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Donald Macleod looks at how, when his mental health was fragile, Schumann took solace in working on his musical technique.

The 1840s was the decade when Robert and Clara Schumann’s married life began, and was the decade in which he established himself as a significant composer.

Today, Donald Macleod explores how Schumann used music and music practise to restore his fragile mental health. This was a period of major personal highs and lows for him and his family. Could he reach beyond his years of doubt and insecurity and become the indisputably great composer that history would remember?

6 Fugues on B-A-C-H, Op 60 (No 5 in F Major, Lebhaft)
Kevin Bowyer, organ

Symphony No 2 in C Major, Op 61 (1st mvt, Sostenuto assai)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Piano Trio No 1 in D Minor, Op 63 (1st mvt, Mit Energie und Leidenschaft)
Vienna Brahms Trio

Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op 54 (1st mvt, Allegro affettuoso)
Yevgeny Kissin, piano
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor

Album for the Youth, Op 68 (No 15, Fruhlingsgesang (Song of Spring))
Rolf Lindbrom, piano

Produced by Iain Chambers