Pre-suicide letter by Schumann turns up

Pre-suicide letter by Schumann turns up

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norman lebrecht

May 20, 2020

The Heinrich Heine Institute Düsseldorf has bought a letter by Robert Schumann written two weeks before his attempted suicide in February 1854.

Schumann had previously written to his friend Julius Stern saying he wanted to quit his job and leave Düsseldorf, asking Stern to take over. A dispute erupted between them. In this letter, Schumann proposed a truce.

A fortnight after, the composer jumped into the freezing, filthy Rhine, was fished out and sent to an asylum.

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