Part 8 (1/2)

THE SCHUMANNS AND CHOPIN

Robert Schumann's Place as a National Composer--Peculiar Greatness as a Piano-forte Composer--Born at Zwickau in 1810--His Father's Aversion to his Musical Studies--Beco--Makes the Acquaintance of Clara Wieck--Tedium of his Law Studies--Vacation Tour to Italy--Death of his Father, and Consent of his Mother to Schu the Profession of Music--Becomes Wieck's Pupil--Injury to his Hand which prevents all Possibilities of his beco a Great Performer--Devotes himself to Composition--The Child, Clara Wieck--Reanini's Delight in her Genius--Clara Wieck's Concert Tours--Schumann falls deeply in Love with her, and Wieck's Opposition--His Allusions to Clara in the ”Neue Zeitschrift”--Schuh played by Clara Wieck and Liszt--Schumann's Labors as a Critic--He Marries Clara in 1840--His Song Period inspired by his Wife--Tour to Russia, and Brilliant Reception given to the Artist Pair--The ”Neue Zeitschrift”

and its Mission--The Davidsbund--Peculiar Style of Schu--He moves to Dresden--Active Production in Orchestral Composition--Artistic Tour in Holland--He is seized with Brain Disease--Characteristics as a Man, as an Artist, and as a Philosopher--Mme Schumann as her Husband's Interpreter--Chopin a Colaborer with Schuain--Chopin's Nativity--Exclusively a Piano-forte Composer--His _Genre_ as Pianist and Co--Parisian associations--New Style of Technique demanded by his Works--Unique Treatment of the Instrument--Characteristics of Chopin's Compositions

I

Robert Schu the earliest impulse to what may be called the romantic school of music, which has culner Greatly to the gain of the world, his early aspirations as a h which he attempted to perfect hishad the effect of paralyzing the muscular power of one of his hands But this departifted wife, _nee_ Clara Wieck, and Schuher field of co behind him works not only reht and is, cantatas, operas, and symphonies, but it is in his works for the piano-forte that his idiosyncrasy was ly embodied, and in which he has bequeathed the most precious inheritance to the world of art All his poere swept impetuously into one current, the poetic side of art, and alike as critic and composer he stands in a relation to the music of the pianoforte which places him on a pinnacle only less lofty than that of Beethoven

Robert Schumann was born in the sned by his father, a publisher and author of considerable reputation, for the profession of the law The elder Schuh a man of talent and culture, had a deep distaste for his son's clearly displayed tendencies toof the science in the usual school-boy way (for music has always been a part of the educational course in Gered in every way Robert's passion The boy had quickly becoun to put his ideas on paper We are told by his biographers that he was accustomed to exte the characteristics of his school-fellows in nizable His father died when Schumann was only seventeen, and hisa jurist, becauardian It was a severe battle between taste and duty, but love for his edRobert Schu as a law student It ith a feeling almost of despair that he wrote at this time, ”I have decided upon law as my profession, and ork at it industriously, however cold and dry the beginning may be” Previously, however, he had spent a year in the household of Frederick Wieck, the distinguished teacher ofto

At this ti and precocious child, Clara Wieck, who played such an important part in his future life

Robert Schumann's law studies were inexpressibly tedious to him, and so he told his sympathetic professor, the learned Thibaut, author of the treatise ”On the Purity of Music,” in a characteristic manner He went to the piano and played Weber's ”Invitation to the Waltz,” coes: ”Now she speaks--that's the love prattle; now he speaks--that's the ether ”; concluding with the re that jurisprudence can utter?” The young student becaanini for the first ti theenius for music would come to the fore in spite of jurisprudence

A vacation trip to Italy which the young an to write the most passionate pleas to his mother that she should con sent to his adoption of a musical career The distressed woht, and the ansas favorable to Robert's aspirations Robert was intoxicated with his mother's concession, and he poured out his enthusiasm to Wieck: ”Take me as I am, and, above all, bear with me No blame shall depress me, no praise make me idle Pails upon pails of very cold theory can not hurt me, and I ork at it without the least s at the house of Wieck, Schu with intense ardor; but his zeal outran prudence

