Robert Winston's Musical Analysis - Schumann

Professor Robert Winston explores the relationship between the music and the medical conditions of composers who suffered mental and physical illness. Robert investigates Robert Schumann, who died in 1856 aged 46 in Endenich Sanatorium in Bonn, following a series of mental breakdowns and suicide attempts. He hears a convincing case from fellow sufferers Kay Redfield Jamison and Stephen Johnson that Schumann suffered from bipolar disorder, and not syphillis, as has been claimed previously. He also meets pianist Lucy Parham, who introduces him to the music of Schumann's imaginary friends.