The Life of Schumann (review)

‘The man and musician within me were always trying to speak at once’, explained Schumann in May 1843, reflecting on his older compositions; adding that, while he admitted that this was to some degree still the case, he was learning ‘to control myself more and my art likewise’ (quoted in the present book, p. 112). Musicologists have rarely exercised the same restraint, being all too willing to read Schumann’s life as the primary means of understanding his works, or to treat the man as more interesting than the music (see Peter F. Ostwald, Robert Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius (Boston, Mass., rev. edn. 2010) and John Worthen, Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician (New Haven, 2010)). Michael Musgrave’s new biography is a welcome corrective to the trend, for while it presents a detailed and lively account of the life, it keeps the main musical issues in clear view.

Musgrave begins with the end of Schumann’s life, confronting the challenges of the composer’s final illness and late style. Acknowledging that ‘posthumous diagnosis . . . will always be speculative’, and that either alternative requires ‘selective presentation’, he carefully lays out the case for both syphilitic infection and mental illness (p. 4). Yet, as Musgrave recognizes, the central issue is how awareness of Schumann’s illness has influenced the evaluation of his music. ‘No biography can ignore Schumann’s health’, he explains, but while his illness was a ‘major inconvenience’ it was ‘not a determining factor in his creativity’ (p. 5). Rather, Musgrave helpfully contextualizes Schumann’s output, and its reception, in terms of social and cultural circumstances.

Schumann had an excellent classical education, supplemented by the library and acquaintances of his bookseller father. August Schumann was supportive of his youngest son’s creative efforts; he even approached Carl Maria von Weber as a potential teacher. Both men, however, died in 1826. Had August lived, it seems likely that Schumann would still have been expected to study at university, and law was ‘a natural choice’; Musgrave explains that theology was for the lower classes, and that Schumann did not have the ‘temperament or skills for medicine’ (p. 23). Even without the economic imperative to do as his family advised, ‘middle-class trade people . . . kept music for a hobby’, Musgrave notes (p. 23). Schumann thus never had the early musical training that prepared his contemporaries Liszt, Chopin, and Mendelssohn for their profession. Aged 18, Musgrave points out, Schumann was ‘not equipped to teach, perform or compose in any public setting’ (p. 22). He had no sponsor, his music was ‘too strange’, and even at this stage ‘Schumann was also difficult as a man. His reserve of speech, dislike of explaining himself and sometimes autocratic manner reflect[ed] a privileged upbringing’ (p. 22).

While Schumann never overcame his reserve, and would be criticized for his lack of personal skills until the end of his career, he did take advantage of that upbringing. His father had provided a model for how to balance one’s literary and commercial interests by publishing, as well as romances and pocket translations of Walter Scott and Byron, popular guides to Saxony. Along similar lines, once he had determined on music as his profession Schumann established himself first as a critic, by taking over the editorship of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in January 1835. What is more, while many of his compositions continued to be considered ‘strange’ he also produced a number of more accessible, sellable works—especially after his marriage to Clara Wieck in 1840.

Schumann’s relationships with women are treated sympathetically and without melodrama. His commitment to Clara is demonstrated to be intimately bound up with his creative aspirations: ‘Falling in love with an already world-class musician and pianist as well as a very attractive and highly motivated young woman was essentially falling in love with his future’ (p. 74). The significance of Clara’s influence and support is made evident throughout and...