Paganini for the first time and realized what grandiose possibilities lie in the performing arts. Impressed by the performance of the great artist, Schumann was seized by a thirst for musical activity. Then, even without a composition supervisor, he set to writing. The desire to create an expressive virtuoso style subsequently brought to life "Etudes for Piano after Paganini's Caprices" and "Concert Etudes after Paganini's Caprices".

A stay in Leipzig, Heidelberg (where he transferred in 1829), trips to Frankfurt, Munich, where he met Heine, a summer trip to Italy - all this greatly expanded his general horizons. Already in these years, Schumann acutely felt the irreconcilable contradiction between the progressive social aspirations and the reactionary essence of the German bourgeoisie. Hatred of the philistines, or "grandfathers" (as the provincial philistines were called in student jargon), became the dominant feeling in his life *.

* Schumann even portrayed philistines in his music, using for this the melody of the old dance "Grossvatertanz", that is, "Grandfather's Dance" (finals piano cycles"Butterflies" and "Carnival").

In 1830, the spiritual discord of the composer, who was forced to practice law, led to the fact that Schumann left Heidelberg and its academic environment and returned to Leipzig to Wieck to devote himself entirely and forever to music.

The years spent in Leipzig (from the end of 1830 to 1844) are the most fruitful in Schumann's work. He seriously injured his hand, and this deprived him of the hope of a career as a virtuoso performer *.

* Schumann invented an apparatus that allows the development of the fourth finger. Working for many hours in a row, he hopelessly injured his right hand.

Then he turned all his outstanding talent, energy and propagandistic temperament to composition and music-critical activity.

Rapid heyday creative forces amazing. The bold, original, finished style of his first works seems almost implausible *.

* Only in 1831 did he begin to systematically study composition with G. Dorn.

"Butterflies" (1829-1831), a variation of "Abegg" (1830), "Symphonic Studies" (1834), "Carnival" (1834-1835), "Fantasy" (1836), "Fantastic Pieces" (1837), " Kreislerian (1838) and many other works of the 1930s for piano opened new page in the history of musical art.

This early period also accounts for almost all of Schumann's remarkable publicistic activity.

In 1834, with the participation of a number of his friends (L. Schunke, J. Knorr, T. F. Wieck), Schumann founded the New Musical Journal. This was the practical realization of Schumann's dream of an association of progressive artists, which he called the "David Brotherhood" ("Davidsbund") *.

* This name corresponded to the old national traditions Germany, where medieval workshops were often called "David brotherhoods".

The main purpose of the magazine was, as Schumann himself wrote, "to raise the fallen meaning of art." Emphasizing the ideological and progressive nature of his publication, Schumann provided it with the motto "Youth and Movement." And as an epigraph to the first issue, he chose a phrase from Shakespeare's work: "... Only those who came to watch a merry farce will be deceived."

In the “era of Thalberg” (Schumann’s expression), when empty virtuoso plays thundered from the stage and the art of entertainment was flooded with concert and theater halls, Schumann's magazine in general, and his articles in particular, made a stunning impression. These articles are remarkable primarily for their persistent propaganda of the great heritage of the past, the “pure source,” as Schumann called it, “from where you can draw new artistic beauty". His analyzes, revealing the content of the music of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, amaze with their depth and understanding of the spirit of history. The crushing, full of irony criticism of modern pop composers, whom Schumann called "art dealers", has largely retained its social acuteness for the bourgeois culture of our days.

No less striking is Schumann's sensitivity in recognizing genuine new talents and in appreciating their humanistic significance. Time has confirmed the infallibility of Schumann's musical predictions. He was one of the first to welcome the work of Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms*.

* Schumann's first article on Chopin, containing the famous phrase: "Hats off, gentlemen, before you is a genius," appeared in 1831 in the Universal Musical Gazette before the founding of Schumann's journal. The article on Brahms - Schumann's last article - was written in 1853, after a long break from critical activity.

In Chopin's music, behind its graceful lyricism, Schumann was the first to see revolutionary content, saying about the works of the Polish composer that they were "cannons covered with flowers."

Schumann drew a sharp line between the progressive innovative composers, the true heirs of the great classics, and the epigones, who resembled only "the miserable silhouettes of Haydn and Mozart's powdered wigs, but not the heads that wore them."

