Robert Alexander Schumann

A composer with mental illness.

Schumann became a composer because he failed as a pianist. The 1830s were the dawn of a new kind of piano virtuosity, exemplified by Chopin and Liszt. Schumann was eager to make his mark, and to try to speed up the process he constructed a weird device using a cigar box and some wire. It was intended to prop up his fingers while practicing, the idea being to strengthen them and develop independence. But instead, two fingers on his right hand were permanently injured. Schumann informed his family, who had only grudgingly given their approval to his intended career as a musician, that instead of now becoming a lawyer — which is what he promised to do if a piano career failed — he was going to focus on writing music.

Schumann spent the last two years of his life in a mental asylum. But he had voluntarily committed himself and early on, to a considerable extent, he recovered. Being discharged was an option that didn’t seem to occur to him. He didn’t feel cured. He hated where he was being held and repeatedly asked friends and family to have him transferred somewhere else. Schumann was convinced that he was misunderstood by the physicians who were supposed to cure him — and there is evidence to support his claim.

From 1850 to 1854, Schumann composed in a wide variety of genres. Critics have disputed the quality of his work at this time; a widely held view has been that his music showed signs of mental breakdown and creative decay. More recently, critics have suggested that the changes in style may be explained by “lucid experimentation”. In late February 1854, Schumann’s symptoms increased, the angelic visions sometimes being replaced by demonic visions. He warned Clara (his wife) that he feared he might do her harm. On 27 February 1854, he attempted suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the Rhine River. Rescued by boatmen and taken home, he asked to be taken to an asylum for the insane.

While in the asylum, Schumann was not encouraged to write music; it was regarded as harmful. But he was very interested in what he had composed shortly before becoming a patient, and asked others whether the music had yet been published and what the public reaction had been. One of those recent pieces was the Gesänge der Frühe (Songs of Dawn) Op. 133 from 1853. They were his last works for solo piano. Not long after writing them, Schumann had the nervous breakdown which led to his institutionalization. Unlike most of his piano music, these fit awkwardly under the hands, and transitioning between musical passages can sound clumsy. The first of the five-piece set is majestic and hymn-like.