Schumann Biography

Does anyone have a recommendation for a biography of Robert Schumann?

Thanks!

I looked in my library, I don't have a bio on Schumann, but I do have one on his wife as a side note. I'd like to see what anyone else has to recomend, as I'd like to get a copy myself!

The classic as far as I am concerned is John Daverio's Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age" (Oxford UP, 1997). Schumann's complicated personality, stressful relationship with a strong wife, and mental illness have attracted a lot of biographers who focus more on those dimensions of his life than on his artistic style and worth, but Daverio manages to create a much more well-rounded portrait of the man as musician, complete with extremely sophisticated scholarship. Don't miss it!

Hey bay1904, thanks for the suggestion!

I would also recommend Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius by Peter Ostwald. Ostwald is a psychiatrist who obviously focuses more on the psychoanalytic (bipolar disorder--with Schumann's alter egos Eusebius/Florestan/Master Raro) and medical (probable syphilis) aspects of Schumann's creativity. As a physician myself, I find this book especially fascinating.

Fantastic, thanks!