The story of composer Robert Schumann’s life contains a number of Romantic archetypes: musical genius, alter egos, literary obsessions, artistic manifestos, mental illness, and a tragic early death. He was also at the centre of classical music’s most famous love

Are there still works by great composers that are practically unknown? Let’s take Robert Schumann, for example, and I wonder if professional pianists really know every single work he has written for the instrument. Professionals probably do, but as an

On weekends, I just love to get up late and lounge in my pyjamas for most of the day. After making plenty of coffee, I like to sit down at the piano and explore pieces I don’t play every day.

When the poet Friedrich Rückert wrote his Liebesfrühling (Love’s Springtime) in 1821, he was courting his future wife, Luise Wiethaus-Fischer. This complete collection of four hundred poems was first published in 1834, and from this most successful cycle of love

Romantic Era composer Robert Schumann had one of the most tragic life trajectories of the great composers. In his twenties, he fell in love with his piano teacher’s daughter, Clara Wieck. Her father disapproved of the match, and the young

The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as

Robert Schumann, one of the quintessential composers of the Romantic era, is renowned for his deeply expressive piano music, lieder, and orchestral works that embody the emotional intensity, poetic sensibility, and structural innovation of the 19th century. His compositions are

Robert and Clara Schumann were never going to be a normal couple. She was one of the greatest pianists in Europe, and he was one of the greatest composers. From the beginning, their love story was a turbulent one. Clara’s