A fascinating look at the life and work of the composer Robert Schumann. Chernaik writes in a compelling and readable style, but the book is clearly well-researched and her conclusions plausible. She deals well with Schumann's relationship with his wife and fellow musician Clara and with the younger composer Johannes Brahms and provides a sad but informative overview of his struggles with illness and how mental illness in particular was treated at the time.

“Form and poetic feeling were his guiding principles, complementary and transformative, informing works that were driven always by his own powerful imagination.”

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This is richly detailed and moving account of the music, life and loves of one of the great composers of the romantic era. Reading it inspires me to revisit many of his familiar works (the piano quintet, piano concerto, and especially the song cycles) and explore some unfamiliar ones as well such as the Manfred Overture and Paradise and the Peri.

As a lover of Classical music, I never knew the deep history of Schumann! I learned so much from this book! It is well written and not boring at all.

I am usually not a fun of non-fictions or biographies, i am not a music expert either; but i do love music a lot and Schumann is among the composer i usually enjoy listening to. I was worried that i may find this account of his life and works somehow tedious or boring, i was forgetting that nothing about music could be boring.
This, however, will be only the opinion of an amateur, someone who finds joy in listening to good pieces.

First, what i liked most was the way the major compositions of Schumann were explained, the author did really a good work, in my humble opinion, in making something rather complicated be understandable to non-professionals or expert. She certainly used the musical terminology (i mean, it would have been strange if she didn't), but in a way that was not overly intimidating. What helped me was listening to most of the pieces at the same time. This actually made reading the book more special.
The life of Schumann was certainly interesting, and not until reading this book did i understand the extent of his wife's role in his life and career. Clara Schumann was an exceptional artist, she was also something like an anchor in Schumann's life as well as his "muse" and so many other things.
That period was, for ma at least, something of a Golden age for Music; many great artists had a lot of impact on the works of Schumann, from the predecessors like Bach, Beethoven and Schubert, contemporaries like Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt; and those who came toward the end of his life. It was amazing reading about all those great composers/artists, learning also a bit more about them , it felt like i was invited to a private party of geniuses!
I never thought that the music of Schumann was related that much to his love of literature, and on my own, i honestly think, i wouldn't be able to decipher the different influences, inspirations and mostly the reasons behind those pieces and What he intend to convey through them, so i am glad to learn a bit more about it.
I can't pretend i became an expert of Schumann's music after reading this book, not even close!
What remained after i closed the last page was more understanding to why the music of Schumann moves my heart when i listen to it, a bit of sadness also for the sort of tormented life he led and the end that came too soon for him, and more than anything more love for music.

This new biography of Robert Schumann is both illuminating and entertaining. Meticulously researched, it explores his life and music in great depth. A key figure in the Romantic movement, he was both an admired and influential composer, and his love for his wife Clara is surely one of the great love stories of the 19th century. Written in a lively and accessible style overall, I certainly found some of the sections dealing with the music somewhat over my head, but as these are separated from the main narrative it was easy to skip some of them when they became too complicated without losing the thread. This is a book for the serious musician and musicologist as well as the general reader, and one I recommend to anyone interested in his life and work.

Extremely readable, and focused on what matters - with delightful quotes when possible of Schumann'sown diaries, letters and reports ...this is a wonderful read that dispelled some confusions I had about his life. Chernaik seeks out sources for his music which is of course the crucial thing about him, but also we have a sense of the times he lived in and contexts of the romanticism that he propounded - and that determined some of the course of his life, as the lives of his fellows - musicians, and merchants included - family difficulties, and the relationship with Clara and Brahms which are core experiences for him - and for us who follow his music. Really seems well researched and this will embellish my listening to his music.

Moving and erudite--a highly accomplished and engaged portrait of the ill-fated Romantic composer Chernaik has a great feel for her subject..

I thought this was very well written and engaging throughout. The biographical account of Schumann's life is enhanced by Professor Chernaik with snippets of letters between Robert and Clara, and others, and with interesting discussions of Schumann's works. I have my own favorites by Schumann, but reading this got me interested in taking a closer look at some of his works that I haven't visited in a while. I'm very glad I read this.

Robert Schumann, the Romantic composer, the lover, the writer, the man, the patient, had a fascinating life that deserves to be known and analysed by the daring and curious minds.

With this book Judith Chernaik successfully present us with the narrative of Schumann’s life, smoothly intertwined with analyzes of his work. We are told what the composer was dealing with at the same time we were showed his pieces and the hidden secrets within them.

This is not a quick read, at least for anyone who’s musical knowledge is not as good as one would like it to be, but it is an enjoyable read that take us as close to Schumann’s mind as possible.

We are taken by several aspects of the composers live and no stone is left untouched. From his affairs, his health problems, the courting of his future wife and the slow degradation of his mind we are taken on a journey through Schumann’s reality without taking any sides about his character. Slowly we peek behind the genie with his several masks to contemplate the man.

Brilliantly written and smartly organised, this is a biography to have.

This absorbing and scholarly biography not only provides the factual narrative of Schumann's life but also a detailed analysis of his wok that ranged from solo piano compositions through to symphonies and even an opera. He is personified as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era for which music in particular dominated the Romantic movement in Germany. The book gives a vivid picture of the social and cultural period of the time and how he was influenced by reading the works of the great German poet-philosophers Schiller and Goethe as well as reading the likes of Byron and Shelly. Musically his great loves included past masters such as Bach, Beethoven and Schubert.

We learn also of his relationships with his contemporary composers including Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Brahms and above all Mendelssohn who's music he adored. But above all the book makes clear the overriding and fundamental importance that Clara Wieck (later Schumann) had on his life, music, and musical posterity from the time they first met when she was only eleven. She spent the rest of her life tirelessly promoting and later preserving his legacy. Without Clara it is unlikely that Schumann would have received his place in musical history.

I must admit that my knowledge of musical composition is negligible but despite this Judith Chernaik takes the reader by the hand as she provides a critique and analysis of his work. Against the of background of political upheaval (that would lead to the revolutions of 1848 that were essentially democratic and liberal in nature leading to the overthrow of the old ancient regimes and the creation of new independent nation states) we learn how Schumann's works reflected this with all their dreams and fantasies.

The final chapters regarding Schumann's incarceration and early death in an asylum are heartbreaking and difficult to read. Clearly much research has been undertaken and includes previously unpublished archive material and a wealth of known extracts from letters and journals. There is also an extensive bibliography and a note of performances available on the internet. Certainly if nothing else this has inspired me to seek out his music and hopefully to attend a live concert at sometime in the future. If you are already an aficionado or alternatively unfamiliar with his work or you just like reading a biography of a troubled life that left behind a volume of work that still captivates the heart then this could be interest.