He rejoiced in the development national music in Poland, Scandinavia and welcomed the features of the nationality in the music of his compatriots.

During the years of unbridled passion in Germany for foreign entertainment opera, he raised his voice for the creation of a national German musical theater in the tradition of Beethoven's Fidelio and Weber's Magic Shooter. All his statements and articles are permeated by faith in the high ethical purpose of art.

A characteristic feature of Schumann the critic was the desire for a deep aesthetic assessment of the content of the work. Form analysis played a subordinate role in it. In Schumann's articles, his need for literary creativity. Often, topical publicistic topics, professional analysis were clothed in a fictional form. Sometimes they were scenes or short stories. This is how the "Davidsbündlers" beloved by Schumann appeared - Florestan, Eusebius, Maestro Raro. Florestan and Eusebius personified not only the two sides of the personality of the composer himself, but also the two dominant tendencies of romantic art. Both heroes - the ardent, energetic and ironic Florestan and the young elegiac poet and dreamer Eusebius - often appear in Schumann's literary and musical works *.

* The prototypes of Florestan and Eusebius are found in the novel by Jean Paul "The Mischievous Years" in the images of the twin brothers Vult and Valt.

Them extreme points vision and artistic sympathies are often reconciled by the wise and balanced maestro Raro.

Sometimes Schumann wrote his articles in the form of letters to a friend or a diary (“Notebooks of Davidsbündlers”, “Aphorisms”). All of them are distinguished by ease of thought and excellent style. The conviction of a propagandist is combined in them with a flight of fancy and a rich sense of humor.

Influence literary style Jean Paul and partly Hoffmann is palpable in a certain heightened emotionality, in frequent appeal to figurative associations, in the "capriciousness" of Schumann's writing style. He strove to produce with his articles the same artistic impression that the music evoked in him, the analysis of which they were devoted to.

In 1840, a milestone was outlined in Schumann's creative biography.

This coincided with turning point in the life of the composer - the end of a painful four-year struggle with F. Wieck for the right to marry his daughter Clara. Clara Wieck (1819-1896) was a remarkable pianist. Her playing impressed not only with a rare technical perfection, but even more with a deep penetration into the author's intention. Clara was still a child, a "wunderkind", when a spiritual intimacy arose between her and Schumann. The views and artistic tastes of the composer greatly contributed to her formation as an artist. She was also a creatively gifted musician. Schumann repeatedly used musical themes Clara Wieck for his writings. Their spiritual interests were closely intertwined.

In all likelihood, Schumann's creative flowering in the early 40s was associated with marriage. However, the impact of other strong impressions of this period should not be underestimated. In 1839 the composer visited Vienna, a city associated with sacred names of great composers of the recent past. True, frivolous atmosphere musical life the capital of Austria repulsed him, and the police censorship discouraged him and prompted him to abandon his intention to move to Vienna in order to establish a music magazine there. Nevertheless, the significance of this trip is great. Having met Schubert's brother Ferdinand, Schumann found the composer's C-dur (last) symphony among the manuscripts he kept and, with the help of his friend Mendelssohn, made it public. Schubert's work aroused in him a desire to try his hand at romance and chamber-symphony music. The revival of the public life before the revolution of 1848.

“I care about everything that happens in the world: politics, literature, people; I think about all this in my own way, and then all this asks to come out, looking for expression in music,” Schumann said even earlier about his attitude to life.

The art of Schumann in the early 40s is characterized by a significant expansion of creative interests. This was expressed, in particular, in a consistent passion for various musical genres.

By the end of 1839, Schumann seemed to have exhausted the field of piano music. All through 1840 he was consumed vocal creativity. In a short time, Schumann created more than one hundred and thirty songs, including all of his most outstanding collections and cycles (“Circle of Songs” to texts by Heine, “Myrtle” to poems by various poets, “Circle of Songs” to texts by Eichendorff, “Love and Life of a Woman "to the verses of Chamisso," The Love of a Poet "to the texts of Heine). After 1840, interest in the song faded away for a long time, and the next year passed already under the sign of symphony. In 1841, four major symphonic works by Schumann appeared (the First Symphony, the symphony in d-moll, known as the Fourth, "Overture, Scherzo and Finale", the first movement piano concerto). 1842 gives a number of excellent works in the chamber-instrumental sphere (three string quartet, piano quartet, piano quintet) And, finally, having composed the oratorio "Paradise and Peri" in 1843, Schumann masters the last area of ​​​​music that he did not touch - vocal and dramatic.

