Schumann

16 Pages 4114 Words

is musical and literary interests as the “indiscretion of youth.” After Schumann finished his high school studies, his mother sent him to the University of Leipzig for law study. Although he worked the best he could, he hated them and found comfort by attending the Gewandhaus concerts, socializing with musical friends, and continuing piano study with a gifted Leipzig teacher, Friedrich Wieck. It was this division of studies and energy between a duty he loathed and an expressive activity he adored that undoubtedly brought upon him a severe case of melancholia, a mental disorder characterized by severe depression, guilt, hopelessness, and withdrawal.
Schumann soon moved to Heidelberg for a change of scene, but started to dismiss law for music even more than before. On November 11, 1829, Schumann finally wrote to his mother about his arrived decision, “If ever I were to have achieved anything in the world, it would have been in music.” Eight months later he finalized his decision by writing again to his mother, “I have arrived at the conviction, that with work, patience, and a good master, I shall be able within six years to challenge any pianist.” He also pleaded with his mother by saying that he lacked the ‘practicality’ and ‘talent’ for Latin that a successful lawyer must possess. The next letter to his mother came in July 30 of 1830 when he outlined his plan to resume musical studies with Friedrich Wieck before learning under Moscheles for a year in Vienna. Upset by her son’s decision, Johanna Schumann reluctantly gave her consent. In August, Wieck replied to Johanna promising to make Schumann into a greater artist than Mosheles or Hummel, but he insisted that Schumann take daily piano lessons, study music theory with another teacher, and agree to have a review of his progress after a six-month trial period. A short time after, Schumann’s mother gave her approval, letting her son live with the Wieck ...