The year 1840 proved a momentous one for Robert Schumann: after an interval of twelve years, he resumed writing songs, producing some 150 vocal compositions within the year; and in September, after a long and stormy courtship, he married his beloved Clara Wieck. During this period, Schumann’s biographers represent him as being “caught in a tempest of song,” transfiguring the emotions aroused by his love for Clara into a splendid outpouring of sublime music for voice...
