Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic who stands as one of the defining figures of musical Romanticism. Born in Zwickau, Saxony, he abandoned a law career to focus on composition after an injury ended his hopes as a concert pianist, going on to produce landmark piano cycles, song cycles, four symphonies, and chamber works that shaped the course of 19th-century music. His marriage to the virtuoso pianist Clara Wieck in 1840 - won only after a court battle against her father - proved a creative turning point: the year alone yielded over 130 songs, including Dichterliebe. His final years were marked by severe mental illness; in 1854 he attempted suicide by jumping into the Rhine and spent his last two years in a sanatorium near Bonn, dying at 46.
Schumann's Rhenish Symphony was performed by the Concertgebouworkest under Klaus Mäkelä in Amsterdam on 8-9 January 2026, and his Piano Concerto followed on 15 and 18 January with Yunchan Lim as soloist under Jakub Hrůša.
Pianist Heike-Angela Moser, a great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Clara and Robert Schumann, released a new CD 'The Landscape of Clara Schumann' on 8 May 2026, featuring works by Robert and Clara Schumann alongside Brahms, Schubert and others.
The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, with pianist Jan Lisiecki, performed Schumann at the Schumann-Haus in Düsseldorf on 25 April 2026.
Schumann's oratorio 'Das Paradies und die Peri' was staged at the Hamburgische Staatsoper in autumn 2025, with multiple performances running through November 2025.
A new concert series dedicated to Schumann's music, curated by pianist Saskia Giorgini and initiated by tenor Julian Prégardien, launched in autumn 2025 in Düsseldorf, with further dates planned across Leipzig, Zwickau and Baden-Baden from 2026.