To hasten his proficiency and acquire an independent action for each finger, he contrived a ht hand ih their evolutions The result was such a la Schumann's career as a virtuoso was for ever checked His deep sorroever, did not un, for he turned his attention to the study of composition and counterpoint under Kupsch, and, afterward, Heinrich Dorn He remained for three years under Wieck's roof, and the companionshi+p of the child Clara, whose , was a sweet consolation to hih ten years his junior The love, which becaun to flutter into unconscious being in his feeling for a shy and reserved little girl

Schumann tells us that the year 1834 was the most important one of his life, for it witnessed the birth of the ”N'eue Zeitschrift fur Musik,”

a journal which was to ean of a clique of enthusiasts in lifting the art out of Philistinism and co battle against the little and conventional ideas which were believed then to be the curse of Ger the earlier contributors were Wieck, Schumke, Knorr, Banck, and Schumann himself, rote under the pseudonyms Florestan and Eusebius Between his new journal and co, Schumann was kept busy, but he found time to persuade himself that he was in love with Fraulein Ernestine von Fricken, a beautiful but so composer and editor Two years cooled off this passion, and a separation was , in the lovely child iftly blooainst any other attache indeed if two such natures as Clara Wieck and Robert Schu the almost constant intercourse between them which took place between 1835 and 1838 Clara, born in 1820, had been her father's pupil from her tenderest childhood, but the developifts was not forced in such a way as to interfere with her health and the exuberance of her spirits The exacting teacher was also a tender father and a ment, and he knew the bitter price which mere mental precocity so frequently has to pay for its existence

But the young girl's gifts were so extraordinary, and withal her character so full of childish siayety, that it was difficult to think of her as of the average child phenoe of nine she could play Mozart's concertos, and Hummel's A minor Concerto for the orchestra, one of the an to compose, and improvised without difficulty, for her lessons in counterpoint and harmony had kept pace with her studies of pianoforte technique Paganini visited Leipzig at this period, and was so astonished at the little Clara's precocious genius that he insisted on her presence at all his concerts, and addressed her with the deepest respect as a fellow-artist She first appeared in public concert at the age of eleven, in Leipzig, Wei Pixis, Moscheles, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Chopin The latter of these composers was then al as she was, contributed largely tohim popular A year later she visited Paris in company with her father, and heard Chopin, Liszt, and Kalkbrenner, who on their part were delighted with the little artist, who, beneath the delicacy and timidity of the child, indicated extraordinary powers Society received her with theapprobation, and when her father allowed her to appear in concert her playing excited the greatest delight and surprise Her iination, a fine artistic taste, and a well-defined knowledge which justly called out the nition

When Clara Wieck returned ho co under the celebrated Mieksch, and even violin-playing, so great was her ambition for musical accomplishments Froh Germany, and elcoathered around her The poet Grillparzer spoke of her as ”the innocent child who first unlocked the casket in which Beethoven buried his hty heart,” and it irl, did more than any other pianist to develop a love of and appreciation for thebefore Schue of Clara as the beloved one, the half of his soul, he had divined her genius, and expressed his opinion of her in no stinted terms of praise When she was as yet only thirteen, he had written of her in his journal: ”As I know people who, having but just heard Clara, yet rejoice in their anticipation of their next occasion of hearing her, I ask, What sustains this continual interest in her? Is it the 'wonder child' herself, at whose stretches of tenths people shake their heads while they are amazed at them, or the s toward the public like flower garlands? Is it the special pride of the city hich a people regards its own natives? Is it that she presents to us theproductions of recent art in as short a time as possible? Is it that the masses understand that art should not depend on the caprices of a few enthusiasts, ould direct us back to a century over whose corpse the wheels of ti?

I know not; I only feel that here we are subdued by genius, which men still hold in respect In short, we here divine the presence of a power of which much is spoken, while few indeed possess it Early she drew the veil of Isis aside Serenely the child looks up; older eyes, perhaps, would have been blinded by that radiant light To Clara we dare no longer apply the e, but only that of fulfillment Clara Wieck is the first German artist Pearls do not float on the surface; they er But Clara is an intrepid diver”

