• Name: Robert Schumann
• Birthday: 06/08/1810
• Birth Place: Zwickau, Germany
• Died: 07/29/1856
• Place of Death: Endenich, Germany
• Period: Romantic
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
(197) Carnaval for piano, Op. 9	1947
(134) Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129
(125) Dichterliebe, song cycle for voice & piano, Op. 48	2001
(506) Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15 W	1983
(435) Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
(104) Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44
(201) Symphony No. 1 in B flat major ("Spring"), Op. 38	1971
(154) Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61	1971
(190) Symphony No. 3 in E flat major ("Rhenish"), Op. 97	1971
(215) Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120	1971
(30) Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO 23 WA	1994
(16) Albumblätter (Album Leaves) for piano, Op. 124	1974
(17) Romanzen und Balladen II, 3 songs for voice & piano, Op. 49	1951
(14) Romanzen und Balladen III, 3 songs for voice & piano, Op. 53	1956
(9) Romanzen und Balladen IV, 3 songs for voice(s) & piano, Op. 64	1956
Deutscher Freiheitsgesang ("Der Sieg ist dein, mein Heldenvolk!"), part song for male voices (Freiheitsgesänge), WoO 15	2004
(2) Die Schwalben ("Es fliegen zwei Schwalben"), song for voice & piano (Lieder-Album für die Jugend), Op. 79/20	1994
Die Waise ("Der Frühling kehret wieder"), song for voice & piano (Lieder-Album für die Jugend), Op. 79/14 WA	1965
Hinaus in's Freie! ("Wie blüht es im Tale"), song for voice & piano (Lieder-Album für die Jugend), Op. 79/11 WA	1965
(2) Lied für XXX ("Leicht wie gaukelnde Sylphiden"), song for voice & piano	2001
(2) Lied Lynceus des Türmers ("Zum Sehen geboren"), song for voice & piano (Lieder-Album für die Jugend), Op. 79/27 WA	1965
Liedchen von Marie und Papa, for 2 voices, WoO 26/3	2004
Part songs (3) for male voices, Op. 62	2004
Schmetterling ("O Schmetterling, sprich"), song for voice & piano (Lieder-Album für die Jugend), Op. 79/2 WA	1965
Schwarz-Rot-Gold ("Im Kümmernis und Dunkelheit"), part song for male voices (Freiheitsgesänge), WoO 13	2004
Soldatenlied ("Ein scheckiges Pferd"), song for voice & piano, WoO 7	2004
(2) Stiller Vorwurf ("In einsamen Stunden drängt Wehmut sich auf"), song for voice & piano, Op. 77/4	1994
(3) Was soll ich sagen? ("Mein Aug ist trüb"), song for voice & piano, Op. 27/3	1994
Zu den Waffen ("Vom Angesicht"), part song for male voices (Freiheitsgesänge), WoO 14	2004
(20) Abendlied ("Es ist so still geworden"), song for voice & piano, Op. 107/6	2007
(13) Abends am Strand ("Wir sassen am Fischerhause"), song for voice & piano, Op. 45/3	2007
(5) Abschied vom Walde ("Nun scheidet vom sterbenden Walde"), song for voice & piano, Op. 89/4
(3) Abschied von der Welt ("Was nützt die mir noch zugemess'ne Zeit?"), song for voice & piano (Mary Stuart songs), Op. 135/4	1990
(3) Abschied von Frankreich ("Ich zieh dahin"), song for voice & piano (Mary Stuart songs), Op. 135/1	1990
(135) Adagio & Allegro for horn (or violin or cello) & piano in A flat major, Op. 70	2007
(2) Adventlied ("Dein König kommt in Empfang' ihn"), for soprano, chorus & orchestra (or piano), Op. 71 WA	1967
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 1 ("Für ganz Kleine"), for piano in C major, WoO 30/1
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 10 ("Lagune in Venedig") for piano, WoO 16/2
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 2 ("Puppen Schlafliedchen") for piano in C major, WoO 30/2
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 3 ("Wilder Reiter") for piano in A minor, WoO 30/3
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 4 ("Ein Trinklied von C.M. von Weber") for piano in B minor, WoO 30/4
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 5 ("Auf der Gondel") for piano, WoO 30/5
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 6 for piano, WoO 30/6
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 7 for piano, WoO 30/7
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 8 for piano (fragment), WoO 30/8
Album für die Jugend (additional pieces) No. 9 ("Kuckuck im Versteck") for piano, WoO 16/1
