No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 June 2020
Despite the recent flurry of revisionism in Schumann biography, the last months of his career are still misunderstood. Biographers describe a gradual psychological decline, which led to Schumann's removal from his position. But there is no evidence that Schumann was suffering from mental illness before 10 February 1854. According to Clara's diary and correspondence, Schumann was healthy and contented in the fall of 1853, and his psychotic break came as a shock. Two recently published sources – a report to the Düsseldorf city council and correspondence between Schumann and a Berlin colleague – suggest that Schumann decided to resign and seek his fortune elsewhere. The fall of 1853 was one of the most prolific periods in his career and he may have felt that he could support his family on his earnings as a composer. Schumann's resignation was not the irrational response of a desperate man, but a reasonable course of action.
1 In each of his first two seasons Schumann conducted all but one of the subscription concerts, but in his third season he conducted only four out of eight. For a complete list of the performances that Schumann conducted in Düsseldorf, see Appel, Bernhard, ‘Robert Schumann als Dirigent in Düsseldorf’, in Robert Schumann: Philologische, analytische, sozial- und rezeptionsgeschichtliche Aspekte, ed. Frobenius, Wolf (Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker, 1998): 116–37Google Scholar at 134–7.
2 Perrey, Beate, ‘Schumann's Lives and Afterlives: An Introduction’, in The Cambridge Companion to Schumann, ed. Perrey, Beate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007): 3–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar at 5.
3 Clara destroyed the manuscript of the Romances for Cello and Piano, Anhang E7. The Violin Concerto, WoO 1, and the third Violin Sonata, WoO 2, were omitted from the complete edition of Schumann's works and remained unpublished until 1937 and 1956, respectively. The only part of his last completed work, the Variations for Piano in E-flat, Anhang F39, that was included in the complete edition was the theme; the variations were first published in 1939. Although the part song, Anhang M15, first published in 1942, was also omitted from the complete edition, Schumann never intended it for publication.
4 See, for example, Smith, Peter H., ‘Schumann's A-minor Mood: Late-style Dialectics in the First Movement of the Cello Concerto’, Journal of Music Theory 60/1 (2016): 51–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Smith, Peter H., ‘Hausmusik for Cognoscenti: Some Formal Characteristics of Schumann's Late-period Character Pieces for Instrumental Ensemble’, Music Theory Spectrum 37/1 (2015): 51–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Krebs, Harald, ‘Treading Robert Schumann's New Path: Understanding Declamation in the Late Lieder through Analysis and Recomposition’, Music Theory Online 20/4 (2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Burnham, Scott G., ‘Late Styles’, in Rethinking Schumann, ed. Tunbridge, Laura and Kok, Roe-Min (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011): 411–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Krebs, Harald, ‘Fancy Footwork: Distortions of Poetic Rhythm in Robert Schumann's Late Songs’, Indiana Theory Review 28/1–2 (2010): 67–84Google Scholar; Krebs, Harald, ‘The Expressive Role of Rhythm and Meter in Schumann's Late Lieder’, Gamut 2/1 (2009): 267–98Google Scholar; Daverio, John, ‘Songs of Dawn and Dusk: Coming to Terms with the Late Music’, Cambridge Companion to Robert Schumann, ed. Perrey, Beate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007): 268–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Tunbridge, Laura, Schumann's Late Style (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)Google Scholar; Daverio, John, Robert Schumann: Herald of a ‘New Poetic Age’ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)Google Scholar; Struck, Michael, ‘Zur Relation von Quellenbefunden und analytischem Erkenntnisgewinn im Spätwerk Robert Schumanns’, Die Musikforschung 44/3 (1991): 236–54CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Struck, Michael, Robert Schumann: Violinkonzert d-moll (München: Wilhelm Fink, 1988)Google Scholar; Kapp, Reinhard, Studien zum Spätwerk von Robert Schumann (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1982)Google Scholar.
5 Michelle Elizabeth Yael Braunschweig, ‘Biographical Listening: Intimacy, Madness and the Music of Robert Schumann’ (PhD diss., University of California at Berkeley, 2013): 2.
6 Braunschweig, ‘Biographical Listening’, 9–10.
7 Braunschweig, ‘Biographical Listening’, 4.
8 Appel, Bernhard, ‘Das Promemoria des Wilhelm Wortmann: Ein Dokument aus Schumanns Düsseldorfer Zeit’, in Schumanniana Nova: Festschrift Gerd Nauhaus zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. Appel, Bernhard, Bär, Ute and Wendt, Matthias (Sinzig: Studio, 2002): 1–47Google Scholar at 25, n. 17.
9 Robert and Clara Schumann, Briefedition, series 2, vol. 17: Briefwechsel Robert und Clara Schumanns mit Korrespondenten in Berlin 1832 bis 1883, ed. Klaus Martin Kopitz, Eva Katharina Klein and Thomas Synofzik (Cologne: Dohr, 2015): 641–90.
