Schumann: The Faces and the Masks

by Judith Chernaik

A groundbreaking account of a major composer whose life and works have been the subject of intense controversy ever since his attempted suicide and early death in an insane asylum. Schumann was a key figure in the Romanticism which swept Europe and America in the 19th century, inspiring writers, musicians and painters, delighting their enthralled audiences, and reaching to the furthest corners of the world. All the contradictions of his age enter Schumann’s works, from the fantastic disguises of his carnival masquerades and his passionate love songs to his great "Spring" and "Rhenish" Symphonies. He was intensely original and imaginative, but he also worshipped the past―especially Shakespeare and Byron, Raphael and Michelangelo, Beethoven and Bach. He believed in political, personal and artistic freedom but struggled with the constraints of artistic form. He turned his tumultuous life into music that speaks directly to the heart, losing none of its power with the passage of time. Drawing on hitherto unpublished archive material, Chernaik sheds new light on Schumann’s life and music, his sexual escapades, his fathering of an illegitimate child, the true facts behind his courtship of his wife Clara and the opposition of her monstrous father, and the ways in which the crises of his life, his dreams and fantasies, entered his music. Schumann’s troubled relations with his fellow-Romantic composers Mendelssohn and Chopin are freshly explored, and the full medical diary kept at Endenich Asylum, long withheld, enables Chernaik to solve the mystery of Schumann’s final illness. Using her wide experience as a scholar of Romanticism and a novelist, Chernaik vividly brings Schumann’s world and his extraordinary artistic achievement to life in all its rich complexity.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Historical, 19th Century

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2018

Reviews

[Ana on the Shelves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Schumann, the Romantic composer, the lover, the writer, the man, the patient, had a fascinating life that deserves to be known and analysed by the daring and curious minds.

With this book Judith Chernaik successfully present us with the narrative of Schumann’s life, smoothly intertwined with analyzes of his work. We are told what the composer was dealing with at the same time we were showed his pieces and the hidden secrets within them.

This is not a quick read, at least for anyone who’s musical knowledge is not as good as one would like it to be, but it is an enjoyable read that take us as close to Schumann’s mind as possible.

We are taken by several aspects of the composers live and no stone is left untouched. From his affairs, his health problems, the courting of his future wife and the slow degradation of his mind we are taken on a journey through Schumann’s reality without taking any sides about his character. Slowly we peek behind the genie with his several masks to contemplate the man.

Brilliantly written and smartly organised, this is a biography to have.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enlightening biography of 19th century composer Robert Schumann who died at the age of 46 in a mental asylum. The biography includes the full medical diary that he kept at the Endenich Asylum; a document never before published. Among his most famous works were 'Carnaval' and 'Kinderszenen'. If a person were so inclined the author provides information on what works to listen to performed by whom by searching the internet.
The thing for me is that when the author is describing Schumann's music, how it was created, what it meant, what other composers' music it was alluding to, what real persons names the music refers to, it's all too much. It goes completely beyond me and makes my eyes lose focus and I had to take so many brakes from the book that after a while I felt like doing a DNF but I didn't. It was at times a very dull read.
You could actually say that the book is a dual biography of Schumann and his wife Clara, who was a gifted pianist and actually the most famous female pianist in all of Europe. After Robert's death Clara was responsible for keeping his music out there for the public.
Schumann was a close friend of many of his fellow composers Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, Johannes Brahms and the like. It was Franz Liszt who loved Schumann's music so much that he frequently presented Schumann's music to audiences in Vienna and Paris. Chopin even dedicated his 'G Minor Ballade' to Schumann.
As the book progressed it details Schumann's slow journey into madness, a victim of tertiary syphilis which was such a common affliction at that time. I must admit that the latter part of the book may have been the most interesting.

[Joshua Greer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a pianist who loves Schumann, I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable. I definitely learned some new aspects about him, which I think will color how I learn his music in the future. The book is written for lovers of music, but not necessarily trained musicians. Chernaik herself is a musician, but she must have had some experience teaching at some point, because she's easily able to extract musical concepts and put them into words. You'll definitely want to spend some time listening to some of Schumann's music after reading this. Excellently narrated by Nicol Zanzarella.

