Friedrich Wieck practice, however, he might not always have lived up to the ideals he described in the book "Piano and Song: How to Teach, How To Learn, and How to Form a Judgment of Musical Performances." When Robert Schumann was living and studying in the Wieck household, he reported seeing Wieck punishing his nine-year-old son, Alwyn, for playing the violin poorly, tearing at his hair and yelling, "You wretch, you scoundrel, is this the way you try to please your father?" Clara seemed unconcerned at the violent scene. Shocked, Schumann wrote in his diary, "Am I among human beings?" Besides the
Blumenstück (Schumann) Wieck, who was implacably opposed to the marriage. "Blumenstück" features a falling four-note motif that Schumann had previously used to refer to Clara Wieck in "Carnaval", Op. 9. Rather than in his manuscript book, Schumann sketched "Blumenstück" in his Brautbuch; it was offered, along with the song cycle "Myrthen", Op. 25, of 1840, as a bridal gift. In a letter to Clara on 24 January 1839, Schumann wrote that he had recently completed a number of small piano pieces, with the titles: The "Blumenstück" is in the form of a double theme and variations, and the "Arabeske" is in rondo