Frauenliebe und -leben Robert Schumann
The work
‘Since first seeing him, I think I am blind, Wherever I look, Him only I see’. These besotted words open Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, regarded as one of his great song cycles alongside Dichterliebe and the Eichendorff-Liederkreis. This cycle emerged in 1840, Robert’s ‘Liederjahr’ (‘Year of song’), during which songs flowed from him at a miraculous rate.
A piano postlude recalls the opening song, poignantly re-evoking the bliss of new love
The 30 year-old’s inspiration was both emotional and practical. Robert was
