“Jünglings-Wallfarthen [Youth Pilgrimages]”
Introduction
The young Schumann’s original sheets titled “Jünglings-Wallfarthen [Youth Pilgrimages]”, which he wrote down as a student in Heidelberg in 1830, are held at the Robert Schumann House in Zwickau. The nine journeys made between 1826 and 1830 took him to the following places:
1. Journey to Gotha, Eisenach, Weimar, Jena, 1826
2. Journey to Prague, 1827
3. Journey to Munich through Bavaria, 1828
4. Journey on the Rhine up to Heidelberg, 1829
5. Journey through Switzerland up to Venice, 1829
6. Journey through Baden to Strasbourg, 1830
7. Journey through Hesse to Frankfurt, 1830
8. Schwetzingen, Speyer, Worms and Rhenish Bavaria (Palatinate), 1830
9. Journey on the Rhine to Wesel and through Westphalia to Leipzig, 1830
The subsequent seven pages of prose text were titled “Erstes Gemählde. Reise nach Prag [First Picture. Journey to Prague]” but broke off in the middle of a sentence describing Colditz Castle. Unfortunately, Schumann never again got around to writing out his diary, kept in the form of keywords, as a continuous travel report. The slightly abridged version of Pilgrimage No. 3 below only covers the period between his departure from Zwickau and his stay in Munich.
Legal notice
Concept: Walter Müller, CH-8320 Fehraltorf
Design/prepress/print: Bucherer Druck AG, 8620 Wetzikon
Photographs: Walter Müller
Issue: July 2015
English Translation: Thomas Henninger, 2020