The child whose genius he ad wo in his heart for years a deep, ardent love He had fancied himself in love more than once, but now he felt that he could s In 1836 he confessed his feelings to the object of his affections, and discovered that he not only loved but was loved, for two such gifted and syether for years without the growth of a e project was not favored by Papa Wieck,been his pupil and a member of his family circle The father of Clara looked forward to a brilliant artistic career for his daughter, perhaps hoped to hness, and Schumann's prospects were as yet very uncertain So he took Clara on a long artistic journey through Ger this passion by absence and those public adulations which he knew Clara's genius would co shook the devotion of her heart, and she insisted on playing the co composer at her concerts, as well as those of Beethoven, Liszt, and Chopin, the latter two of ere just beginning to be known and ad to overcome Papa Wieck's opposition by success, Schumann took his new journal to Vienna, and published it in that city, carrying on simultaneously with his editorial duties active labors in composition

The attempt to better his fortunes in Vienna, however, did not prove very successful, and after six enerous synally shown in his very first Vienna experiences, for he i ceraves of Beethoven and Schubert On Beethoven's grave he found a steel pen, which he preserved as a sacred treasure, and used afterward in writing his own finest musical fancies He remembered, too, that the brother of Schubert, Ferdinand, was still living in a suburb of Vienna ”He knew me,” Schumann says, ”from my admiration for his brother, as I had publicly expressed it, and showed s At last he let me look at the treasures of Franz Schubert's compositions, which he still possesses The wealth that lay heaped up madeother things, he also showed me the scores of several symphonies, of which many had never been heard, while others had been tried, but put back, on the score of their being too difficult and boest and grandest in conception, Schu, where it was soon afterward produced under Mendelssohn's direction at one of the Ge-wandhaus concerts, and produced an immediate and profound sensation For the first time the world witnessed, in a more expanded sphere, the powers of a cos had hitherto been fatal to his general success

During this period of Schumann's life the most important works he composed were the ”etudes Symphoniques,” the famous ”Carnival” dedicated to Liszt, the ”Scenes of Childhood,” the ”Fantasia” dedicated to Liszt, the ”Novellettes,” and ”Kreisleriana” As he writes to Heinrich Dorn: ”Much h for Clara's sake” Schuifted interpretation of Clara Wieck, ho al fame as a virtuoso Liszt was a profound ad possible totime in vain Liszt writes of this as follows: ”Since e of his compositions I had played many of the succeeded in winning the approbation of my hearers These works were, fortunately for them, too far above the then trivial level of taste to find a home in the superficial atmosphere of popular applause The public did not fancy the, where I played the 'Carnival' at my second Gewandhaus concert, I did not obtain my customary applause Musicians, even those who claimed to be connoisseurs also, carried too thick a'Carnival,' harmoniously framed as it is, and ornamented with such rich variety of artistic fancy I did not doubt, however, but that this ould eventually win its place in general appreciation beside Beethoven's thirty-three variations on a the to my opinion, in melody, richness, and inventiveness)” Both as a composer and writer on music, Schumann embodied his deep detestation of the Philistinism and commonplace which stupefied the current opinions of the time, and he represented in Gerainst as known as the classical which had been carried on so fiercely in France by Berlioz, Liszt, and Chopin

III

The year 1840 was one of the most important in Schumann's life In February he was created Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Jena, and, still more precious boon to the e with Clara had been so far h with reluctance, to their union The e took place quietly at a little church in Schonfeld, near Leipzig This year was one of the most fruitful of Schumann's life His happiness burst forth in lyric forht songs, a which the more fa from Heine, dedicated to Pauline Viardot, Chamisso's ”Woman's Love and Life,” and Heine's ”Poet Love” Schu-writer must be called indeed the musical reflex of Heine, for his immortal works have the same passionate play of pathos and rand swell of iination, impatient of the limits set by artistic taste, which characterize the poet themes Schumann says that nearly all the works composed at this time ritten under Clara's inspiration solely Blest with the continual coifted, who placed herself as a gentle mediator between Schumann's intellectual life and the outer world, he composedthe years i them the cantata ”Paradise and the Peri,” and the ”Faust” music His own connection with public life was restricted to his position as teacher of piano-forte playing, co Conservatory, while the gifted as the interpreter of his beautiful piano-forte works as an executant A more perfect fitness and companionshi+p in union could not have existed, and one is res After four years of happy and quiet life, in which htful of do was undertaken by Robert and Clara Schuiveyou of ness to leave my quiet home” He seems to have had a melancholy preenial reception awaited them at the Russian capital They were frequently invited to the Winter Palace by the emperor and empress, and the artistic circles of the city were very enthusiastic over M Since the days of John Field, Cle theRussians Schue to interpret, found ahis own countrymen at that date In the Sclavonic nature there is a deep current of romance and mysticism, which hts which ran riot in Schu tour, Schuave up the ”Neue Zeitschrift,” the journal which he had an of musical revolution, and transferred it to Oswald Lorenz Schumann's literary work is so deeply intertwined with his artistic life and mission that it is difficult, perhaps ireat work--he had planted in the Gerress and growth; that stagnation was death; and that genius was for ever shaping for itself new forht that no art is an end to itself, and that, unless it es and aspirations oftoward a loftier ideal, it becomes barren and fruitless--the mere survival of a truth whose need had ceased He was the apostle of the musico-poetical art in Gerht andof the ultiun by Beethoven, Schubert, and Weber

