They are rightly called the greatest composers of the 19th century. But the phrase Schumann period is more often heard; this is the name given to the era of romanticism in the world of music.
Childhood and youth
German composer and music critic Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810 in Saxony (Germany) to a loving couple, Friedrich August and Johanna Christiana. Because of his love for Johanna, whose parents opposed marriage to Friedrich due to poverty, the father of the future musician, after a year of working as an assistant in a bookstore, earned money to marry a girl and open his own business.
Robert Schumann grew up in a family of five children. The boy grew up mischievous and cheerful, similar to his mother, and was very different from his father, a reserved and silent person.
Robert Schumann began school at the age of six and was distinguished by his leadership qualities and creative abilities. A year later, the parents noticed the child’s musical talent and sent him to learn to play the piano. Soon he showed the ability to compose orchestral music.
The young man could not make a choice for a long time future profession- take up music or go into literature, as my father wanted and insisted. But the concert of the pianist and conductor Moscheles, which Robert Schumann attended, left no chance for literature. The composer's mother had plans to make her son a lawyer, but in 1830 he finally received his parents' blessing to devote his life to music.
Music
Having moved to Leipzig, Robert Schumann began attending piano lessons from Friedrich Wieck, who promised him a career as a famous pianist. But life makes its own adjustments. Schumann developed paralysis right hand– the problem forced the young man to give up his dream of becoming a pianist, and he joined the ranks of composers.
There are two very strange versions of the reasons why the composer began to develop the disease. One of them is a simulator made by the musician himself to warm up his fingers, the second story is even more mysterious. There were rumors that the composer tried to remove tendons from his hand in order to achieve piano virtuosity.
But none of the versions has been proven; they are refuted in the diaries of his wife Clara, whom Robert Schumann knew, so to speak, from childhood. With the support of his mentor, Robert Schumann founded the publication “New Musical Newspaper” in 1834. Published in the newspaper, he criticized and ridiculed indifference to creativity and art under fictitious names.
The composer challenged the depressive and wretched Germany of that time, putting harmony, color and romanticism into his works. For example, in one of the most famous cycles for piano "Carnival" are simultaneously present female images, colorful scenes, carnival masks. In parallel, the composer developed in vocal creativity, a genre of lyrical song.
The narrative about the creation and the work itself, “Album for Youth,” deserves special attention. On the day when Robert Schumann’s eldest daughter turned 7 years old, the girl received a notebook with the title “Album for Youth” as a gift. The notebook consisted of works by famous composers and 8 of them were written by Robert Schumann.
The composer attached importance to this work not because he loved his children and wanted to please, he was disgusted by the artistic level music education– songs and music that children studied at school. The album includes the plays “Spring Song”, “Santa Claus”, “The Cheerful Peasant”, “Winter”, which, in the author’s opinion, are easy and understandable for children’s perception.
During the period of creative growth, the composer wrote 4 symphonies. The main part of the works for piano consists of cycles with a lyrical mood, which are connected by one storyline.
During his lifetime, the music written by Robert Schumann was not perceived by his contemporaries. Romantic, sophisticated, harmonious, touching thin strings human soul. It would seem that Europe, shrouded in a series of changes and revolutions, was unable to appreciate the style of a composer who kept pace with the times, who fought all his life to face the new without fear.
Colleagues “in the shop” also did not perceive his contemporary - he refused to understand the music of a rebel and rebel, Franz Liszt, being sensitive and romantic, included in concert program only the work “Carnival”. Music by Robert Schumann accompanies modern cinema: "Dr. House", " Grandfather of the lung behavior", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".
Personal life
The composer met his future wife Clara Josephine Wieck at a young age in the house of a piano teacher - the girl turned out to be the daughter of Friedrich Wieck. In 1840, the wedding of the young people took place. This year is considered the most fruitful for the musician - 140 songs were written, and the year is also notable for the assignment scientific degree PhD from the University of Leipzig.
Clara was famous as a famous pianist; she traveled to concerts in which her husband accompanied his beloved. The couple had 8 children, the first years of their life together were like a fairy tale about love with a happy continuation. After 4 years, Robert Schumann begins to experience acute attacks of nervous disorder. Critics suggest that the reason for this is the composer's wife.
