Determined to become a piano virtuoso, this composer moved to leipzig to study music. hopes for a career as a virtuoso were dashed 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.