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Clara Schumann

January 01, 1970

Clara Josephine Schumann ([ˈklaːʁa ˈʃuːman]; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital by lessening the importance of purely virtuosic works. She also composed solo piano pieces, a piano concerto (her Op. 7), chamber music, choral pieces, and songs.

Clara Schumann
Lithograph by Andreas Staub, 1839
Born
Clara Josephine Wieck

(1819-09-13)13 September 1819
Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, German Confederation
Died20 May 1896(1896-05-20) (aged 76)
Frankfurt, German Empire
Occupations
  • Pianist
  • Composer
  • Piano teacher
OrganizationDr. Hoch's Konservatorium
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1840; died 1856)​
Children8, including Eugenie
Parents
Signature

She grew up in Leipzig, where both her father Friedrich Wieck and her mother Mariane were pianists and piano teachers. In addition, her mother was a singer. Clara was a child prodigy, and was trained by her father. She began touring at age eleven, and was successful in Paris and Vienna, among other cities. She married the composer Robert Schumann, on 12 September 1840, and the couple had eight children. Together, they encouraged Johannes Brahms and maintained a close relationship with him. She gave the public premieres of many works by her husband and by Brahms.

After Robert Schumann's early death, she continued her concert tours in Europe for decades, frequently with the violinist Joseph Joachim and other chamber musicians. Beginning in 1878, she was an influential piano educator at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt, where she attracted international students. She edited the publication of her husband's work. Schumann died in Frankfurt, but was buried in Bonn beside her husband.

Several films have focused on Schumann's life, the earliest being Träumerei (Dreaming) of 1944. A 2008 film, Geliebte Clara (Beloved Clara), was directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms. An image of Clara Schumann from an 1835 lithograph by Andreas Staub was featured on the 100 Deutsche Mark banknote from 1989 to 2002. Interest in her compositions began to revive in the late 20th century, and her 2019 bicentenary prompted new books and exhibitions.

Life edit

Early life edit

Family edit

Clara Josephine Wieck [ˈklaːʀa ˈjoːzɛfiːn ˈviːk] was born in Leipzig on 13 September 1819 to Friedrich Wieck and his wife Mariane (née Tromlitz).[1] Her mother was a famous singer in Leipzig who performed weekly piano and soprano solos at the Gewandhaus.[2] Clara's parents had irreconcilable differences, in part due to her father's unyielding nature.[2] Prompted by an affair between her mother and Adolph Bargiel, her father's friend,[3][4] the Wiecks were divorced in 1825, with Mariane later marrying Bargiel. Five-year-old Clara remained with her father while Mariane and Bargiel eventually moved to Berlin, limiting contact between Clara and her mother to written letters and occasional visits.[5]

Child prodigy edit

From an early age, Clara's father planned her career and life down to the smallest detail. She started receiving basic piano instruction from her mother at the age of four.[6] After her mother moved out, she began taking daily one-hour lessons from her father. They included subjects such as piano, violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint. She then had to practice for two hours every day. Her father followed the methods in his own book, Wiecks pianistische Erziehung zum schönen Anschlag und zum singenden Ton ("Wieck's Piano Education for a Delicate Touch and a Singing Sound.")[6][7] Her musical studies came largely at the expense of her broader general education, although she still studied religion and languages under her father's control of the family.[8]

 
Clara Wieck, from an 1835 lithograph

Clara Wieck made her official debut on 28 October 1828 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, at age nine.[6][9] The same year, she performed at the Leipzig home of Ernst Carus, director of the mental hospital at Colditz Castle. There, she met another gifted young pianist who had been invited to the musical evening, Robert Schumann, who was nine years older. Schumann admired Clara's playing so much that he asked permission from his mother to stop studying law, which had never interested him much, and take music lessons with Clara's father. While taking lessons, he rented a room in the Wieck household and stayed about a year.[10]

From September 1831 to April 1832, Clara toured Paris and other European cities, accompanied by her father.[6] In Weimar, she performed a bravura piece by Henri Herz for Goethe, who presented her with a medal with his portrait and a written note saying: "For the gifted artist Clara Wieck". During that tour, the violinist Niccolò Paganini, who was also in Paris, offered to appear with her.[11] Her Paris recital was poorly attended because many people had fled the city due to an outbreak of cholera.[11] The tour marked her transition from a child prodigy to a young woman performer.[6]

Success in Vienna edit

From December 1837 to April 1838, at the age of 18, Wieck performed a series of recitals in Vienna.[12] Franz Grillparzer, Austria's leading dramatic poet, wrote a poem entitled "Clara Wieck and Beethoven" after hearing her perform Beethoven's Appassionata sonata during one of these recitals.[12] She performed to sell-out crowds and laudatory critical reviews; Benedict Randhartinger, a friend of Franz Schubert, gave her an autographed copy of Schubert's Erlkönig, inscribing it "To the celebrated artist, Clara Wieck."[12] Chopin described her playing to Franz Liszt, who came to hear one of Wieck's concerts and subsequently praised her extravagantly in a letter that was published in the Parisian Revue et Gazette Musicale and later, in translation, in the Leipzig journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik.[13] On 15 March, she was named a Königliche und Kaiserliche Österreichische Kammer-virtuosin ("Royal and Imperial Austrian Chamber Virtuoso"),[14] Austria's highest musical honor.[13]

An anonymous music critic, describing her Vienna recitals, said: "The appearance of this artist can be regarded as epoch-making... In her creative hands, the most ordinary passage, the most routine motive acquires a significant meaning, a colour, which only those with the most consummate artistry can give."[15]

Lasting relationships edit

Robert Schumann edit

 
Schönefeld church, where the Schumanns married on 12 September 1840

Robert Schumann was a little more than nine years older than Wieck. In 1837, when she was 18, he proposed to her and she accepted. Robert then asked her father for her hand in marriage.[16] Friedrich was strongly opposed to the marriage, and refused his permission. Robert and Clara decided to go to court and sue him. The judge allowed the marriage, which took place in Schönefeld church on 12 September 1840, the day before Clara's 21st birthday, when she attained majority status.[17][18] From then on, the couple maintained a joint musical and personal diary of their life together.[19]

In February 1854, Robert Schumann had a mental collapse, attempted suicide, and was admitted, at his request, to a sanatorium in the village of Endenich near Bonn, where he stayed for the last two years of his life. In March 1854, Brahms, Joachim, Albert Dietrich, and Julius Otto Grimm spent time with Clara Schumann, playing music for her and with her to divert her mind from the tragedy.[20] Brahms composed some private piano pieces for her to console her: four piano pieces and a set of variations on a theme by Robert Schumann that she had also written variations on a year earlier, as her Op. 20. The music by Brahms was not intended to be published, but for her alone. Brahms later thought to publish them anonymously, but eventually they were issued as his four Ballades, Op. 10, and Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 9. Brahms dedicated the variations to both Schumanns, hoping that Robert would be released soon and rejoined with his family.[21]

For the entire two years of Robert Schumann's stay at the institution, his wife was not permitted to visit him, while Brahms visited him regularly. When it was apparent that Robert was near death, she was finally admitted to see him. He appeared to recognize her, but could only speak a few words.[22] Robert Schumann died two days later, on 29 July 1856.[23]

Joseph Joachim edit

The Schumanns first met violinist Joseph Joachim in November 1844, when he was 14 years old.[24] A year later, Clara Schumann wrote in her diary that in a concert on 11 November 1845, "little Joachim was very much liked. He played a new violin concerto by Felix Mendelssohn, which is said to be wonderful."[25] In May 1853, they heard Joachim play the solo part in Beethoven's Violin Concerto. She wrote that he played "with a finish, a depth of poetic feeling, his whole soul in every note, so ideally, that I have never heard violin-playing like it, and I can truly say that I have never received so indelible an impression from any virtuoso." A lasting friendship developed between Clara and Joseph, which for more than forty years never failed her in things great or small, never wavered in its loyalty.[26]

Over her career, Schumann gave over 238 concerts with Joachim in Germany and Britain, more than with any other artist.[27] The two were particularly noted for their playing of Beethoven's violin sonatas.[28]

Johannes Brahms edit

 
Schumann in 1853

In early 1853, the then-unknown 20-year-old Johannes Brahms met Joachim and made a very favorable impression. Brahms received from him a letter of introduction to Robert Schumann, and thus presented himself at the Schumanns' home in Düsseldorf. Brahms played some of his piano solo compositions for the Schumanns, and they were deeply impressed.[29] Robert published an article highly lauding Brahms, and Clara wrote in the diary that Brahms "seemed as if sent straight from God".[30]

During Robert Schumann's last years, confined to an asylum, Brahms was a strong presence for the Schumann family.[31] His letters indicate his strong feelings for Clara.[32] Their relationship has been interpreted as somewhere between friendship and love,[33] and Brahms always maintained the utmost respect for her, as a woman and a talented musician.[32]

Brahms played his First Symphony for her before its premiere. She gave some advice about the Adagio, which he took to heart. She expressed her appreciation of the Symphony as a whole, but mentioned her dissatisfaction with the endings of the third and fourth movements.[34] She was the first to perform many of his works in public, including the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, a solo piano work written by Brahms in 1861.[35]

Concert tours edit

Clara Schumann first toured England in April 1856, while her husband was still living but unable to travel. She was invited to play in a London Philharmonic Society[a] concert by conductor William Sterndale Bennett, a good friend of Robert's.[36] She was displeased with the little time spent on rehearsals: "They call it a rehearsal here if a piece is played through once." She wrote that musical "artists" in England "allow themselves to be treated as inferiors."[37] She was happy, though, to hear the cellist Alfredo Piatti play with "a tone, a bravura, a certainty, such as I never heard before". In May 1856, she played Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor with the New Philharmonic Society[b] conducted by Dr Wylde, who as she said had "led a dreadful rehearsal" and "could not grasp the rhythm of the last movement".[37] Still, she returned to London the following year and continued to perform in Britain for the next 15 years.[38]

 
Joseph Joachim and Schumann, after a lost 1854 drawing by Adolph Menzel

In October–November 1857, Schumann and Joachim went on a recital tour to Dresden and Leipzig.[39] St. James's Hall in London, which opened in 1858, hosted a series of "Popular Concerts" of chamber music.[c] Joachim visited London annually beginning in 1866.[40] Schumann also spent many years in London participating in the Popular Concerts with Joachim and the celebrated Italian cellist Carlo Alfredo Piatti. Second violinist Joseph Ries (brother of composer Ferdinand Ries) and violist J. B. Zerbini usually played on the same concert programs. George Bernard Shaw, the leading playwright and also a music critic, wrote that the Popular Concerts helped greatly to spread and enlighten musical taste in England.[41]

In January 1867, Schumann toured Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland, along with Joachim, Piatti, Ries, and Zerbini. Two sisters, Louisa and Susanna Pyne, singers and managers of an opera company in England, and a man named Saunders, made all the arrangements. She was accompanied by her oldest daughter Marie, who wrote from Manchester to her friend Rosalie Leser that in Edinburgh the pianist "was received with tempestuous applause and had to give an encore, so had Joachim. Piatti, too, is always tremendously liked."[42] Marie also wrote: "For the longer journeys we had a saloon [car], comfortably furnished with arm-chairs and sofas... the journey ... was very comfortable." On this occasion, the musicians were not "treated as inferiors".[43]

Later life edit

Concerts edit

Schumann still performed actively in the 1870s and 1880s. She performed extensively and regularly throughout Germany during these decades, and had engagements in Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland. When in Basel, Switzerland, she often stayed with the Von der Mühll family.[44] She continued her annual winter-spring concert tours of England, giving 16 of them between 1865 and 1888, often with violinist Joachim.[45]

She took a break from concert performances, beginning in January 1874, cancelling her usual England tour due to an arm injury. In July, she consulted a doctor, who having massaged the arm, advised her to practice for only one hour a day.[46] She rested for the remainder of the year before returning to the concert stage in March 1875.[34] She had not fully recovered, and experienced more neuralgia in her arm again in May, reporting that she "could not write on account of my arm".[34] By October 1875, she had recovered enough to begin another tour in Germany.

