Robert Schumann

The gentlest, the most loving, the most tormented of men, Robert Schumann gave to the world some of its richest and most individual music. There was scarcely a genre he didn’t touch, and none in which he didn’t leave something beautiful, memorable or original. Best known for his piano music, his songs, his chamber works and his symphonies, he was also an epoch-making essayist and critic, who managed at a stroke, and almost single-handedly, to put Chopin and Brahms on the international map. Yet after a lifetime of giving, he died insane at only forty-six. This profile of Schumann includes more than an hour of music by the composer. Audio samples are contained in the text: just tap to listen while you read.