[George1st · Rating 5 out of 5]

This absorbing and scholarly biography not only provides the factual narrative of Schumann's life but also a detailed analysis of his wok that ranged from solo piano compositions through to symphonies and even an opera. He is personified as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era for which music in particular dominated the Romantic movement in Germany. The book gives a vivid picture of the social and cultural period of the time and how he was influenced by reading the works of the great German poet-philosophers Schiller and Goethe as well as reading the likes of Byron and Shelly. Musically his great loves included past masters such as Bach, Beethoven and Schubert.

We learn also of his relationships with his contemporary composers including Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms and above all Mendelssohn who's music he adored. But above all the book makes clear the overriding and fundamental importance that Clara Wieck (later Schumann) had on his life, music, and musical posterity from the time they first met when she was only eleven. She spent the rest of her life tirelessly promoting and later preserving his legacy. Without Clara it is unlikely that Schumann would have received his place in musical history.

I must admit that my knowledge of musical composition is negligible but despite this Judith Chernaik takes the reader by the hand as she provides a critique and analysis of his work. Against the of background of political upheaval (that would lead to the revolutions of 1848 that were essentially democratic and liberal in nature leading to the overthrow of the old ancient regimes and the creation of new independent nation states) we learn how Schumann's works reflected this with all their dreams and fantasies.

The final chapters regarding Schumann's incarceration and early death in an asylum are heartbreaking and difficult to read. Clearly much research has been undertaken and includes previously unpublished archive material and a wealth of known extracts from letters and journals. There is also an extensive bibliography and a note of performances available on the internet. Certainly if nothing else this has inspired me to seek out his music and hopefully to attend a live concert at sometime in the future. If you are already an aficionado or alternatively unfamiliar with his work or you just like reading a biography of a troubled life that left behind a volume of work that still captivates the heart then this could be interest.

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ik dacht dat ik nooit door een biografie zou komen, maar ik denk dat het scheelt als je een biografie leest van iemand van wie je wil weten hoe die heeft geleefd. Het was zo interessant en het heeft me zoveel inzicht gegeven over deze man, zijn leven, de muziek om hem heen en de muziek die hij heeft gemaakt. De analyses van de composities waren iets te beknopt en zonder telefoon kan je niet de stukken opzoeken, maar ik heb nu genoeg om te doen thuis!

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been writing a series of Facebook postings on various classical music composers and their music that touched me personally. I was led to Robert Schumann from the biography of cellist Jacqueline du Pré, which I recently reviewed here. She was listening to Schumann's Cello Concerto on the day she died after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis.

I enjoyed the book, and learned much. All I knew about Robert Schumann previously, aside from the two pieces I was familiar with (Träumerei and the A minor Piano Concerto), was that his wife Clara was also a musician, that he died in an insane asylum, and that Clara was close with Johannes Brahms after his (Robert's) death.

The book is written by an accomplished musician herself, Judith Chernaik, and the only caution I would pose for potential readers is that a fair musical knowledge is necessary for a full understanding of the reading. I had to take a lot of what she says as truth, because even if I had been familiar with the works described, I'm not sure I would be able to appreciate the description. Here is a typical passage, about the C Major Fantasie: "All three motifs recur, intertwined, moving through a series of unexpected, unprepared key changes toward Clara's defining home key of C, when the opening arpeggios are given their own dramatic development, moving 'more and more quickly' to a final adagio cadence, and a repeated C-major chord in the bass." The author does have a list of recommended recordings of many of Schumann's, which I intend to use.

Still, it is a complete story of the strange and tragic life of this Romantic musician, how he met Clara when she was only 9 (he was 18), how her father tried to prevent their marriage, how his works included references to made-up characters like Florestan and Eusebius (the active and passive sides of his personality), and how he wrote music based on themes from the letters of a person's name. It also details his friendships with contemporary musicians, including Mendelssohn and Liszt (Schumann lived from 1810 to 1856), and his insecurities and final nervous breakdown which landed him in an asylum for the insane for the last two and a half years of his life.