Before the wedding, the musician fought for the right to become the husband of the famous pianist, in to a greater extent with the girl’s father, who categorically did not approve of Schumann’s intentions. Despite the obstacles created by his future father-in-law (the matter reached court proceedings), Robert Schumann married for love.
After the marriage, I had to struggle with my wife’s popularity and recognition. And although Robert Schumann was a recognized and famous composer, the feeling that the musician was hiding in the shadow of Clara’s fame did not leave. As a result of emotional distress, Robert Schumann took a two-year break from his work.
The love story about the romantic relationship of the creative couple Clara and Robert Schumann is embodied in the film “Song of Love,” which was released in America in 1947.
Death
In 1853 famous composer and the pianist set off to travel around Holland, where the couple was received with honors, but after some time the symptoms of the disease worsened sharply. The composer attempted suicide by jumping into the Rhine River, but the musician was rescued.
After this incident, he was placed in a psychiatric clinic near Bonn; meetings with his wife were rarely allowed. July 29, 1856 at age 46 great composer passed away. According to the autopsy results, the cause of illness and death was early age– congested blood vessels and damage to the brain.
Works
- 1831 – “Butterflies”
- 1834 – “Carnival”
- 1837 – “Fantastic passages”
- 1838 – “Children’s Scenes”
- 1840 – “The Poet’s Love”
- 1848 – “Album for Youth”
Robert Schumann was a German composer, born in 1810, died in 1856. Despite a strong desire to devote himself to music, after the death of his father, at the request of his mother, Schumann entered (1828) the University of Leipzig to study legal sciences. In 1829 he moved to the University of Heidelberg; but both here and there he was primarily involved in music, so that finally, in 1830, his mother gave her consent for her son to become a professional pianist.
Portrait of Robert Schumann based on a daguerreotype from 1850
Returning to Leipzig, Schumann began to study under the guidance of pianist Fr. Vetch; but soon the paralysis of one of the fingers of his right hand forced him to abandon his career as a virtuoso and, devoting himself exclusively to composing, he began to study composition under the guidance of Dorn. In the following years, Schumann wrote several large pieces for piano and at the same time acted as a writer about music. In 1834, he founded the magazine “New Musical Newspaper,” which he edited until 1844. In his articles, Schumann, on the one hand, attacked empty virtuosity, on the other, he encouraged young musicians inspired by the highest aspirations.
Robert Schumann. Best works
In 1840 Schumann married his daughter former teacher, Clara Wieck and at the same time there was a turn in his activity, since he, who had previously written only for piano, began to write for singing, and also took up instrumental composition. When the Leipzig Conservatory was founded (1843), Schumann became its professor. That year, his composition for choir and orchestra, “Paradise and Peri,” was performed, which helped spread his fame.
In 1844, Schumann embarked on an artistic journey with his wife, a remarkable pianist, which brought great fame to both. During it they also visited Russia; Their joint concerts in Mitau, Riga, St. Petersburg and Moscow were a great success. After returning to Leipzig, Schumann left the editorial office of the magazine and moved with his wife to Dresden, where in 1847 he took over the management of the Liedertafel and the choral singing society. Having staged his opera Genoveva in Leipzig in 1850, Schumann and his family moved to Düsseldorf, where he received a position city music director.
However, a chronic brain disease, the first signs of which appeared back in 1833, began to develop very quickly. In Düsseldorf, Schumann wrote the “Rhine Symphony”, overtures to “The Bride of Messina” and “Hermann and Dorothea”, several ballads, masses and a Requiem. All these works already bear the stamp of his mental disorder, which was also reflected in his bandmastership. In 1853 he was given to understand that he should leave his post. Very upset by this, Schumann went to travel around Holland, where he experienced great success. The brilliant success of this artistic trip with his wife was the last joyful event of his life. Due to intensive training, the composer’s illness began to progress. He began to suffer from auditory hallucinations and a speech disorder. Late one evening, Schumann ran out into the street and threw himself into the Rhine (1854). He was saved, but his mind was gone forever. He lived after that for another two years in a mental hospital near Bonn, where he died.
Robert Schumann short biography German composer is presented in this article.
Biography and creativity of Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann was born June 8, 1810 in the small town of Zwickau, in absolutely no musical family. His parents were engaged in book publishing. They wanted to get the child interested in this business, but at the age of seven, Robert showed a passion for music.
