The first two appealed strongly to Schumann's nature, as is evidenced by his writings, for the pictures of his imaginings are not peaceful pastoral scenes, but depict storms of passion and emotional struggles. Romance shows itself at times, but it is not a distinguishing element. Schumann wrote four symphonies, of which the last one heard is always the best. They rank among the few immortal works in this epic form, but entirely because of the individual character of their schemes and the richness of their musical texture, for their instrumental colors are not adequate. He succeeded equally well in ensemble, chorus, and piano-forte music, and his songs almost rival those of Schubert, but strange to say, the orchestra seems to have been a closed book to our fifth high-priest. Schumann had, in his impatience to overcome the weakness of his fourth or ring fingers, employed a mechanical appliance which permanently lamed his hands, thereby dashing his hopes of becoming a piano virtuoso. This is the only recorded case in which violent methods have produced desirable fruits; for they usually deaden the nerves only, and result in strength without facility, and tone without beauty; in other words, in wooden pianists. In this case they produced entire disability, and forced Schumann into his proper sphere,--creation,--in which he accomplished lasting good, whereas the benefits to art of even the highest grade of virtuosity are comparatively ephemeral. His love for the piano-forte led him to study its capacities and limitations most thoroughly, the consequence being that his compositions for that instrument are more grateful to the fingers and ears of pianists than those of any other classical composer. Schumann's music is more involved than Beethoven's or Schubert's, and his restless passion found expression in broken rhythms and in dissonant compounds, which, however they may at first impress us, gain natural and deep significance with close familiarity. He was the first composer to feel and apply the immense, expressive resources inherent in rhythm. Schumann's quintet for strings and piano-forte is one of the greatest pieces of ensemble music that has been written, and his piano concerto in A minor is, to my mind, without a rival. Of his songs, the "Frauen Liebe und Leben" cyclus are, when the numbers are considered singly, and then in their respective relations to his beautifully rounded conception of womanliness, the most remarkable, although the "Dichter Liebe" is full of gems, and the "Spring Night" is a picture which is more suggestive of a magic wand than of a human intellect.