It is a very good book, and if you can follow the musical references, an excellent one.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new biography of Robert Schumann is both illuminating and entertaining. Meticulously researched, it explores his life and music in great depth. A key figure in the Romantic movement, he was both an admired and influential composer, and his love for his wife Clara is surely one of the great love stories of the 19th century. Written in a lively and accessible style overall, I certainly found some of the sections dealing with the music somewhat over my head, but as these are separated from the main narrative it was easy to skip some of them when they became too complicated without losing the thread. This is a book for the serious musician and musicologist as well as the general reader, and one I recommend to anyone interested in his life and work.

[Patrick Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most music lovers will be familiar with the story of Robert Schumann: how he damaged his hand and had to forgo a career as a concert pianist; his enduring and initially forbidden love for his wife, concert pianist Clara Wieck; his father-in-law from hell; his eight children; his health issues in later life; and his sublime and inventive music: symphonies, chamber music, songs and probably most important, music for the piano.

This biography provides the story of Schumann's life and music. American author Judith Chernaik has created a well researched but very readable account, striking a perfect balance between musicological analysis and biographical detail. I would perhaps hesitate to recommend this book to a non-musician but most music lovers will have no trouble navigating, and indeed will find much of interest in the music analysis sections. Schumann was of course very much a Romantic and in no sense an Early Music composer. However, his relationship with the music of Bach is of interest. He was self taught and did not receive formal training in harmony, but diligently studied the masters: Beethoven, Mozart and of course Bach for his composition lessons. At one stage he and Clara resolved to study together one of the Bach preludes and fugues every day: Johann Sebastian was probably his most important teacher. He says in his Advice to Young Musicians: "The Well Tempered Clavier should be your daily bread" and he composed piano accompaniments for Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin and the six cello suites.

Also fascinating in this book is the description of Schumann's relationships with the other great composers of his day: he was close friends with Mendelssohn and the young Brahms, met Chopin several times and greatly admired Schubert. He was a little scathing of Wagner: whilst acknowledging his genius, Schumann said he "is incapable of writing 5 bars without introducing consecutive fifths". The author draws on letters and recent research to dispel misconceptions about Schumann's life and deals with his weaknesses and breakdown with sympathy. The description of the last two years of his life spent in a mental institution near Bonn, without being allowed to see his wife and children, is harrowing and heartbreaking.

Judith Chernaik's writing is impeccable: engaging and easy to read. Above all she paints a vivid and fascinating picture of life in the musical and intellectual community in Germany - Dresden, Leipzig and Dusseldorf - in the first half of the 19th century.

[Ron Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schumann’s life was characterized by great ups and downs. His music was alternately acclaimed, ignored, or vilified. He had to fight for years against his future father-in-law, even in the courts, for the right to marry his beloved Clara Wieck. After throwing himself into the Rhine River and being fished out, the story of his descent into madness and his death in an insane asylum at age 46 makes for sad reading. Cherniak takes advantage of the full notes on Schumann’s stay in the mental asylum, which have only been available for twenty years now.

To this day, Schumann is often given as an example of the dangers of the excessive emotionality and self-absorption seen as characteristic of Romantic poets and musicians. I do think the Romantic fascination with the relationship between madness and art and the early development of professional psychiatric care helped shape our current attitudes toward both art and insanity.

Simon Schama, for instance, in his television series on “The Romantics and Us” contrasts this Romantic madman stereotype with the views of William Wordsworth who, he claims, prescribed an alterative: embracing the pure love of nature to avoid the dangers of self-obsession.

But I think this overstates the case, at least where Schumann is concerned. Schumann was simply an unfortunate victim of tertiary syphilis. Perhaps he displayed some psychological and emotional predispositions that led him down his specific route in life, but its ending was simply the result of the spirochete bacterium, which was both unidentified and untreatable in Schumann’s day.

