esult in
his discovery of Schubert's beautiful C major Symphony, which he sent to
Mendelssohn for performance at the Leipsic Gewandhaus.

Disappointed in material prospects, he tried to obtain a more honourable
position by getting a Doctor's degree from the University of Jena. "You
know, perhaps, that Clara is my betrothed," he writes to an influential
friend. "Her high rank as an artist has often led me to consider my own
humble position, and, although I know how modest she is, and that she
loves me simply as a man and a musician, still I think it would please
her to have me seek a higher position in the civic sense of the word.
Let me ask you: Is it very hard to get a Doctor's degree at Jena?"
Apparently it was not hard when a man of Schumann's fame applied, for in
another letter he writes: "Everything combined to fill the measure of my
joy. The eulogy is so glorious that I certainly owe you a large share of
thanks for it. It gave me and my friends most sincere pleasure. The
first thing I did was, of course, to send a copy into the north to a
girl who is still a child, and who will dance with glee at the idea that
she is engaged to a Doctor."

But Wieck's refusal to sanction the marriage could not be altered. In
fact, his opposition became even stronger and more determined. Finding
any direct appeal of no avail, Schumann was forced to have recourse to
law, and Wieck was compelled to give reason for his refusal before a
legal tribunal. Although Schumann was not rich, yet he possessed some
income from his paper, and his other work brought him enough reward to
enable him to make a home for Clara. Besides these receipts, he had a
small property that gave him an annual return of 500 thalers, and as he
himself wrote: "We are young, and have hands, strength, and
reputation.... Tell me now if there can be real cause for fear."
Nevertheless the case dragged on, and a nature as sensitive as his must
have been deeply mortified by the legal wrangling and the publicity of
the affair. At last a favourable decision was reached, and after a year
of doubt and suspense the marriage took place on September 12, 1840.

Henceforth their life was one perfect union. There could be no happier
marriage in the world than this one, where a man of creative genius was
mated with a woman gifted with the ability and the wish to interpret his
works earnestly and faithfully. They regarded art from different points,
but with the same ideas and ideals