This album is part of a series of six concerts co-produced by CBC Radio and Hart House of the University of Toronto, featuring Robert Schumann's complete chamber music and vocal works.
Performer Biography
William Aide, the pianist on this album, has performed widely throughout Canada as a soloist and recitalist, and has premiered works by Canadian composers such as John Beckwith and Srul Irving Glick.
Performer Biography
Lois Marshall's international career blossomed despite crippled legs from polio, which severely limited her operatic prospects, though her concert and microphone performances revealed a compelling dramatic presence.
Composer Biography
Robert Schumann, a deeply sensitive composer, lived and composed with passion, and his eventual loss of sanity and early death greatly saddened the music world.
Performer Biography
Lois Marshall, a Canadian mezzo-soprano, was celebrated for her ability to project words and music with great immediacy, with Musical America noting that singing seemed as natural to her as speech to a great actor.
Composition History
Until 1840, Robert Schumann focused primarily on piano composition, but his yearning for Clara Wieck, his future wife, inspired him to compose about 130 songs that year, including the three cycles on this album.