(78) Album für die Jugend (Album for the Young) for piano, Op. 68
(6) Album für die Jugend No. 1 ("Melodie") for piano in C major, Op. 68/1	1989
(52) Album für die Jugend No. 10 ("Fröhlicher Landmann, von der Arbeit Zurückkehrend") for piano, Op. 68/10
(4) Album für die Jugend No. 11 ("Sizlianisch") for piano in A minor, Op. 68/11	1989

One of the great composers of the nineteenth century, Schumann was the quintessential artist whose life and work embody the idea of Romanticism in music. Schumann was uncomfortable with larger musical forms, such as the symphony and the concerto (nevertheless, representative works in these genres contain moments of great beauty), expressing the full range of his lyrical genius in songs and short pieces for piano. Schumann's extraordinary ability to translate profound, delicate -- and sometimes fleeting -- states of the soul is exemplified by works such as the song cycle Dichterliebe (A Poet's Love), after Heinrich Heine, and his brilliant collections of short piano pieces, including Phantasiestücke (Fantastic Pieces), Kinderszenen (Scenes form Childhood), and Waldszenen (Forest Scenes). In his songs, as critics have remarked, Schumann attained the elusive union of music and poetry which Romantic poets and musicians defined as the ultimate goal of art.

Schumann's father was a bookseller who encouraged Robert's musical and literary talents. Robert started studying piano at age 10. In 1828, he enrolled at the University of Leipzig as a law student, although he found music, philosophy, and Leipzig's taverns more interesting than the law. He also began studies with a prominent Leipzig piano teacher, Friedrich Wieck. There was serious mental illness in Schumann's family, and the composer, who most likely suffered from a manic-depressive condition, approached madness with the typical Romantic combination of fear and fascination. A compulsive womanizer and a heavy drinker, Schumann led a life that aggravated his psychological problems. His efforts to become a concert pianist failed after he developed partial paralysis of his right hand. According to a conventional story, the injury resulted from Schumann's compulsive use of a finger-strengthening device, but newer research points to mercury poisoning due to treatment for syphilis. Schumann settled on a career as a composer and musical writer, co-founding the influential Neue Zeitschrift für Musik and attracting attention early with his prophetic praise of Chopin. Many of his articles take the form of dialogues featuring the "League of David," young artists fighting the "Philistines," and headed by his alter egos "Florestan" and "Eusebius," intended to represent the two contrasting facets -- one ebullient, the other reserved -- of his personality. Schumann's music, with its sharp changes in mood, also reflects his tumultuous inner life. Wieck's highly talented pianist daughter Clara grew up and fell in love with Schumann, to her father's horror. Despite Wieck's opposition, Clara and Robert gained the legal right to marry in 1840, a day before Clara's 21st birthday. During this period Schumann composed feverishly. Spellbound by a musical thought, he would work himself to exhaustion, enthusiastically cultivating a particular genre for a period of time. (For instance, 1841 was a "year of songs" in which he brought the Romantic song cycle to its apex). He virtually invented the short, poetic, descriptive Romantic piano work, and produced such works in glorious profusion in the late 1830s. Schumann tackled larger forms in the 1840s, partly at Clara's urging; his four mature symphonies retain a place in the repertoire, but his opera Genoveva failed. He held several musical jobs, teaching at the newly-founded Leipzig Conservatory, eventually becoming town music director in Düsseldorf, but without much success. On February 27, 1854, he threw himself into the freezing waters of the Rhine. After his rescue, he voluntarily entered an asylum. Although he had periods of lucidity, his condition deteriorated, and he died there in 1856, probably of tertiary syphilis. ~ Zoran Minderovic, All Music Guide