Text Box:  13. Robert Schumann is our next composer. He was born in 1810 and died in 1856 at age 46. His rank is a lofty number 8 by Goulding. An unusual fact to remember about Schumann’s was that his first intention in music was to be a concert pianist, and to accomplish this, he used an apparatus to strengthen his fingers called the “Chiroplast”. He used this contraption too much, and as a result injured the third finger of his right hand permanently…effectively ending his quest to be a great performer. Instead, he became a composer and married his student, the gifted pianist, Clara Wieck…who after his death, made it her lifelong goal to promote his music. The rest, as they say, is history. A famous work by Schumann was Traumerei (Tram a rye) which in English means “reverie” or “dreaming”. It is number 7 in a series of melodies the good he wrote in 1838…called Scenes from Childhood.