IN A SENSE, the most complex and fascinating part of Felix Mendelssohn's life began when he died in 1847, at the age of thirty-eight. His reputation was at a peak - he had recently conducted the ...

In the most commonplace sense, Robert Schumann fits the Romantic stereotype: impatient of rules and conventions, a votary of liberal ideals, motivated by instincts, dreams and passions but beset by ...