Robert Schumann
ROBERT SCHUMANN was the quintessential Romantic composer, emphasizing interiority and self-expression, frequently exploring extra-musical associations in his works. As a teenager Robert became passionate about Romantic literature, which would greatly influence his music. After initially planning on a career as a pianist, a hand injury led him to turn to composition. In the 1830’s he published a great deal of piano music, wonderfully original and free in construction. He frequently signed his works, as well as critical articles for his magazine Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik, as “Florestan” or “Eusebius,” representing his impetuous and reflective alter-egos. Like that of many other long-term sufferers of syphilis, his work life was characterized by periods of exceptional creativity and clarity (for example, he wrote over 100 songs and two large-scale song cycles in 1840), alternating with times of mental anguish and breakdown (1844, when he resigned from his teaching and editorship of his magazine). While his work is especially distinguished by his songs and piano pieces, he also wrote symphonies, chamber music, and an oratorio, among other works. His 1852 suicide attempt led to confinement in a mental hospital, and he died there two years later.