Cherniak’s biography has a nice bibliography and a useful collection to Youtube links to classic performances of Schumann’s works, which I will enjoy pecking through. It seems unfair to read about Robert Schumann without reading independently about his long-suffering wife, so I’ve also picked up a copy of Nancy Reich’s (2013) Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman, 2nd Edition.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive and thoughtfully constructed, this biography of Robert Schumann draws on (relatively) recently unearthed details about the end of Schumann’s life to create a definitive scholarly text chronicling the forces that shaped Schumann and his contributions to music.

I had never listed Schumann among my favorite composers, though I do love many of his piano works. I knew little of his personal life beyond what I had heard of his legendary relationship with his talented wife, Clara. This biography provides extensive detail regarding Schumann’s relationships, his struggles with mental and physical illness, as well as elegant descriptions of his musical legacy. I especially appreciated learning of Schumann’s close personal relationships with other composers of the era. Knowing how Schumann was inspired by literature will alter my approach as a listener and pianist.

Though the biography is clearly well-researched, I would have preferred more passages lifted directly from Robert and Clara’s diaries and communications. They were apparently committed diarists, and reading more of their unaltered words may have provided a clearer sense of their personalities, which I found hard to derive from the slightly detached retellings of their most significant life moments. Communications that were included (primarily from early in their courtship and in the months leading up to Schumann’s death) left strong impressions of the passion they felt for each other and their fear of losing each other. Though this biography focused on Robert, the majority of his life was so intertwined with Clara’s that without knowing more of her life, my picture of Robert Schumann feels incomplete. Motivation to pick up a biography of Clara (and then Mendelssohn, and Chopin, and Liszt, and Brahms), I suppose.

[Julie Kuvakos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book. Very factual. I always wish biographies went more into their personalities and I feel she did a good job painting who he was as a person as an affect of his composing style through the different stages in his life. I learned a lot about his inspirations, his political views (only a little bit), and his relationships with those around him. Worthwhile read and one I will revisit again later on in life.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 This detailed and well-written biography of one of the most complex and innovative composers of the 19th century is a keeper, both for musicians and music lovers. It is scholarly and needs time for absorption, but is very readable. The analysis is general, and can be understood by the general music lover. I learned several new things and will keep it as a go-to reference. The sections on his friendship with Mendelssohn and the last part of his life were of particular interest to me.

[Yasmin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and tragic! Although it may not have made any difference I do think that Clara should have been allowed to see Robert before he was on his death bed. I am also glad to know he never attempted to hamper her musical gifts. An excellent biography.

[January Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lover of Classical music, I never knew the deep history of Schumann! I learned so much from this book! It is well written and not boring at all.

[Stephen Gallup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Earlier this year my son had a school assignment to read a biography. Being a violinist, he thought it would be most interesting to study the life of a composer. I checked the public library's holdings and brought home what I found. The one on Liszt looked most accessible for someone his age, but he said it wasn't long enough. So I read it (comments on it here) while he dived into the more daunting tome on Schumann. I read this one as well when he was done.

Liszt and Schumann were contemporaries, and knew each other. One similarity in their early years was that each had a father who didn't achieve all that he might have, and who hoped the son would do better. Apparently for Liszt there was never any doubt that music was his future, but Schumann began as a scribbler, writing poetry, stories, and plays, keeping a diary, and organizing a literary society to discuss works of literature. He'd been expected to study law, but his heart wasn't in it. His piano teacher promised he had the makings of a virtuoso performer, and so that was the path he pursued—until ill-advised experimentation with a device meant to strengthen his hand resulted in paralysis of some of his fingers.

He could no longer play music, but he could write it. He'd always greatly admired Beethoven and the other masters, but found himself moving further and further away from the classical forms. This is where his interest in literature became significant, because he had fictional scenes in mind when composing. For him, different passages of music, and different keys, corresponded with different scenes in a story or with different characters. (Another contemporary, Chopin, was scornful of this idea, maintaining that "music should speak for itself.")