In addition to solo piano recitals, chamber music, and accompanying singers, she continued to perform frequently with orchestras. In 1877, she performed Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto in Berlin, with Woldemar Bargiel conducting, her half-brother by her mother's second marriage, and had tremendous success.[30][34] In 1883, she performed Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the newly-formed Berlin Philharmonic, and was enthusiastically celebrated, although she was playing with an injured hand in great pain, having fallen on a staircase the previous day.[47] Later that year she played Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto (with her own cadenzas) with Joachim conducting the same orchestra, again to great acclaim.

In 1885, Schumann once again joined Joachim conducting Mozart's Piano Concerto in D minor, again playing her own cadenzas. The following day, she played her husband's Piano Concerto with Bargiel conducting. "I think I played fresher than ever", she wrote to Brahms, "What I liked very much about the concert was that I was able to give Woldemar the direction of it, who had longed for such an opportunity for years."[47]

She played her last public concert in Frankfurt on 12 March 1891. The last work she played was Brahms's Variations on a Theme by Haydn, in a version for two pianos, with James Kwast.[48]

Teaching edit

 
Saalhof, the first location of Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium

In 1878, Schumann was appointed the first piano teacher of the new Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt.[49][50] She had chosen Frankfurt among offers from Stuttgart, Hannover, and Berlin, because the director, Joachim Raff, had accepted her conditions: she could not teach more than 1-1/2 hours per day, was free to teach at her home, and had four months of vacation and time off for short tours in winter. She demanded two assistants, with her daughters Marie and Eugenie in mind.[6][49][51]

She was the only woman on the faculty.[49] Her fame attracted students from abroad, including Britain and the United States.[31] She trained only advanced pupils, mostly young women, while her two daughters gave lessons to beginners. Among her 68 known students who made a musical career were Natalia Janotha, Fanny Davies, Nanette Falk, Amina Goodwin, Carl Friedberg, Leonard Borwick, Ilona Eibenschütz, Adelina de Lara, Marie Olson and Mary Wurm.[6][49][51] The Konservatorium held events to celebrate her 50th year on stage in 1878 and her 60th career anniversary ten years later.[6][51] She held the teaching post until 1892 and contributed greatly to the improvement of modern piano playing technique.[6][49]

Death edit

Clara Schumann suffered a stroke on 26 March 1896, and died on 20 May at age 76.[52] She was buried in Bonn at Alter Friedhof next to her husband, according to her own wish.[51]

Family life edit

 
Robert and Clara Schumann's children (photo taken in 1853 or 1854); from left to right: Ludwig, Marie, Felix, Elise, Ferdinand and Eugenie.

Robert Schumann gave his wife a diary on their wedding day. His first entry indicates that it should act as an autobiography of the family's personal lives, especially of the couple, and of their desires and accomplishments in the arts. It also functioned as a record of their artistic endeavors and growth. She fully accepted the arrangement of a shared diary, as evidenced by her many entries. It demonstrates her loyal love for her husband, with a desire to combine two lives into one artistically, although this life-long goal involved risks.[35]

The couple remained joint partners in both family life and their careers. She premiered many of his works, from solo piano works to her own piano versions of his orchestral works.[8]

She often took charge of finances and general household affairs. Part of her responsibility included earning money by giving concerts, though she continued to play throughout her life, not just for the income but because she was an artist by training and nature. The burden of family duties increased over time and narrowed her ability as an artist. As a flourishing composer's wife, she was limited in her own explorations.[53]

She was the main breadwinner for her family and the sole one after her husband was hospitalized and then died. She gave concerts and taught, and she did most of the work of organizing her own concert tours.[31] She hired a housekeeper and a cook to keep house while she was away on her long tours.[54]

Clara and Robert Schumann had eight children:[55]

  • Marie (1841–1929)
  • Elise (1843–1928)
  • Julie (1845–1872)
  • Emil (1846–1847)
  • Ludwig (1848–1899)
  • Ferdinand (1849–1891)
  • Eugenie (1851–1938)
  • Felix (1854–1879).

Her life was punctuated by tragedy. Her husband was permanently institutionalized after a mental collapse. Her eldest living son Ludwig suffered from mental illness like his father and, in her words, eventually had to be "buried alive" in an institution. She became deaf in later life, and she often needed a wheelchair.[11] Not only did her husband predecease her, but so did four of their children.[31] Their first son, Emil, died in 1847, aged only 1.[56] Their daughter Julie died in 1872, leaving two small children aged only 2 and 7, then raised by their grandmother.[57] In 1879, their son Felix died aged 24.[58] In 1891, their son Ferdinand died at the age of 41, leaving his children to her care.[59]

Their oldest child Marie was of great support and help to her mother, taking the position of household cook. Marie also dissuaded her mother from continuing to burn letters that she had received from Brahms which he had asked her to destroy. Another daughter, Eugenie, who had been too young when her father died to remember him, wrote a book, Erinnerungen (Memoirs), published in 1925, covering her parents and Brahms.[60][61]

Schumann famously rescued her children from violence during the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849. On the evening of 3 May, Robert and Clara heard that the revolution against King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony for not accepting the "constitution for a German Confederation" had arrived in Dresden. Most family members left and hid in a "neighbourhood security brigade", but on 7 May, she bravely walked back to Dresden to rescue her three children who had been left with a maid,[62] defying a pack of armed men who confronted her, then walked back out of the city through the dangerous areas again.

Music edit

Performance repertoire edit

During her lifetime, Schumann was an internationally renowned concert pianist.[63] Over 1,300 concert programs from her performances throughout Europe between 1831 through 1889 have been preserved.[64] She championed the works of her husband and other contemporaries such as Brahms, Chopin and Mendelssohn.[64]

 
Clara and Robert Schumann, illustration from Famous Composers and their Works, 1906

The Schumanns were admirers of Chopin, especially of his Variations on "Là ci darem la mano", and she played the piece herself. When she was 14 and her future husband 23, he wrote to her:

Tomorrow precisely at eleven o'clock I will play the adagio from Chopin's Variations and at the same time I shall think of you very intently, exclusively of you. Now my request is that you should do the same, so that we may see and meet each other in spirit.

— Robert Schumann[65]

In her early years, her repertoire, selected by her father, was showy and in the style common to the time, with works by Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Adolf von Henselt, Sigismond Thalberg, Henri Herz, Johann Peter Pixis, Carl Czerny and her own compositions. She turned to including compositions by Baroque composers such as Domenico Scarlatti and Johann Sebastian Bach, but performed especially contemporary music by Chopin, Mendelssohn and her husband, whose music did not attain popularity until the 1850s.[6]

In 1835, she performed her Piano Concerto in A minor with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Mendelssohn. On 4 December 1845, she premiered Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in Dresden.[66] Following the advice of Brahms she performed Mozart's Piano Concerto in C minor at the Hanoverian court[14] and in Leipzig.[67]

Along with Arabella Goddard she was one of the first woman pianists to perform Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata in public, doing so on two occasions before 1856.[68] Her busiest years as a performer were between 1856 and 1873, after her husband's death.[64] During this period, she experienced success as a performer in Britain, where her 1865 performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto in G major was met with enormous applause. As a chamber musician, she often gave concerts with violinist Joachim. In her later career, she frequently accompanied lieder singers in recitals.[64]

Compositions edit

See also: List of compositions by Clara Schumann

As part of the broad musical education given to her by her father, Clara Wieck learned to compose, and from childhood to middle age she produced a good body of work. Clara wrote that "composing gives me great pleasure... there is nothing that surpasses the joy of creation, if only because through it one wins hours of self-forgetfulness, when one lives in a world of sound". Her Op. 1 was Quatre Polonaises pour le pianoforte composed in 1831, and Op. 5 4 Pièces caractéristiques in 1836, all piano pieces for her recitals. She wrote her Piano Concerto in A minor at age 14, with some help from her future husband.[31] She planned a second piano concerto, but only a Konzertsatz in F minor from 1847 survived.[31]

 
Zwölf Lieder auf F. Rückerts Liebesfrühling by Clara and Robert Schumann

After her marriage, she turned to lieder and choral works. The couple wrote and published one joint composition in 1841, setting a cycle of poems by Friedrich Rückert called Liebesfrühling (Spring of Love) in Zwölf Lieder auf F. Rückerts Liebesfrühling, her Op. 12 and his Op. 37.[6] Her chamber works include the Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 (1846) and Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22 (1853), inspired by her husband's birthday. They were dedicated to Joachim, who performed them for George V of Hanover, who declared them a "marvellous, heavenly pleasure".[69][70]

As she grew older, she became more preoccupied with other responsibilities in life and found it hard to compose regularly, writing, "I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?"[71] Her husband also expressed concern about the effect on her composing output:

Clara has composed a series of small pieces, which show a musical and tender ingenuity such as she has never attained before. But to have children, and a husband who is always living in the realm of imagination, does not go together with composing. She cannot work at it regularly, and I am often disturbed to think how many profound ideas are lost because she cannot work them out.

