Schumann (Master Musicians Series)

Jensen starts with a sobering look at the diary entries written shortly after the Schumann's married. It's not difficult to see this early on in their marriage Clara's resentment over her stalled career as virtuoso pianist.

Jensen also is clear and level-headed in his assessment of Schumann's art, praising where praise is belated due despite decades or even a century of misunderstanding by critics and audiences alike. Jensen thus includes a useful epilogue covering Schumann's successful exploration, late in his career, of the German fairy tale in music, especially its bizarre manifestation in the fantastic works of E. T. A. Hoffman and the adult fairy tales penned by the Brothers Grimm. But Jensen is equally truthful about the lack of inspiration and polish in much of Schumann's late musical productions--the ballads for chorus and orchestra, the concert overtures, the religious music, as well as the concerted music for piano and violin. However, Jensen's point is that despite crushing mental problems, Schumann managed to create successful works almost until he was committed to the insane asylum at Endenich. It seems clear from what Jensen says that Schumann was not in a state of constant mental decline in his last years. He had moments of great lucidity even at Endenich, and if Jensen is right, the composer could have left the asylum and possibly recovered.

Jensen's style may not be especially literary, but it is effective in a quiet, self-effacing way. Still, given the nature of his subject, I missed the soaring prose of John Devario's great recent biography of the composer. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to be without Jensen either. His scholarship is impeccable and his insights revelatory. Just don't come away hating Clara too much!