In 1844 Schumann collapsed with a severe nervous breakdown, one of many to torment him throughout the remainder of his life. Even music became a torment: “It cut into my nerves like knives.” At times Schumann was forced to stop composing altogether to keep himself just this side of insanity. Bouts of depression came and went over the next several years until his death in 1856, after spending the last two years of his life in an asylum at Endenich.

Schumann was born in the town of Zwickau in Saxony to a bookseller, a great asset for Schumann, who read the works of Byron, Goethe and Jean Paul Richter, the arch-priest of the religious romantics. In 1828, the 18-year old Schumann arrived in Leipzig to study Law. Not forgetting his musical studies, he began lessons on the piano with Friedrich Wieck, whose success in training his daughter Clara, was beginning to bring him international renown. It was this same Clara who later became Schumann’s wife. By 1830 Schumann had given up law to devote himself entirely to music. Schumann had worked toward a career as a concert pianist but an injury to his right hand forced him to abandon the idea and he quickly turned to composition. The 1830’s produced nearly all works for the piano, written with Clara in mind. In 1840 Robert married Clara. Schumann loved to devote himself at certain times to one branch of composition, exhausting himself of the genre before beginning another - an obsessive/compulsive behavior he would exhibit the rest of his life. As he had exhausted himself composing for the piano in the previous years, he now turned to song. In 1840 he turned to the symphony, and in 1842, chamber music. The next few years were devoted to various incidental works, opera, oratorio, a piano concerto, to name only a few.

In the last years of Schumann’s life he and Clara moved from Dresden to Dusseldorf in receipt of a proposal to be the director of music at a municipal orchestra there. It was in Dusseldorf that Schumann would spend his last years and compose some of his greatest music including his Cello Concerto and his Third Symphony.

Schumann’s Marchenbilder (Pictures from Fairyland) was composed in 1851 amongst other incidental works. The work is in four movements each of a contrasting nature. There is no official program for each of the movements but their style is pastoral and idyllic. The first movement, Moderato, presents a lyrical introductory theme in the viola before the formal theme of the movement is heard in the piano. This idea permeates the movement in its original form, rarely taking on the compositional device of variation. The second movement, Vivace, is a quick spirited movement in a strong march-like character. The viola presents the material in the opening measures. The movement acts as the official scherzo with two trios; a common structural trait of Schumann.The second section, although retaining a somewhat strident texture, is more lyrical and reserved. The third movement, also marked, Vivace, is strong and dramatic. The viola takes up an aggressive motive until the piano presents the movement’s official theme. A second section contrasts this with a more lyrical idea before a return to the opening idea. The final movement marked, Lento malinconico, is truly idyllic. A long, simple yet elegant theme is shared by both piano and viola. A second section departs from the first in a contrasting key before the return to material of the first section. The final bars are quiet and simple, reflecting a gentle and pastoral scene.