Robert Schumann (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) is a German composer and influential music critic.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.

Schumann leaves the study of law to return to music, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist.

He had been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but a hand injury ends this dream.

Schumann then focuses his musical energies on composing.

Schumann's published compositions are written exclusively for the piano until 1840; he later composes works for piano and orchestra; many Lieder (songs for voice and piano); four symphonies; an opera; and other orchestral, choral, and chamber works.

Works such as Kinderszenen, Album für die Jugend, Blumenstück, Sonatas and Albumblätter are among his most famous.

His writings about music appear mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication which he jointly founded.

In 1840, against her father's wishes, Schumann marries the pianist Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher, the day before she legally comes of age at 21.

Had they waited one day, they would have no longer needed her father's consent, absence of which had leads to a long and acrimonious legal battle, which finds in favor of Clara and Robert.

Clara also composes music and has a considerable concert career, the earnings from which form a substantial part of her father's fortune.

For the last two years of his life, after an attempted suicide, Schumann is confined to a mental institution, at his own request.