— Robert Schumann[72]

She produced one to eight compositions every year beginning at age 11, until her output stopped in 1848, producing only a choral work that year for her husband's birthday and leaving her second piano concerto unfinished.[31] These two works, while reserved for her opus 18 and 19, were never published.[73] Five years later, however, when she was 34 in 1853, the year she met Brahms, she engaged in a flurry of composing, resulting in 16 pieces that year: a set of piano variations on an "Album Leaf" of her husband (his Op. 99 No. 4), eight "Romances" for piano solo and for violin and piano, and seven songs. These works were published a year later, after Robert's confinement, as her Op. 20 through 23.[74]

For the next 43 years of her life, she only composed piano transcriptions of works by her husband and Brahms, including 41 transcriptions of Robert Schumann's lieder (commissioned by a publisher in 1872), and a short piano duet commissioned for a friend's wedding anniversary in 1879. In the last year of her life, she left several sketches for piano preludes, designed for piano students, as well as some published cadenzas for her performances of Beethoven and Mozart piano concertos.[6][75]

Most of Clara Schumann's music was never played by anyone else and largely forgotten until a resurgence of interest in the 1970s. Today her compositions are increasingly performed and recorded.[71]

Editor edit

Schumann was the authoritative editor, aided by Brahms and others, of her husband's works for the publishing firm of Breitkopf & Härtel.[51][76] She also edited 20 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, letters (Jugendbriefe) by her husband in 1885, and his piano works with fingering and other instructions (Fingersatz und Vortragsbezeichnungen) in 1886.[6]

"War of the Romantics" edit

In the early 1840s the Schumanns were interested in the works of Franz Liszt and his young composer friends of what eventually became known as the New German School,[77] but in the second half of the decade they both became openly hostile toward Liszt[78] because of their more musically conservative outlook and beliefs,[79] Clara more so than Robert, as she had long been the more conservative aesthete in the Schumann marriage.[80] By the mid-1850s, after Robert's decline, the young Brahms had joined the cause,[81] and to promote her ideals and protect what she saw as an attack on her husband's beliefs, she, Brahms, and Joseph Joachim[82][83] formed a group of conservative musicians[84] who defended Robert Schumann's critical ideals of the legacy and respectability of music, the pinnacle of which had been Beethoven.[85]

The opposing side of this "War of the Romantics", a group of radical progressives in music (most of them from Weimar) led by Liszt and Richard Wagner, desired to escape composing under the shadow of Beethoven, but to transcend the old forms and ideas of what music had been and instead create what music should be for the future. The Weimar school promoted the idea of program music,[86] while both the Schumanns and Brahms of the Leipzig/Berlin school were strict in their stance that music must and can only be absolute music,[87] a term derisively coined by Wagner.[88]

One of Clara Schumann's difficulties with Liszt stemmed from a philosophical difference in performance practice. He believed that the artist, through physical and emotional performance, interpreted music for the audience. When he performed, Liszt flailed his arms, tossed his head, and pursed his lips,[89] inspiring a Lisztomania across Europe which has been compared to the Beatlemania of female fans of The Beatles over a century later.[90] Clara, in contrast, came to believe that the personality of the musician should be suppressed so that the composer's vision would be clearly evident to listeners.[91][92]

Partisans led active campaigns with public demonstrations at concerts, writings published in the press denigrating reputations, and other public slights designed to embarrass their adversaries. Brahms published a manifesto for the "Serious Music" side on 4 May 1861,[93] signed by Clara Schumann, Joachim, Albert Dietrich, Woldemar Bargiel, and twenty others, which decried the purveyors of the "Music of the Future" as "contrary to the innermost spirit of music, strongly to be deplored and condemned".[94] The New Weimar Club, a formal society with Liszt at its center, held an anniversary celebration of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, the magazine Robert Schumann had founded, in his birthplace Zwickau, and conspicuously neglected to invite members of the opposing party, including his widow, Clara. Clara Schumann ceased to perform any of Liszt's works, and she suppressed her husband's dedication to Liszt of his Fantasie in C major when she published his complete works. When she heard that Liszt and Richard Wagner would be participating in a Beethoven centenary festival in Vienna in 1870, she refused to attend.[11]

In describing the works of the opposing school, Clara Schumann was particularly scathing of Wagner, writing of his Tannhäuser, that he "wears himself out in atrocities", describing Lohengrin as "horrible", and referring to Tristan und Isolde as "the most repugnant thing I have ever seen or heard in all my life".[11] She also complained that Wagner had spoken of her husband, Mendelssohn, and Brahms in a "scornful" way.[95] Wagner had poked fun at the musical conservatives in an essay, portraying them as "a musical temperance society" awaiting a Messiah. She held Anton Bruckner's Seventh Symphony in very low esteem and wrote to Brahms, describing it as "a horrible piece". Bruckner's symphonies were seen as representative of the New Music due to their advanced harmony, massive orchestration and extended time-scale.[96] Schumann was more impressed, however, with the early First Symphony in F minor by Richard Strauss;[11] this was before Strauss began composing the highly programmatic music for which he later became famous.

Brahms secretly held Wagner's music in high esteem,[97] and eventually publicly praised Liszt's works as well. Several of the proponents and signers of the manifesto, including Joachim, relented and joined the "other side". The controversy eventually died down, but Clara Schumann remained steadfast in her disapproval of the New German School's music during her lifetime.

Legacy edit

Impact during her lifetime edit

 
Schumann, according to Edvard Grieg "one of the most soulful and famous pianists of the day"

Although Schumann was not widely recognized as a composer for many years after her death, she had a lasting effect as a pianist. Trained by her father to play by ear and memorize, she gave public performances from memory as early as age thirteen, a fact noted as exceptional by her reviewers.[98] She was one of the first pianists to perform from memory, making it the standard for concerts. She was also instrumental in changing the kind of program expected of concert pianists. In her early career, before her marriage, she played the customary bravura pieces designed to showcase the artist's technique, often in the form of arrangements or variations on popular themes from operas, written by virtuosos such as Thalberg, Herz, or Henselt. As it was customary to play one's own compositions, she included at least one of her own works in every program, such as Variations on a Theme by Bellini (Op. 8) and the popular Scherzo (Op. 10). However, as she became a more independent artist, her repertoire contained mainly music by leading composers.[99][100]

Schumann influenced pianists through her teaching, which emphasized expression and a singing tone, with technique subordinated to the intentions of the composer. One of her students, Mathilde Verne, carried her teaching to England where she taught, among others, Solomon. Another of her students, Carl Friedberg, carried the tradition to the Juilliard School in America, where his students included Nina Simone, Malcolm Frager and Bruce Hungerford.[101]

She was also instrumental in getting the works of Robert Schumann recognized, appreciated and added to the repertoire. She promoted his works tirelessly throughout her life.[31]

Film edit

See also: List of composers depicted on film

Clara Schumann has been portrayed on screen many times. Träumerei (Dreaming), the oldest known Schumann film, premiered on 3 May 1944 in Zwickau.[102] Possibly the best-known film is Song of Love (1947) starring Katharine Hepburn as Clara, Paul Henreid as Robert, and Robert Walker as Brahms.[103]

In 1954, Loretta Young portrayed her on The Loretta Young Show in Season 1, Episode 26: The Clara Schumann Story (first aired on 21 March 1954), in which she supports the composing career of her husband, played by George Nader, alongside Shelley Fabares and Carleton G. Young.[104]

Two more recent German films are Frühlingssinfonie (Spring Symphony) (1983), starring Nastassja Kinski as Clara,[105] and the 2008 Helma Sanders-Brahms' film Geliebte Clara (Beloved Clara), where she is portrayed by Martina Gedeck.[106]

Theater edit

Clara Schumann's life has been explored in the chamber opera Clara by composer Victoria Bond and librettist Barbara Zinn-Krieger[107] and the two-act opera Ghost Variations by composer Tony Manfredonia and librettist Aiden K. Feltkamp.[108] Twin Spirits, a live theatrical performance involving a chamber ensemble of actors, singers, and musicians, also delves into Clara Schumann's life story.[109]

Banknote and conservatory edit

An image of Clara Schumann from an 1835 lithograph by Andreas Staub was featured on the 100 Deutsche Mark banknote from 2 January 1989 until the adoption of the euro on 1 January 2002.[110][111] The back of the banknote shows a grand piano she played and the exterior of Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium, where she taught. The great hall of the conservatory's new building is named after her.[50]

  •  
    Schumann on the 100 DM banknote
  •  
    Banknote, reverse, showing a grand piano that she played, and the building of Dr. Hoch's where she taught

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The Philharmonic Society of London had been formed in 1813. In 1912, it became the Royal Philharmonic Society.
  2. ^ The New Philharmonic Society began operating in 1852 with Dr. Wylde as co-founder: A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Ed. George Grove, vol. 2, 1900, MacMillan, London, in Wikisource; article New Philharmonic Society, The by George Grove. The New Philharmonic ceased giving concerts in June 1879.
  3. ^ Some printed programs have been preserved in Arts & Humanities Research Council Concert Programmes, St. James's Hall Concerts (1867–1904)

