Determined to become a piano virtuoso, this composer moved to Leipzig to study music. Hopes for a career as a virtuoso were dash
ed when he/she permanently damaged his/her right hand. Thereafter all his/her creative energies were poured to musical composition and criticism; he/she became an advocate for new music within the German Romantic movement, supporting the works of such "radical" young composers as Berlioz, Chopin, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.
Determined to become a piano virtuoso—Robert Schumann, who was a German pianist, composer and music critic—initially went to the University of Leipzig to study law—but he did so under the influence of his family. Schumann later abandoned the study of law, and worked on his dreams to become virtuoso pianist. However, he had a hand injury which ended aspirations to and made him to concentrate on composing. He became interested in the works of Mendelssohn, Schubert, Chopin, Berlioz and Brahms, amongst other composers.
The Zouaves were a group of light infantery in the French army. Milliet was in Arles to recover from an illness he contracted in French Indochina (Vietnam). The Dutch artist and the French lieutenant became friends and Vincent van Gogh painted a dazzling portrait of the future lieutenant-colonel with the distintictive red hat of the Zouaves. The painting can be seen in the Kröller Müller museum in the Netherlands.
