Shattering longstanding myths, this new biography reveals the robust
and positive life of one of the nineteenth century's greatest
composers
This candid, intimate, and compellingly written new biography offers a
fresh account of Robert Schumann's life. It confronts the traditional
perception of the doom-laden Romantic, forced by depression into a life
of helpless, poignant sadness. John Worthen's scrupulous attention to
the original sources reveals Schumann to have been an astute, witty,
articulate, and immensely determined individual, who--with little
support from his family and friends in provincial Saxony--painstakingly
taught himself his craft as a musician, overcame problem after problem
in his professional life, and married the woman he loved after a
tremendous battle with her father. Schumann was neither manic depressive
nor schizophrenic, although he struggled with mental illness. He worked
prodigiously hard to develop his range of musical styles and to earn his
living, only to be struck down, at the age of forty-four, by a vile and
incurable disease.
Worthen's biography effectively de-mystifies a figure frequently
regarded as a Romantic enigma. It frees Schumann from 150 years of
mythmaking and unjustified psychological speculation. It reveals him,
for the first time, as a brilliant, passionate, resolute musician and a
thoroughly creative human being, the composer of arguably the best music
of his generation.