References edit

  1. ^ Hall 2002, p. 1124.
  2. ^ a b Haisler 2003.
  3. ^ Reich Book 2001, pp. 5, 13.
  4. ^ Borchard 1991, p. 27.
  5. ^ Nauhaus Bargiel 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Klassen 2011.
  7. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 pp. 3–4.
  8. ^ a b Reich Grove 2001.
  9. ^ Borchard 1991, p. 33.
  10. ^ Reich, Susanna 1999.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Braunstein 1971.
  12. ^ a b c Reich Article 1986, p. 249.
  13. ^ a b Reich Article 1986, p. 250.
  14. ^ a b Nauhaus Images 2019.
  15. ^ Burton-Hill 2017.
  16. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 p. xi.
  17. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 pp. xii, xvi.
  18. ^ Worl 1997.
  19. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 pp. 301–03.
  20. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 pp. 61–62, 69, 71.
  21. ^ Horne 1997, pp. 98–115.
  22. ^ Daverio Grove 2001, p. 20.
  23. ^ Abraham 1998.
  24. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 p. 366.
  25. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 388.
  26. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 41.
  27. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 206.
  28. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 207.
  29. ^ Litzmann Letters 1927.
  30. ^ a b Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 42.
  31. ^ a b c d e f g h Reich Book 2001.
  32. ^ a b Swafford Article 2003.
  33. ^ Popova 2017.
  34. ^ a b c d Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 pp. 322–23.
  35. ^ a b Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 201.
  36. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 131.
  37. ^ a b Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 133.
  38. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 267.
  39. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 152.
  40. ^ Avins Article 2002, p. 637.
  41. ^ Shaw 1937, p. 297.
  42. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 pp. 249–50.
  43. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 2 p. 250.
  44. ^ "Basel 1857 – 1887 – Schumann-Portal". www.schumann-portal.de. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  45. ^ Schumann Portal 2019.
  46. ^ Altenmüller & Kopiez 2010, pp. 101–18.
  47. ^ a b Berliner Philharmoniker 2019.
  48. ^ Clive 2006, p. 403.
  49. ^ a b c d e Riebsamen 2019.
  50. ^ a b Negwer 2002.
  51. ^ a b c d e Allihn 2019.
  52. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 23.
  53. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 p. 306.
  54. ^ Galloway 2002.
  55. ^ Reich Book 2001, pp. 162–77.
  56. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 170.
  57. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 169.
  58. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 158.
  59. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 152.
  60. ^ Nauhaus Eugenie 2019.
  61. ^ Schumann, Eugenie 1925.
  62. ^ Daverio Article 1997.
  63. ^ Weingarten 1972, p. 96.
  64. ^ a b c d Kopiez 2008, pp. 50–73.
  65. ^ Jensen 2012, p. 79.
  66. ^ Schwarm 2013.
  67. ^ Avins Book 1997, p. 231.
  68. ^ Crumey, Andrew. "Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata". crumey.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  69. ^ Dunsmore 2013.
  70. ^ Clara Schumann Score 2001.
  71. ^ a b Savage 2017.
  72. ^ Murray 2018, p. 129.
  73. ^ Koch 1991, p. 24.
  74. ^ Reich Book 2001, pp. 289–337 (Catalogue of Works).
  75. ^ Reich Book 2001, pp. 327–28.
  76. ^ Robert Schumann Score 1879.
  77. ^ Walker 1993, p. 340.
  78. ^ Walker 1993, p. 342.
  79. ^ Walker 1993, p. 343.
  80. ^ Walker 1993, p. 344.
  81. ^ Swafford Book 1997, p. 68.
  82. ^ Walker 1993, p. 346.
  83. ^ Swafford Book 1997, p. 206.
  84. ^ Swafford Book 1997, p. 195.
  85. ^ Bonds 2001, pp. 835, 837.
  86. ^ Bonds 2001, p. 838.
  87. ^ Walker 1993, pp. 361, 365–66.
  88. ^ Dahlhaus 1991.
  89. ^ Pedroza 2010, p. 309.
  90. ^ Walker 1993, pp. 340–41.
  91. ^ Walker 1993, p. 341.
  92. ^ Pedroza 2010, p. 311.
  93. ^ Walker 1993, p. 350.
  94. ^ Walker 1993, pp. 348–49.
  95. ^ Reich Book 2001, pp. 202–03.
  96. ^ Bonds 2001, p. 839.
  97. ^ Swafford Book 1997, pp. 195, 267–68.
  98. ^ Reich Book 2001, pp. 271–72.
  99. ^ Litzmann Bio 1913, v. 1 p. 316.
  100. ^ Litzmann Bio (German) 1908.
  101. ^ Reich Book 2001, p. 254.
  102. ^ Träumerei 1944.
  103. ^ Song of Love 1947.
  104. ^ Loretta Young Show 1954.
  105. ^ Frühlingssinfonie 1983.
  106. ^ Geliebte Clara 2008.
  107. ^ Brodie, Susan (20 April 2019). "In Bond's 'Clara', An Artist Is Seen Becoming Herself | Classical Voice North America". Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  108. ^ Edgar, Hannah (3 June 2021). "One of music history's most famous love triangles takes center stage in Thompson Street Opera's 'Ghost Variations'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  109. ^ "Product Details - Schumann: Twin Spirits (The Royal Opera)". www.opusarte.com. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  110. ^ Buja 2015.
  111. ^ Paper Money Guaranty 2018.

Cited sources edit

Books

  • Avins, Styra (1997). Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters. Translated by Eisinger, Josef; Avins, Styra. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199247730. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  • Haisler, J. L. (2003). The Compositional Art of Clara Schumann (a Master of Music thesis). Houston, TX: Rice University.
  • Jensen, Eric Frederick (2012). Schumann. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-983195-1. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  • Koch, Paul-August (1991). Clara Wieck-Schumann: (1819–1896): Kompositionen: eine Zusammenstellung der Werke, Literatur und Schallplatten. Frankfurt am Main: Zimmermann.
  • Litzmann, Berthold (1913) [reprint 2013]. Clara Schumann: An Artist's Life, Based on Material Found in Diaries and Letters. Vol. 1: 1819–1850 ISBN 978-1-108-06415-6, Vol. 2: 1850–1896 ISBN 978-1-108-06416-3. Alternate reprint edition: Read Books Ltd (2011), Vol. 1 ISBN 978-1-446-54706-9, Vol. 2 ISBN 978-1-446-54512-6. Translated by Hadow, Grace E. Preface to vol. 1 by W. H. Hadow. (Translated and abridged from the fourth German ed.). Cambridge University Press. Original publishers (English ed.): London: Macmillan & Co. & Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel (1913).
  • Litzmann, Berthold (1902–1908). Clara Schumann: Ein Künstlerleben, Nach Tagebüchern und Briefen. Vol. 1: Mädchenjahre 1819–1840, Vol. 2: Ehejahre 1840–1856, Vol. 3: Clara Schumann und ihre Freunde 1856–1896. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel.
  • Litzmann, Berthold, ed. (1927) [reprint 1973]. Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms: Briefe aus den Jahren 1853–1896 [Letters of Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, 1853–1896]. Vol. 1: 1853–1871, Vol. 2: 1872–1896. Preface by Marie Schumann. New York: Vienna House. ISBN 0844300543. OCLC 792836. Original publisher (English ed.): New York: Longmans, Green & Co. (1927). Original publisher (German ed.): Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel (1927) .
  • Schumann, Eugenie (1925) [English translation 1927, reprinted 1991]. Erinnerungen [The Schumanns and Johannes Brahms: The Memoirs of Eugenie Schumann]. Translated by Busch, Marie. Lawrence, MA: Music Book Society. ISBN 1-878156-01-2.

Encyclopedias

  • Bonds, Mark (2001). "Symphony: II. 19th century". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.

Newspapers

  • Allihn, Karen (5 March 2019). "Erinnerungen an Clara Schumann : Alleinstehend, berufstätig, kinderreich". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  • Altenmüller, Eckart; Kopiez, Reinhard (2010). "Suffering for Her Art: The Chronic Pain Syndrome of Pianist Clara Wieck-Schumann". Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists – Part 3. Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience. Vol. 27. Basel: Karger. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  • Daverio, John (1997). "Sounds Without the Gate: Schumann and the Dresden Revolution". Il Saggiatore musicale.
  • Horne, William (1997). "Brahms's Op. 10 Ballades and His Blätter Aus Dem Tagebuch Eines Musikers". The Journal of Musicology. Vol. 15, no. 1. JSTOR 763905.
  • Kopiez, Reinhard (28 November 2008). (PDF). Poetics. 37: 50–73. doi:10.1016/j.poetic.2008.09.001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  • Negwer, Ingo (February 2002). "Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium seit Januar Musikakademie / Bericht vom Festakt zur Verleihung des Status einer Akademie". Online Musik Magazin (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  • Pedroza, Ludim R. (October–December 2010). "Music as Communitas: Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, and the Musical Work". Journal of Musicological Research. 29 (4). Taylor & Francis: 295–321. doi:10.1080/01411890903475981. ISSN 0141-1896. S2CID 145104181.  – via EBSCO Host (subscription required)
  • Popova, Maria (21 February 2017). "When a Friendship Is More Than Friendship: The Tender Letters of Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms". Brain Pickings. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  • Riebsamen, Hans (9 May 2019). "Pianistin Clara Schumann : Klavierstunde bei der eisernen Meisterin". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  • Swafford, Jan (26 April 2003). "Bittersweet symphonies / Brahms's affair with Clara Schumann was a sizzling mess that left his life in chaos and filled his music with yearning". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2019.

Online sources

  • Braunstein, Joseph (1971). Clara Schumann; Michael Ponti, piano (LP, liner notes). Candide. CE 31038.
  • Buja, Maureen (10 September 2015). "Linds and Clärchens: Women Musicians and National Currency". interlude.hk. Interlude. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  • "The Clara Schumann Story". The Loretta Young Show (TV series). Season 1. Episode 26. 21 March 1954. Loretta Young (actor). Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  • Dunsmore, David R. (December 2013). "Review: Clara Schumann – Three Romances for violin and piano, Op. 22". musicweb-international.com.
  • Frühlingssinfonie [Spring Symphony] (1983) (Motion picture) (in German). Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  • Geliebte Clara [Beloved Clara] (2008) (Motion picture) (in German). Helma Sanders-Brahms (director). Retrieved 16 October 2019.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  • Klassen, Janina (2011). "Schumann, Clara (Josephine)". sophie-drinker-institut.de (in German). Bremen: Sophie Drinker Institute. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  • Nauhaus, Julia M. "Clara Schumann, née Wieck (1819–1896), wife". schumann-portal.de. Translated by Ma, Katharina. Schumann Portal. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  • Nauhaus, Julia M. "Eugenie Schumann (1851–1938), daughter". schumann-portal.de. Translated by Ma, Katharina. Schumann Portal. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  • Nauhaus, Julia M. "Mariane Wieck-Bargiel, née Tromlitz (1797–1872), mother of Clara Schumann". schumann-portal.de. Translated by Ma, Katharina. Schumann Portal. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  • Savage, Mark (8 March 2017). "Five forgotten female composers will be celebrated on BBC Radio 3". BBC. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  • Schumann, Robert (1879–1893). Schumann, Clara (ed.). Robert Schumanns Werke. Breitkopf & Härtel.
  • Schumann Portal. "Clara Schumann's concert tours". schumann-portal.de. Schumann Portal. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  • Schwarm, Betsy (28 June 2013). "Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 / work by Schumann". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  • Träumerei [Dreaming] (1944) (Motion picture) (in German). Harald Braun (director).{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

Further reading edit

  • Beer, Anna: Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music. Chapter 6: "Schumann", pp. 205–41. Oneworld Publications (2016). ISBN 978-1-78074-856-6.
  • Boyd, Melinda: "Gendered Voices – The Liebesfrühling Lieder of Robert and Clara Schumann". In 19th-Century Music, Vol. 39 (Autumn 1975), pp. 145–62.
  • Burk, John N.: Clara Schumann; A Romantic Biography. Random House NYC 1940.
  • Burstein, L. Poundie: "Their Paths, Her Ways – Comparison of Text Settings by Clara Schumann and Other Composers". In Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture, Vol. 6 (2002), pp. 11ff.
  • Gates, Eugene. "Clara Schumann: A Composer's Wife as Composer." Kapralova Society Journal 7, no. 2 (Fall 2009): 1–7.
  • Gould, John: "What Did They Play? The Changing Repertoire of the Piano Recital from the Beginnings to 1980". In The Musical Times Vol. 146 (Winter 2005), pp. 61–76.
  • Kühn, Dieter: Clara Schumann, Klavier. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag (March 2009). ISBN 9783596142033. (in German).
  • Mäkelä, Tomi: "Den Lebenden schulden wir Rücksichtnahme, den Toten nur die Wahrheit. Eine Einführung in Friedrich Wiecks Welt der philisterhaften Mittelmäßigkeit und besseren Salonmusik". In Friedrich Wieck: Gesammelte Schriften über Musik und Musiker [...], pp. 15–49. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (2019). ISBN 978-3-631-76745-0. (in German).
  • Rattalino, Piero: Schumann. Robert & Clara. Varese: Zecchini Editore (2002). ISBN 88-87203-14-8. (in Italian).
  • Saremba, Meinhard (2021). Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms und das moderne Musikleben (1st ed.). Hamburg: Osburg-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-95510-259-3.
  • Sémerjian, Ludwig. "Clara Schumann: New Cadenzas for Mozart's Piano Concerto in D Minor. Romantic Visions of a Classical Masterpiece." Kapralova Society Journal 17, no. 2 (Fall 2019): 1–9.
  • Vloed, Kees van der: Clara Schumann-Wieck. De pijn van het gemis. Soesterberg, Netherlands: Aspekt (2012). ISBN 9789461531773. (in Dutch).

