Directions for Binding

Enclosed in this envelope is the cord and the
needle with which to bind this book. Start in from
the outside as shown on the diagram here. Pass the
needle and thread through the center of the book,
leaving an end extend outside, then through to the
outside, about 2 inches from the center; then from
the outside to inside 2 inches from the center at the
other end of the book, bringing the thread finally
again through the center, and tie the two ends in a
knot, one each side of the cord on the outside.

THEO. PRESSER CO., Pub’s., Phila., Pa.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

THIS book is one of a series known as the CHILD’S OWN
BOOK OF GREAT MUSICIANS, written by Thomas
Tapper, author of “Pictures from the Lives of the Great Composers
for Children,” “Music Talks with Children,” “First
Studies in Music Biography,” and others.

The sheet of illustrations included herewith is to be cut
apart by the child, and each illustration is to be inserted in its
proper place throughout the book, pasted in the space containing
the same number as will be found under each picture on the
sheet. It is not necessary to cover the entire back of a picture
with paste. Put it only on the corners and place neatly within
the lines you will find printed around each space. Use photographic
paste, if possible.

After this play-work is completed there will be found at
the back of the book blank pages upon which the child is to
write his own story of the great musician, based upon the facts
and questions found on the previous pages.

The book is then to be sewed by the child through the
center with the cord found in the enclosed envelope. The book
thus becomes the child’s own book.

This series will be found not only to furnish a pleasing and
interesting task for the children, but will teach them the main
facts with regard to the life of each of the great musicians—an
educational feature worth while.

This series of the Child’s Own Book of Great Musicians
includes at present a book on each of the following:

Copyright. 1916, by Theo. Presser Co.
Printed in the U.S.A.

BORN

DIED

[Pg 3]

The Story of the Boy Who Made
Pictures in Music.

When Robert Schumann was a boy he used to
amuse his friends by playing their pictures on the
piano. He could make the music imitate the person.

One day he said to them: This is the way the
farmer walks when he comes home singing from his
work.

THE HAPPY FARMER. Listen

Some day you will be able to play a lot of pieces
by Schumann that picture the pleasantest things so
clearly that you can see them very plainly indeed.
In one of his books there is a music picture of a boy
riding a rocking horse.

Another of a little girl falling asleep.

A March for Little Soldiers. (That is, make-believes.)

And then there are Sitting by the Fireside, What
they Sing in Church, and a piece the first four notes
of which spell the name of a composer who was a
good friend of Schumann’s.

[Pg 4]
This composer came from Denmark.

NIELS GADE.

This is a picture of the house in Zwickau, Germany,
where Robert Schumann was born.

SCHUMANN’S BIRTHPLACE.

[Pg 5]
Schumann was a strong healthy youth who had
many friends and loved life.

SCHUMANN AS A YOUTH.

What do you think the Father and Mother of
Robert Schumann wanted him to be when he was
grown up?

A lawyer!

Robert was the youngest of five children, full
of fun and up to all kinds of games. He went to
school and became especially fond of reading plays.

He also loved to write little plays and to act
them out on the stage that his Father had built for
him in his room. So he and his companions could
give their plays in their own theatre.

[Pg 6]
All the while Robert was taking piano lessons.

Just before he entered the High School he heard
a pianist who played so beautifully that he made up
his mind that he would become a musician.

The pianist whose playing gave him this thought
is one whose name you will know better and better
as you get older.

IGNACE MOSCHELES.

There was lots of music making in the Schumann
home, for Robert and all his companions
played and sang. And besides that, he composed
music for them.

It must have been a pleasant picture to see all
these German boys coming together to make music.
If we could gather together some American boys
who were alive at that same time, here are some we
could have found:

[Pg 7]
Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote for children,
Tanglewood Tales and the Wonder Book.

HAWTHORNE.

Then there was Longfellow,
who was born in Portland, Maine.
How many of his poems do you
know besides Hiawatha?

LONGFELLOW.

And then we must not forget
Whittier, who wrote many lovely
poems. One was about a little girl
who spelled the word that her companion
missed in school and so she
went above him in the class.

