Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Shumann

-born June 8, 1810, Zwickau,
Germany

- died July 29, 1856,
Endenich, near Bonn,
Germany

A composer of the Romantic Era

-Robert Schumann’s father was an author and publisher who taught
his son to love books and reading.

-He developed an interest in music when he began taking piano
lessons at age six.

-attended law school but often neglected his studies to attend
concerts and take piano lessons.

-Robert considered a career as a concert pianist and took piano
lessons from a famous teacher, Friedrich Wieck. However, Robert
developed a physical problem with one of his fingers. This ended his
dream of becoming a concert pianist.

Multiple Choice

What age did Robert start learning to play the piano?

• 5

• 4

• 8

• 6

Multiple Choice

What did Robert Schumann's father work as?

• Barista and a cook

• Author and a publisher

• Dentist and Doctor

• Blacksmith and Barber

Cont

-Robert’s father died when Robert was sixteen, and his mother
pleaded with her son to continue his law studies.

-Robert was determined to become a musician. With his piano career
ended, he became interested in composing, and began to study
composition with respected teachers.

-First composition, Abegg Variations, was based on the musical notes
A, B, E, G, and G. At fi rst he focused on piano music, then began to
write songs, which he set to famous poetry.

Multiple Choice

The Music notes used in Schumanns Variatons on ABEGG are which of the following?

• ABCDEFG

• ABEG and G

• ACCE and D

• FFDE and G

Starting up a new type of music and love life

-1833 (age twenty-three), he helped organize a musical society to
encourage composers to write what he called “progressive” new
music.

-A few years later he fell in love with Clara Wieck, the daughter of his
former piano teacher, Friedrich Wieck.

-Friedrich opposed his daughter’s relationship with Robert

-threatened to kill Robert if he continued to see Clara.

-Robert filed a lawsuit to permit the couple to be married. It was
granted, and they wed in 1840.

Multiple Choice

What type of music was the "society" that Schumann found trying to start up?

• techno music

• classical music

• progressive music

• opera music

Clara Shumann influence

-Clara was an outstanding pianist and performed many of
Schumann’s early compositions.

-Schumann wanted to write “progressive music.” But Clara, who was
well-schooled in the music of the masters, such as Bach and Mozart,
pushed him toward a less contemporary, more classical style.

Later years of life of work

-1850 Schumann took a conducting position in Düsseldorf, Germany,
but was a failure.

-left his job to concentrate on composing. By this time, however,
Schumann was very depressed with his life. He tried to commit
suicide by jumping into a river, and in 1854 was placed in an insane
asylum where he remained until he died two years later at age
forty-six

Schumann as a person

-Robert Schumann was a handsome man, of moderate height and
build, who was self-centered and absent-minded.

-He was poor at self-promotion, and perhaps for that reason his
music was not well received during his lifetime.

-Schumann’s wife, Clara, outlived him by forty years and she
continued to promote his music after his death.

Schumanns Pieces of Music

-His four symphonies — for orchestra

-Piano Concerto — for piano and orchestra

-His songs (about 250)

-His piano music, including Carnaval and Fantasie in C