Schumann the inner voices of a musical genius

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.