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CLARA SCHUMANN AN ARTIST'S LIFE BASED ON MATERIAL FOUND IN DIARIES
AND LETTERS by BY BERTHOLD LITZMANN. Originally published in 1913.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE: The task of translation can never be a light
one, since every language has not only its own peculiar shades of
meaning, but also its own peculiar charm a fragrance which
evaporates as soon as the national frontier is crossed. This is
especially true of the German of Robert Schumann. His delicate,
poetic imagination found perfect expression in the language of his
hero, Jean Paul, and the endeavour to render his love letters, and
still more his poems, in another tongue is foredoomed to failure;
the original words alone fitly express the poet's thought In the
following pages an attempt has been made to give as far as possible
the spirit of the German, but only a poet could hope for success in
such an enterprise, and I am conscious of many shortcomings. It is
with great pleasure and the warmest gratitude that I acknowledge my
indebtedness to Miss BL C. Deneke and to Miss Eugenie Schumann, ,
both of whom read through the manuscript and gave me much valuable
advice and criticism. Miss Schumann went through the translation
word by word, and to her never wearying patience and consideration
is due whatever in it there may be of good. It was unfortunately
found necessary to turn the original three volumes into two in the
English edition, and by so doing the balance of the whole had
necessarily to be re adjusted. Prof. Litzmann in his prefaces
explains the principle which underlies the whole work. I have
endeavoured to interfere as little as possible with his method,
though some Translator's Preface. slight changes were necessary in
order toavoid any abrupt break between the volumes, vol. ii of the
German edition being divided between the two volumes of the English
edition. It is with sincere apologies and deep regret that I have
ventured to make what omissions were called for by reason of space,
and I have to tender my thanks to Prof. Litzmann for his courtesy
in permitting such changes. Cirencester 1912. Grace E. Hadow,
PREFACE: The reproach is commonly brought against musical bio
graphies that they are monotonous: and indeed the life of the
musician has not often afforded much scope for incident or variety.
If he be a composer he treads the accustomed course of early
struggles, hard-earned victories and posthumous fame: if he be a
virtuoso his career is one triumphal progress which leaves little
to record except the successive trophies that he has planted and
the successive laurels that he has won. The concentration required
by his art removes him in some degree from the stir and stress of
public events: for the most part he dwells in an ideal city of his
own and breathes the more freely when he has shut its gates upon
the world. To this it may be added that the biographers of our
great musicians have too often tended to merge the historian in the
advocate. They are full of a generous enthusiasm for their subject;
they are anxious above all things to present it in an attractive
light; but they sometimes neglect Cromwell's advice to Sir Peter
Lely and spoil their portrait by giving it a classic regularity of
feature. No doubt every biographer is something of a partisan; it
is no use writing a man's life unless you think well of him: but
the worst of all ways to arouse interest in your hero is to
represent him on afaultless pala din and to treat as a paynim and a
miscreant everyone who ever offered him the least opposition. No
man can build the monument of departed greatness if he is using up
all the stones to pelt his adversaries. ...
CLARA SCHUMANN AN ARTIST'S LIFE BASED ON MATERIAL FOUND UN DIARIES
AND LETTERS by BERTHOLD LITZMANN. Originally published in 1913.
AUTHORS PREFACE TO VOL. II. That the second volume has been so long
delayed is ac counted for, and I hope excused by, the fact that it
was im possible to find any time for the work except during the
leisure of my spring and autumn holidays. These have been devoted
to it, almost without a pause, and by this means alone has it been
possible for the continuation to appear even now: the continuation,
not the conclusion for the latter a third volume will be necessary.
The over-abundance of material, the full mass of which revealed
itself only as I worked through the preceding volume which grew
into a dual biography of Robert and Clara Schumann has necessitated
this deviation from the original plan. Those to whom the former
volume appealed will find the continuation a surprise and possibly
a disappointment, since in the second volume the actual letters of
Robert and Clara, which gave the first a peculiar character, have
far less pro minence, and in their place the biographer speaks, if
not ex clusively, yet to far greater extent The critical reader
will, however, realise that this was necessitated not only by the
difference in the material available for this period of their
lives, but also by the peculiar artistic problems of these years.
In conclusion it is scarcely necessary to state that in the third
volume which is to come which includes a period of 40 years the
present system of following the heroine step by step through her
life will have to give way to a method of grouping events in larger
masses. The portrait of Robert Schumann is from a drawing by
EduardBendemann made in 1859 from the Hamburg Daguerreo type of
March 1850; tho frontispiece is from Sohn's painting, with which
Clara surprised her husband at Christmas 1868. Dated the 65*
wedding-day of Robert and Clara Schumann, Sept 12* 1905.
Rlnggenberg on the Lake of Brien*. Berthold LiUmann, AUTHOR'S
PREFACE TO VOL. III. The third volume has also been delayed longer
than all those concerned in it author, publisher, and readers could
have wished, and for the same reason as that which made the
production of the two former volumes so difficult This time, in
addition, my holidays in Interlaken where alone the material was at
my disposal were thrice interrupted by ill-health. The subject
itself, and the material for this third volume, wsre not without
their influence on the pace of the work. In one place in her diary,
Clara writes: In an artist's life, as in every other, things repeat
themselves more or lass, so that there if much on which I barely
touch. If she herself ia her diary feels a certain monotony in the
externals of a life which goes on in the same groove year after
year, naturally the biographer, who has to represent forty such
years, is still more conscious of it. But though it was plain from
the first that on no account was each one of Clara's tours to be
followed in her diary from place to place; yet, on the other hand,
the positive side of the work was by no means so clearly defined.
