{"product_id":"robert-schumann-the-life-and-work-of-a-romantic-composer-9780226284699","title":"Robert Schumann: The Life and Work of a Romantic Composer","description":"\u003cp\u003eRobert Schumann (181056) is one of the most important and representative composers of the Romantic era. Born in Zwickau  Germany  Schumann began piano instruction at age seven and immediately developed a passion for music. When a permanent injury to his hand prevented him from pursuing a career as a touring concert pianist  he turned his energies and talents to composing  writing hundreds of works for piano and voice  as well as four symphonies and an opera. Here acclaimed biographer Martin Geck tells the fascinating story of this multifaceted genius  set in the context of the political and social revolutions of his time.  The image of Schumann the man and the artist that emerges in Gecks book is complex. Geck shows Schumann to be not only a major composer and music critiche cofounded and wrote articles for the controversial Neue Zeitschrift fr Musikbut also a political activist  the father of eight children  and an addict of mind-altering drugs. Through hard work and determination bordering on the obsessive  Schumann was able to control his demons and channel the tensions that seethed within him into music that mixes the popular and esoteric  resulting in compositions that require the creative engagement of reader and listener.  The more we know about a composer  the more we hear his personality in his music  even if it is above all on the strength of his work that we love and admire him. Martin Gecks book on Schumann is not just another rehashing of Schumanns life and works  but an intelligent  personal interpretation of the composer as a musical  literary  and cultural personality.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45960321728565,"sku":"ByrdShop_0226284697","price":24.42,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780226284699.jpg?v=1788284890","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/robert-schumann-the-life-and-work-of-a-romantic-composer-9780226284699","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}