Robert Schumann

The Profile

Robert Schumann (1810–1856) was a German Romantic composer and influential critic. He wrote landmark piano cycles, songs, and four symphonies, and his marriage to pianist-composer Clara Schumann was central to his life and music. He struggled with mental illness and died in an asylum in Endenich.

Born in Zwickau in 1810; died in Endenich in 1856. Married to Clara Schumann (née Wieck). Founder of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Celebrated for piano works, lieder (including Dichterliebe), and four symphonies, notably the 'Rhenish'.

Four DeBaser reviews trace Schumann’s Romantic intensity across piano and chamber pages. Holliger and Brendel illuminate the oboe-and-piano works with lyric balance. Richter’s Symphonic Studies and Fantasiestücke draw out yearning and fire; Lupu’s Humoreske reveals subtle mood shifts. Carnaval Op. 9 appears as a whirlwind of masks, emotion, and virtuosity. The overall take is admiring, sometimes rhapsodic, always engaged.