Robert Schumann: Herald Of A New Poetic Age

New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Hardcover. VG-/VG (shelf-wear to boards; few small scores to back board. cloth spine scuffed. rubbing, crinkling spine ends; top bumped. speckled & blotched foxing to textblock edges. dustjacket spine ends crinkled & creased; creasing to corners; foxing to interior flaps; plastic scuffed). pink boards w/ burgundy quarter cloth spine, silver printing. book xi, 607 pgs w/ bw illustrations. purple & tan illustrated dustjacket w/ protective plastic cover. Foxing remnants to page edges, otherwise pages remain bright. "In Robert Schumann: Herald of a "New Poetic Age," John Daverio presents the first comprehensive study of the composer's life and works to appear in nearly a century. Long regarded as a quintessentially romantic figure, Schumann also has been portrayed as a profoundly tragic one: a composer who began his career as a genius and ended it as a mere talent. Daverio takes issue with this Schumann myth, arguing instead that the composer's entire creative life was guided by the desire to imbue music with the intellectual substance of literature. A close analysis of the interdependence among Schumann's activities as reader, diarist, critic, and musician reveals the depth of his literary sensibility. Drawing on documents only recently brought to light, the author also provides a fresh outlook on the relationship between Schumann's mental illness - which brought on an extended sanitarium stay and eventual death in 1856 - and his musical creativity."--WorldCat.