The Marriage Diaries Of Robert And Clara Schumann: From Their Wedding Day To The Russia Trip

The Marriage Diaries of Robert and Clara Schumann: From Their Wedding Day to the Russia Trip

From Library JournalEditor Nauhaus, associate director of the Robert Schumann House in Zwickau, Germany, and translator Ostwald, who has written previously on Schumann's psychiatric condition, have produced a book of wide appeal. The diaries not only clearly illuminate the intimate relationship of one of the most famous couples of the 19th century but provide frequent and quite candid views of the Schumanns' contemporaries. The entries from the couple's 1844 trip to Russia offer a fascinating mid-century view of the country. This carefully edited and convincingly translated book is sure to find a home in all libraries and should interest music specialists, informed lay readers, and those with a general interest in 19th-century life. Highly recommended. Performing Arts Book Club main selection.- James E. Perone, Canisius Coll., Buffalo, N.Y.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.The Schumann Marriage diaries provide a vivid portrait of the unique artistic and personal union between two renowned musicians. For the first four years of their marriage, Robert and Clara Schumann kept a joint diary, recording their entries, at least initially, on alternate weeks. Begun on September 13, 1840, the day after their marriage, the diary opens with guidance from Robert: "This little book . . . has a very intimate meaning; it shall be a diary about everything that touches us mutually in our household and marriage."The diaries reflect the harmony as well as the discord in their marriage. Robert and Clara describe in intimate detail their honeymoon period, the births of their children, their busy social lives, travels throughout Europe, financial problems, separations, and reunions. The book also evokes the artistic milieu of nineteenth-century Germany. The Schumanns came in contact with many musicians, including their close friends Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt, and recorded their insightful reactions to the artists and their music.The marriage diaries cover a fertile period in Robert Schumann's life, during which he wrote the Spring Symphony, the Piano Concerto, most of his chamber music, his first oratorio, "Paradise and the Peri," and numerous songs. They reflect the frenetic pace at which he worked, as well as his growing bouts of depression, his ambivalent response to Clara's decision to return to the concert stage after a prolonged hiatus, and her anxiety in the face of Robert's changing moods.This edition includes the couple's travel book, written during their stressful concert tour of Russia in 1844, which marked the end of the marriage diaries; Robert Schumann's descriptions of Russian customs; and the poems he wrote in Moscow - all of which provide a fascinating and uniquely detailed glimpse at what it was like to travel in Russia at the time.From Publishers WeeklyDuring the first four years of their marriage, the composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and his wife Clara (1819-1896), the famed concert pianist, took turns writing in a series of diaries. The diaries, edited by Nauhaus, associate director of the Robert Schumann House in Germany, and here fluently translated by Ostwald ( Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius ), provide an intimate glimpse into the busy professional and personal lives of the Schumanns in Leipzig, and a colorful picture of their concert tour of Russia in 1844. There are references to Robert's frequent illnesses and periods of depression which foreshadowed his eventual mental breakdown, and discussions of the conflicts with Clara's father, Robert's former piano teacher Friedrich Wieck, who, after failing to stop their marriage, continued to undermine their relationship. Most intriguing is the picture of the young Clara in 19th-century Germany attempting to balance the demands of a concert career and a growing family. Illustrations. Performing Arts Book Club main selection.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.Review"[A] primary document of ra