The Marriage Diaries of Robert & Clara Schumann: From Their Wedding Day Through the Russia Trip

About this book

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 Schumanns 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 Claras decision to return to the concert stage after a prolonged hiatus and her anxiety in the face of Roberts changing moods. This edition includes the couples travel book written during their stressful concert tour of Russia in 1844 which marked the end of the marriage diaries; Robert Schumanns 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.