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clara Schumann.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Clara Schumann.
  • Free scores by Clara Schumann at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
  • The Creative Art of Clara Schumann, by Claire Flynn, National University of Ireland thesis, August 1991
  • Clara Schumann: A Composer’s Wife as Composer – by Eugene Gates, Kapralova Society Journal
  • Clara Schumann website at Geneva College
  • Clara Schumann pages at Schumann Portal website (German and English versions)
  • March in Es dur on YouTube, for piano duet, Clara Schumann's last work
  • Scherzo Nr. 2 Op. 14 on YouTube
  • Clara Schumann: Piano Trio in G minor, played by Galos Piano Trio at St. Martin in the Fields on 26 May 2015 on YouTube

January 01, 1970
clara, schumann, clara, josephine, schumann, ˈklaːʁa, ˈʃuːman, née, wieck, september, 1819, 1896, german, pianist, composer, piano, teacher, regarded, most, distinguished, pianists, romantic, exerted, influence, over, course, year, concert, career, changing, f. Clara Josephine Schumann ˈklaːʁa ˈʃuːman nee Wieck 13 September 1819 20 May 1896 was a German pianist composer and piano teacher Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era she exerted her influence over the course of a 61 year concert career changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital by lessening the importance of purely virtuosic works She also composed solo piano pieces a piano concerto her Op 7 chamber music choral pieces and songs Clara SchumannLithograph by Andreas Staub 1839BornClara Josephine Wieck 1819 09 13 13 September 1819Leipzig Kingdom of Saxony German ConfederationDied20 May 1896 1896 05 20 aged 76 Frankfurt German EmpireOccupationsPianist Composer Piano teacherOrganizationDr Hoch s KonservatoriumSpouseRobert Schumann m 1840 died 1856 wbr Children8 including EugenieParentsFriedrich Wieck father Mariane Bargiel mother Signature She grew up in Leipzig where both her father Friedrich Wieck and her mother Mariane were pianists and piano teachers In addition her mother was a singer Clara was a child prodigy and was trained by her father She began touring at age eleven and was successful in Paris and Vienna among other cities She married the composer Robert Schumann on 12 September 1840 and the couple had eight children Together they encouraged Johannes Brahms and maintained a close relationship with him She gave the public premieres of many works by her husband and by Brahms After Robert Schumann s early death she continued her concert tours in Europe for decades frequently with the violinist Joseph Joachim and other chamber musicians Beginning in 1878 she was an influential piano educator at Dr Hoch s Konservatorium in Frankfurt where she attracted international students She edited the publication of her husband s work Schumann died in Frankfurt but was buried in Bonn beside her husband Several films have focused on Schumann s life the earliest being Traumerei Dreaming of 1944 A 2008 film Geliebte Clara Beloved Clara was directed by Helma Sanders Brahms An image of Clara Schumann from an 1835 lithograph by Andreas Staub was featured on the 100 Deutsche Mark banknote from 1989 to 2002 Interest in her compositions began to revive in the late 20th century and her 2019 bicentenary prompted new books and exhibitions Contents 1 Life 1 1 Early life 1 1 1 Family 1 1 2 Child prodigy 1 1 3 Success in Vienna 1 2 Lasting relationships 1 2 1 Robert Schumann 1 2 2 Joseph Joachim 1 2 3 Johannes Brahms 1 3 Concert tours 1 4 Later life 1 4 1 Concerts 1 4 2 Teaching 1 5 Death 2 Family life 3 Music 3 1 Performance repertoire 3 2 Compositions 3 3 Editor 3 4 War of the Romantics 4 Legacy 4 1 Impact during her lifetime 4 2 Film 4 3 Theater 4 4 Banknote and conservatory 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 7 1 Cited sources 8 Further reading 9 External linksLife editEarly life edit Family edit Clara Josephine Wieck ˈklaːʀa ˈjoːzɛfiːn ˈviːk was born in Leipzig on 13 September 1819 to Friedrich Wieck and his wife Mariane nee Tromlitz 1 Her mother was a famous singer in Leipzig who performed weekly piano and soprano solos at the Gewandhaus 2 Clara s parents had irreconcilable differences in part due to her father s unyielding nature 2 Prompted by an affair between her mother and Adolph Bargiel her father s friend 3 4 the Wiecks were divorced in 1825 with Mariane later marrying Bargiel Five year old Clara remained with her father while Mariane and Bargiel eventually moved to Berlin limiting contact between Clara and her mother to written letters and occasional visits 5 Child prodigy edit From an early age Clara s father planned her career and life down to the smallest detail She started receiving basic piano instruction from her mother at the age of four 6 After her mother moved out she began taking daily one hour lessons from her father They included subjects such as piano violin singing theory harmony composition and counterpoint She then had to practice for two hours every day Her father followed the methods in his own book Wiecks pianistische Erziehung zum schonen Anschlag und zum singenden Ton Wieck s Piano Education for a Delicate Touch and a Singing Sound 6 7 Her musical studies came largely at the expense of her broader general education although she still studied religion and languages under her father s control of the family 8 nbsp Clara Wieck from an 1835 lithograph Clara Wieck made her official debut on 28 October 1828 at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig at age nine 6 9 The same year she performed at the Leipzig home of Ernst Carus director of the mental hospital at Colditz Castle There she met another gifted young pianist who had been invited to the musical evening Robert Schumann who was nine years older Schumann admired Clara s playing so much that he asked permission from his mother to stop studying law which had never interested him much and take music lessons with Clara s father While taking lessons he rented a room in the Wieck household and stayed about a year 10 From September 1831 to April 1832 Clara toured Paris and other European cities accompanied by her father 6 In Weimar she performed a bravura piece by Henri Herz for Goethe who presented her with a medal with his portrait and a written note saying For the gifted artist Clara Wieck During that tour the violinist Niccolo Paganini who was also in Paris offered to appear with her 11 Her Paris recital was poorly attended because many people had fled the city due to an outbreak of cholera 11 The tour marked her transition from a child prodigy to a young woman performer 6 Success in Vienna edit From December 1837 to April 1838 at the age of 18 Wieck performed a series of recitals in Vienna 12 Franz Grillparzer Austria s leading dramatic poet wrote a poem entitled Clara Wieck and Beethoven after hearing her perform Beethoven s Appassionata sonata during one of these recitals 12 She performed to sell out crowds and laudatory critical reviews Benedict Randhartinger a friend of Franz Schubert gave her an autographed copy of Schubert s Erlkonig inscribing it To the celebrated artist Clara Wieck 12 Chopin described her playing to Franz Liszt who came to hear one of Wieck s concerts and subsequently praised her extravagantly in a letter that was published in the Parisian Revue et Gazette Musicale and later in translation in the Leipzig journal Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik 13 On 15 March she was named a Konigliche und Kaiserliche Osterreichische Kammer virtuosin Royal and Imperial Austrian Chamber Virtuoso 14 Austria s highest musical honor 13 An anonymous music critic describing her Vienna recitals said The appearance of this artist can be regarded as epoch making In her creative hands the most ordinary passage the most routine motive acquires a significant meaning a colour which only those with the most consummate artistry can give 15 Lasting relationships edit Robert Schumann edit nbsp Schonefeld church where the Schumanns married on 12 September 1840 Robert Schumann was a little more than nine years older than Wieck In 1837 when she was 18 he proposed to her and she accepted Robert then asked her father for her hand in marriage 16 Friedrich was strongly opposed to the marriage and refused his permission Robert and Clara decided to go to court and sue him The judge allowed the marriage which took place in Schonefeld church on 12 September 1840 the day before Clara s 21st birthday when she attained majority status 17 18 From then on the couple maintained a joint musical and personal diary of their life together 19 In February 1854 Robert Schumann had a mental collapse attempted suicide and was admitted at his request to a sanatorium in the village of Endenich near Bonn where he stayed for the last two years of his life In March 1854 Brahms Joachim Albert Dietrich and Julius Otto Grimm spent time with Clara Schumann playing music for her and with her to divert her mind from the tragedy 20 Brahms composed some private piano pieces for her to console her four piano pieces and a set of variations on a theme by Robert Schumann that she had also written variations on a year earlier as her Op 20 The music by Brahms was not intended to be published but for her alone Brahms later thought to publish them anonymously but eventually they were issued as his four Ballades Op 10 and Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann Op 9 Brahms dedicated the variations to both Schumanns hoping that Robert would be released soon and rejoined with his family 21 For the entire two years of Robert Schumann s stay at the institution his wife was not permitted to visit him while Brahms visited him regularly When it was apparent that Robert was near death she was finally admitted to see him He appeared to recognize her but could only speak a few words 22 Robert Schumann died two days later on 29 July 1856 23 Joseph Joachim edit The Schumanns first met violinist Joseph Joachim in November 1844 when he was 14 years old 24 A year later Clara Schumann wrote in her diary that in a concert on 11 November 1845 little Joachim was very much liked He played a new violin concerto by Felix Mendelssohn which is said to be wonderful 25 In May 1853 they heard Joachim play the solo part in Beethoven s Violin Concerto She wrote that he played with a finish a depth of poetic feeling his whole soul in every note so ideally that I have never heard violin playing like it and I can truly say that I have never received so indelible an impression from any virtuoso A lasting friendship developed between Clara and Joseph which for more than forty years never failed her in things great or small never wavered in its loyalty 26 Over her career Schumann gave over 238 concerts with Joachim in Germany and Britain more than with any other artist 27 The two were particularly noted for their playing of Beethoven s violin sonatas 28 Johannes Brahms edit nbsp Schumann in 1853 In early 1853 the then unknown 20 year old Johannes Brahms met Joachim and made a very favorable impression Brahms received from him a letter of introduction to Robert Schumann and thus presented himself at the Schumanns home in Dusseldorf Brahms played some of his piano solo compositions for the Schumanns and they were deeply impressed 29 Robert published an article highly lauding Brahms and Clara wrote in the diary that Brahms seemed as if sent straight from God 30 During Robert Schumann s last years confined to an asylum Brahms was a strong presence for the Schumann family 31 His letters indicate his strong feelings for Clara 32 Their