Schumann: Music and Madness [Hardcover]

Peter F. Ostwald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1985

After obtaining access to long sought-after archival material about the final years of Robert Schumann, Lise Deschamps Ostwald, the author's widow, is finally able to detail the composer's last years at the mental institution in Endenich, fulfilling her husband's original intent.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Schumann is a remarkable piece of work. The author obviously loves the composer's music and writes about him--and Clara too--with compassion and understanding. . . Soberly and objectively, it unearths information that no previous Schumann research--in English, at least--has come near duplicating."--Harold C. Schonberg, New York Times Book Review

"One is struck by the near-clinical approach taken in this biography. At times it reads like a medical report, as the most personal and painful details of this great artist [are] under the. . . light of scientific scrutiny. It is an interesting approach to studying Robert Schumann, the passionate and hyper-emotional genius who typified the romantic era of classical music."--Quarterly Notes

"[A] worthy addition to your bookshelf. . . Ostwald's medical and musical credentials are first-rate. His book often reads like a doctor's report on a particularly interesting 'cast,' but it also explores the music in illuminating ways and relates it to the downward trajectory of Schumann's mental state."--American Record Guide --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

PETER OSTWALD, M.D. (1928-1996), was a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, a musician, and an author of numerous books. His widow, LISE DESCHAMPS OSTWALD, is a concert pianist and was his long-time assistant. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz; 1st US ed edition (January 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575035463
• ISBN-13: 978-0575035461
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,238,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind, music, and emotion., October 20, 2003

By 

Victoria Berdon "Dedekind_cut" (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius (Paperback)

Ostwald has written a careful and insightful biography. Not only are effects of mental illness in musical creativity explored, but there are a number of interesting philosophical issues raised about mind and it's functioning. The subjective experience of creativity, musical or otherwise, is impossible to communicate fully, but Ostwald does a remarkable job. Ostwald's thoughts on musical expression and meanings therein are original, and not extensions of Suzanne Langer's (or other philosophers') interpretation. That Ostwald himself is a pianist as well as psychiatrist allows an intimate understanding of musical cognition, and this in conjuntion with his psychiatric training makes for an unusual analysis. This is not light reading,but definitely in range of an interested reader. It is thought-provoking and facinating. I highly recommend it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Music, meaning and madness, February 11, 2003

By 

Ronan M Conroy (Dublin Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius (Paperback)

Ostwald isn't a normal biographer. He is concerned with more than the 'facts'. His focus is on the complex relationship between Schumann's music, his life, his mental state and his relationship with Clara. But to this end he has done a major service to our understanding of Schumann by going well beyond the published sources. Ostwald has translated hitherto unpublished diaries and correspondence that reveal a Schumann who is considerably more complex than he appears in biographies up to this.
Certainly, Ostwald's interest in the psychiatric elements of Schumann's life results in a certain amount of terminology, but this is not jargon; there is a chapter which reviews Schumann's illnesses using current American diagnostic guildelines, so this is hardly psychobabble!
Ostwald is also a tireless advocate of the less-well-known Schumann, for which he also deserves credit.
And finally, the chapter on Schumann's final illness is haunting and chilling. He died a much more wretched death than we supposed.
Strongly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Realistic, July 3, 2010

By 

Pamela Blevins (Brevard, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius (Paperback)

The late Peter Ostwald's biography is still the most insightful, intelligent and accurate account of Schumann's life and his illness. Dr. Ostwald undertook a very careful study of all the factual material available and drew the most realistic, sensible and compelling conclusions about Schumann's life. Schumann, like other composers, was long regarded as schizophrenic while some writers are still recycling the old notion that he suffered from syphilis and that it was the cause of his mental decline. Schumann was, as Ostwald rightly claims, bipolar. The signs of his illness were in place long before he might have contracted syphilis and even that possibility is in doubt. Ostwald brought Schumann scholarship into the 20th century and debunked a lot of misconceptions about the composer, his illness and his relationships. Highly recommended.