A very important part of Schumann's story is his relationship with Clara, daughter of the above-mentioned piano teacher. She was a "prodigiously gifted" pianist, playing in concert halls from a very early age. She also understood Schumann's music as did few others, and made a point of including his compositions in performances. No doubt his popularity owed much to her efforts. Despite opposition from her father, they eventually married, and their home became a gathering place for musicians.

The concluding phase of his life centers around increasing anxiety and, ultimately, mental illness. I believe Judith Cherniak's book provides previously unpublished information regarding that heartbreaking conclusion.

Those are high points regarding Schumann's life. However, much of the book involves detailed analysis of his compositions. To fully appreciate what the author has to say about them, one ought to listen to the music while reading the book—as in a music appreciation course. So in that regard the book does not really stand on its own. I did listen to his Violin Concerto while reading its description, and the write-up added to my enjoyment of it. However, this seems to be somewhat outside the usual range of a biography. (It was also a bit of a stretch for my ninth-grader.)

[Faouzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am usually not a fun of non-fictions or biographies, i am not a music expert either; but i do love music a lot and Schumann is among the composer i usually enjoy listening to. I was worried that i may find this account of his life and works somehow tedious or boring, i was forgetting that nothing about music could be boring.
This, however, will be only the opinion of an amateur, someone who finds joy in listening to good pieces.

First, what i liked most was the way the major compositions of Schumann were explained, the author did really a good work, in my humble opinion, in making something rather complicated be understandable to non-professionals or expert. She certainly used the musical terminology (i mean, it would have been strange if she didn't), but in a way that was not overly intimidating. What helped me was listening to most of the pieces at the same time. This actually made reading the book more special.
The life of Schumann was certainly interesting, and not until reading this book did i understand the extent of his wife's role in his life and career. Clara Schumann was an exceptional artist, she was also something like an anchor in Schumann's life as well as his "muse" and so many other things.
That period was, for ma at least, something of a Golden age for Music; many great artists had a lot of impact on the works of Schumann, from the predecessors like Bach, Beethoven and Schubert, contemporaries like Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt; and those who came toward the end of his life. It was amazing reading about all those great composers/artists, learning also a bit more about them , it felt like i was invited to a private party of geniuses!
I never thought that the music of Schumann was related that much to his love of literature, and on my own, i honestly think, i wouldn't be able to decipher the different influences, inspirations and mostly the reasons behind those pieces and What he intend to convey through them, so i am glad to learn a bit more about it.
I can't pretend i became an expert of Schumann's music after reading this book, not even close!
What remained after i closed the last page was more understanding to why the music of Schumann moves my heart when i listen to it, a bit of sadness also for the sort of tormented life he led and the end that came too soon for him, and more than anything more love for music.

Thank you NetGalley, the Publisher and Author for this free copy in exchange of an honest review.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third of the trio of composer biographies that were reviewed in the NYT a year or so ago and caught my interest. The books were as different from one another as the composers were.
I have always known Schumann through the songs I learned as a young singer, which were some of my favorites. It is almost impossible to describe music in words, although Chernaik tries valiantly and provides information at the end about recordings available to hear online. I was pleased at how many of the songs discussed were familiar to me and I've been walking around humming "Widmung" for a few days. And I need to go listen to the chamber music and symphonies because I had almost no idea what that sounded like. So points to her for succeeding in sending me that way.
Chernaik is very good on the relationship between Robert and Clara and how much they meant to one another. I wish she had included more information about their children; while she asserts that Schumann enjoyed his children we don't get to hear much to corroborate that. I knew that Clara's father has opposed her marriage but I didn't know they had to undertake a court battle to be allowed to marry - I suppose because even at 20 Clara was her father's property.
With the publication of the medical notes from the asylum in which he died, scholars are able to better understand what really happened to Schumann and it is pretty clear his mental decay and death were caused by tertiary syphilis. It was very sad to follow in detail the end of someone who had won success musically and personally.
Of the three books this was the one that most made me like the person.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A musician’s biography, with considerable space devoted to thoughtful analyses of Schumann’s compositions, but I would have liked more depiction of his personality. Chernaik satisfactorily refutes suggestions that Schumann died of anything other than tertiary syphilis or that Clara didn’t want to visit him after he entered the asylum, documenting his doctor’s holding out false hopes of his recovery to her until the very end. I would have liked an explanation as to why Schumann evidently didn’t transmit his disease to his wife and had to do a bit of research on it myself after finishing the book to discover that by the time they were married it was far enough advanced that he evidently was no longer contagious, but I did wonder about their son Ferdinand, who also died in an asylum; might he have had congenital syphilis? Only a few more sentences would have sufficed to answer these questions, which to me seem obvious. I also wonder about how Schumann was as a father; how did he spend time with his children, and was he authoritarian? And how did Clara feel about having 15 thalers a week doled our to her as her allowance by her husband when it was she who had earned them? Disappointing as it was to read about their anti-Semitic comments about Mendelssohn, I would also have liked some follow up about that, especially when Schumann clearly was devastated at his early death. More about his relationship with Clara’s father, too, would have been nice; how, for example, did he react to Schumann’s illness and institutionalization?

