free the fourth finger, that presently he permanently crippled his right hand. He then turned to composition, at first wholly for the piano, and plunged into arduous technical discipline under Dorn. He also soon appeared as a critic, writing a florid article in 1831 about Chopin, then just becoming known at Paris. He drew about him a group of enthusiasts whose purpose was to oppose 'Philistinism' in music (whatever they felt was commonplace, academic, dry), and whom he hence dubbed the 'Davidsbund.' So urgent was his activity that in 1834, in company with two or three others, he founded the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik as the organ of advanced ideas, continuing as its editor till 1844 and as a contributor still longer. Through this journal his vigorous, fearless and broad-*minded attitude became manifest and influential. In 1835 Mendelssohn came to Leipsic, and he and Schumann were intimate, Schumann, at least, with the most cordial appreciation. In 1836 began his romantic courtship of Clara Wieck, then 17 years old, whom he knew intimately because living in the Wieck household. She was already a pianist of the first rank, and was coming into a beautiful and noble womanhood. Her father opposed the match because uncertain of Schumann's prospects, and only in 1840 was compelled by legal pressure to give his consent. Meanwhile, in 1838-9, Schumann spent most of a year at Vienna, hoping to find there a better opening for his Zeitschrift, and incidentally unearthing many of Schubert's neglected scores. During these years his creative faculty became more evident and his piano-works grew in variety and power. From 1840, the year of his marriage, for several years he put forth his full energy as a composer. In that year he was chiefly occupied upon some 150 songs, in 1841 upon orchestral composition, in 1842 upon chamber works, and in 1843 upon the first of his larger vocal works. In 1843, when Mendelssohn organized the Leipsic conservatory, Schumann was one of the original faculty, teaching piano and composition, though greatly hampered by his extreme reticence. Until 1844 his life was so absorbed in study as to be almost devoid of public incident. He was seldom away from Leipsic, but early in 1844 he and his wife made a brilliant tour to Russia.
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Robert Schumann
The mental strain of ten years of intense application now brought on a
nervous breakdown, and in the fall of 1844 Schumann moved to Dresden, where
he gradually recovered. Here he was thrown into intimacy with Hiller and
somewhat with Wagner. He was able by degrees to resume even extended
composition, including in 1848 the opera Genoveva (not given till 1850) and
his Faust music (given in 1849 on the centenary of Goethe's birth). Especially
from 1849 for a period his ability to work returned in full. From 1847