For in these isolated, constantly recurring episodes lay the chief
meaning of her life.
Clara Schumann (1819-1896), child prodigy, celebrated concert
pianist, composer, and friend of Brahms, was also the wife of
composer Robert Schumann. Her father Friedrich Wieck's implacable
opposition to their marriage, the sublime music she inspired in
Schumann and his tragic death at a cruelly young age underlie one
of music's great romances. The German literary historian Berthold
Litzmann (1857-1926) first published his biography in three volumes
between 1902 and 1908, based on the diaries and letters of Robert
and Clara Schumann. Appearing in 1913, this two-volume English
translation by Grace Hadow (1875-1940) is an abridged version of
the German fourth edition, offering a lucid portrait of a central
figure in nineteenth-century European musical life. A preface is
provided by the translator's elder brother, William Henry Hadow
(1859-1937), the music historian. Volume 1 covers the years 1819 to
1850.
Clara Schumann (1819-1896), child prodigy, celebrated concert
pianist, composer, and friend of Brahms, was also the wife of
composer Robert Schumann. Her father Friedrich Wieck's implacable
opposition to their marriage, the sublime music she inspired in
Schumann and his tragic death at a cruelly young age underlie one
of music's great romances. The German literary historian Berthold
Litzmann (1857-1926) first published his biography in three volumes
between 1902 and 1908, based on the diaries and letters of Robert
and Clara Schumann. Appearing in 1913, this two-volume English
translation by Grace Hadow (1875-1940) is an abridged version of
the German fourth edition, offering a lucid portrait of a central
figure in nineteenth-century European musical life. A preface is
provided by the translator's elder brother, William Henry Hadow
(1859-1937), the music historian. Volume 2 covers the years 1850 to
1896.
Text extracted from opening pages of book: CLARA SCHUMANN AN
ARTIST'S LIFE BASED ON MATERIAL FOUND IN DIAEIES AND LETTERS BY
TRANSLATED AND ABRIDGED FROM THE FOURTH EDITION BY GEACE E. HADOW
WITH A PBBFACE BY W. H. HADOW YOL. I ILLUSTRATED MACMILLAN &
CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON AND BREITKOPF &
HARTEL, LEIPZIG 1013 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. The task of translation
can never be a light one, since every language has not only its own
peculiar shades of meaning, but also its own peculiar charm a
fragrance which evaporates as soon as the national frontier is
crossed. This is especially true of the German of Robert Schumann.
His delicate, poetic imagination found perfect expression in the
language of his hero, Jean Paul, and the endeavour to render his
love letters, and still more his poems, in another tongue is
foredoomed to failure; the original words alone fitly express the
poet's thought In the following pages an attempt has been made to
give as far as possible the spirit of the German, but only a poet
could hope for success in such an enterprise, and I am conscious of
many shortcomings. It is with great pleasure and the warmest
gratitude that I acknowledge my indebtedness to Miss BL C. Deneke
and to Miss Eugenie Schumann, , both of whom read through the
manuscript and gave me much valuable advice and criticism. Miss
Schumann went through the translation word by word, and to her
never wearying patience and consideration is due whatever in it
there may be of good. It was unfortunately found necessary to turn
the original three volumes into two in the English edition, and by
so doing the balance of the whole had necessarily to be re
adjusted. Prof. Litzmann in his prefaces explainsthe principle
which underlies the whole work. I have endeavoured to interfere as
little as possible with his method, though some Translator's
Preface. slight changes were necessary in order to avoid any abrupt
break between the volumes, vol. ii of the German edition being
divided between the two volumes of the English edition. It is with
sincere apologies and deep regret that I have ventured to make what
omissions were called for by reason of space, and I have to tender
my thanks to Prof. Litzmann for his courtesy in permitting such
changes. Cirencester 1912. Grace E. Hadow, PREFACE. The reproach is
commonly brought against musical bio graphies that they are
monotonous: and indeed the life of the musician has not often
afforded much scope for incident or variety. If he be a composer he
treads the accustomed course of early struggles, hard-earned
victories and posthumous fame: if he be a virtuoso his career is
one triumphal progress which leaves little to record except the
successive trophies that he has planted and the successive laurels
that he has won. The concentration required by his art removes him
in some degree from the stir and stress of public events: for the
most part he dwells in an ideal city of his own and breathes the
more freely when he has shut its gates upon the world. To this it
may be added that the biographers of our great musicians have too
often tended to merge the historian in the advocate. They are full
of a generous enthusiasm for their subject; they are anxious above
all things to present it in an attractive light; but they sometimes
neglect Cromwell's advice to Sir Peter Lely and spoil their
portrait by giving it a classic regularity of feature. No doubt
everybiographer is something of a partisan; it is no use writing a
man's life unless you think well of him: but the worst of all ways
to arouse interest in your hero is to represent him on a faultless
pala din and to treat as a paynim and a miscreant everyone who ever
offered him the least opposition. No man can build the monument of
departed greatness if he is using up all the stones to pelt his
adversaries. VI Preface. It may be said that the interpretation of
character is less important in music than in any other arts or
pursuits because music is more detached th
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