relationship has been interpreted as somewhere between friendship and love 33 and Brahms always maintained the utmost respect for her as a woman and a talented musician 32 Brahms played his First Symphony for her before its premiere She gave some advice about the Adagio which he took to heart She expressed her appreciation of the Symphony as a whole but mentioned her dissatisfaction with the endings of the third and fourth movements 34 She was the first to perform many of his works in public including the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel a solo piano work written by Brahms in 1861 35 Concert tours edit Clara Schumann first toured England in April 1856 while her husband was still living but unable to travel She was invited to play in a London Philharmonic Society a concert by conductor William Sterndale Bennett a good friend of Robert s 36 She was displeased with the little time spent on rehearsals They call it a rehearsal here if a piece is played through once She wrote that musical artists in England allow themselves to be treated as inferiors 37 She was happy though to hear the cellist Alfredo Piatti play with a tone a bravura a certainty such as I never heard before In May 1856 she played Robert Schumann s Piano Concerto in A minor with the New Philharmonic Society b conducted by Dr Wylde who as she said had led a dreadful rehearsal and could not grasp the rhythm of the last movement 37 Still she returned to London the following year and continued to perform in Britain for the next 15 years 38 nbsp Joseph Joachim and Schumann after a lost 1854 drawing by Adolph Menzel In October November 1857 Schumann and Joachim went on a recital tour to Dresden and Leipzig 39 St James s Hall in London which opened in 1858 hosted a series of Popular Concerts of chamber music c Joachim visited London annually beginning in 1866 40 Schumann also spent many years in London participating in the Popular Concerts with Joachim and the celebrated Italian cellist Carlo Alfredo Piatti Second violinist Joseph Ries brother of composer Ferdinand Ries and violist J B Zerbini usually played on the same concert programs George Bernard Shaw the leading playwright and also a music critic wrote that the Popular Concerts helped greatly to spread and enlighten musical taste in England 41 In January 1867 Schumann toured Edinburgh and Glasgow Scotland along with Joachim Piatti Ries and Zerbini Two sisters Louisa and Susanna Pyne singers and managers of an opera company in England and a man named Saunders made all the arrangements She was accompanied by her oldest daughter Marie who wrote from Manchester to her friend Rosalie Leser that in Edinburgh the pianist was received with tempestuous applause and had to give an encore so had Joachim Piatti too is always tremendously liked 42 Marie also wrote For the longer journeys we had a saloon car comfortably furnished with arm chairs and sofas the journey was very comfortable On this occasion the musicians were not treated as inferiors 43 Later life edit Concerts edit Schumann still performed actively in the 1870s and 1880s She performed extensively and regularly throughout Germany during these decades and had engagements in Austria Hungary Belgium Holland and Switzerland When in Basel Switzerland she often stayed with the Von der Muhll family 44 She continued her annual winter spring concert tours of England giving 16 of them between 1865 and 1888 often with violinist Joachim 45 She took a break from concert performances beginning in January 1874 cancelling her usual England tour due to an arm injury In July she consulted a doctor who having massaged the arm advised her to practice for only one hour a day 46 She rested for the remainder of the year before returning to the concert stage in March 1875 34 She had not fully recovered and experienced more neuralgia in her arm again in May reporting that she could not write on account of my arm 34 By October 1875 she had recovered enough to begin another tour in Germany In addition to solo piano recitals chamber music and accompanying singers she continued to perform frequently with orchestras In 1877 she performed Beethoven s Fifth Piano Concerto in Berlin with Woldemar Bargiel conducting her half brother by her mother s second marriage and had tremendous success 30 34 In 1883 she performed Beethoven s Choral Fantasy with the newly formed Berlin Philharmonic and was enthusiastically celebrated although she was playing with an injured hand in great pain having fallen on a staircase the previous day 47 Later that year she played Beethoven s Fourth Piano Concerto with her own cadenzas with Joachim conducting the same orchestra again to great acclaim In 1885 Schumann once again joined Joachim conducting Mozart s Piano Concerto in D minor again playing her own cadenzas The following day she played her husband s Piano Concerto with Bargiel conducting I think I played fresher than ever she wrote to Brahms What I liked very much about the concert was that I was able to give Woldemar the direction of it who had longed for such an opportunity for years 47 She played her last public concert in Frankfurt on 12 March 1891 The last work she played was Brahms s Variations on a Theme by Haydn in a version for two pianos with James Kwast 48 Teaching edit nbsp Saalhof the first location of Dr Hoch s Konservatorium In 1878 Schumann was appointed the first piano teacher of the new Dr Hoch s Konservatorium in Frankfurt 49 50 She had chosen Frankfurt among offers from Stuttgart Hannover and Berlin because the director Joachim Raff had accepted her conditions she could not teach more than 1 1 2 hours per day was free to teach at her home and had four months of vacation and time off for short tours in winter She demanded two assistants with her daughters Marie and Eugenie in mind 6 49 51 She was the only woman on the faculty 49 Her fame attracted students from abroad including Britain and the United States 31 She trained only advanced pupils mostly young women while her two daughters gave lessons to beginners Among her 68 known students who made a musical career were Natalia Janotha Fanny Davies Nanette Falk Amina Goodwin Carl Friedberg Leonard Borwick Ilona Eibenschutz Adelina de Lara Marie Olson and Mary Wurm 6 49 51 The Konservatorium held events to celebrate her 50th year on stage in 1878 and her 60th career anniversary ten years later 6 51 She held the teaching post until 1892 and contributed greatly to the improvement of modern piano playing technique 6 49 Death edit Clara Schumann suffered a stroke on 26 March 1896 and died on 20 May at age 76 52 She was buried in Bonn at Alter Friedhof next to her husband according to her own wish 51 Family life edit nbsp Robert and Clara Schumann s children photo taken in 1853 or 1854 from left to right Ludwig Marie Felix Elise Ferdinand and Eugenie Robert Schumann gave his wife a diary on their wedding day His first entry indicates that it should act as an autobiography of the family s personal lives especially of the couple and of their desires and accomplishments in the arts It also functioned as a record of their artistic endeavors and growth She fully accepted the arrangement of a shared diary as evidenced by her many entries It demonstrates her loyal love for her husband with a desire to combine two lives into one artistically although this life long goal involved risks 35 The couple remained joint partners in both family life and their careers She premiered many of his works from solo piano works to her own piano versions of his orchestral works 8 She often took charge of finances and general household affairs Part of her responsibility included earning money by giving concerts though she continued to play throughout her life not just for the income but because she was an artist by training and nature The burden of family duties increased over time and narrowed her ability as an artist As a flourishing composer s wife she was limited in her own explorations 53 She was the main breadwinner for her family and the sole one after her husband was hospitalized and then died She gave concerts and taught and she did most of the work of organizing her own concert tours 31 She hired a housekeeper and a cook to keep house while she was away on her long tours 54 Clara and Robert Schumann had eight children 55 Marie 1841 1929 Elise 1843 1928 Julie 1845 1872 Emil 1846 1847 Ludwig 1848 1899 Ferdinand 1849 1891 Eugenie 1851 1938 Felix 1854 1879 Her life was punctuated by tragedy Her husband was permanently institutionalized after a mental collapse Her eldest living son Ludwig suffered from mental illness like his father and in her words eventually had to be buried alive in an institution She became deaf in later life and she often needed a wheelchair 11 Not only did her husband predecease her but so did four of their children 31 Their first son Emil died in 1847 aged only 1 56 Their daughter Julie died in 1872 leaving two small children aged only 2 and 7 then raised by their grandmother 57 In 1879 their son Felix died aged 24 58 In 1891 their son Ferdinand died at the age of 41 leaving his children to her care 59 Their oldest child Marie was of great support and help to her mother taking the position of household cook Marie also dissuaded her mother from continuing to burn letters that she had received from Brahms which he had asked her to destroy Another daughter Eugenie who had been too young when her father died to remember him wrote a book Erinnerungen Memoirs published in 1925 covering her parents and Brahms 60 61 Schumann famously rescued her children from violence during the May Uprising in Dresden in 1849 On the evening of 3 May Robert and Clara heard that the revolution against King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony for not accepting the constitution for a German Confederation had arrived in Dresden Most family members left and hid in a neighbourhood security brigade but on 7 May she bravely walked back to Dresden to rescue her three children who had been left with a maid 62 defying a pack of armed men who confronted her then walked back out of the city through the dangerous areas again Music editPerformance repertoire edit During her lifetime Schumann was an internationally renowned concert pianist 63 Over 1 300 concert programs from her performances throughout Europe between 1831 through 1889 have been preserved 64 She championed the works of her husband and other contemporaries such as Brahms Chopin and Mendelssohn 64 nbsp Clara and Robert Schumann illustration from Famous Composers and their Works 1906 The Schumanns were admirers of Chopin especially of his Variations on La ci darem la mano and she played the piece herself When she was 14 and her future husband 23 he wrote to her Tomorrow precisely at eleven o clock I will play the adagio from Chopin s Variations and at the same time I shall think of you very intently exclusively of you Now my request is that you should do the same so that we may see and meet each other in spirit Robert Schumann 65 In her early years her repertoire selected by her father was showy and in the style common to the time with works by Friedrich Kalkbrenner Adolf von Henselt Sigismond Thalberg Henri Herz Johann Peter Pixis Carl Czerny and her own compositions She turned to including compositions by Baroque composers such as Domenico Scarlatti and Johann Sebastian Bach but performed especially contemporary music by Chopin Mendelssohn and her husband whose music did not attain popularity until the 1850s 6 In 1835 she performed her Piano Concerto in A minor with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Mendelssohn