August Schumann was more and more convinced that Providence had
intended his son to become a musician, and though the mother struggled
against it, he resolved to see that Robert had a musical education.
Carl Maria von Weber, then living in Dresden, was written to, and
answered he was willing to accept the boy as a student. The plan never
came to anything however, for what reason is not known. The boy was
left now to direct his own musical studies, just when he needed an
expert guiding hand. He had no rivals in his native town, where he
sometimes appeared as a pianist. It was no wonder he thought he was on
the right road, and that he tried more than ever to win his mother's
consent to his following music as a life work.
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We find Robert Schumann at nineteen domiciled in the beautiful city of
Heidelberg, and surrounded by a few musical friends, who were kindred
spirits. With a good piano in his room, the "life of flowers," as
he called it, began. Almost daily they made delightful trips in a
one-horse carriage into the suburbs. For longer trips they went to
Baden-Baden, Wurms, Spires and Mannheim. Whenever Robert went with
his friends he always carried a small "dumb piano" on which he
industriously practised finger exercises, meanwhile joining in the
conversation. During the following August and September, Robert and
two or three chosen companions made a delightful journey through
Italy, the young man preparing himself by studying Latin, in which he
became so fluent that he could translate poems from one language to
the other.
The next winter Robert devoted himself to music more than
ever--"played the piano much," as he says. His skill as a pianist
gradually became known in Heidelberg and he frequently played in
private houses. But he was not content with the regular study of
the piano. He wanted to get ahead faster and invented some sort of a
device to render his fourth finger more firm and supple. It did not
have the desired effect however, but was the means in time of injuring
his hands so that he never could attain the piano virtuosity he
dreamed of.
Before starting on the trip to Italy just mentioned, he felt that a
decision must be reached about his music. It had become as the breath
of life to him. He wrote his mother and laid bare his heart to her.
"My whole life has been a twenty years struggle between poetry and
prose, or let us say--between music and law. If I follow my own bent,
it points, as I believe correctly, to music. Write yourself to Wieck
at Leipsic and ask him frankly what he thinks of me and my plan. Beg
him to answer at once and decisively." The letter was duly written to
Wieck, who decided in favor of Robert and his plans.
Robert on hearing his decision was wild with joy. He wrote an
exuberant letter to Wieck promising to be most submissive as a piano
pupil and saying "whole pailfuls of very very cold theory can do me no
harm and I will work at it without a murmur. I give myself up wholly
to you."
With a heart full of hope, young Schumann returned to Leipsic, which
he had gladly left more than a year before. It was during this early
resumption of piano lessons with Wieck that he began the treatment
which he thought would advance his technic in such a marvelously
short time. He fastened his third finger into a machine, of his own
invention, then practised unceasingly with the other four. At last
he lost control over the muscles of the right hand, to his great
distress. He now practised unremittingly with the left hand, which
gained great facility, remarkable long after he had given up piano
playing.
Under these difficulties piano lessons with Wieck had to be given
up and were never resumed. He studied theory for a short time with
Kupach, but soon relinquished this also. He was now free to direct his
own path in music and to study--study, and compose.
One of the first pieces he wrote was "The
Papillons"--"Butterflies,"--published as Op. 2. It was dedicated to
his three sisters-in-law, of all of whom he was very fond. In the
various scenes of the Butterflies there are allusions to persons and
places known to the composer; the whimsical spirit of Jean Paul broods
over the whole.
Robert began to realize more and more his lack of thorough theoretical
knowledge and applied to Dorn, who stood high in the musical
profession in Leipsic. On his introduction, in spite of his lame hand
he played his "Abegg Variations," published as Op. 1, and Dorn was
willing to accept the timid quiet youth as pupil. He studied with
great ardor, going from the A.B.C. to the most involved counterpoint.
Thus passed two or three busy years. Part of the time Schumann had
a room in the house of his teacher Wieck and thus was thrown more or
less in the society of Clara Wieck, now a young girl of thirteen or
fourteen. Later he gave up his room--though not his intimate relations
with the family--and moved to a summer residence in Riedel's Garden,
where he spent the days in music and the evenings with his friends.
The year 1833, was one of the most remarkable in his life so far.
Not the least important event was the establishment of the "Neue
Zeitschrift fuer Musik." Schumann himself says of this:--
"At the close of the year '33, a number of musicians, mostly young,
met in Leipsic every evening, apparently by accident at first, but
really for the interchange of ideas on all musical subjects. One day
the young hot heads exclaimed: 'Why do we look idly on? Let's take
hold and make things better.' Thus the new Journal for music began.
"The youthful, fresh and fiery tone of the Journal is to be in
sharp contrast to the characterless, worn-out Leipsic criticism. The
elevation of German taste, the encouragement of young talent must be
our goal. We write not to enrich tradespeople, but to honor artists."
Schumann took up arms in favor of the younger generation of musicians
and helped make the fame of many now held in the world's highest
esteem. Sometimes, he admits, his ardor carried him too far in
recognition of youthful talent, but in the main he was very just
in his estimates. We do not forget how his quick commendation aided
Brahms.
The young musicians who founded the paper had formed themselves also
into an alliance, which they called the Davidsbuendlerschaft. The
idea of this alliance, which was derived from David's war with the
Philistines, seemed to exist only in the mind of Schumann himself.
It gave him a chance to write under the name of different characters,
chief of whom were Florestan and Eusebius, between whom stood Master
Raro. In Florestan Schumann expressed the powerful, passionate side of
his nature, and in Eusebius the mild and dreamy side.
He wrote to a friend: "Florestan and Eusebius are my double nature,
which I would gladly--like Raro--melt down into one man." As time
passed however, he made less and less use of these fanciful images
until they finally seemed to fade out of his mind.
