Robert Schumann, crazy? Crazy for love, at any rate!

Le Regard Libre N° 68 - Jean-David Ponci

In the wake of Beethoven, we have already discussed the three giants of the 19th century, Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz, who could also be called the bulldozers of Romanticism. Progressive and innovative in the extreme, they hardly fit the idea of the meditative, fragile Romantic artist. It's time to make way for the «introverts» of the time, who were giants in another way. Schubert has already been mentioned, but there's still Chopin, Brahms and above all Schumann. Even today, it's hard to know what was going on with Schumann's madness and his love for Clara. In the face of a life shrouded in lies by those closest to him, he has left us a body of work that shouts out the truth, masterpieces of sensitivity that make him the most passionate of romantics, or perhaps even the most romantic of romantics.