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
Friedrich Wieck Tromlitz sang at the well-known Gewandhaus in Leipzig on a weekly basis. He did everything to be known as father of a child prodigy, a piano virtuoso. Clara Schumann was his second born and her musical education was planned down to the smallest detail. She daily received one-hour lesson (in piano, violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint), and two hours of practice, using the teaching methods he had developed on his own. He was accompanying her on the tours throughout Europe. His wife gave birth to another two children, Alwyn and Gustav. The differences between Wieck and his wife,