Schumann
The Faces and the Masks
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4.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Drawing on previously unpublished sources, this groundbreaking biography of Robert Schumann sheds new light on the great composer’s life and work. With the rigorous research of a scholar and the eloquent prose of a novelist, Judith Chernaik takes us into Schumann’s nineteenth-century Romantic milieu, where he wore many “masks” that gave voice to each corner of his soul. The son of a book publisher, he infused his pieces with literary ideas. He was passionately original but worshipped the past: Bach and Beethoven, Shakespeare and Byron. He believed in artistic freedom but struggled with constraints of form. His courtship and marriage to the brilliant pianist Clara Wieck—against her father’s wishes—is one of the great musical love stories of all time. Chernaik freshly explores his troubled relations with fellow composers Mendelssohn and Chopin, and the full medical diary—long withheld—from the Endenich asylum where he spent his final years enables her to look anew at the mystery of his early death. By turns tragic and transcendent, Schumann shows how this extraordinary artist turned his tumultuous life into music that speaks directly—and timelessly—to the heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chernaik (The Lyrics of Shelley) vividly brings to life German composer Robert Schumann (1810 1856). Using Schumann's personal diaries, letters, and other key archival sources, Chernaik puts Schumann's life in a new light while providing an overview of Romanticism in 19th-century Europe, which included composers , Fr d ric Chopin and Felix Mendelssohn. During this time, Schumann created narratives around fictional characters, such as Johannes Kreisler (taken from the works of poet E.T.A. Hoffmann) in his composition Kreisleriana. Chernaik skillfully puts Schumann's compositions in the context of the events in his life when he was writing them the death of his sister Fanny in 1847, for example, cast him into depression and inspired him to compose his F-sharp minor string quartet. Chernaik details Schumann's romance with pianist Clara Wieck, who would become his wife, as well as Schumann's mental illness, suicide attempt, and death. Using the previously unavailable full medical diary of Endenich Asylum in Germany, Chernaik suggests that Schumann suffered from late-stage syphilis, which caused paralysis and psychosis, and ultimately killed him. Fast-paced and informative, this biography wonderfully explores the life of a great and troubled composer.
Customer Reviews
Highly engaging biography
This biography gave me everything, and more, I could have wanted. Schumann is my favorite composer, and Dr Chernaik did a wonderful job giving details on his life, while also extensively discussing his great works. My favorite read of the year.