【Music】Schumann and Romantic Piano Music

Piano Music in Romantic Period

• The piano is the most important of all musical instruments. It has a unique position among aolo and accompanying instruments. 
• The piano became the most favorite instrument in the 19th century.
• Short pieces for the piano during this period were very popular.

Robert Schumann (German, 1810-1856)

• Schumann is a great German composer and music critic of the Romantic Period. 
• Schumann's father was a bookseller and publisher.
• He grew up in a cultured atmosphere.
• Schumann studied law but he was more interested in music.
• His wife Clara was a gifted pianist.
• Clara was mainly responsible for popularizing Schumann's many piano compositions.
• Schumann wrote piano, vocal and orchestral music.
• He also wrote essays on music and musicians.
• At the age of 34, Schumann suffered a nervous break down.
• He began to show mental instability.
• He threw himself into the Rhine. Some fishermen rescued him.
• Schumann died two years later in an asylum.
• Schumann's piano piece 'Traumerei' (Dreaming) suggests a child in a world of dreams.
• It is rich in harmony and full of inner meaning.