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One of the leading German composers of the early nineteenth century, Robert
Schumann is known for his short piano pieces and songs. He was born at Zwickau, Saxony, in 1810. He began his musical education at the age of
six, later studying the piano with the celebrated teacher Friedrich Wieck
and becoming acquainted with Wieck’s nine-year-old daughter Clara. At this
young age, she was a brilliant pianist who was just beginning a successful
concert career.
A few years later, Schumann fell in love with the teenage Clara. She acknowledged
his affection but obeyed her father when he ordered her to break off the
relationship. They were separated for more than a year. She made the first
move toward a reconciliation, and on September 13, 1837 — her 18th birthday
— Schumann formally asked her father’s permission to marry her.
During their three-year engagement, Schumann entered one of his most fertile
creative periods, producing a series of imaginative works for piano. It
was during this time (1838) that he composed about thirty little pieces
that reflect an adult’s perception of childhood. The vignettes were formally
gathered into thirteen pieces under the title Kinderscenen or Scenes
From Childhood. These works are strung together like beads on a necklace
to form a single chain, yet each is complete in itself. Today, the thirteen
Scenes from Childhood are an important part of the concert piano
repertoire. Clara Wieck and Robert Schumann married in 1840. Slowly he
suffered the effects of drinking and insanity and died in 1856.
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