WHITTIER.

[Pg 8]
And still there was another little boy only a
year older than Robert Schumann. He was born in
a cabin.

LINCOLN’S BIRTHPLACE.

This boy’s name, as you can guess, was Abraham
Lincoln.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

So when you think of Robert Schumann, let us
also think of Hawthorne, Longfellow, Whittier, and
Lincoln.

They were all doing their best, even as boys, to
be useful.

[Pg 9]
Well, after all, Robert Schumann did not become
a lawyer. He studied music very hard. His teacher
was Frederick Wieck. His teacher’s daughter, Clara
Wieck, played the piano very beautifully.

CLARA WIECK.

Papa Wieck, as he was called, was not very
kind to Robert Schumann when the young man
confessed that he and Clara loved one another and
wished to marry.

FRIEDRICH WIECK.

[Pg 10]
But after a while it all turned out happily and
they were married. So Clara Wieck became Clara
Schumann.

Here is a picture of them seated together.

ROBERT AND CLARA SCHUMANN.

In the sixteen years that Robert Schumann lived
after he and Clara Wieck were married he composed
lots of music for the piano, besides songs, symphonies,
and other kinds of compositions.

He was a teacher in the Leipzig Conservatory.
Among his friends were Mendelssohn, Chopin,
Brahms, and many others.

Schumann is best known as a composer of
music, although he was also a teacher, a conductor,
and a writer upon musical subjects. For many years
he was the head of a musical newspaper, which is
[Pg 11]
remembered to this day because of the great work
he did in helping people to understand new music
and find out new composers. When he was a very
young man Schumann wanted to become a pianist,
but he unfortunately used a machine that he thought
was going to help him play better. It hurt his hand
so that he was never able to play well again. Poor
Schumann went out of his mind in his last years,
and died insane, July 29, 1856.

CLARA SCHUMANN.

Clara Schumann lived forty years after Robert
Schumann died. She was the teacher of many students,
some of whom traveled from America to study
with her. She, too, was a composer and a concert
pianist who played in public from the time she was
ten years of age.
[Pg 12]

FACTS ABOUT ROBERT SCHUMANN.

1. Robert Schumann was born at Zwickau, in
Saxony, Germany, on June 8, 1810.

2. When Schumann was nine years old he heard
the great pianist Ignaz Moscheles play and resolved
to become a great pianist.

3. When Schumann was a youth he showed a
gift for writing poetry.

4. Schumann’s father was a successful book-seller.

5. All through his life Schumann was a great
lover of the writings of the German author, Jean
Paul (whose full name was Jean Paul Richter).
Much of his music shows his high regard for that
writer of fairy stories.

6. Schumann was twenty-one years old when he
injured his hand and learned that therefore he could
not hope to be a pianist. It was then that he made
up his mind to be a composer.

7. Schumann had enough means to live in comfort.
He was not poor, as were Mozart, Schubert,
and some others.

8. Robert and Clara Schumann had eight children,
and some of Schumann’s best music was written
to interest his children.

9. Schumann died July 29, 1856.
[Pg 13]

SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT ROBERT SCHUMANN.

When you can answer them, try to write the
Story of Schumann, to be copied on pages 14, 15, 16.

1. In what country was Schumann born?

2. Can you name some pieces for the piano composed
by Schumann?

3. What did he write when he was a little boy?

4. What great pianist did Robert hear when a
boy?

5. Name some famous Americans who were
boys when Robert was going to school.

6. Who wrote Hiawatha? Tanglewood Tales?

7. With whom did Robert Schumann study the
piano?

8. Whom did Robert Schumann marry?

9. Tell what you know about her.

10. Where did Schumann teach?

11. Mention some of his friends.

12. What does the composer picture for us in the
“Happy Farmer?”

13. Whose name is spelled by these notes?

Listen

14. In what year was Schumann born?

15. Through what was Schumann best known?

16. How did he help people find new composers?

17. What misfortune came to Schumann late in
life?

[Pg 14]

THE STORY OF ROBERT SCHUMANN.

Written by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

On (date) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .