Love What You Do; Robert Schumann’s Perseverance through Mental Illnesses

This article discusses suicide and mental illnesses, as well as auditory and visual hallucinations.

Robert Schumann, one of the most recognized and popular pianists in history, suffered from various mental illnesses which influenced his music and his career. Despite his success in the music industry, he made one mistake that derailed his entire career as a performing pianist. This is his story; and what we can learn from it.

Born on June 8th in 1810, Schumann grew up and trained to be a lawyer, before leaving said career to study music instead. This decision eventually led to him becoming one of the most well-known musical artists during the Romantic period. However, during the earlier years of his training, when his teacher predicted that he would become a popular performing pianist in just a few years time, Schumann made the decision to use a device of his own design on his hands. He believed that the machine, created out of a cigarette box, would help train his fingers to become stronger. Schumann thought that the heart of playing the piano came from the strength of one’s fingers, and that the stronger the fingers, the better the pianist. According to many historians (although some choose to believe it a myth), he began to “train” his own fingers through use of his device, which was essentially a box with loops on it that he would pull down with his fingers. Imagine pulling down weights from a machine to strengthen one’s arms; Schumann did this with his…