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ROBERT SCHUMANN
A life through his songs A SELECTIVE CHRONOLOGY
The work-numberings used here follow those established in
Margit L McCorkle’s Robert Schumann: Thematisch-Bibliographisches
Werkverzeichnis, Henle Verlag, Munich, 2003
1810 8 June At 9.30 pm Robert, fifth and last child
of August Schumann (1773–1826)—author, book
dealer and publisher—and his wife Christiane, née
Schnabel (1767–1836), is born in Zwickau, Saxony,
on the top floor of the house at the corner of the
Marktplatz. This substantial and roomy dwelling
doubles as home and business premises, and is
rented by the Schumanns between 1807 and 1817.
14 June Robert is baptized in the house of his birth;
since being rebuilt in 1956 this has become the
Robert Schumann Museum in Zwickau.
1813 (aged 3) Robert goes to live with his godmother,
Frau Ruppius. She looks after him for two and a half
years before he returns to his parental home in 1816.
1816 (aged 6) Robert begins his schooling in Zwickau,
and receives his first music theory lessons from
August Vollert.
1817 (aged 7) Robert receives his first piano lessons
from Johann Gottfried Kuntsch (1775–1855). Owing
to the success of the family business it is now possible
for August Schumann to buy a house of his own: the
family moves into a new dwelling in the Amtgasse, the
home of the young Robert for eleven years, where his
talents in both literature and music develop side by
side. This dwelling is razed to the ground in March
1945.
1818 (aged 8) Robert develops his talent at the piano,
particularly as an improviser able to portray the
characteristics of friends in musical terms—Chopin
in Carnaval is prefigured in these youthful musical
games. He begins Greek and French lessons. In
August he goes to Karlsbad with his mother, where
he encounters for the first time Ignaz Moscheles
(1794–1870). This great pianist becomes his idol and
Robert decides to emulate him—he intensifies his
piano studies. He falls in love for the first time—with
Emilie Lorenz who ten years later will marry his older
brother Julius and become his sister-in-law.
1819 (aged 9) During a visit to Leipzig, Robert hears his
first opera (Die Zauberflöte) and is overcome with
enthusiasm. He begins to compose poetry and writes
and produces a small play with school friends.
1820 (aged 10) Robert enters the Zwickau Lyzeum
(later renamed Gymnasium) where he is far ahead of
his contemporaries in German studies as well as in
Latin and Greek. It is probably in this year that he
visits Dresden for the first time. He falls in love with
Ida Stölzel, daughter of a Zwickau landlord. He later
records that his love of music at this age and his
longing to be a pianist were almost in the order of a
sickness.
1821 (aged 11) Robert’s musical life begins to intensify
with the establishment of evening performances
(‘Abendunterhaltungen’) at the Zwickau Lyzeum—
15