Schumann as a critic was eminently catholic and cohts of music, he received with enthusiasenius to the progress of his age Eschewing the cold, objective, technical for the work of others was e on theives to another The cast of his articles was somewhat dramatic and conversational, and the characters represented as contributing their opinions to the syes He himself was personified under the dual form of Florestan and Eusebius, the ”two souls in his breast”--the for prejudices; the latter, the enial, receptive dreamer Master Raro, who stood for Wieck, also typified the calm, speculative side of Schumann's nature Chiara represented Clara Wieck, and personified the fees were all modeled after associates of Schumann, and, aside froave his style, it enabled him to approach his subjects froinary society was the Davids-bund, probably fro David and his celebrated harp, or perhaps in virtue of David's victories over the Philistines of his day

As an illustration of Schu ive his article on Chopin's ”Don Juan Fantasia”: ”Eusebius entered not long ago You know his pale face and the ironical smile hich he awakens expectation I sat with Florestan at the piano-forte Florestan is, as you know, one of those rarenovel or extraordinary things But he encountered a surprise today With the words 'Off with your hats, gentleenius,' Eusebius laid down a piece of e I turned over the music vacantly; the veiled enjoyical in it And besides this, it see different in the note forms Beethoven looks differently from Mozart on paper; the difference resembles that between Jean Paul's and Goethe's prose But here it see up to me--flower eyes, basilisk eyes, peacock's eyes, ht I saw Mozart's 'La ci dareh a hundred chords

_Leporello_ seemed to wink at me, and _Don Juan_ hurried past in his white mantle 'Now play it,' said Florestan Eusebius consented, and we, in the recess of a , listened Eusebius played as though he were inspired, and led forward countless forms filled with the liveliest, warave to his fingers a power beyond the ordinaryIt is true that Florestan's whole applause was expressed in nothing but a happy sht have been written by Beethoven or Franz Schubert, had either of these been a piano virtuoso; but how surprised he hen, turning to the title-page, he read 'La ci darem la mano, varie pour le piano-forte, par Frederic Chopin, Ouvre 2,'

and hat astonishlowed as ondered, exclai reasonable once more! Chopin? I never heard of the naenius Is not that _Zerlina's_ smile, And _Leporello_, etc' I could not describe the scene Heated ine, Chopin, and our own enthusias but little curiosity for Chopin, said, 'Bring me the Chopin! I know you and your enthusias it the next day Eusebius soon bade us good-night I remained a short time with Master Raro Florestan, who had been for soh the an, as if in a dreah my head; the whole is so dramatic and Chopin-like; the introduction is so concentrated Do you res in thirds? That seems to me somewhat unfitted to the theme; but the theme--why did he write that in A flat? The variations, the finale, the adagio, these are indeed soh every measure Naturally, dear Julius, _Don Juan, Zerlina, Leporello, Massetto_, are the _dramatis persona; Zerlina's_ answer in the theme has a sufficiently enamored character; the first variation expresses, a kind of coquettish coveteousness: the Spanish Grandee flirts airl in it This leads of itself to the second, which is at once confidential, disputative, and co ed in the third! It is filled with fairy music andaudibly, but without any effect on _Don Juan_ And now the fourth--what do you think of it? Eusebius played it altogether correctly How boldly, hoantonly, it springs forward to io (it seems quite natural to me that Chopin repeats the first part) is in B flat minor, as it should be, for in its co to _Don Juan_ It is at once so mischievous and beautiful that _Leporello_ listens behind the hedge, laughing and jesting that oboes and clarionettes enchantingly allure, and that the B flat nates the first kiss of love