He entered the University of Leipzig in 1828 to study law. While in Leipzig, Robert meets Vic, the best piano teacher, and begins taking lessons from him. A year later, realizing that a lawyer is not the profession he wants to master, Schumann moves to the University of Heidelberg. He returned to Leipzig in 1830 and continued to take piano lessons from Wieck. In 1831, he suffered an injury to his right hand and the career of the great pianist came to an end. But Schumann did not even think of giving up music - he began to write musical works and mastered the profession of a music critic.
Robert Schumann founded the New music magazine"in Leipzig, and until 1844 he was its editor, main author and publisher. Special attention he devoted himself to writing musical works for piano. The most significant cycles are Butterflies, Variations, Carnival, Davidsbüdler Dances, Fantastic Pieces. In 1838, he wrote several real masterpieces - Novels, Children's Scenes and Kreisleriana.
When the time came for marriage, in 1840 Robert married Clara Wieck, his daughter music teacher. She was known as a talented pianist. During the years of marriage he wrote a number of symphonic works– Paradise and Peri, Requiem and Mass, Requiem for Mignon, scenes from the work “Faust”.
Schumann's music embodied the most characteristic features German romanticism - psychologism, passionate striving for the ideal, intimacy of tone, sharpness of irony and bitterness from the feeling of the squalor of the bourgeois spirit (as he himself said, the “screaming dissonances” of life).
Schumann's spiritual formation began in the 20s of the 19th century, when romanticism in Germany had just experienced its brilliant heyday in literature; the influence of literature on Schumann's work was very strong. It is difficult to find a composer whose interweaving of music and literature would be as close as his (except perhaps Wagner). He was convinced that “the aesthetics of one art is the aesthetics of another, only the material is different.” It was in Schumann’s work that the deep penetration of literary patterns into music, characteristic of the romantic synthesis of the arts, took place.
- direct combination of music and literature in vocal genres;
- appeal to literary images and plots (“Butterflies”);
- the creation of such musical genres as cycles of “stories” (), “Novelettes”, lyrical miniatures similar to poetic aphorisms or poems (“Leaf from an Album” fis-moll, plays “The Poet Speaks”, “Warum?”).
In his passion for literature, Schumann went from the sentimental romanticism of Jean Paul (in his youth) to the sharp criticism of Hoffmann and Heine (in mature years), and then - to Goethe (in the later period).
The main thing in Schumann's music is the sphere of spirituality. And in this emphasis on the inner world, which increased even in comparison with Schubert, Schumann reflected the general direction of the evolution of romanticism. The main content of his work was the most personal of all lyrical themes - love theme. Inner world his hero is more contradictory than that of Schubert's wanderer from The Beautiful Miller's Wife and Winterreise, his conflict with the outside world is sharper, more impulsive. This increase in disharmony brings Schumann’s hero closer to the late romantic one. The very language in which Schumann “speaks” is more complex; it is characterized by the dynamics of unexpected contrasts and impetuosity. If we can talk about Schubert as a classical romantic, then Schumann in his most characteristic works is far from the balance and completeness of the forms of classical art.
Schumann is a composer who created very directly, spontaneously, at the behest of his heart. His comprehension of the world is not a consistent philosophical embrace of reality, but an instant and acutely sensitive recording of everything that touched the artist’s soul. The emotional scale of Schumann's music is distinguished by many gradations: tenderness and ironic joke, stormy impulse, dramatic intensity and dissolution in contemplation and poetic dreams. Character portraits, mood pictures, images of inspired nature, legends, folk humor, funny sketches, poetry of everyday life and intimate confessions - everything that a poet’s diary or an artist’s album could contain was embodied by Schumann in the language of music.
“The lyricist of brief moments,” as B. Asafiev called Schumann. He reveals himself especially uniquely in cyclic forms, where the whole is created from many contrasts. Free alternation of images, frequent and sudden changes of mood, switching from one plan of action to another, often the opposite, is a very characteristic method for him, reflecting the impulsiveness of his worldview. Romantic literary short stories (Jean Paul, Hoffmann) played a significant role in the formation of this method.
Schumann's life and career
Robert Schumann was born on June 8, 1810 in the Saxon city Zwickau, which at that time was a typical German province. The house in which he was born has survived to this day; now there is a museum of the composer.
