Musical Anniversaries-Part Three

Robert Schumann, also known as Robert Alexander Schumann,
(8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856)
was a German composer, aesthete, influential music critic and also one of the most representative composers of the Romantic era.
Schumann wanted to be a virtuoso pianist.
A hand injury kept him from realizing that goal. 
Instead he focused his musical energies on composition,
which were written exclusively for the piano until 1840.
Later on works for piano and orchestra;
many lieder (songs for voice and piano)-
here Baritone Markus Werba: Faust by Schumann-;

four symphonies,
an only opera, Genoveva, Op. 81, written in 1848,
lacking dramatic qualities it has not remained in the repertoire;
other orchestral, choral, and chamber works were  also completed.
Schumann wrote about music in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), in Leipzig.

In 1840,  Schumann married, over her father's protests, Wieck's daughter Clara, also a composer with a considerable concert career.
Here the Alesi Ensemble of Salzburg with Clara Schumann's
Piano Trio Op. 17 in G-minor- a very romantic piece.

During the last two years of his life Robert Schumann requested to be confined to a mental institution, after an attempted suicide, .

Schumann was known to have said  -  perhaps in recognition of his own depressive moments:
"To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist"

Did you know that:

Green - Error Score,
Red - Correct Score

• Before taking up music as a serious profession, Schumann wrote novels. Of his two attempts, Juniusabende was completed in 1826; Selene was not completed.
• Schumann’s name translates into English as Bob Cobbler,
• Schumann came from a solid bourgeois background: his father was a writer, publisher and bookseller.

In 1956, the East German postal service issued a pair of postage stamps featuring Schumann's portrait. Unfortunately, the score in the background was by Franz Schubert (similar name, wrong country).

 It was hastily replaced.