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Donald Macleod looks at how Schumann coped with revolution in Dresden, and the strength he took from forming his own choir.

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 looks at a period of civil unrest on the streets of Dresden. Revolutionaries were rounding up able-bodied men to bolster their forces. Richard Wagner was already manning the barricades. Would Schumann be forced to serve too? We look at how Schumann coped with this upheaval. And we see the strength he took from forming his own choir.

4 Marches, Op. 76
No. 4 in E-Flat Major: Mit kraft und feuer
Eric Le Sage, piano

3 Freiheitsgesange, WoO 13-15
Die Singphoniker

Piano Trio No. 2 in F Major, Op. 80
III. In massiger Bewegung
IV. Nicht zu rasch
Vienna Brahms Trio

Genoveva, Op. 81
Act IV: Scene: Steil und steiler (Genoveva, Balthasar, Caspar, Chorus)
Ruth Ziesak (Genoveva)
Hiroyuki Ijichi (Balthasar)
Josef Krenmair (Caspar)
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor

Nachtlied Op. 108
Monteverdi Choir
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor