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Robert Alexander Schumann was born in the small riverside town of Zwickau, Saxony, in 1810.The youngest of five children, was brought up in comfortable, middle-class respectability. As a child, he apparently exhibited no remarkable abilities. At the age of six, ....

Middle of Essay
.... home. With a friend named Friedrich Piltzing, another pupil of Kuntzch's, Robert started to explore Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. As a child, Schumann took part in several concerts at the Zwickau Lyceum. He once played Moscheles' Alexander March variations, which demanded considerable dexterity. At the public Lyceum Robert was active as both pianist and public speaker. When he was fourteen, Kuntzsch decided that his pupil had progressed beyond the point where he could give further help, and declined to teach him anymore. Shortly before leaving the Lyceum, Schumann collaborated with his brother Karl in preparing a new edition of Forcellini's Lati ....