Robert Schumann (1810-56) is one of the most important & representative composers of the Romantic era. Born in Zwickau Germany Schumann began piano instruction at age seven & immediately developed a passion for music. When a permanent injury to his hand prevented him from pursuing a career as a touring concert pianist he turned his energies & talents to composing writing hundreds of works for piano & voice as well as four symphonies & two ballets. Here acclaimed biographer Martin Geck tells the fascinating story of this multifaceted genius set in the context of the political & social revolutions of his time. The image of Schumann the man & the artist that emerges in Geck's book is complex. Geck shows Schumann to be not only a major composer & music critic-he cofounded & wrote articles for the controversial Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik-but also a political activist the father of eight children & an addict of mind-altering drugs. Through hard work & determination bordering on the obsessive Schumann was able to control his demons & channel the tensions that seethed within him into music that mixes the popular & esoteric resulting in compositions that require the creative engagement of reader & listener. The more we know about a composer the more we hear his personality in his music even if it is above all on the strength of his work that we love & admire him. Martin Geck's book on Schumann is not just another rehashing of Schumann's life & works but an intelligent personal interpretation of the composer as a musical literary & cultural personality.