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
Hans-Georg Wieck at the North Atlantic Council (NATO). He served at the Ministry of Defence inter alia as head of the Policy Planning Staff and became president of the BND from 1985 to 1990. After his retirement from government service he was head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Minsk, Belarus from 1998 to 2001. From 1996 to September 2008 he was Chairman of the German - Indian Society. Currently Wieck is advisor to the Gesprächskreis Nachrichtendienste in Deutschland e.V. (GKND), a discussion group about intelligence services in Germany founded by his former colleague Wolbert Klaus Smidt in close cooperation