Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

1851— SCHUMANN —1853 365
customed, as a reward for its labours, to have
several concerts of church music, or at least
sacred compositions, every year ; and Schumann
was probably thinking of this custom in his
Mass and his Eequiem, but he was not destined
ever to hear them performed.
In the summer of 1851 he and his family
made a tour in Switzerland, which he had not
yisited since the time of his student-life in
Heidelberg ; on his return he went to Antwerp,
for a competitive performance by the
Belgian ' Mannergesangverein,' on August 17,
at which he had been asked to aid in adjudging
the prizes. Two years later, towards the end
of 1853, he and his wife once more visited
the Netherlands, and made a concert -tour
through Holland, meeting with such an enthusiastic
reception that he could not help saying
that hia music seemed to have struck deeper
root there than in Germany. InMarch 1852they
revisited Leipzig, where, between the 14th aiid
the 21st, a quantity of his music was performed ;
the Manfred overture and the ' Pilgerfahrt der
Rose ' at a public matinee on the 14th ; the D
minor Sonata for pianoforte and violin (op. 121)
in a private circle, on the 15th ;
the E|> Symphony
at a concert at the Gewandhaus on the
18th ;
the Pianoforte Trio in G minor (op. 110)
at a chamber concert on the 21st. On Nov.
6, 1851, the overture to the 'Braut von Messina'
was also performed at the Gewandhaus.
The public had thus, during this season, ample
opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
latest works of this inexhaustible composer.
But although he had lived in Leipzig for fourteen
years, and had brought out most of his
compositions there, besides having a circle of
sincerely devoted friends in that city, he could
not on this occasion boast of any great success ;
the public received him with respect and esteem,
but with no enthusiasm. But in this respect
Schumann had lived through a variety of experience
; 'I am accustomed,' he writes to
Pohl, Dec. 7, 1851, when speaking of the reception
of the overture to the ' Braut von Messina,'
'
to find that my compositions, particularly the
best and deepest, are not understood by the
public at a first hearing.' Artists, however, had
come to Leipzig from some distance for the
'
Schumann -week ' ; among them Liszt and
Joachim.
In August 1852 there was held in Diisseldorf
a festival of music for men's voices, in which
Schumann assisted as conductor, though, owing
to his health, only to a very limited extent.
He took a more important part at Whitsuntide
1853, when the 31st of the Lower Rhine Festivals
was celebrated in Diisseldorf on May 15,
16, and 17. He conducted the music of the
first day, consisting of Handel's 'Messiah'
and of his own Symphony in D minor, which
was exceedingly well received. In the concerts
of the two following days, which were conducted
chiefly by Hiller, two more of Schumann's
larger compositions were performed ;
the Pianoforte
Concerto in A minor, and a newly composed
Festival Overture with soli and chorus on the
'
Rheinweinlied ' (op. 123). But although Schumann
appeared in so brilliant a way as a
composer, and as such was honoured and
appreciated in Diisseldorf, yet there was no
concealing the fact that as a conductor he was
inefiBcient. The little talent for conducting
that he showed on his arrival in Diisseldorf,
had disappeared with his departing health.
It was in fact necessary to procure some one to
take his place. An attempt was made after
the first winter concert of the year (Oct. 27,
1853) to induce him to retire for a time from
the post of his own accord. But this proposal
was badly received. The fact, however, remains,
that from the date just mentioned all the
practices and performances were conducted by
Julius Tausch, who thus became Schumann's
real successor. No doubt the directors of the
society were really in the right ; though perhaps
the form in which Scluraiann's relation to the
society was expressed might have been better
chosen. The master was now taken up with
the idea of leaving Diisseldorf as soon as possible,
and of adopting Vienna, for which he had
preserved a great affection, as his permanent
residence. But fate had decided otherwise.
The dissatisfaction induced in his mind by
the events of the autumn of 1853 was, however,
mitigated partly by the tour in Holland already
mentioned, and partly by another incident. It
happened that in October a young and wholly
unknown musician arrived, with a letter of introduction
from Joachim. Johannes Brahms— for
he it was—immediately excited Schumann's
warmest interest by the genius of his playing and
the originality of his compositions. In his early
days he had always been the champion of the
young and aspiring, and now as a matured
artist he took pleasure in smoothing the path
of this gifted youth. Schumann's literary pen
had lain at rest for nine years ; he now once
more took it up, for the last time, in order to
say a powerful word for Brahms to the wide
world of art. An article entitled Neue JSahnen
(New Paths) appeared on Oct. 28, 1853, in No.
1 8 of that year's Zeitschrift. In this he pointed
to Brahms as the artist whose vocation it would
be ' to utter the highest ideal expression of our
time. ' He does not speak of him as a youth or
beginner, but welcomes him into the circle of
Masters as a fully equipped combatant.
When
before or since did an artist find such words of
praise for one of his fellows ? It is as though,
having already given so many noble proofs of
sympathetic appreciation, he could not leave the
world without once more, after his long silence,
indelibly stamping the image of hia pure, lofty,
and unenvious artist-nature on the hearts of hia
fellow-men.