With all her accomplishments—and she was a great artist—she was first a devoted wife who cared for her husband as though he had been her child. Schumann’s very finest work was done during these years. His inspiration drove him chiefly to songs, full of lyric beauty like Schubert’s; indeed, when speaking of _lieder_ the names of Schubert and Schumann are always linked. Mendelssohn urged Schumann to teach in the Leipsic Conservatory, but he left there soon to make a tour of Russia with his wife. That year they settled in Dresden, a quieter city, because his nerves were beginning to forecast the shadow of his future. Mendelssohn loved Schumann and admired him as composer, writer and critic. He conducted the first performance of Schumann’s B flat symphony at a Gewandhaus concert of Clara Schumann, and the happiness of the three was tremendous. Schumann did not think of himself alone, but was always trying to help his colleagues. Schubert wrote his C major symphony in March of the year he died and never heard it, but Schumann had the score sent to Mendelssohn in Leipsic for its first performance after a wait of eleven years. Notwithstanding his nerves, Schumann was now in his full power and the amount he wrote is incredible. Most of his chamber music was written in 1842, three of the string quartets being dedicated to Mendelssohn. The work that gave him fame all over Europe was the quintet for piano and strings, opus 44; with Clara at the piano, Berlioz heard its first performance and spread the news of his genius through Paris. About this time the _Variations for Two Pianos_ were written and played by Robert and Clara Schumann. Another interesting and popular number is _Carnaval_, a collection of named sketches in three-four time each one portraying some person or thing. _Eusebius_ and _Florestan_ have caused much curiosity—the secret is that Schumann was a student of himself and these were meant to show his conflicting moods. Chopin is represented, also Mendelssohn, while _Chiarina_ is Clara. A strange thing happened to Schumann in Vienna. He was visiting the graves of Beethoven and Schubert which are not far apart, and he found a steel pen on Beethoven’s tomb. He took this for an omen, but used it only for his most precious works. He wrote the B flat symphony with it and the magic seemed to work! Schubert is universally praised for the beauty of his themes, but who could surpass the loveliness of Schumann’s melodies? The contrasts between the exquisite little tone-pictures of _Kinderscenen_ and the grandeur of the sonatas and the _Fantasia_ mark the breadth of his genius, while the amount he accomplished in his short span of life was marvelous. He was but twenty-five when he first showed mental trouble, and at forty-four his case was hopeless. He tried to end his life by jumping into the Rhine and was taken to an asylum near Beethoven’s birthplace, Bonn, where he died two years later, survived by his wife and two daughters.