A wide variety of artistic ideas characterizes the next period of Schumann's work (until the end of the 40s). Among the works of these years we find monumental scores, works in the contrapuntal style influenced by Bach, song and piano miniatures. Beginning in 1848 he composed choral music in the German national spirit. However, it was during the years of the composer's greatest maturity that contradictory features of his artistic appearance were revealed.

Undoubtedly, a serious mental illness left its mark on the music of the late Schumann. Many works of this period (for example, the Second Symphony) were created in the struggle between "the creative spirit and the destructive power of the disease" (as the composer himself said). Indeed, the temporary improvement in the composer's health in 1848-1849 immediately manifested itself in creative productivity. Then he completed his only opera, Genoveva, composed the best of three parts of music for Goethe's Faust (known as the first part), and created one of his most outstanding works, the overture and music for Byron's dramatic poem Manfred. In the same years, he revived his interest in piano and vocal miniatures, forgotten during the previous decade. An astonishing number of other works appeared.

But the results of the stormy creative activity of the later period were not equivalent. This is due not only to the composer's illness.

It was in the last decade of his life that Schumann began to gravitate towards generalizing, monumental genres. This is evidenced by "Genoveva" and several unrealized opera plans on the plots of Shakespeare, Schiller and Goethe, music for Goethe's "Faust" and Byron's "Manfred", the intention to create an oratorio about Luther, the Third Symphony ("Rhenish"). But, an outstanding psychologist, who with rare perfection reflected the flexible change of mental states in music, he was not able to embody objective images with the same force. Schumann dreamed of creating art in the classical spirit - balanced, harmonious, harmonious - but his creative individuality manifested itself much brighter in the image of impulse, excitement, dreams.

Large dramatic works Schumann, for all their undeniable artistic qualities, did not reach the perfection of his piano and vocal miniatures. Often the incarnation and intention of the composer were strikingly different from each other. So, instead of the folk oratorio he had conceived, in the last years of his life he created only choral works based on the texts of romantic poets, written more in a patriarchal-sentimental style than in the Handel or Bach traditions. He managed to complete only one opera, and only overtures remained from other theatrical plans.

A certain milestone in the creative path of Schumann outlined the revolutionary events of 1848-1849.

Schumann's sympathies for the revolutionary popular movements repeatedly made themselves felt in his music. So, back in 1839, Schumann introduced the theme of "La Marseillaise" into his "Viennese Carnival", which became the anthem of the revolutionary students, banned by the Viennese police. It has been suggested that the inclusion of the Marseillaise theme in the overture to Hermann and Dorothea was a disguised protest against the monarchical coup carried out in France by Louis Napoleon in 1851. The Dresden uprising of 1849 evoked an immediate creative response from the composer. He composed three poems by revolutionary poets vocal ensembles for male voices accompanied brass band(“To Arms” to a text by T. Ulrich, “Black-Red-Gold” - the colors of the Democrats - to a text by F. Freiligrat and “Song of Freedom” to a text by I. Furst) and four piano marches op. 76. "I could not find a better outlet for my excitement - they were written literally in a fiery impulse ..." - the composer said about these marches, calling them "republican".

The defeat of the revolution, which led to the disappointment of many leaders of the Schumannian generation, was also reflected in his creative evolution. In the years of the onset of reaction, Schumann's art began to decline. Of the works he created in the early 60s, only a few are on the level of his previous the best essays. The picture of the composer's life in the last decade was also complex and contradictory. On the one hand, this is a period of gaining fame, in which the merit of Clara Schumann is undeniable. Giving concerts a lot, she included her husband's works in her programs. In 1844, Schumann, together with Clara, went to Russia, and in 1846 - to Prague, Berlin, Vienna, in 1851-1853 - to Switzerland, Belgium.

