Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was the quiet one, the tormented genius. A serious illness prevented him from becoming a pianist, but he fell in love with and in 1840 married Clara, the daughter of his teacher Friedrich Wieck against her father??'s wishes. In 1843, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy appointed him lecturer in composition at the conservatory in Leipzig. A year later, the couple moved to Dresden. Then, in 1850, he became the Musical Director of the city of D??sseldorf. But his demons followed him wherever he went and he tried to kill himself by jumping into the Rhine four years later. He died two years later in a sanatorium.

Barbara Meier has written widely on classical composers, including Mahler, Strauss and Schoenberg.