[Rene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely. I could hardly put it down. I loved the primary source material. I loved reading the relatively new information from the medical records. I loved the discussion of music. I made a YouTube playlist of pieces mentioned in the book written by Robert Schumann and included some music that was mentioned as influential to him.

I wish the editing had been a little tighter with the compositions. Some were mentioned many times and I had to remember that they were already on my list. You can see evidence of my comment in the index of music at the back. I read through the vocal part quickly. I loved reading about how certain pieces inspired others. The idea of threads of themes running through pieces was interesting and all the references to Clara’s key or her name (descending 4ths or 5ths) in the music was also interesting.

The author’s list of recommended performance is great! I should go back and replace some of the ones I chose. However, I favor YouTube videos of music where one can read along with the score.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy...

I learned a lot in the book and am grateful that I was able to read it this year. I look forward to discussing it with some friends from the 2025 MTNA conference.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to read a book about Clara Schumann, but biography on Robert was the closest I could find. I find Clara just so fascinating. I think her life would be such amazing material for a historical movie and/or musical (a la Hamilton/The Greatest Showman). I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been made into anything yet, actually. Her story could be retold as something just as fascinating as Becoming Jane (which I admit, is one of my favorite movies--top 25, maybe?) and 100x more accurate/based on fact.

I really love Robert Schumann's music so this was an interesting read regardless of it not being centered on Clara. And there was as a lot of good information about Robert's relationship with Clara, Clara's background prior to Robert (which wasn't much because Robert and Clara met each other when Clara was so young), and about the Schumanns after Robert's death. One of the most fascinating things about the Schumanns which I would love to explore more of in other non-fiction someday, is how their lives intersected with other great musicians and composers: Mendelssohn, Liszt, Chopin... Brahms, in particular. As far as Clara, I'm not sure how much more interesting information is out there that was not addressed in this book but I would love to see her story portrayed again in the future in some way, perhaps as historical fiction or a fan/speculative retelling...?

[FLORESTAN · Rating 3 out of 5]

The central theme of "The Faces and Masks" is a promising lens. Schumann's use of alter egos like Florestan and Eusebius, his creation of the imaginary Davidsbund, and his multifaceted musical expressions lend themselves well to this exploration. Chernaik endeavors to connect these "masks" to the events of his life and the character of his compositions, as outlined in her introduction where she speaks of his music being "closely interwoven with the chief events of his life." The inclusion of an "Index of Schumann's Works" and a "General Index" further underscores its utility as a reference.

The author's stated aim to make the work accessible, avoiding overly technical language while conveying "a sense of the quality and range of Schumann’s compositions," is commendable and, for the most part, achieved. Discussions of key works like Carnaval, Études symphoniques, and his symphonies are integrated into the biographical narrative.

