Status Updates From Great Masters: Robert And C...

Robert Schumann died on July 29, 1856. Clara wore the black of mourning until the day she died (forty years later).

Clara wrote in her diary after his passing: "All my thoughts went up to God with thanks that he was finally free. As I knelt at his bed, it seemed as if a magnificent spirit was hovering over me. If only he had taken me along."

The poet Grillparzer delivered an oration at Robert's grave side.

On February 27, 1854, a cold and rainy day in Düsseldorf (on carneval), wearing only his slippers and dressing gown, Schumann headed for the Rhine River, only four blocks away. He gave the toll keeper his handkerchief for payment as he did not have money on him. His behavior caught the attention of the toll keeper, but not before Robert jumped into the Rhine. He was rescued by some fishermen in a small boat.

"Schumann referred to him as the “young eagle,” arranged for
the publication of a number of Brahms’s works, and wrote an
article for the Neue Zeitschrift - the first such article he had
written in years - in which he praised Brahms as a genius.

Brahms was filled with gratitude, and he remained a loyal and
selfless friend to both Robert and Clara during the terrible,
dark time that was about to envelop them all."

"Electrified, Schumann rushed out of the room, giving Brahms just enough time to realize that he was going to have to play piano in front of the great and famous Clara Wieck herself."

"In September of 1853 Schumann received, unannounced, a visit from a small, young, blonde-haired composer and pianist from Hamburg named
Johannes Brahms. At Schumann’s invitation, the twenty-year-old Brahms sat down at the piano and began to play. Brahms had gotten no further than a few measures when he felt Schumann’s hand on his shoulder. Quietly, Schumann said, “Please wait a moment. I must call my wife.”

"Schumann was not a good conductor. He frequently dropped his baton
during performances and took to tying it to his wrist with a piece of
string."

"Schumann and family arrived in Düsseldorf in September of 1850.
Düsseldorf was, at the time, an attractive and modern city. Located on the east bank of the Rhine River, north of Cologne, the city had been a haven for poets, painters, and sculptors since the seventeenth century."

"Indeed, starting in mid-1847, the anxious, depressive state that he had fought so long and hard against, that had so colored his world since the Russian tour of 1844, began to lift. By mid-1848, his depression gone, Schumann’s manic compositional engine was, once again, fully engaged."

Schumann had a severe depression which started in 1844 and lasted for three years. I feel so sorry for him.

"The quintet makes an overwhelming first impression. Beyond
its engaging themes, beyond its brilliant use of the ensemble,
beyond its complex counterpoint and formal coherence is its
incredible energy, its relentless rhythmic drive.

The first movement opens with a brash and magnificent
statement, genuinely orchestral in impact and scope. ( R. Schumann, Piano Quintet in Eb, Op. 44, movement 1, opening [1842].)"

"Clara had not been raised to be a wife and mother (...). She grew up in the company of men and concert halls and cigars, not with girls and women (...)."

Robert Schumann called Mendelssohn “the Mozart of the
nineteenth century.”

"Clara’s ambitions for Schumann only grew once they were
married. Aside from his own compositional ambitions, it was
Clara’s overwhelming confidence that gave Schumann the push he
needed to write his first mature symphony. In addition, he lived in
an incredibly stimulating environment in 1840–1841. Leipzig had
become, almost overnight, one of the major musical centers in
Germany."

https://www.poetryverse.com/robert-bu...

"Robert was thrilled, and the three songs Clara wrote for him are
wonderful. One of them is a setting, in German, of Robert Burns’s
poem Musing on the Roaring Ocean.”

"Listen, in particular, to the roiling and passionate piano part,
which well depicts the foaming, stormy ocean evoked by the
text. (Musical selection: C. Schumann, Am Strand from
“Musing on the Roaring Ocean” [1840].)"

"The glorious and straightforward lyricism of this song is reinforced and indeed deepend by Schumann's amazing use of harmony and phrase."

(Song No. 4 entitled 'You, Ring on My Finger')

"Everyone knew that Clara was a star, a familiar and beloved
figure in the concert halls and salons of Western Europe, but
Robert Schumann was relatively unknown. On one occasion, Schumann was so insulted by the way he was treated while on tour with Clara that he left her behind and returned to Leipzig by himself. Schumann’s subordinate position was painful to him, but he ultimately learned to accept the
situation."

"One reason we know so much about the first three years of Clara
and Robert’s marriage is that aside from their individual diaries,
they kept a so-called 'marriage diary.' On Clara’s birthday, the
day after their wedding, Robert presented her with a blank book
with the instructions that it was to record all the wishes, hopes, and
even the misunderstandings of their marriage."

"Schumann composed the eight songs of Frauenliebe und Leben in
just two days (!) on July 11 and 12, 1840 five days after the courts
first granted permission for he and Clara to marry."

Schumann wrote in his diary (re. granted court permission): "Happiest of days! End of the struggle."

"As a postscript, in 1840, Schumann successfully sued Wieck for
slander. In 1843, by which time Schumann’s reputation as a composer
had grown enormously and the couple had had the first 2 of
their 8 children, Wieck finally came to his senses and initiated a reconciliation. To Robert’s credit, he accepted Wieck’s apology,”

"The second contrasting episode is energized and dramatic. It
fades quietly back into the main theme, which itself is
followed by an achingly gorgeous coda; the piece recedes,
evaporates, like a sweet and brief memory. We listen to the
remainder of the Arabesque, beginning with the second
contrasting episode."

"Schumann’s aims of simplicity and directness paid off in the
Arabesque. Structurally, the piece, a rondo, is entirely
straightforward. It features a gentle, lyric principal theme in C
major that alternates with two slower themes in minor. The
principal theme is imbued with a grace and an elegance that is
pure Vienna, a song without words, one of the most wistful
and lyric tunes Schumann ever wrote."

We are listening to Arabesque, Op. 18, now. :)

"Of course, Clara was distraught by Robert’s letter, and Schumann's friend Moritz was called to mediate. The situation was obviously one of burnout: two oversensitive, overemotional, overwrought artists had
sustained a relationship in the face of incredible pressure and
hostility."
(Robert was facing suicidal thoughts at that point and Clara continued to feel miserable complaining of heartaches and headaches.)

"Late in 1838, Clara wrote Robert and suggested that they put off thinking about marriage until she had earned more money. For Schumann, battling his own emotions, his lack of success in Vienna, (...) Clara’s letter was the last straw."

Schumann wrote back: "I did not expect you to smash my last hopes. (...) But you want by all means to be a millionairess and with that I no longer want you."

"To publish anything in Vienna, Schumann - a foreigner - needed permission from the government censors. He met with the court censor, then visited the publishing houses of Anton Diabelli and Tobias Haslinger, where he was treated coolly. Apparently, Wieck had already contacted both Diabelli and Haslinger and had poisoned them to Schumann’s
plan."