The Dual Life of Robert Schumann
21 November 2011
Robert Schuman’s life ran on two tracks, one successful the other troubled and often the tracks overlapped. The Robert Schumann of Classical music fame is best known for his influence on the Romantic era of classical music. The Robert Schumann mental illness sufferer was also known of at the time, but was much less discussed. His life was riddled with examples of his struggle with mental illness, including a self-inflicted injury to his hand severe enough to end his career as a pianist. And he struggled throughout his brief life with the disease, while continuing to compose and race a family of eight children with his wife Clara, herself a famous composer and pianist. Schumann died at age 46 from suicide while in an asylum.
