Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumannwas a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth8 June 1810
CityZwickau, Germany
CountryGermany
The study of the history of music and the hearing of masterworks of different epochs will quickly cure you of vanity and self-adoration
People compose for many reasons: to become immortal; because the pianoforte happens to be open; because they want to become a millionaire; because of the praise of friends; because they have looked into a pair of beautiful eyes; for no reason whatsoever.
To compose music, all you have to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of
It is music's lofty mission to shed light on the depths of the human heart
The painter turns a poem into a painting; the musician sets a picture to music.
He must be heard - and also seen; for if he played behind the scenes a great deal of the poetry of his playing would be lost
Nature best teaches how to pray, and how to reverence all the gifts the Almighty has given us. She is like a vast outspread handkerchief, embroidered with God's eternal name, on which we may dry alike our tears of sorrow and of joy; she turns weeping into ecstasy, and fills our hearts with speechless, quiet reverence and resignation.
We may be sure that a genius like Mozart, were he born today, would write concertos like Chopin and not like Mozart.
We have learned to express the more delicate nuances of feeling by penetrating more deeply into the mysteries of harmony.
Music induces nightingales to sing, pug dogs to yelp.
Only when the form grows clear to you, will the spirit become so too.
My heart pounds sickeningly and I turn pale... I often feel as if I were dead... I seem to be losing my mind.
Thus it is ever in life. The aims we once pursued no longer satisfy us; we aim, we strive, we aspire, until sight fails, and mind and body find rest in the grave.
That first concept is alway the most naturally and best. The mind errs, the emotion never.