Who says history is boring?

Today one of my students got done playing her short piece and said, "I like that one. I'd like to know who wrote that song." She looked it up and found the composer's name: R. Schumann.

Being the history aficionado that I am, I asked "Would you like to know something about Robert Schumann?" She said she would, in fact. I told her I was going to tell her two things. First, that while Robert Schumann is widely recognized now, during his lifetime it was actually Robert's wife, Clara, who was the really famous one. I told her she was like the Hannah Montana of pianists. My student nodded knowingly, taking this in stride. I explained how history sometimes changes people's perspectives and it wasn't until much, much later that people started to rediscover Clara's prominence in music.

Then her mom, who had been reading a magazine, piped up. "Oh, wasn't she that woman who changed her name so that people would think she was a man? Something Sand?..." I said, "Oh George Sand. No, that wasn't her." "Oh -- but then didn't Clara take up with another man?" "Well, she was good friends with Brahms, but..." "'Friends' my foot...," she mumbled. "Well, then who on earth was George Sand with?" she asked. "Chopin." "Ohhh, Chopin. Now there's a man I wish I'd known..."

The second thing I told her was that Robert Schumann actually went insane during his short life and tried to commit suicide by drowning himself in the river. "Whoa," replied my student. Then she wondered how a person would become insane. I replied, "Syphilis." "What's th-" Another interjection from her mom: "It's like the flu, honey. People can catch it." She paused, looked up and shook her head. "hmph. Musicians."