of the first piece are borrowed from a composition by Clara Wieck (op. 6, no. 5), we understand the allusion. Schumann himself admits that his compositions for the piano written during the period of his courtship reveal much of his personal experience and feelings, and his creative work in 1840 is of a very striking character. Up to this time, with the exception of the Symphony in G minor, which has remained unknown, he had written only for the piano; now he suddenly threw himself into vocal composition, and the stream of his invention rushed at once into this new channel with such force that in that single year he wrote above one hundred songs. Nor was it in number alone, but in intrinsic value also, that in this department the work of this year was the most remarkable of all Schumann's life. It is not improbable that his stay in Vienna had some share in this sudden rush into song, and in opening Schumann's mind to the charms of pure melody. But still, when we look through the words of his songs, it is clear that here more than anywhere, love was the prompter—love that had endured so long a struggle, and at last attained the goal of its desires. This is confirmed by the 'Myrthen' (op. 25), which he dedicated to the lady of his choice, and the twelve songs from Rückert's 'Liebesfrühling'—Springtime of Love—(op. 37), which were written conjointly by the two lovers. 'I am now writing nothing but songs great and small,' he says to a friend on Feb. 19, 1840; 'I can hardly tell you how delightful it is to write for the voice as compared with instrumental composition, and what a stir and tumult I feel within me when I sit down to it. I have brought forth quite new things in this line.' With the close of 1840 he felt that he had worked out the vein of expression in the form of song with pianoforte accompaniment, almost to perfection. Some one expressed a hope that after such a beginning a promising future lay before him as a song-writer, but Schumann answered, 'I cannot venture to promise that I shall produce anything further in the way of songs, and I am satisfied with what I have done.' And he was right in his firm opinion as to the peculiar character of this form of music. 'In your essay on song-writing,' he says to a colleague in the 'Zeitschrift,' 'it has somewhat distressed me that you should have placed me in the second rank. I do not ask to stand in the first, but I think I have some pretensions to a place of my own.'
As far as anything human can be, the marriage was perfectly happy. Besides their genius, both husband and wife had simple domestic tastes, and were strong enough to bear the admiration of the world without becoming egotistical. They lived for one another, and for their children. He created and wrote for his wife, and in accordance with her temperament; while she looked upon it as her highest privilege to give to the world the most perfect interpretation of his works, or at least to stand as mediatrix between him and his audience, and to ward off all disturbing or injurious impressions from his sensitive soul, which day by day became more and more irritable. Now that he found perfect contentment in his domestic relations, he withdrew more than ever from intercourse with others, and devoted himself exclusively to his family and his work. The deep joy of his married life produced the direct result of a mighty advance in his artistic progress. Schumann's most beautiful works in the larger forms date almost exclusively from the years 1841—5.
In 1841 he turned his attention to the Symphony, as he had done in the previous year to the Song, and composed in this year alone, no fewer than three symphonic works. The B♭ Symphony (op. 38) was performed as early as March 31, 1841, at a concert given by Clara Schumann in the Gewandhaus at Leipzig. Mendelssohn conducted it, and performed the task with so much zeal and care as truly to delight his friend. The other two orchestral works were given at a concert on Dec. 6 of the same year, but did not meet with so much success as the former one. Schumann thought that the two together were too much at once; and they had not the advantage of Mendelssohn's able and careful direction, for he was spending that winter in Berlin. Schumann put these two works away for a time, and published the B♭ Symphony alone. The proper title of one of these was 'Symphonistische Phantasie,' but it was performed under the title of 'Second Symphony,' and, in 1851, the instrumentation having been revised and completed, was published as the 4th Symphony (D minor, op. 120). The other was brought out under an altered arrangement, which he made in 1845, with the title 'Ouverture, Scherzo, et Finale' (op. 52); and it is said that Schumann originally intended to call it 'Sinfonietta.' Beside these orchestral works the first movement of the Pianoforte Concerto in A minor was written in 1841. It was at first intended to form an independent piece with the title of 'Fantasie.' As appears from a letter of Schumann's to David, it was once rehearsed by the Gewandhaus orchestra in the winter of 1841–2. Schumann did not write the last two movements which complete the concerto until 1845.
The year 1842 was devoted to chamber music. The three string quartets deserve to be first mentioned, since the date of their composition can be fixed with the greatest certainty. Although Schumann was unused to this style of writing, he composed the quartets in about a month—a certain sign that his faculties were as clear as his imagination was rich. In the autograph,[1] after most of the movements is written the date of their completion. The Adagio of the first quartet bears the date June 21, 42; the finale was 'finished on St. John's day, June 24, 1842, in Leipzig.' In the second quartet the second movement is dated July 2, 1842, and the last July 5, 1842, Leipzig. The third is dated as follows: first movement July 18, second July 20, third July 21, and the fourth
- ↑ Now in the possession of Herr Raymund Härtel, of Leipzig.
