Schumann Network
With the Robert Schumann anniversaries in 2006 (150th anniversary of his death) and 2010 (200th birthday) in mind, the Schumann Network was created in fall 2005 initiated (together with the Founding director of the City Museum Bonn) and financially supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. All the institutions and persons approached from the Schumann cities of Zwickau, Leipzig, Düsseldorf and Bonn, with whom there has been intensive cooperation for years, accepted the invitation of the then director of the City Museum Bonn, Dr. Ingrid Bodsch and met for the founding meeting in November 2005 in the presence of Herbert Begri, then Director of the Unit for Music at the Federal Government Commission for Culture and the Media (BKM) and the then Head of the Department of Culture of the City of Bonn, Dr. Ludwig Krapf. Represented at the founding meeting were:
- Robert-Schumann-Haus Zwickau (Dr. Gerd Nauhaus, then Director of the RSH Haus Zwickau)
- Robert-Schumann-Gesellschaft Zwickau e. V. (Prof. Albrecht Hofmann, then Chairman of the RSG Zwickau)
- Kulturdezernat der Stadt Leipzig (Girardet, then Head of Culture of the city of Leipzig)
- Clara-und Robert-Schumann-Verein Leipzig e. V. (Dr. Petra Dießner, then Office Manager of the Schumann-Verein Leipzig)
- Heinrich-Heine-Institut Düsseldorf (Prof. Dr. Josef A. Kruse, then Director of the Heinrich-Heine-Institut Düsseldorf)
- Robert-Schumann-Gesellschaft e. V. Düsseldorf (Dr. Irmgard Knechtges-Obrecht, then Member of the Executive Board of the RSG Düsseldorf)
- Schumann-Forschungsstelle Düsseldorf (Dr. Matthias Wendt, then Editorial Director of the Schumann Research Center Düsseldorf))
- StadtMuseum Bonn (Dr Ingrid Bodsch, then Director of the Museum)
- Schumannhaus Bonn/Municipal music Library (Katrin Reinhold, then Head of the City Music Library)
Close cooperation was agreed upon, especially with regard to public relations, which is why an internet portal on Robert and Clara Schumann was set as the goal as the first major project, whereby here too "the way is the goal", because the Schumann portal is of course to be constantly supplemented and updated. The aim of the portal, conceived and maintained by the project leader in collaboration with an administrator, is not only to provide the most comprehensive information possible on all activities related to Robert and Clara Schumann by the institutions involved in the Schumann Network, but also to offer a range of services that goes far beyond this, including events at other venues in Germany and abroad, and to leave hardly any question about Robert and Clara Schumann unanswered.
In 2005/2006 other „Schumann-related“ institutions and associations of the Schumann-cities of Bonn, Düsseldorf and Zwickau joined the network.
Until 2011, further Schumann locations - represented by the corresponding institutions, societies, associations, private initiatives, municipal cultural administration (Heidelberg) - were added:
- Wien
- Baden-Baden
- Frankfurt
- Heidelberg
- Dresden
- Jena
- Berlin
- Kreischa
- Maxen
New on board since 2021: Plauen
After the longstanding Academy project New Robert Schumann Complete Edition (RSA), supported by the Robert Schumann Society Düsseldorf, came to an end on 31 December 2021, which also led to the dissolution of the Schumann Research Centre Düsseldorf in 2022, it is a great pleasure to have the new Academy project "Robert Schumann's Poetic World" (RSPW), with locations/workplaces in Leipzig, Frankfurt and Würzburg, in our Schumann-network since 2023. Cf. https://www.akademienunion.de/forschung/forschungsprojekte/robert-schumanns-poetische-welt
With the support of the federal government commissioner for culture and media.
Translation: Katharina Ma