Early years (1810-28)
Intermezzo I. An awkward age
Student years (1828-34)
Intermezo II. Figments of the imagination
The Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
The early piano pieces
Intermezzo III. "No, what I hear are blows"
Probationary years in Leipzig (1835-40)
The "year of song" (1840)
Intermezzo IV. Twilight
Married life in Leipzig
visit to Russia (1840-44)
Intermezzo V. The magic of allusions
Schumann as a public figure in the years before the March Revolution of 1848
Intermezzo VI. In modo d'una marcia
The Dresden years (1845-50)
Intermezzo VII. Genoveva is not Lohengrin
Director of Music in Düsseldorf (1850-54)
Intermezzo VIII. The road to freedom
The late works
Intermezzo IX. "A sugary Saxon"?
Endenich (1854-56).