Widespread success was accompanied by the performance of scenes from "Faust" during the celebration of the centenary of the birth of Goethe (Dresden, Leipzig, Weimar).

However, during the years of growing recognition (since the mid-40s), the composer became more and more withdrawn into himself. The progressive disease made it extremely difficult to communicate with people. From journalistic activity he had to refuse as early as 1844, when the Schumanns moved to Dresden (1844-1849) in search of a secluded place. Due to painful silence, Schumann was forced to stop his pedagogical work at the Leipzig Conservatory, where in 1843 he taught composition and score reading classes. The post of city conductor in Düsseldorf, where the Schumanns moved in 1850, was painful for him, since he could not capture the attention of the orchestra. The management of the choral societies of the city was no less painful also because Schumann did not sympathize with the atmosphere of sentimentality and philistine complacency that reigned in them.

At the beginning of 1854 mental illness Schumann assumed threatening forms. He was placed in a private hospital in the town of Endenich near Bonn. There he died on June 29, 1856.

ROBERT SCHUMANN

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: GEMINI

NATIONALITY: GERMAN

MUSICAL STYLE: CLASSICISM

SIGNIFICANT WORK: "DREAMS" FROM THE CYCLE "CHILDREN'S SCENES"

WHERE YOU COULD HEAR THIS MUSIC: Oddly enough, "DREAMS" WERE FREQUENTLY SOUND IN THE AMERICAN ANIMATION SERIES MERRY TUNES, INCLUDING IN THE CARTOON "LIKE A BANTIC HARE" (1944) WITH "PARTICIPATION" BUGS BUNY.

WISE WORDS: "IN ORDER TO COMPOSE MUSIC, YOU ONLY NEED TO REMEMBER THE MOTIVE WHICH HAVE INTERESTED NO ONE BEFORE YOU".

The life of Robert Schumann is a love story. And as in any good love story, there is a strong, ardent youth, a lovely girl with character, and a vile, vile scoundrel. Love eventually wins, and the couple in love lives happily ever after.

Unless this couple spent too much time together. In the life of Robert Schumann - and, of course, in his marriage to Clara Wieck - illness unceremoniously broke into the composer, turning the composer into a weak-willed victim of noisy demons and terrible hallucinations. He will die in an insane asylum, so mentally damaged that in the end he will no longer recognize his beloved.

But Schumann's tragic end is followed by a touching epilogue. Clara's life without Robert, the man she has adored since she was eight, is also a kind of beautiful story love.

GUY MEETS GIRL

Schumann was born in 1810 in Zwickau, a city in eastern Germany, in Saxony. His father, August Schumann, was a book publisher and writer. Robert showed an early interest in music, but his parents considered law to be a much more promising profession. In 1828, Schumann entered the University of Leipzig, but, instead of mastering legal tricks, Schumann crammed himself into a student of Friedrich Wieck, whom many - and above all himself - considered the best teacher piano playing in Europe.

Probably, Schumann was very upset when he realized that as a pianist he was no match for Vic's eight-year-old daughter Clara. Vic put his daughter at the instrument at the age of five with the intention of making her a musical prodigy and thereby proving that his pedagogical method there is no equal, if he is from a girl - a girl! - managed to achieve a virtuoso game. Both students quickly became friends, Schumann read fairy tales to Clara, bought sweets - in a word, he behaved like an older brother, inclined to pamper his sister. The girl, forced to study from morning to night, had few joys in life, and she did not look for the soul in Robert.

The young man made a lot of efforts to become a virtuoso pianist. Natural talent helped - until pain appeared in the middle finger of the right hand, and then numbness. Hoping to restore flexibility to the finger, Schumann used a mechanical device, which completely ruined the finger. Out of grief, he began to compose music and soon regained his self-confidence. In 1832 he made his debut with his First Symphony.

Meanwhile, Schumann had an affair with a maid named Kristel - and contracted syphilis. A doctor he knew gave Schumann a moral and gave him a medicine that had no effect on the bacteria. However, after a few weeks, the ulcers healed, and Schumann rejoiced, deciding that the disease had receded.