10 von Wasielewski, Josef Wilhelm, Robert Schumann: Eine Biographie (Dresden: Verlagsbuchhandlung von Rudolf Kunze, 1858): 280Google Scholar. This and all further translations are mine.
11 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 269.
12 Schumann, Robert, Tagebücher 3 vols, vol. 3: Haushaltbücher: 1837–1856 ed. Nauhaus, Gerd (Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1982): 597–648Google Scholar.
13 Möbius, Paul J., Über Robert Schumanns Krankheit (Halle, 1906)Google Scholar; Gruhle, Hans, ‘Brief über Robert Schumanns Krankheit an Dr Paul Möbius’, Centralblatt für Nervenheilkunde und Psychiatrie, 29 (1906): 805–10Google Scholar.
14 Ostwald, Peter, Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius, new and expanded edn (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2010): 303–5Google Scholar.
15 Ostwald, Schumann, 252.
16 Rauchfleisch, Udo, Robert Schumann: Eine psychoanalytische Annäherung (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004)Google Scholar; Payk, Theo R., Robert Schumann: Lebenslust und Leidenszeit (Cologne: Bouvier, 2006)Google Scholar; Hoffmann-Axthelm, Dagmar, Robert Schumann: Eine musikalisch-psychologische Studie (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2010)Google Scholar.
17 Jensen, Eric, Schumann, second edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012): 313, n. 52CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The other ‘leading’ study by a psychiatrist that Jensen cites is Payk, Robert Schumann.
18 Daverio, Robert Schumann, 11–12.
19 Worthen, John, Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007): xvGoogle Scholar.
20 der Künste, Akademie and Robert-Schumann-Forschungsstelle, , eds, Robert Schumann in Endenich (1854–1856): Krankenakten, Briefzeugnisse und zeitgenössische Berichte, vol. 11 of Schumann-Forschungen (Mainz: Schott, 2006)Google Scholar. For the history leading up to the publication of this source, see Braunschweig, ‘Biographical Listening’, 110–16.
21 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 72. At this point in the book Worthen dates the onset of tertiary syphilis to 1854, but he later writes of Schumann ‘entering the tertiary stage of syphilis during 1853–4’. Ibid., 365. It is clear from his narrative that he believes the disease was already beginning to affect Schumann's psychological state by the spring of 1853.
22 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 337 and 342.
23 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 365 and 340.
24 Daverio, Robert Schumann, 110.
25 Daverio, ‘Songs of Dawn and Dusk’, 271.
26 Jensen, Schumann, 263.
27 The two accounts are in a letter to Clara Wieck of 11 February 1838 and in a diary entry of 28 November 1838. Clara, and Schumann, Robert, Briefwechsel: Kritische Gesamtausgabe 3 vols, vol, 1, ed. Weissweiler, Eva (Frankfurt: Stroemfeld/Roter Stern, 1984): 95Google Scholar; and Schumann, Robert, Tagebücher 3 vols, vol. 1: 1827–1838, ed. Eismann, Georg (Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1971): 419Google Scholar.
28 Schumann, Robert, Tagebücher 3 vols, vol. 2, ed. Nauhaus, Gerd (Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1987): 396Google Scholar; and Tagebücher, vol. 3, 371. He also records feeling unwell or sick on numerous days during the summer of 1844.
29 Helbig's account is included in Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 230–32.
30 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 7.
31 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 8.
32 Cited in Litzmann, Berthold, Clara Schumann: Ein Künstlerleben, 3 vols, vol. 2 (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1910): 240Google Scholar.
33 Cited in Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 240.
34 Cited in Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 241.
35 Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 242–3.
36 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol 3, 610; Ostwald, Schumann, 254; Worthen, Robert Schumann, 334; Musgrave, Michael, The Life of Schumann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011): 152Google Scholar.
37 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 610. According to Ostwald and Rauchfleisch, the letter requested that Schumann resign, and according to Daverio, Worthen and Musgrave, it just requested that he limit his conducting. Musgrave reports ‘calls for his resignation’ before the ‘stormy meeting’ on 11 December and Worthen writes that the three board members ‘formally proposed that Schumann should resign’ at the meeting. Daverio is thus the only one who does not mention a request to resign. Ostwald, Schumann, 254; Rauchfleisch, Robert Schumann, 131; Daverio, Robert Schumann, 450; Worthen, Robert Schumann, 334; Musgrave, Life of Schumann, 152.
38 The letter is reproduced in Kast, Paul, ed., Schumanns rheinische Jahre (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1981), 28 and 129Google Scholar. See Daverio, Robert Schumann, 450; Worthen, Robert Schumann, 334; Jensen, Schumann, 256; Musgrave, Life of Schumann, 152.
