“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts, such is the duty of the artist.”
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was one of the most important composers of his time. Together with his wife Clara Schumann, he was at the forefront of the creative community, not only as a composer and musician, but also as a highly esteemed writer. Browse our sheet music and scores, and discover everything from Dichterliebe to Schumann’s Symphonies today.
Robert Schumann was a multi-talented man. He studied law in Leipzig and Heidelberg, he was a famous pianist, composer and conductor, and he also worked as a writer and journalist. The Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, which he co-founded and published, is still very successful today.
Despite being coined Europe’s next star pianist, a repetitive strain injury made Schumann turn all his efforts to composition. His works number over 140 compositions, and his most popular pieces include Dichterliebe, Schumann’s Rheinische Symphony, Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood, the Album for the Young, the Piano Concerto in A minor by Schumann, the Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor, and the Piano Quintet in E flat Major by Schumann.
Schumann was close friends with Johannes Brahms, and he greatly admired Frédéric Chopin. Despite the fact that Franz Liszt admired Schumann’s expressive, poetic and progressive music, the feelings were not reciprocated, and Schumann chose to steer clear of the programmatic style which defined much of Liszt’s work.
Towards the end of his life, Schumann’s mental health deteriorated, and he spent his last years in a sanitorium near Bonn. Johannes Brahms visited him there many, many times until he passed away. His wife Clara outlived him by 40 years.