| Today in Music History A Daily Look at Music History For Violin Students A Look at What Happened on Today's Date Long, Long Ago . . . Or Maybe Just Last Year |
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| TODAY IS June 8 |
| Did You Guess? Schumann wrote under false names -- pseudonyms. Eusebius was the name he used in quiet, thoughtful moods. Florestan was the name he used in his fiery, impetuous moods. |
| Can You Guess? At times Schumann wrote musical criticism, that he thought was important but he did not want to public to know was his opinion. Can You Guess how Schumann published his writings without people knowing that the opinions were his? Look at the Bottom of the Page for the Answer. |
| What Else Happened Today? |
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| Robert Alexander Schumann was born in Zwickau, Germany on June 8, 1810. His father was a bookseller, and Schumann spent much of his youth reading Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott's works. Schumann decided to become a poet. Schumann developed an interest in the organ and piano. With his father's encouragement he began composing at age 7, and his father tried to get Carl Maria von Weber to accept Robert as a composition student. |
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| Click Picture to See Schumann's Music at Amazon.com |
| Robert Schumann 1810-1846 |
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| Robert and Clara Schumann |
| After his father's death when he was 16, Schumann dropped his ambitions to be a poet, and decided to become a musician. But his mother wanted him to be a lawyer and convinced him to go to law school. He hated law school and dropped out after a short time. Schumann decided to become a concert pianist, and went to live with Friedrich Wieck, a famous pianist. Wieck had promised to develop Schumann into a true virtuoso, and Schumann's progress was remarkable. Schumann's shortcoming was a weak finger on one hand, which may have been the result of injury or of mercury poisoning contracted through a medication. By 1832 Schumann realized that he would not be able to follow the career of a concert pianist, and he devoted himself to composition and musical criticsim. |
| 1671 - Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer and violinist, was born. 1796 - Felice d'Giardini (also known as Degiardino), Italian violinist, composer and conductor, died. Among his many compositions is the melody to the hymn Come Thou Almighty King. 1884 - American composer Henry Clay Work died. He wrote some famous popular songs, including Grandfather's Clock, and Marching Through Georgia. 1942 - Bing Crosby recorded Adeste Fideles and Silent Night. 1953 - Premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera Glorianna in London. 1968 - The Rolling Stones released Jumpin' Jack Flash. 1998 - Margaret Buechner, German-American composer, died. |
| Wieck opposed the relationship. He knew Schumann (who was 9 years older than Clara) was prone to depression, that he'd had several unsuccessful relationships with women and that he had no way to support Clara. He forbade them to marry. This could have prevented the marriage until Clara was 21. The couple went to court and gained the right to marry. To spite her father they one day before her 21st birthday, September 12, 1840. During that year, Robert expressed his love to Clara in the form of love songs -- 100 in that year alone. Robert Schumann was an intensely hard worker. Among his compositions were1 opera, 4 symphonies, several overtures, various chamber works, over 100 keyboard pieces, and hundreds of songs and choral works. Schumann and suffered a nervous breakdown in 1844. After many attacks of depression and exhaustion, he asked to be sent to an asylum outside the city of Bonn where he died July 29, 1856 in Bonn, Germany. |
| While there, Schumann fell in love with Wieck's daughter, Clara, Clara was also a composer, but she became a great promoter of Robert's music. (You can see some of Clara Wieck Schumann's music at Amazon by clicking here.) |
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| Listen to Bell's Lovely Interpretation of Traumerei |
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| I Beat Them On The Soccer Field Then Console the Losers With My Violin |
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| Robert Schumann Violin Sheet Music |
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| Great Summer Project! Improve Your Fiddling While Having Fun! |