It is no coincidence that the composer’s biographers are attracted by the personality of his father, from whom Robert Schumann inherited a lot. He was a very intelligent, extraordinary man, passionately in love with literature. Together with his brother, he opened the Schumann Brothers book publishing house and bookstore in Zwickau. Robert Schumann adopted both this father's passion for literature and the outstanding literary gift that later reflected so brilliantly in his critical activity.
The interests of young Schumann were concentrated mainly in the world of art. Even as a boy, he wrote poetry, arranged in the house theatrical performances, reads a lot and improvises at the piano with the greatest pleasure (he began composing at the age of 7). His first listeners admired the young musician’s amazing ability to create in improvisations musical portraits familiar people. This gift of a portrait painter will subsequently also manifest itself in his work (portraits of Chopin, Paganini, his wife, self-portraits).
The father encouraged his son's artistic inclinations. He took his musical vocation very seriously - he even agreed to study with Weber. However, due to Weber's departure to London, these classes did not take place. Robert Schumann's first music teacher was the local organist and teacher Kunst, with whom he studied from the age of 7 to 15.
With the death of his father (1826), Schumann's passion for music, literature, and philosophy came into very intense conflict with the desires of his mother. She categorically insisted that he receive a law degree. According to the composer, his life turned "into the struggle between poetry and prose." In the end, he gives in, enrolling in the law faculty of the University of Leipzig.
1828-1830 - university years (Leipzig - Heidelberg - Leipzig). Despite the breadth of interests and curiosity of Schumann, his studies in science did not leave him completely indifferent. And yet he feels with increasing force that jurisprudence is not for him.
At the same time (1828) in Leipzig, he met a man who was destined to play a huge and controversial role in his life. This is Friedrich Wieck, one of the most authoritative and experienced piano teachers. A clear proof of the effectiveness of Vic's piano technique was the playing of his daughter and student Clara, who was admired by Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Paganini. Schumann becomes Wieck's student, studying music in parallel with his studies at the university. Since the age of 30, he has devoted his life entirely to art, having dropped out of university. Perhaps this decision arose under the impression of the playing of Paganini, whom Schumann heard in the same 1830. It was exceptional, completely special, reviving the dream of an artistic career.
Other impressions of this period include trips to Frankfurt and Munich, where Schumann met Heinrich Heine, as well as a summer trip to Italy.
Schumann's compositional genius was revealed in its entirety in 30s, when his best piano works appear one after another: “Butterflies”, “Abegg” variations, “Symphonic Etudes”, “Carnival”, Fantasia in C major, “Fantastic Pieces”, “Kreisleriana”. The artistic perfection of these early works seems implausible, because only from 1831 Schumann began to systematically study composition with the theorist and composer Heinrich Dorn.
Schumann himself associates almost everything he created in the 30s with the image of Clara Wieck, with the romantic their love story. Schumann met Clara back in 1828, when she was in her ninth year. When friendly relations began to develop into something more, an insurmountable obstacle arose on the path of the lovers - the fanatically stubborn resistance of F. Vic. His “concern for his daughter’s future” took extremely strict forms. He took Clara to Dresden, forbidding Schumann to maintain any contact with her. For a year and a half they were separated by a blank wall. The lovers went through secret correspondence, long separations, a secret engagement, and finally an open trial. They married only in August 1840.
The 30s were also a heyday musical-critical And literary activity Schumann. At its center is the fight against philistinism, philistinism in life and art, as well as the defense of advanced art and the education of public taste. The remarkable quality of Schumann the critic is his impeccable musical taste, a keen instinct for everything talented, advanced, regardless of who the author of the work is - a world celebrity or a beginner, unknown composer.
Schumann's debut as a critic was a review of Chopin's variations on a theme from Mozart's Don Giovanni. This article, dated 1831, contains famous phrase: “Hats off, gentlemen, before you is a genius!” Schumann also unmistakably assessed talent, predicting the then unknown musician the role of the largest composer XIX century. The article on Brahms (New Paths) was written in 1853, after a long break from Schumann's critical activity, once again confirming his prophetic instincts.
In total, Schumann created about 200 amazingly interesting articles about music and musicians. They are often presented in the form of entertaining stories or letters. Some articles remind diary entries, others - live scenes with the participation of many characters. The main participants in these dialogues invented by Schumann are Frorestan and Eusebius, as well as Maestro Raro. Florestan And Eusebius - it's not only literary characters, this is the personification of two different sides of the composer’s personality. He endowed Florestan with an active, passionate, impetuous temperament and irony. He is hot and quick-tempered, impressionable. Eusebius, on the contrary, is a silent dreamer, a poet. Both were equally inherent in Schumann's contradictory nature. In a broad sense, in these autobiographical images 2 opposite versions of romantic discord with reality were embodied - violent protest and peace in a dream.