A GUY BREAKS OFF A GIRL - FOR A TIME

When Vic and Clara left for a long tour of Europe, Schumann developed a stormy activity. He composed a lot; founded the New Musical Journal, which soon turned into a rather influential publication, in which Schumann explained to the public what good composers like Berlioz, Chopin and Mendelssohn were. He even managed to get engaged to a certain Ernestine von Fricken; however, not for long.

Clara returned from the tour. She was only sixteen, Schumann was twenty-five, but between a sixteen-year-old girl and an eight-year-old girl there is a huge difference. Clara had long loved Schumann, and in the winter of 1835 he already fell in love with her. Lovely courtship, furtive kisses, dancing at Christmas parties - everything was exceptionally innocent, but not in the eyes of Friedrich Wieck. Father forbade Clara to see Robert.

For almost two years, Vic kept the young people at a distance from each other, but the separation did not cool, but only strengthened their feelings. Wieck's objections to the marriage between his daughter and Robert were to some extent justified: Schumann made his living by composing music and magazine publications, he had no other income, and marrying Clara, not accustomed to housekeeping, was simply beyond his means - spouses would need an entire army of servants. Vic had a different mercantile interest (perhaps not too reasonable) - he counted on the brilliant musical future of Clara herself. Clara's years of training were seen by her father as an investment that was bound to pay off with a vengeance. And Schumann, from the point of view of Wieck, strove to deprive him of the desired wealth.

Vic resisted desperately. He again sent his daughter on a months-long tour, accused Schumann of immorality and depravity, and constantly put forward new demands, knowing full well that Schumann was not able to fulfill them. The legislation of Saxony was only to his advantage. Even having reached the age of majority, that is, eighteen years old, Clara could not marry without the consent of her father. Vic refused consent, and the young people sued him. The battle dragged on for years. Vic even tried to ruin his daughter's career by telling concert organizers not to mess with this "fallen, corrupt, disgusting" woman. Serious passions were in full swing, and yet on September 12, 1840, the young people got married, the day before Clara's twenty-first birthday. It's been five years since their first kiss.

KLARABERT - LONG BEFORE BRANGELINA

The Schumann marriage bears a striking resemblance to the modern way of "housekeeping." Robert and Clara were professionals, and neither of them was going to give up work for the sake of the family. This meant that they had to negotiate and find compromises, since the thin walls of their apartment did not allow both of them to sit at their pianos at the same time. There was never enough money. Clara's tours brought a fair amount of income, but this meant that either the spouses parted for a long time, or Robert dragged around the world after his wife.

In addition, you can’t go on tour pregnant, and Clara often became pregnant. In fourteen years she gave birth to eight children (only one died in infancy) and suffered at least two miscarriages. The Schumanns adored their children, and Robert enjoyed teaching them how to play the piano. Some of Schumann's most popular writings were written for his children.

The Schumanns spent the first years of their marriage in Leipzig (where they closely communicated with the Mendelssohns), then they moved to Dresden. In 1850, the composer was offered the position of General Music Director ( music director) Düsseldorf. Schumann had long dreamed of working with a choir and orchestra, but he clearly overestimated his abilities. He turned out to be a bad conductor. He was very nearsighted and could hardly distinguish the first violins in the orchestra, not to mention the drums at the back of the stage. And besides, he lacked the charisma that is highly desirable for a successful conductor. After a very disastrous concert in October 1853, he was fired.

ANGELS AND DEMONS

Health problems also played a role in the failure of Schumann's conducting career. The composer suffered from headaches, dizziness and "nervous attacks" that put him to bed. Last year in Düsseldorf turned out to be especially difficult: Schumann stopped hearing high notes, often dropped his stick, lost his sense of rhythm.

PURSUED BY A VISION OF A CHOIR OF ANGELS TURNING DEMONS, SCHUMANN WAS AS WELL, IN A robe AND SLIPPERS, DIVING INTO THE RHINE.

And then the worst began. Schumann heard beautiful music and the singing of a choir of angels. Suddenly, the angels turned into demons and tried to drag him to hell. Schumann warned the pregnant Clara, telling her not to come near him or he might hit her.