[Danielle Laman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Glimpse Behind An Unspoken Mask

For some one who knows very little about Schumann (and almost mistaking him for Franz Schubert), I was genuinely surprised but how interesting and detailed this biography goes in both the musical and personal life of one of the early Romantics of this age. It's a tale filled with passion, romance, melancholy and cameos from every composer from Liszt to Brahms and many in between (particularly a fantastic look into Schumann's relations with Mendelssohn). I highly suggest if you haven't listened to any of Schumann's pieces that you may have some playing in the background as you read (it makes the technical conversation a little easier to understand). Overall while I do find aspects of Schumann himself a little uneasy at times, especially in his earlier life, this has been one of the fulfilling biographies I have read in some time

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, non-technical biography of the great composer. Chernaik well describes Schumann's relationship with his teacher/mentor, Friedrich Wieck, and the decline of that relationship as the he became increasingly enamored with Wieck's young daughter, Clara. She also does a good job of describing Schumann's works, and his tendency to hide secret messages, mostly to Clara, in his compositions. The account of Schumann's final decline is as harrowing as you could wish, highlighting both his disturbing awareness of his own decline and Clara's dismay at losing her beloved husband.

And so much great music -- especially helpful is the brief afterword on internet sources, many free, of recordings of Schumann's music.

Recommended.

[Justin Helfrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bummer. Schumann’s story is sad, of course, but this book is sad. It’s sad, he dies (of course) and then, nothing. There’s not enough afterward (afterword?) about schumann’s legacy to tie it to today or show how his work affected other artists of his time or today.

I have not read any of the other schumann bios.
I love schumann’s music. Particularly the pre-marital solo piano works and the myrthen.

Spoiler warning: After some cursory internet research, it was pretty clear to me that RS died of syphilis. This book includes the notes of his doctor at edenich, which the author uses effectively to show that syphilis killed RS without a doubt.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received my copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley.

I thought this was very well written and engaging throughout. The biographical account of Schumann's life is enhanced by Professor Chernaik with snippets of letters between Robert and Clara, and others, and with interesting discussions of Schumann's works. I have my own favorites by Schumann, but reading this got me interested in taking a closer look at some of his works that I haven't visited in a while. I'm very glad I read this.

[Rod · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Form and poetic feeling were his guiding principles, complementary and transformative, informing works that were driven always by his own powerful imagination.”

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This is richly detailed and moving account of the music, life and loves of one of the great composers of the romantic era. Reading it inspires me to revisit many of his familiar works (the piano quintet, piano concerto, and especially the song cycles) and explore some unfamiliar ones as well such as the Manfred Overture and Paradise and the Peri.

[Deborah Cockrean · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting insight into a complex man who produced some incredible music. The exploration of his relationships, in particularly with Clara who he eventually married despite the many and hurtful obstacles from Clara’s father, were fascinating. But the influences on his music were the most interesting for me and the importance of other musicians to him personally as well as professionally.
As well as Robert Schuman, this was also the story of Clara Schuman who Robert seems to have lived dearly and also respected highly as a musician.

[Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine biography for general readers and a great summation of the quintessential Romantic artist. Schumann was a genius, creative and a mentor to Brahms, Joachim and even Wagner, and he and Mendelssohn were close compatriots (until an unfortunate estrangement). The main story is the great romance and partnership between Schumann and his amazing wife Clara, another towering musical figure. Very little analysis of his works, but that isn’t the author’s goal. I recommend this highly.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the life and work of the composer Robert Schumann. Chernaik writes in a compelling and readable style, but the book is clearly well-researched and her conclusions plausible. She deals well with Schumann's relationship with his wife and fellow musician Clara and with the younger composer Johannes Brahms and provides a sad but informative overview of his struggles with illness and how mental illness in particular was treated at the time.

[Hubert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid biography, both musical and personal, of the composer. It's structured a bit formulaically - narrative about the composer's daily life or significant events, and then pieces written during that time, and then more cursory analysis of the pieces themselves. Clara plays a significant role, as expected, in the biography. Delves into source materials rather deeply, especially the letters. Worth looking into again, especially given the comprehensive treatment the composer receives.