Musical Journey: Switzerland

The Canton of Ticino (German Tessin) is the only Swiss canton to have Italian as it's official language. It is bounded on three sides by Italy and boasts spectacular mountain scenery with waterfalls rivers and lakes. The capital of the canton is now Bellinzona but was earlier shared with Locarno and Lugano. A feature of the landscape lies in the great lakes that are within it's territory including part of Lago Maggiore into which the Ticino and Maggia flow. The Music ò Robert Schumann was born in 1810 in Saxony studied in Leipzig lived in Dresden and in 1850 moved to Dnsseldorf as director of music to the city. He died in 1856 after a severe mental breakdown from which he never recovered. In 1840 in spite of the objections of her father he had married the young pianist Clara Wieck daughter of his former teacher.