39 The apology is mentioned in Rauchfleisch, Robert Schumann, 131, and Payk, Robert Schumann, 202.
40 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 335; Musgrave, Life of Schumann, 152. See also Daverio, Robert Schumann, 451.
41 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 334–5.
42 Musgrave, Life of Schumann, 152; Geck, Martin, Robert Schumann: The Life and Work of a Romantic Composer, trans. by Spencer, Stewart (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013): 207Google Scholar; Daverio, Robert Schumann, 451.
43 Schumann's description in his Briefverzeichnis simply states: ‘That I must avoid greater exertions [größere Anstrengungen] for some time and so still cannot conduct the Singverein’. Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 34, n. 51.
44 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 8–9.
45 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 9–10.
46 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 34, n. 54.
47 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 35 n. 54.
48 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 35, n. 54.
49 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 34, n. 54.
50 Bär, Ute, ‘Ruppert Becker. Notizen’, in Zwischen Poesie und Musik: Robert Schumann – früh und spät, ed. Bodsch, Ingrid and Nauhaus, Gerd (Frankfurt am Main: Stroemfeld, 2006): 185–229Google Scholar at 191.
51 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 9.
52 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 10.
53 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 10.
54 Schumann conducted the concerts on 17 February and 3 March. The concert on 27 January was a chamber music concert and the concert on 31 March was conducted by the two composers whose works were performed. See Appel, ‘Schumann als Dirigent’, 137.
55 Daverio, Robert Schumann, 453.
56 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 613–47.
57 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 631.
58 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 285, n.
59 Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 275.
60 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 634 and 642.
61 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 2, 441 and 446. Clara also reports that Robert suffered what she calls an ‘unnatural hearing affliction [unnatürlichen Gehörsaffektionen]’ on their first night in Holland, which prevented both of them from sleeping. Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 294.
62 When Wasielewski first proposed writing a biography, Clara responded enthusiastically, in a letter of 3 September 1853, and promised to ask Robert for whatever material Wasielewski needed. But when Wasielewski reminded her of this promise shortly after Robert's death, on 3 September 1856, she claimed that it would be difficult for her to provide any documents, since it would be a long time before she had a chance to sort through her husband's estate. Then, on 5 October, she wrote that ‘it is easy to see that a complete biography is impossible just now’, since much of Robert's work was allegedly still unpublished and most of his correspondence was unavailable. Federhofer-Königs, Renate, ed., Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski im Spiegel seiner Korrespondenz (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1975): 53Google Scholar and 75–7.
63 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 280.
64 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 284–5.
65 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 281.
66 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 285.
67 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 283–4, n.
68 Jensen, Schumann, 257.
69 Payk, Robert Schumann, 206.
70 Rauchfleisch, Robert Schumann, 134.
71 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 338.
72 Kalbeck, Max, Johannes Brahms, 2 vols, vol. 1 (Berlin: Deutsche Brahms-Gesellschaft, 1908): 112Google Scholar.
73 Kalbeck, Johannes Brahms, vol. 1, 113.
74 Kalbeck, Johannes Brahms, vol. 1, 113.
75 Cited in Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 277.
76 Schumann, Clara, Das Band der ewigen Liebe, ed. Wendler, Eugen (Stuttgart: Springer, 1996): 178CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
77 Cited in Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 275.
78 See, for example, Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 270–72.
79 Clara Schumann, Das Band, 178.
80 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 595–603.
81 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 631 and 633.
82 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 648. Schumann records several expenses over the following week, but there are no more entries that refer to his health.
83 ‘Aus Düsseldorf’, Niederrheinische Musik–Zeitung, 12 November 1853, 157–9 at 158.
84 Ostwald, Schumann, 266; Worthen, Robert Schumann, 340; Daverio, Robert Schumann, 455; Musgrave, Life of Schumann, 153.
85 Niecks, Frederick, Robert Schumann (London: Ams Press, 1925): 270Google Scholar.
86 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 13.
87 Ostwald, Schumann, 269; Daverio, Robert Schumann, 455–6; Worthen, Robert Schumann, 341; Jensen, Schumann, 259.
88 Cited in Moser, Andreas, Joseph Joachim: Ein Lebensbild (Berlin: Behr, 1908): 182–3Google Scholar.
89 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 342.
90 Ostwald, Schumann, 267.
91 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 341.
92 Bär, ‘Ruppert Becker’, 192.
93 Wasielewski, Robert Schumann, 268.
94 Cited in Appel, ‘Schumann als Dirigent’, 118.
95 Cited in Appel, ‘Schumann als Dirigent’, 117, n. 8.
96 Hiller, Ferdinand, Briefe an eine Ungenannte (Cologne: Du Mont-Schauberg, 1877): 67Google Scholar.
97 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 638–9.
98 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 640.
99 ‘Aus Düsseldorf’, 158.
