Robert Schumann Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. His teacher, Friedrich Wieck, a German pianist, had assured Schumann that Robert could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ended this dream. Schumann then focused his musical energies on composing. In 1840, after a long and acrimonious legal battle with Wieck, who opposed the marriage, Schumann married Wieck's daughter
Clara de Chatelain Clara de Chatelain Clara de Chatelain, (pseudonyms, Leopold Wray, Baronne Cornélie de B., Rosalia Santa Croce and Leopoldine Ziska; 31 July 1807 – 30 June 1876) was an English writer, composer and translator. Clara Du Mazet de Pontigny was born in London, 31 July 1807. She was the daughter of M. de Pontigny, a French gentleman, and an Englishwoman. Living in France in 1826, she wrote an elegy on Jacques-Louis David's death, 'Le Tombeau du Proscrit'. Returning to England in 1827, she wrote widely under her pseudonym Leopold Wray, and for periodicals including "Reynolds's Miscellany", "London Society", "The Queen", "Chambers's