On 4 December 1845 she premiered Robert Schumann s Piano Concerto in Dresden 66 Following the advice of Brahms she performed Mozart s Piano Concerto in C minor at the Hanoverian court 14 and in Leipzig 67 Along with Arabella Goddard she was one of the first woman pianists to perform Beethoven s Hammerklavier Sonata in public doing so on two occasions before 1856 68 Her busiest years as a performer were between 1856 and 1873 after her husband s death 64 During this period she experienced success as a performer in Britain where her 1865 performance of Beethoven s Piano Concerto in G major was met with enormous applause As a chamber musician she often gave concerts with violinist Joachim In her later career she frequently accompanied lieder singers in recitals 64 Compositions edit See also List of compositions by Clara Schumann As part of the broad musical education given to her by her father Clara Wieck learned to compose and from childhood to middle age she produced a good body of work Clara wrote that composing gives me great pleasure there is nothing that surpasses the joy of creation if only because through it one wins hours of self forgetfulness when one lives in a world of sound Her Op 1 was Quatre Polonaises pour le pianoforte composed in 1831 and Op 5 4 Pieces caracteristiques in 1836 all piano pieces for her recitals She wrote her Piano Concerto in A minor at age 14 with some help from her future husband 31 She planned a second piano concerto but only a Konzertsatz in F minor from 1847 survived 31 nbsp Zwolf Lieder auf F Ruckerts Liebesfruhling by Clara and Robert Schumann After her marriage she turned to lieder and choral works The couple wrote and published one joint composition in 1841 setting a cycle of poems by Friedrich Ruckert called Liebesfruhling Spring of Love in Zwolf Lieder auf F Ruckerts Liebesfruhling her Op 12 and his Op 37 6 Her chamber works include the Piano Trio in G minor Op 17 1846 and Three Romances for Violin and Piano Op 22 1853 inspired by her husband s birthday They were dedicated to Joachim who performed them for George V of Hanover who declared them a marvellous heavenly pleasure 69 70 As she grew older she became more preoccupied with other responsibilities in life and found it hard to compose regularly writing I once believed that I possessed creative talent but I have given up this idea a woman must not desire to compose there has never yet been one able to do it Should I expect to be the one 71 Her husband also expressed concern about the effect on her composing output Clara has composed a series of small pieces which show a musical and tender ingenuity such as she has never attained before But to have children and a husband who is always living in the realm of imagination does not go together with composing She cannot work at it regularly and I am often disturbed to think how many profound ideas are lost because she cannot work them out Robert Schumann 72 She produced one to eight compositions every year beginning at age 11 until her output stopped in 1848 producing only a choral work that year for her husband s birthday and leaving her second piano concerto unfinished 31 These two works while reserved for her opus 18 and 19 were never published 73 Five years later however when she was 34 in 1853 the year she met Brahms she engaged in a flurry of composing resulting in 16 pieces that year a set of piano variations on an Album Leaf of her husband his Op 99 No 4 eight Romances for piano solo and for violin and piano and seven songs These works were published a year later after Robert s confinement as her Op 20 through 23 74 For the next 43 years of her life she only composed piano transcriptions of works by her husband and Brahms including 41 transcriptions of Robert Schumann s lieder commissioned by a publisher in 1872 and a short piano duet commissioned for a friend s wedding anniversary in 1879 In the last year of her life she left several sketches for piano preludes designed for piano students as well as some published cadenzas for her performances of Beethoven and Mozart piano concertos 6 75 Most of Clara Schumann s music was never played by anyone else and largely forgotten until a resurgence of interest in the 1970s Today her compositions are increasingly performed and recorded 71 Editor edit Schumann was the authoritative editor aided by Brahms and others of her husband s works for the publishing firm of Breitkopf amp Hartel 51 76 She also edited 20 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti letters Jugendbriefe by her husband in 1885 and his piano works with fingering and other instructions Fingersatz und Vortragsbezeichnungen in 1886 6 War of the Romantics edit In the early 1840s the Schumanns were interested in the works of Franz Liszt and his young composer friends of what eventually became known as the New German School 77 but in the second half of the decade they both became openly hostile toward Liszt 78 because of their more musically conservative outlook and beliefs 79 Clara more so than Robert as she had long been the more conservative aesthete in the Schumann marriage 80 By the mid 1850s after Robert s decline the young Brahms had joined the cause 81 and to promote her ideals and protect what she saw as an attack on her husband s beliefs she Brahms and Joseph Joachim 82 83 formed a group of conservative musicians 84 who defended Robert Schumann s critical ideals of the legacy and respectability of music the pinnacle of which had been Beethoven 85 The opposing side of this War of the Romantics a group of radical progressives in music most of them from Weimar led by Liszt and Richard Wagner desired to escape composing under the shadow of Beethoven but to transcend the old forms and ideas of what music had been and instead create what music should be for the future The Weimar school promoted the idea of program music 86 while both the Schumanns and Brahms of the Leipzig Berlin school were strict in their stance that music must and can only be absolute music 87 a term derisively coined by Wagner 88 One of Clara Schumann s difficulties with Liszt stemmed from a philosophical difference in performance practice He believed that the artist through physical and emotional performance interpreted music for the audience When he performed Liszt flailed his arms tossed his head and pursed his lips 89 inspiring a Lisztomania across Europe which has been compared to the Beatlemania of female fans of The Beatles over a century later 90 Clara in contrast came to believe that the personality of the musician should be suppressed so that the composer s vision would be clearly evident to listeners 91 92 Partisans led active campaigns with public demonstrations at concerts writings published in the press denigrating reputations and other public slights designed to embarrass their adversaries Brahms published a manifesto for the Serious Music side on 4 May 1861 93 signed by Clara Schumann Joachim Albert Dietrich Woldemar Bargiel and twenty others which decried the purveyors of the Music of the Future as contrary to the innermost spirit of music strongly to be deplored and condemned 94 The New Weimar Club a formal society with Liszt at its center held an anniversary celebration of the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik the magazine Robert Schumann had founded in his birthplace Zwickau and conspicuously neglected to invite members of the opposing party including his widow Clara Clara Schumann ceased to perform any of Liszt s works and she suppressed her husband s dedication to Liszt of his Fantasie in C major when she published his complete works When she heard that Liszt and Richard Wagner would be participating in a Beethoven centenary festival in Vienna in 1870 she refused to attend 11 In describing the works of the opposing school Clara Schumann was particularly scathing of Wagner writing of his Tannhauser that he wears himself out in atrocities describing Lohengrin as horrible and referring to Tristan und Isolde as the most repugnant thing I have ever seen or heard in all my life 11 She also complained that Wagner had spoken of her husband Mendelssohn and Brahms in a scornful way 95 Wagner had poked fun at the musical conservatives in an essay portraying them as a musical temperance society awaiting a Messiah She held Anton Bruckner s Seventh Symphony in very low esteem and wrote to Brahms describing it as a horrible piece Bruckner s symphonies were seen as representative of the New Music due to their advanced harmony massive orchestration and extended time scale 96 Schumann was more impressed however with the early First Symphony in F minor by Richard Strauss 11 this was before Strauss began composing the highly programmatic music for which he later became famous Brahms secretly held Wagner s music in high esteem 97 and eventually publicly praised Liszt s works as well Several of the proponents and signers of the manifesto including Joachim relented and joined the other side The controversy eventually died down but Clara Schumann remained steadfast in her disapproval of the New German School s music during her lifetime Legacy editImpact during her lifetime edit nbsp Schumann according to Edvard Grieg one of the most soulful and famous pianists of the day Although Schumann was not widely recognized as a composer for many years after her death she had a lasting effect as a pianist Trained by her father to play by ear and memorize she gave public performances from memory as early as age thirteen a fact noted as exceptional by her reviewers 98 She was one of the first pianists to perform from memory making it the standard for concerts She was also instrumental in changing the kind of program expected of concert pianists In her early career before her marriage she played the customary bravura pieces designed to showcase the artist s technique often in the form of arrangements or variations on popular themes from operas written by virtuosos such as Thalberg Herz or Henselt As it was customary to play one s own compositions she included at least one of her own works in every program such as Variations on a Theme by Bellini Op 8 and the popular Scherzo Op 10 However as she became a more independent artist her repertoire contained mainly music by leading composers 99 100 Schumann influenced pianists through her teaching which emphasized expression and a singing tone with technique subordinated to the intentions of the composer One of her students Mathilde Verne carried her teaching to England where she taught among others Solomon Another of her students Carl Friedberg carried the tradition to the Juilliard School in America where his students included Nina Simone Malcolm Frager and Bruce Hungerford 101 She was also instrumental in getting the works of Robert Schumann recognized appreciated and added to the repertoire She promoted his works tirelessly throughout her life 31 Film edit See also List of composers depicted on film Clara Schumann has been portrayed on screen many times Traumerei Dreaming the oldest known Schumann film premiered on 3 May 1944 in Zwickau 102 Possibly the best known film is Song of Love 1947 starring Katharine Hepburn as Clara Paul Henreid as Robert and Robert Walker as Brahms 103 In 1954 Loretta Young portrayed her on The Loretta Young Show in Season 1 Episode 26 The Clara Schumann Story first aired on 21 March 1954 in which she supports the composing career of her husband played by George Nader alongside Shelley Fabares and Carleton G Young 104 Two more recent German films are Fruhlingssinfonie Spring Symphony 1983 starring Nastassja Kinski