Florestan and Eusebius became the most active participants in Schumanov's "Davidsbünda" (“The League of David”), named after the legendary biblical king. This "more than secret alliance» existed only in the mind of its creator, who defined it as "spiritual community" artists who united in the fight against philistinism for true art.
Introductory article to Schumann's songs. M., 1933.
For example, just like the creators of the romantic story in literature, Schumann was important to the effect of the twist at the end, the suddenness of its emotional impact.
A tribute to admiration for the playing of the brilliant violinist was the creation of piano studies based on the caprices of Paganini (1832-33).
In 1831, both Schumann and Chopin were only 21 years old.
SCHUMANN (Schumann) Robert (1810-56), German composer and music critic. An exponent of the aesthetics of German romanticism. Founder and editor of Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Musical Journal, 1834). Creator of program piano cycles ("Butterflies", 1831; "Carnival", 1835; "Fantastic Pieces", 1837; "Kreisleriana", 1838), lyric-dramatic vocal cycles ("The Poet's Love", "Circle of Songs", "Love and a woman's life", all 1840); contributed to the development of the romantic piano sonata and variations ("Symphonic Etudes", 2nd edition 1852). Opera "Genoveva" (1848), oratorio "Paradise and Peri" (1843), 4 symphonies, concert for piano and orchestra (1845), chamber and choral works, music for the dramatic poem "Manfred" by J. (1849).
SCHUMANN (Schumann) Robert ( full name Robert Alexander) (June 8, 1810, Zwickau - July 29, 1856, Endenich, a suburb of Bonn), German composer.
The love of music won
Born into the family of a bookseller and publisher. Early on he discovered his abilities as a pianist and composer, as well as a literary gift (until adulthood he retained his youthful passion for the work of the German romantic writer Jean Paul, in whose work lyricism is intricately intertwined with the grotesque and irony). In 1828 he went to Leipzig to study law, but devoted a significant part of his time to literary studies and playing music; took piano lessons from the prominent teacher Friedrich Wieck (1785-1873), wrote several piano pieces and songs. From Leipzig, Schumann moved to Heidelberg, where, instead of jurisprudence, he studied music mainly. He soon managed to convince his family that a career as a pianist was more in line with his inclinations, and in 1830 he returned to Leipzig, where he settled in Wieck's house. He soon injured his hand (possibly due to the use of a homemade mechanism for training his fingers) and was forced to abandon his intention to become a concert pianist. Nevertheless, he continued to compose music for the piano; in 1830, his opus 1 appeared - “Variations on the name ABEGG” (the surname of the composer’s then girlfriend is encrypted in the theme of these variations).
David's brotherhood
In 1834, Schumann founded the periodical Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik ("New Music Magazine") in Leipzig and remained its editor-in-chief and author until 1844. He proved himself to be a brilliant, insightful music critic, a supporter of advanced trends in art, and a discoverer of young talents. Schumann often signed his articles with the pseudonyms Eusebius and Florestan, the first of which personified the lyrical-contemplative, the second the impulsive, ardent side of his personality. These heroes, along with F., F. Liszt, N. Paganini and Schumann’s future wife, pianist Clara Wieck, became part of the fantastic “Brotherhood of David” (Davidsbund), invented by Schumann, opposing philistine views on art. For the musical embodiment of your penchant for fantasizing in literary images young Schumann chose the form piano cycle, consisting of a variety of moods and textures character plays. During the 1830s, the cycles “Butterflies”, “Carnival” (featuring musical “portraits” of members of the Brotherhood of David - the Davidsbündlers), “Dancing of the Davidsbündlers”, “Children’s Scenes”, “Kreisleriana” (based on the prose of E. T. . A. Hoffman), "Vienna Carnival", a collection of miniatures "Fantastic plays". The “Florestan” and “Eusebius” principles are whimsically combined in multi-movement non-program works of the same period - three sonatas (the third of them includes the charming “Variations on a Theme of Clara Wieck”), a large-scale three-part Fantasia, “Symphonic Etudes” (in the form of variations on a theme F. Vika), "Humoresque".