On the morning of February 27, 1854, Schumann slipped out of the house - he was wearing only a dressing gown and slippers - and rushed to the Rhine. Somehow he got past the barrier at the entrance to the bridge, climbed onto the railing and threw himself into the river. Fortunately, his strange appearance attracted the attention of passers-by; Schumann was quickly pulled out of the water, wrapped in a blanket and taken home.

Soon he was placed in a private hospital for the mentally ill. Sometimes he was quiet and pleasant in conversation and even composed a little. But more often, Schumann screamed, driving away the visions, and fought with the orderlies. His physical condition steadily worsened. In the summer of 1856 he refused to take food. On his last date with Clara, Robert could barely speak and would not get out of bed. But it seemed to Clara that he recognized her and even tried to hug her. There was no tough enough person nearby to explain to her: Schumann has not recognized anyone for a long time and does not control his movements. Two days later, on July 29, 1856, he died.

What killed his talent and brought him to the grave at the relatively young age of forty-six? Modern physicians almost unanimously assert that Schumann suffered from tertiary syphilis. The infection had smoldered in his body for twenty-four years. Clara did not become infected because syphilis is not sexually transmitted in the latent phase. One dose of penicillin would put the composer on his feet.

Clara was left a widow with seven children. She refused the help of friends who offered to arrange charity concerts, stating that she will provide for herself. And provided for many years - successful tours. She often played her husband's music and raised the children in love with a father whom the younger children did not even remember. Her long and complicated relationship with Johannes Brahms will be discussed in the chapter on this composer, but for now we just note that if Clara eventually fell in love with someone else, she never stopped loving Robert.

Clara outlived Schumann by forty years. Their marriage lasted only sixteen years, and the last two years Schumann was insane - and yet Clara remained faithful to him until her death.

TWO SHOOS IN THE MUSIC RING

Due to the similar sounding of Schumann's names, they often cannot be distinguished from another composer, Schubert. Let's be clear: Franz Schubert was born in a suburb of Vienna in 1797. He studied composition with Salieri and managed to achieve fame. Like Schumann, he suffered from syphilis and apparently drank heavily. Schubert died in 1828 and was buried next to his friend Beethoven. Today it is mainly valued for " unfinished symphony"and" Trout "quintet.

There are not so many similarities between these two people, except for the occupation and the same first syllable in the name. However, they are now and then confused; the most famous blunder occurred in 1956, when a stamp issued in the GDR featured Schumann's image superimposed on music piece of music Schubert.

NOTHING WILL STOP CLARA SCHUMANN - EVEN THE PRUSIAN ARMY

The Dresden uprising in May 1849 led to the expulsion of the Saxon royal family and the establishment of a provisional democratic government, but the achievements of the revolution had to be defended against Prussian troops. Schuman was a Republican all his life, but, having four small children and a pregnant wife, he was not eager to be a hero on the barricades. When activists came to his house and forcibly recruited him into a revolutionary detachment, the Schumans eldest daughter Maria fled the city.

The three younger children were left with the housekeeper in relative safety, but naturally the family wanted to be reunited. Therefore, Clara, leaving a safe haven in countryside, resolutely headed for Dresden. She left at three o'clock in the morning, accompanied by a servant, left the carriage a mile from the city, and, bypassing the barricades, reached the house on foot. She picked up the sleeping children, grabbed some of her clothes and also moved back on foot, paying no attention to either the fiery revolutionaries or the Prussians, big fans of shooting. Courage and courage this amazing woman was not to take.

MILCHALNIK SCHUMANN

Schumann was famous for his taciturnity. In 1843, Berlioz told how he realized that his "Requiem" was really good: even the silent Schumann approved this work aloud. On the contrary, Richard Wagner was furious when, having spoken out about everything in the world, from the musical life in Paris to the politics of Germany, he did not receive a word from Schumann in response. "An impossible man," Wagner declared to Liszt. Schumann, for his part, remarked that his young colleague (actually Richard Wagner was only three years younger than Schumann) was "gifted with incredible loquacity ... it is tiresome to listen to him."

WITH THIS TO MY WIFE PLEASE

It's not easy being married to a brilliant pianist. One day, after a magnificent performance by Clara, a gentleman approached the Schumanns to congratulate the performer. Feeling that he needed to say something to his husband, the man turned to Robert and politely asked: “Tell me, sir, are you also fond of music?”