R. Schumann - Easy Listening Piano Classics - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The son of a bookseller, and writer, Robert Schumann (1810-1856) showed early abilities in both music and literature, the second facility used in his later writing on musical subjects. After brief study at university, he was allowed by his widowed mother and guardian to undertake serious study of the piano with Friedrich Wieck, whose favorite daughter Clara was later to become Schumann's wife. His ambitions as a pianist were thwarted by a weakness in the fingers of one hand, but the 1830s nevertheless brought a number of compositions for the instrument. Indeed, all of his published compositions until 1840 were for piano. The year of his marriage, 1840, was a year of song, followed by attempts in which his young wife encouraged him at more ambitious forms of orchestral composition. Settling first in Leipzig and then in Dresden, the Schumanns moved in 1850 to Düsseldorf, where Schumann had his first official appointment, as municipal director of music. In 1854 he had a serious mental break-down, followed by two years in the asylum at Endenich before his death in 1856. As a composer Schumann's gifts are clearly heard in his piano music and in his songs. Schumann exerted considerable influence throughout the 19th century and later, both as a composer and through his writing on music. His protégé Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) helped to spread Schumann's ideals and musical style widely. Edward Elgar (1857-1934) called Schumann 'my ideal'. Composers as different as Mahler and Stravinsky were also great admirers. The piano music of Schumann, whether written for himself, for his wife, or, in later years, for his children, offers a wealth of material. From the earlier period comes Carnaval, a series of short musical scenes based on the letters of the composer's name and that of the town of Asch, home of Ernestine von Fricken, a fellow-student of Friedrich Wieck, to whom Schuman