Love
Matters of the heart always played an important role in Schumann's life, influencing his work. In the mid-1830s, Schumann began an affair with Clara, Wieck's daughter, who tried in every possible way to prevent their marriage. Vic's opposition was overcome only by a court decision, which in 1840 recognized Clara's right to marry without paternal consent. The period of struggle for Clara and forced separation from her was marked in the composer’s life by deep depressions. The marriage of Schumann and Clara took place in September 1840. Biographers of the composer often call this year the “year of songs.” In a single creative impulse, Schumann created over 100 songs for voice and piano, including vocal loops“The Love and Life of a Woman” (to the words of A. Chamisso, in 8 parts) and “The Love of a Poet” (to the words of G. Heine, in 16 parts). The songs that make up each of the cycles form a coherent plot with a tragic ending; both cycles end with large piano “epilogues”, nostalgically recreating the serene atmosphere of the initial song (in “Love and Life of a Woman”) or one of the central parts (in “The Love of a Poet”). A piano accompaniment replete with details, rich in subtexts - distinguishing feature most of Schumann's best vocal miniatures, including from the collection "Myrtles" (26 songs with words by various poets) and notebooks with words by Heine (Op. 24) and J. von Eichendorff (Op. 39).
Mature Schumann
In 1841 Schumann wrote mainly orchestral music. From his pen came, in particular, the 1st symphony, the first edition of the 4th symphony and the poetic Fantasia for piano and orchestra intended for Clara, which later became the first movement Piano concert in A minor (finished in 1845). In 1842, while Clara was on a long concert tour, Schumann, who did not like to be in the shadow of his wife and therefore preferred to stay at home, wrote several major chamber instrumental opuses, including the popular Quintet for piano and strings. By this time, Schumann's style, having largely lost its former impulsiveness and spontaneity, became more balanced; the multi-layered, richly decorated (“arabesque”) texture characteristic of the works of the 1830s was replaced by more economical and traditional forms of presentation. The next year, 1843, was marked by the creation of a large symphonic cantata (essentially a secular oratorio) “Paradise and Peri” (based on the poem by T. Moore) and the beginning of work on music for soloists, choir and orchestra for individual scenes of “I.V.’s Faust”; the first music was written for final scene tragedies are one of the most majestic and harmonious creations of the composer.
Difficult years
At the same time, Schumann took the position of professor at the newly opened Leipzig Conservatory, headed by his friend F. Very soon it was discovered that Schumann was completely incapable of teaching; his attempts to take up conducting also led to very modest results. In 1844, Schumann and his family moved to Dresden, where he continued to be haunted by depression, which seriously hampered his work. Only in 1847-48 the composer experienced a relative creative upsurge, composing several chamber opuses, a number of songs and choruses, and the opera Genoveva (its premiere in Leipzig was without much success). In 1848, Schumann founded and headed the Dresden Choral Society, which in 1849 first performed excerpts from his music for Faust.
In 1850, Schumann took the post of city music director in Düsseldorf. At first, he felt happy and experienced a surge of inspiration, as evidenced by the charming Cello Concerto and the 3rd Symphony, the so-called “Rhenish” (one of its parts was inspired by impressions of the famous Cologne Cathedral). However, Schumann's capabilities as a conductor turned out to be too limited to work as music director the whole big city; in 1852-53 his physical and state of mind worsened and he realized that he would no longer be able to perform his duties. Schumann's last major opuses (Fantasia for violin and orchestra, Sonata 3 for violin and piano, Concerto for violin and orchestra) indicate the decline of his inspiration. In 1854, Schumann began to hallucinate, and on February 27 he attempted suicide, after which he was placed in psychiatric hospital, where he died two years later. Apparently, Schumann's mental illness was the result of syphilis, which he contracted in his youth. To last day Clara and young J. Brahms took care of him.
Clara and Robert Schumann had eight children. Clara outlived her husband by 40 years. Until 1854 she composed music; her best works(Piano trio, some songs) are characterized by extraordinary imagination and skill. Contemporaries valued Schumann the pianist not only for her brilliant mastery of the latest repertoire(Chopin, Schumann, Brahms), but also for the high culture of interpretation and melodious tone. Until the end of her life she maintained a close relationship with Brahms.
