On June 8, 1810, Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony to August Schumann, a bookseller, and Johanna Schumann. Robert was the youngest of five children, and partially because of this, he was spoiled and known as "handsome child." At the age of six, Robert was sent to Archdeacon Döhner’s school, which was similar to a grammar-school. Although Robert proved to be an unremarkable scholar, he did begin to show early signs of one of his dominant characteristics, ambition (Wasielewski 12-17).

Schumann began receiving general musical and piano instruction the next year from Baccalaureus Kuntzsch, a teacher at the Zwickau high school. Robert immediately developed a love of music and made attempts at creating musical compositions himself, without the aid of Kuntzsch. Even though he often disregarded the principles of musical composition, his pieces were regarded as very admirable for his age. The Universal Journal of Music’s 1850 supplement included a biographical sketch of Schumann that noted, "It has been related that Schumann, as a child, possessed rare taste and talent for portraying feelings and characteristic traits in melody,—ay, he could sketch the different dispositions of his intimate friends by certain figures and passages on the piano so exactly and comically that every one burst into loud laughter at the similitude of the portrait (Wasielewski 17-19)."

When not playing music, Robert enjoyed poring through the books in his father’s bookstore. As he grew older, he began to favor romantic literature. Robert also enjoyed expressing his creativity through writing. He was especially fond of writing robber-plays that he and his friends would act out (Chissell 7).

One of the most influential events that stimulated Robert’s musical aspirations was his attending a concert by Ignatz Moscheles, a famous pianist, in Carlsbad when he was nine. Robert consequently applied himself to music with a much increased dedication. After entering high school, Robert formed a rudimentary orchestra where he and his friends pursued various musical endeavors.  Schumann also played music for several family friends, including works by Moscheles. This enraged his music teacher, and the teacher then quit, claiming that Robert did not follow his advice anyway. Robert was left to study music without the aid of an instructor (Wasielewski 19-22).

Concentrating on music, Robert took lessons from Friedrich Wieck, a teacher that he had been studying under at various periods during his time at the university. In a very unfortunate occurrence, Schumann permanently injured a finger with a mechanism he invented for mechanical finger development in 1832 and was forced to abandon the career of a pianist. He then turned to composition and writing about music (Chissell 225).

Collaborating with a circle of young intellectuals, Schumann founded the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, a music journal, in 1833 (Chissell 226). Schumann was the journal’s editor and leading writer for ten years, and his articles in the journal evidenced his talent and perceptiveness as a musical critic. Also during this time, Schumann composed a number of different works, which will be discussed later (Boynick).

Around 1835, Schumann fell in love with Wieck’s daughter Clara (Brion 183). Within a few years, they wanted to marry, but Wieck was against this. Schumann went through both periods of deep depression and joyfulness connected with the tribulations of their relationship. Finally, they married in 1840, despite Wieck’s continued objection to marriage (Brion 236-237).

Schumann assumed the post of town musical director in Düsseldorf in 1850, but the post worked out poorly because he conducted indifferently. He was forced to resign in 1854 because of advanced mental illness, which had been sporadically afflicting him since adolescence. Schumann had always feared insanity, and his hallucinations served to further provoke that fear. As a response to this, Schumann unsuccessfully attempted suicide in 1854. Later that year, he entered an asylum, where he died on July 29, 1856 (Boynick).