Schumann: The Faces and the Masks

In this intimate biography of the great Romantic composer Robert Schumann (1810–56), Chernaik (The Lyrics of Shelley), who betrays a close acquaintance with the composer's oeuvre, offers a very personal take on his life, drawing on unpublished archival material as well as Schumann's diary entries to round out her portrait. She uses the conceit of "faces and masks"—"different ways of presenting himself"—to describe the various aspects of Schumann's "multilayered" personality, while documenting the gradual deterioration of his mind, which led to his confinement in a mental facility near the end of his life. Relating the musician's compositions to events in his life, above all his enduring love of wife Clara, herself a noted composer and brilliant pianist, Chernaik further details Schumann's major influences (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert) and close friendships with other composers—Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, and especially Brahms. While providing ample discussion of the classical works, Chernaik eschews technical language and musical notation.