Robert Schumann, one of the greatest of musicians, and one who, had his life been spared, would probably have stood at the head of all composers since Beethoven and Schubert, was the son of a bookseller, and was born at Zwickau, in Saxony, June 8, 1810. In his earliest youth he was recognized as a child of genius. His first teacher in music was Baccalaureus Kuntzsch, who gave him piano instructions. It was while taking these lessons that he attended a concert given by Moscheles. The playing of the great teacher aroused his musical ambition, and first inspired him to become a musician. His father recognized his talent very early, but his mother was opposed to his ambition. In deference to her wishes, he began the study of law,--with the full determination, however, to make music his vocation; and in this he ultimately succeeded, through the influence of Wieck, whose daughter, Clara, he subsequently married, and who is still a skilful pianist and famous teacher. He studied the [272] piano with Wieck until his right hand was injured. In 1830, in which year his artistic career really opened, he began the theoretical study of music in its groundwork, first with Director Kupsch in Leipsic, and later with Heinrich Dorn, and at the same time entered upon the work of composition. His opus No. 1 was the so-called "Abegg Variations," dedicated to a young lady, Meta Abegg, whom he had met at a ball in Mannheim. In the same year, 1830, he composed a toccata. In 1831 his famous "Papillons" and other piano works appeared. Schumann was not only a musician, but an able critic and graceful writer; and in 1834, with Schunke, Knorr, and Wieck, he founded the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik," which had an important influence upon musical progress in Germany, and in which the great promise of such musicians as Chopin and Brahms was first recognized. He married Clara Wieck in 1840, after much opposition from her father; and in this year appeared some of his best songs, including the three famous cycluses, "Liederkreis," "Woman's Life and Love," and "Poet's Love," which now have a world-wide fame. In the following year larger works came from his pen, among them his B major symphony, overture, scherzo, and finale in E major, and the symphony in D minor. During this period in his career he also made many artistic journeys with his wife, which largely increased the reputation of each. In 1843 he completed his great "romantic oratorio," "Paradise and the Peri," set to Moore's text, and [273] many favorite songs and piano compositions, among them the "Phantasiestücke" and "Kinderscenen," and his elegant piano quintet in E flat. In 1844, in company with his wife, he visited St. Petersburg and Moscow, and their reception was a royal one. The same year he abandoned his "Zeitschrift," in which "Florestan," "Master Raro," "Eusebius," and the other pseudonyms had become familiar all over Germany, and took the post of director in Düsseldorf, in the place of Ferdinand Hiller. During the last few years of his life he was the victim of profound melancholy, owing to an affection of the brain, and he even attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine. He was then removed to an asylum at Endenich, where he died July 20, 1856. The two men who exercised most influence upon Schumann were Jean Paul and Franz Schubert. He was deeply pervaded with the romance of the one and the emotional feeling of the other. His work is characterized by genial humor, a rich and warm imagination, wonderfully beautiful instrumentation, especially in his accompaniments, the loftiest form of expression, and a rigid adherence to the canons of art.
Paradise and the Peri.
Schumann's secular oratorio, "Paradise and the Peri," was written in 1843, and first performed at the Gewandhaus, Leipsic, December 4th of that [274] year, under the composer's own direction. Its first performance in England was given June 23, 1856, with Madame Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt in the part of the Peri, Sterndale Bennett conducting. The text is taken from the second poem in Moore's "Lalla Rookh," and was suggested to Schumann by his friend Emil Flechsig, who had translated the poem. This was in 1841; but he did not set it to music until two years later. The text required many changes, and these he made himself. The principal additions are a chorus for "The Spirits of the Nile," the chorus of Houris, the Peri's solo, "Banished," the quartet, "Peri, 'tis true," the solo, "Sunken was the Golden Orb," and the final chorus. It has also been suggested that he availed himself of still another translation, that of Ollker's, as many of the changes agree with his text.
It is difficult to define the exact form of the work, though it is nearly always classed as a secular oratorio, principally because of the introduction of the narrator, after the style of the passion-music. In other respects it resembles the cantata. Reissmann, in his Life of Schumann, says on this point,--
"It seems right that he should have retained the most primitive form of the oratorio, that of the passion-music. The poem has no genuinely dramatic course; there was not the smallest intrinsic or extrinsic reason to dramatize it more fully. Even with treatment such as that of the 'Walpurgisnacht,' it must have lost much of its picturesque development [275] The only proper way to treat the subject, therefore, was to retain the original epic form, and to introduce a narrator in the style of antique oratorio, who should relate the facts in a few simple words up to the point where they seem to demand a more dramatic setting."
Von Wasielewski also discusses the same point:
"The narrator is evidently copied from the evangelist in Bach's passion-music; but by no means with a like necessity. Unquestionably the latter shared the conviction of his day, that not only the substance, but the words, of the biblical dogma were sacred. Schumann's case was not at all similar. He had before him, in the poem to be set to music, a work of art which, although once remodelled, would still permit every formal change required by æsthetic considerations. How easy, for example, it would have been to abolish the narrator, as destructive of unity!"
Had the narrative passages been omitted, it would unquestionably have enhanced the interest and perhaps relieved the monotony and wearisomeness of some parts of the work. Unlike the usual manner in which the narrator's part is treated,--as a mere recitative link between numbers,--Schumann invests it with the same importance as the acts and events themselves, and treats it melodically, so that the relief which comes from contrast is lacking.
The oratorio is written in three parts, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, the principals being the Peri (soprano); the Angel (alto); the King of Gazna (bass); a Youth (tenor); the Horseman (baritone); and the Maiden (soprano). The choruses [276] are sung by Indians, Angels, Houris, and Genii of the Nile, and the part of Narrator is divided among the various voices. The story follows that of the original poem. The Peri, expelled from Paradise, stands at its gate weeping to think
"her recreant race
Should e'er have lost that sacred place."