bore the marks of the man of genius. As
he reached middle age we are told of him that his figure was of middle
height, inclined to stoutness, that his bearing was dignified, his
movements slow. His features, though irregular, produced an agreeable
impression; his forehead was broad and high, the nose heavy, the eyes
excessively bright, though generally veiled and downcast, the mouth
delicately cut, the hair thick and brown, his cheeks full and ruddy. His
head was squarely formed, of an intensely powerful character, and the
whole expression of his face sweet and genial. Even when young he was
distinguished by a kind of absent-mindedness that prevented him from
taking much part in conversation. Once, it is said, he entered a lady's
drawing-room to call, played a few chords on the piano, and smilingly
left without speaking a word. But, among intimate friends, he could be
extraordinarily fluent and eloquent in discussing an interesting topic.
He was conscious of his own shyness, and once wrote to a friend: "I
shall be very glad to see you here. In me, however, you must not expect
to find much. I scarcely ever speak except in the evening, and most in
playing the piano." His wife was the crowning blessing of his life. She
was not only his consoler, but his other intellectual life, for she,
with her great powers as a virtuoso, interpreted his music to the world,
both before and after his death. It has rarely been the lot of an artist
to see his most intimate feelings and aspirations embodied to the world
by the genius of the mother of his children. Well did Ferdinand Hiller
write of this artist couple: "What love beautified his life! A woman
stood beside him, crowned with the starry circlet of genius, to whom he
seemed at once the father to his daughter, the master to the scholar,
the bridegroom to the bride, the saint to the disciple."

Clara Schumann still lives, though becoming fast an old woman in years,
if still young in heart, and still able to win the admiration of the
musical world by her splendid playing. Berlioz, who heard her in her
youth, pronounced her the greatest virtuoso in Germany, in one of his
letters to Heine; and while she was little more than a child she had
gained the heartiest admiration in England, France, and Germany. Henry
Chorley heard her at Leipzig in 1839, and speaks of "the organ-playing
on the piano of Mme. Schumann (better known in England under the name of
Clara Wieck), who commands her instru