CHAPTER II: SCHUMANN

FIRST LAYER: RELEVANT BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR ROBERT SCHUMANN

Early years

Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856) was born on the 8^th of June in Zwickau. He was the youngest of five brothers and sisters. His father August Schumann was a publisher, bookseller and a novelist. About his mother, Johana Schnabel, not much is known. At the age of three, Schumann was sent to stay with Frau Ruppius for a couple of weeks, because his mother suffered from ‘nervous fever’. In the end, Schumann stayed with Frau Ruppius - whom he loved very much - for two & a half years.[1] At the age of 7, the young Schumann started piano lessons. He developed a deep love for music and started to create his own compositions. In 1925 Schumann’s elder sister Emilie died. Since her childhood she was predisposed to suffering from depressive episodes. In addition, she suffered from fevers that were associated with typhus. It is presumed that she drowned herself, probably in a feverish state.[2] Only ten months later August Schumann died suddenly, and Robert Schumann was highly affected by the loss of his family members.[3]

Although Schumann showed great musical talent and interest, he was not encouraged by his mother to study music. She wanted him to study law, a profession that would provide a secure income. In 1828 Schumann moved to Leipzig where he started law at the university. However, ‘‘cold jurisprudence’’ did not satisfy Schumann and instead of attending lectures in law school he spends his time on music, literature, drinking and women.[4] In 1830 Schumann attended a concert of the violin virtuoso Nicolas Paganini. The shamanistic elements of his playing made a deep impression on Schumann. Schumann then decided to dedicate his life to music.[5] During his study in law, Schumann had taken piano lessons with Fredrich Wieck. During his studies with Wieck, Schumann injured a finger of his right hand. After that, he abandoned the idea of becoming a concert pianist and decided to focus on composition.

Literature

Aside from his love for music, Schumann was highly interested in reading and poetry. In his fathers’ bookstore, Schumann came across works from, among others, Goethe and E.T.A. Hoffmann. The 19^th century was a time in which madness was romanticized and Schumann was extremely drawn to poets, writers, or composers who had been insane or taken their own lives.[6]  He was captivated by Dark Romanticism, which entails, among other aspects, melancholia, insanity, and the psychological effects of guilt and sin.[7] Schumann’s interest in literature was also reflected in the articles that he wrote in the ‘Neue Zeitschrift für Musik’. He used three pseudonyms, which he together called the ‘Davidsbündler’. Eusebius was sensitive, Florestan was strong and enthusiastic, and Meister Raro was stable and reconciling.[8] It could be speculated that these characters mirror Schumann’s internal conflict of his personalities. Schumann’s love for literature is also evident in his musical compositions in which his musical motifs are intertwined with characters from books.

Marriage, love, affairs

In 1828, when Schumann was 18 years old, he met Clara Wieck, the daughter of his piano teacher Mr. Wieck. Clara was about 10 years younger than Schumann. In 1830 Schumann lived with the Wieck family. Schumann would entertain Clara and her brothers by telling them fairy tales. During his stay with the Wiecks, Schumann had an affair with a girl who was presumably the maid at the Wieck's house, Christiane Apitzsch. In 1834 Schumann became engaged to Ernestine von Fricken, who was also a piano student of Wieck. However, Schumann withdrew from marrying her.

Two years later, when Clara was 16 years old, she and Schumann became more interested in each other. They fell deeply in love and decided to marry. Fredrich Wieck however was firmly against their marriage and did not give his permission. In 1838 Clara and Schumann went to the Leipzig court with a petition to oblige Father Wieck to give permission for their intended marriage. In 1840 the court gave them permission to marry. In the years after, Clara and Schumann had 8 children together.[9]

Mental/physical health 

Throughout his life, Schumann tried to establish an image of himself by writing diaries, notes, and keeping correspondence books and letters. It could be that wanted to ensure himself of a certain self-preservation, or maybe it gave him the feeling of being in control. Already early in his life, Schumann suffered from melancholic depressive episodes: "In his diary he wrote about his drunken states and hangovers afterwards, sleeplessness, tiredness, murmurs and sounds in his ears, complaining that it bothered him much, and seriously thinking about committing suicide."[10] These depressive episodes alternated with phases of increased activity, exaltation and an expansive mood. There are assumptions that his hand injury during his study with Wieck was the result of over practicing during one of these ‘manic’ episodes.[11] Furthermore, it has been suggested that he started to have ‘delusional ideas of being poisoned or threatened with metallic items.’[12]

In 1850, Schumann accepted a job as Director of Music for the Düsseldorf Orchestra and moved from Dresden to Düsseldorf. The former Director (Hiller) recommended Schumann as his successor. Schumann, who was waiting for other job opportunities, accepted the job. Unfortunately, Schumann’s unstable character traits were a disadvantage when running a large orchestra. He was plagued with the inner struggle of also keeping his sincerity and purity as a composer. Already after a few months it became clear that the job catalyzed a further deterioration of Schumann’s mental instabilities, where he fluctuated between depressive and manic episodes. In her letters his wife Clara wrote about his ‘highly nervous, irritable, excited mood’.[13] In the end of 1853 Schumann left his position as music director. 

In March 1954, after a suicide attempt, Schumann was admitted to a private asylum in Endenich where he would stay for two and a half years. During his stay in Endenich, various symptoms from which Schumann suffered were described, including acoustic hallucinations. One moment Schumann heard beautiful angels singing, and the next moment he was plagued by diabolical voices. Then, there were also symptoms of shouting, prolonged ranting, smiling and talking (conspicuously) to himself.[14] There were moments in which Schumann was paranoid and moments that he was agitated. Some of the neuropsychiatric symptoms that were found during this time point in the direction of syphilis (tertiary phase) as a possible cause. Schumann was suffering from difficulties during speaking as a consequence of articulation problems (dysarthria). Also, differences in pupil size were found.[15]

At the time of Märchenbilder  

Despite Schumann’s misfortune as Music Director and his mental struggles, he remained highly productive as a composer. Between 1850 and his death in the Endenich Sanatorium in 1856, he wrote more than 40 works in a broad range of styles. The quality of Schumann’s works in these years has been subject to various music criticisms and has evoked contrasting reactions. Listeners, for example, claimed to hear Schumann’s psychiatric symptoms in his music when they were dissatisfied with it. It has often been stated that Schumann’s mental decline was reflected in the compositional deficits of his later works.[16] Musicologist John Daverio, however, believes that the changes in Schumann’s later works were a result of ‘‘lucid experimentation’’.[17] Schumann wrote Märchenbilder in the spring of 1851. Märchenbilder contains four sketches of various characters and atmospheres that are interwoven and plotted against each other: not only between the parts, but also within the parts themselves. Hope and pleasure turn into hopelessness and gloom; uncertainty turns into self-confidence; feelings of unrest flow into acceptance. From one moment to the next you, as a listener (and player!), are overwhelmed by the capriciousness and sharpness of a character that suddenly appears.

References