Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumannwas a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth8 June 1810
CityZwickau, Germany
CountryGermany
Only when the form grows clear to you, will the spirit become so too.
My heart pounds sickeningly and I turn pale... I often feel as if I were dead... I seem to be losing my mind.
Nature best teaches how to pray, and how to reverence all the gifts the Almighty has given us. She is like a vast outspread handkerchief, embroidered with God's eternal name, on which we may dry alike our tears of sorrow and of joy; she turns weeping into ecstasy, and fills our hearts with speechless, quiet reverence and resignation.
The flame that is naturally clear always gives the most light and heat. If I could blend my talent for poetry and music into one, the light would burn still clearer, and I might go far.
An evil fate has deprived me of the full use of my right hand, so that I am not able to play my compositions as I feel them. The trouble with my hand is that certain fingers have become so weak, probably through writing and playing too much at one time, that I can hardly use them.
People compose for many reasons, to become immortal; because the piano happens to be open; because they want to become a millionaire; because of the praise of friends; because they have looked into a pair of beautiful eyes; or for no reason whatsoever.
We have learned to express the more delicate nuances of feeling by penetrating more deeply into the mysteries of harmony.
To compose is to remember music that has never been written.
My whole life has been a struggle between Poetry and Prose, or call it Music and Law.
The poet sees better than other mortals. I do not see things as they are, but according to my own subjective impression, and this makes life easier and simpler.
Thus it is ever in life. The aims we once pursued no longer satisfy us; we aim, we strive, we aspire, until sight fails, and mind and body find rest in the grave.
When young, one learns his craftsmanship, may become a young master, and it is youth that is most auspicious for developing certain skills.
We may be sure that a genius like Mozart, were he born today, would write concertos like Chopin and not like Mozart.
The painter turns a poem into a painting; the musician sets a picture to music.