Max Derrickson

One of the most heralded Romantic writers in Schumann’s day was (Lord) George Gordon Byron (1788 – 1824). Byron’s writings seemed to epitomize the Romantic spirit, especially in the German literary movement known as “Young Germany.” These were the German Romantics who, as Schumann’s biographer Martin Geck wrote, “ … [were] convinced that their own fates were exceptional, they sought to lead lives that were a mixture of grandiosity, world weariness, lovesick repining, disgust with life, and an entanglement with black magic.” No other work captured this pathos as intensely as Byron’s Manfred (1817). Schumann was deeply moved by Manfred and wanted to bring it to the stage. He wrote an impressive series of incidental music for its performance, including chorus, songs and monastic chanting,…