The Life of Schumann

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Preface: inherited images
1. A favourable upbringing: Zwickau, 1810-28
2. Undirected student: Leipzig and Heidelburg, 1828-30
3. A career in music: Leipzig, 1830-5
4. The Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, Clara and new horizons: Leipzig, 1835-40
5. Married life: Leipzig, 1840-4
6. Growing ambitions: Dresden, 1844-50
7. Triumph and decline: Dusseldorf, 1850-4
8. The end: 1854-6
Perspective and legacy
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Robert Schumann had a difficult start as a composer. Denied any significant musical upbringing, he took a long time through indirect routes to establish himself as a major composer. Persistent illness also dogged his work. His final catastrophic mental collapse has combined with the autobiographical and secretive aspects of his music to cast for posterity a veil of ominous mystery over his entire life. Yet this is only one view. Schumann battled his personal demons and was acutely self-aware and organized. He transformed himself from a brilliant youthful fantasist in small forms into a composer of extended works in every genre. This book provides a new focus on Schumann as a practical working musician interacting with the professional world to develop his creative gifts to the full, and examines the central role of Clara Wieck Schumann in helping to bring this about.

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Many considerably longer biographies seem to contain less material and are less engaging. Musgrave's research has been extensive, while his judgement is admirably balanced

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