100 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 12–13.
101 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 639.
102 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 13.
103 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 14.
104 Cited in Moser, Joseph Joachim, 183.
105 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 14.
106 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 16.
107 Cited in Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 244–5.
108 Cited in Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 42–3, n. 96.
109 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 18.
110 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 44–5, n. 101. Several recent biographers have inaccurately described the committee's proposal as a demand. See Jensen, Schumann, 261; Ostwald, Schumann, 270; and Worthen, Robert Schumann, 344. Hoffmann-Axthelm describes the committee's action as a ‘dismissal’. Hoffmann-Axthelm, Robert Schumann, 145.
111 Cited in Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 46, n. 102.
112 Cited in Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 247.
113 Ostwald, Schumann, 270–71.
114 Rauchfleisch, Robert Schumann, 143–4.
115 Hoffmann-Axthelm, Robert Schumann, 145–6.
116 Cited in Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 42, n. 96. Schumann mistakenly wrote 1851.
117 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 18.
118 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 21.
119 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 556.
120 Cited in Knechtes-Obrecht, Irmgard, ‘Robert Schumann in Düsseldorf’, in Zwischen Poesie und Musik: Robert Schumann – früh und spät, ed. Bodsch, Ingrid and Nauhaus, Gerd (Frankfurt am Main: Stroemfeld, 2006): 121–41Google Scholar at 129.
121 Brunner, Renate, Alltag und Künstlertum: Clara Schumann und ihre Dresdener Freundinnen Marie von Lindeman und Emilie Steffens: Erinnerungen und Briefe (Sinzig: Studio, 2008): 174–5Google Scholar.
122 Schumann, Robert, Robert Schumanns Briefe: Neue Folge, ed. Jansen, Gustav, 2nd expanded edn (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1904): 357Google Scholar.
123 Schumann, Schumanns Briefe, 363.
124 According to Worthen, before he even left for Düsseldorf, Schumann was already asking Louis Spohr in Kassel ‘whether the post of opera director there might become available’. But it is clear from the text of the letter, which is dated 27 August 1850, that Schumann is merely asking about the possibility of a performance of his opera, Genoveva (Schumann, Schumanns Briefe, 330–31). Worthen also claims that Schumann inquired about positions in Switzerland while traveling there in August 1851. It is true that he recorded in his travel diary the names of the music directors in Vevey, Basel, and Bern, but it is unclear what the significance of the entry is. Schumann, Tagebücher, vol 2, 427. See Worthen, Robert Schumann, 313 and 323.
125 Federhofer-Königs, Wasielewski, 39–40.
126 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 680–81.
127 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 669.
128 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 681–2.
129 The works are: Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, opus 20; Romances for Piano, opus 21; Romances for Violin and Piano, opus 22; and Lieder aus Jucunde, opus 23. They were published in 1854 and 1855.
130 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 640–1.
131 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 641.
132 Joachim, Joseph, Briefe von und an Joseph Joachim 3 vols, vol. 1, ed. Joachim, Johannes and Moser, Andreas (Berlin: Julius Bard, 1911): 104Google Scholar; and Schumann, Schumanns Briefe, 382. Joachim and Moser date the letter 11 November, but according to Jansen it is undated and was probably written on 9 November.
133 Schumann, Schumanns Briefe, 383.
134 Musgrave, The Life of Schumann, 154.
135 Ostwald, Schumann, 270.
136 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 344.
137 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 345.
138 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 669.
139 Worthen, Robert Schumann, 328. Worthen misstates Schumann's salary as 700 thalers. For the correct amount, see Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 668.
140 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 669 for his salary, 681–3 for his income from compositions, and 612–44 for his expenses. I (like Worthen) have rounded off to the nearest thaler. Schumann apparently made an arithmetic error in adding up his income for 1853. Although the income from his compositions adds up to 2,003 thalers, he writes 1,925. Worthen replicates this mistake. See Worthen, Robert Schumann, 328.
141 Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, 666.
142 For annotated texts of their correspondence see Robert and Clara Schumann, Briefedition, series 2, vol. 17, 641–90.
143 Robert and Clara Schumann, Briefedition, series 2, vol. 17, 684.
144 Litzmann, Clara Schumann, vol. 2, 245; Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 30–31 n. 43.
145 Robert and Clara Schumann, Briefedition, series 2, vol. 17, 685.
146 Robert and Clara Schumann, Briefedition, series 2, vol. 17, 685–7.
147 Robert and Clara Schumann, Briefedition, series 2, vol. 17, 688–9.
148 Appel, ‘Promemoria’, 6.
149 Robert and Clara Schumann, Briefedition, series 2, vol. 17, 685 n. 4.
150 See, for example, Jensen, Schumann, 263; Musgrave, The Life of Schumann, 158–60.
151 ‘Aus Düsseldorf’, 157–9.