as Clara 105 and the 2008 Helma Sanders Brahms film Geliebte Clara Beloved Clara where she is portrayed by Martina Gedeck 106 Theater edit Clara Schumann s life has been explored in the chamber opera Clara by composer Victoria Bond and librettist Barbara Zinn Krieger 107 and the two act opera Ghost Variations by composer Tony Manfredonia and librettist Aiden K Feltkamp 108 Twin Spirits a live theatrical performance involving a chamber ensemble of actors singers and musicians also delves into Clara Schumann s life story 109 Banknote and conservatory edit An image of Clara Schumann from an 1835 lithograph by Andreas Staub was featured on the 100 Deutsche Mark banknote from 2 January 1989 until the adoption of the euro on 1 January 2002 110 111 The back of the banknote shows a grand piano she played and the exterior of Dr Hoch s Konservatorium where she taught The great hall of the conservatory s new building is named after her 50 nbsp Schumann on the 100 DM banknote nbsp Banknote reverse showing a grand piano that she played and the building of Dr Hoch s where she taughtSee also editSchmorsdorf lime treeNotes edit The Philharmonic Society of London had been formed in 1813 In 1912 it became the Royal Philharmonic Society The New Philharmonic Society began operating in 1852 with Dr Wylde as co founder A Dictionary of Music and Musicians Ed George Grove vol 2 1900 MacMillan London in Wikisource article New Philharmonic Society The by George Grove The New Philharmonic ceased giving concerts in June 1879 Some printed programs have been preserved in Arts amp Humanities Research Council Concert Programmes St James s Hall Concerts 1867 1904 References edit Hall 2002 p 1124 a b Haisler 2003 Reich Book 2001 pp 5 13 Borchard 1991 p 27 Nauhaus Bargiel 2019 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Klassen 2011 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 pp 3 4 a b Reich Grove 2001 Borchard 1991 p 33 Reich Susanna 1999 a b c d e f Braunstein 1971 a b c Reich Article 1986 p 249 a b Reich Article 1986 p 250 a b Nauhaus Images 2019 Burton Hill 2017 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 p xi Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 pp xii xvi Worl 1997 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 pp 301 03 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 pp 61 62 69 71 Horne 1997 pp 98 115 Daverio Grove 2001 p 20 Abraham 1998 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 p 366 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 388 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 41 Reich Book 2001 p 206 Reich Book 2001 p 207 Litzmann Letters 1927 a b Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 42 a b c d e f g h Reich Book 2001 a b Swafford Article 2003 Popova 2017 a b c d Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 pp 322 23 a b Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 201 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 131 a b Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 133 Reich Book 2001 p 267 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 152 Avins Article 2002 p 637 Shaw 1937 p 297 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 pp 249 50 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 2 p 250 Basel 1857 1887 Schumann Portal www schumann portal de Retrieved 28 August 2020 Schumann Portal 2019 Altenmuller amp Kopiez 2010 pp 101 18 a b Berliner Philharmoniker 2019 Clive 2006 p 403 a b c d e Riebsamen 2019 a b Negwer 2002 a b c d e Allihn 2019 Reich Book 2001 p 23 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 p 306 Galloway 2002 Reich Book 2001 pp 162 77 Reich Book 2001 p 170 Reich Book 2001 p 169 Reich Book 2001 p 158 Reich Book 2001 p 152 Nauhaus Eugenie 2019 Schumann Eugenie 1925 Daverio Article 1997 Weingarten 1972 p 96 a b c d Kopiez 2008 pp 50 73 Jensen 2012 p 79 Schwarm 2013 Avins Book 1997 p 231 Crumey Andrew Beethoven s Hammerklavier Sonata crumey co uk Retrieved 25 July 2023 Dunsmore 2013 Clara Schumann Score 2001 a b Savage 2017 Murray 2018 p 129 Koch 1991 p 24 Reich Book 2001 pp 289 337 Catalogue of Works Reich Book 2001 pp 327 28 Robert Schumann Score 1879 Walker 1993 p 340 Walker 1993 p 342 Walker 1993 p 343 Walker 1993 p 344 Swafford Book 1997 p 68 Walker 1993 p 346 Swafford Book 1997 p 206 Swafford Book 1997 p 195 Bonds 2001 pp 835 837 Bonds 2001 p 838 Walker 1993 pp 361 365 66 Dahlhaus 1991 Pedroza 2010 p 309 Walker 1993 pp 340 41 Walker 1993 p 341 Pedroza 2010 p 311 Walker 1993 p 350 Walker 1993 pp 348 49 Reich Book 2001 pp 202 03 Bonds 2001 p 839 Swafford Book 1997 pp 195 267 68 Reich Book 2001 pp 271 72 Litzmann Bio 1913 v 1 p 316 Litzmann Bio German 1908 Reich Book 2001 p 254 Traumerei 1944 Song of Love 1947 Loretta Young Show 1954 Fruhlingssinfonie 1983 Geliebte Clara 2008 Brodie Susan 20 April 2019 In Bond s Clara An Artist Is Seen Becoming Herself Classical Voice North America Retrieved 15 April 2024 Edgar Hannah 3 June 2021 One of music history s most famous love triangles takes center stage in Thompson Street Opera s Ghost Variations Chicago Tribune Retrieved 15 April 2024 Product Details Schumann Twin Spirits The Royal Opera www opusarte com Retrieved 15 April 2024 Buja 2015 Paper Money Guaranty 2018 Cited sources edit Books Avins Styra 1997 Johannes Brahms Life and Letters Translated by Eisinger Josef Avins Styra Oxford University Press ISBN 0199247730 Retrieved 2 August 2019 Borchard Beatrix 1991 reprinted 2015 Clara Schumann Ihr Leben in German Berlin Ullstein Verlag ISBN 978 3 48 708553 1 Burton Hill Clemency 2017 Year of wonder classical music for every day London Headline Home ISBN 978 1472251824 OCLC 1011353452 Clive Peter 2006 Brahms and His World A Biographical Dictionary Scarecrow Press ISBN 978 1461722809 Retrieved 16 October 2019 Dahlhaus Carl 1991 The Idea of Absolute Music Translated by Lustig Roger University of Chicago Press Originally published Kassel 1978 in German Chicago London 1989 English translation Haisler J L 2003 The Compositional Art of Clara Schumann a Master of Music thesis Houston TX Rice University Jensen Eric Frederick 2012 Schumann Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 983195 1 Retrieved 4 August 2019 Koch Paul August 1991 Clara Wieck Schumann 1819 1896 Kompositionen eine Zusammenstellung der Werke Literatur und Schallplatten Frankfurt am Main Zimmermann Litzmann Berthold 1913 reprint 2013 Clara Schumann An Artist s Life Based on Material Found in Diaries and Letters Vol 1 1819 1850 ISBN 978 1 108 06415 6 Vol 2 1850 1896 ISBN 978 1 108 06416 3 Alternate reprint edition Read Books Ltd 2011 Vol 1 ISBN 978 1 446 54706 9 Vol 2 ISBN 978 1 446 54512 6 Translated by Hadow Grace E Preface to vol 1 by W H Hadow Translated and abridged from the fourth German ed Cambridge University Press Original publishers English ed London Macmillan amp Co amp Leipzig Breitkopf amp Hartel 1913 Litzmann Berthold 1902 1908 Clara Schumann Ein Kunstlerleben Nach Tagebuchern und Briefen Vol 1 Madchenjahre 1819 1840 Vol 2 Ehejahre 1840 1856 Vol 3 Clara Schumann und ihre Freunde 1856 1896 Leipzig Breitkopf amp Hartel Litzmann Berthold ed 1927 reprint 1973 Clara Schumann Johannes Brahms Briefe aus den Jahren 1853 1896 Letters of Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms 1853 1896 Vol 1 1853 1871 Vol 2 1872 1896 Preface by Marie Schumann New York Vienna House ISBN 0844300543 OCLC 792836 Original publisher English ed New York Longmans Green amp Co 1927 Original publisher German ed Leipzig Breitkopf amp Hartel 1927 Murray Jenni 2018 A History of the World in 21 Women A Personal Selection Oneworld Publications ISBN 978 1 78 607411 9 Reich Nancy B 2001 Clara Schumann The Artist and the Woman Revised ed Ithaca NY Cornell University Press ISBN 978 0 8014 8637 1 Reich Susanna 1999 Clara Schumann Piano Virtuoso New York Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ISBN 0 618 55160 3 Walker Alan 1993 Franz Liszt The Weimar Years New York Cornell University Press pp 338 367 ISBN 0 8014 9721 3 Shaw George Bernard 1937 London Music in 1888 1889 as heard by Corno di Bassetto London Constable Schumann Eugenie 1925 English translation 1927 reprinted 1991 Erinnerungen The Schumanns and Johannes Brahms The Memoirs of Eugenie Schumann Translated by Busch Marie Lawrence MA Music Book Society ISBN 1 878156 01 2 Swafford Jan 1997 Johannes Brahms A Biography New York Alfred A Knopf Inc ISBN 0 679 42261 7 Encyclopedias Abraham Gerald E H 20 July 1998 Robert Schumann German composer Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 13 September 2019 Avins Styra 2002 Joseph Joachim Oxford Companion to Music Oxford University Press Bonds Mark 2001 Symphony II 19th century The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd ed London Macmillan ISBN 0 333 60800 3 Daverio John 2001 Schumann Robert Grove Music Online Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 gmo 9781561592630 article 40704 ISBN 9781561592630 Retrieved 24 June 2007 Hall George 2002 Schumann Clara Josephine The Oxford Companion to Music New York Oxford University Press Reich Nancy B 2001 Schumann nee Wieck Clara Josephine Grove Music Online Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 gmo 9781561592630 article 25152 ISBN 978 1 56159 263 0 Weingarten Joseph 1972 Interpreting Schumann s Piano Music In Walker Alan ed Robert Schumann The Man and His Music London Barrie amp Jenkins ISBN 978 0214668050 OCLC 655091460 Newspapers Allihn Karen 5 March 2019 Erinnerungen an Clara Schumann Alleinstehend berufstatig kinderreich Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in German Retrieved 13 September 2019 Altenmuller Eckart Kopiez Reinhard 2010 Suffering for Her Art The Chronic Pain Syndrome of Pianist Clara Wieck Schumann Neurological Disorders in Famous Artists Part 3 Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience Vol 27 Basel Karger Retrieved 26 September 2018 Daverio John 1997 Sounds Without the Gate Schumann and the Dresden Revolution Il Saggiatore musicale Galloway Janice 20 June 2002 Silent partner The Guardian Horne William 1997 Brahms s Op 10 Ballades and His Blatter Aus Dem Tagebuch Eines Musikers The Journal of Musicology Vol 15 no 1 JSTOR 763905 Kopiez Reinhard 28 November 2008 Clara Schumann s collection of playbills A historiometric analysis of life span development mobility and repertoire canonization PDF Poetics 37 50 73 doi 10 1016 j poetic 2008 09 001 Archived from the original PDF on 15 August 2021 Retrieved 27 September 2018 Negwer Ingo February 2002 Dr Hoch s Konservatorium seit Januar Musikakademie Bericht vom Festakt zur Verleihung des Status einer Akademie Online Musik Magazin in German Retrieved 12 September 2019 Pedroza Ludim R October December 2010 Music as Communitas Franz Liszt Clara Schumann and the Musical Work Journal of Musicological Research 29 4 Taylor amp Francis 295 321 doi 10 1080 01411890903475981 ISSN 0141 1896 S2CID 145104181 via EBSCO Host subscription required Popova Maria 21 February 2017 When a Friendship Is More Than Friendship The Tender Letters of Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms Brain Pickings Retrieved 15 September 2018 Reich Nancy B 1986 Clara Schumann Women Making Music The Western Art Tradition 1150 1950 Urbana and Chicago University of Illinois Press ISBN 0252012046 Riebsamen Hans 9 May 2019 Pianistin Clara Schumann Klavierstunde bei der eisernen Meisterin Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in German Retrieved 12 September 2019 Swafford Jan 26 April 2003 Bittersweet symphonies Brahms s affair with Clara Schumann was a sizzling mess that left his life in chaos and filled his music with yearning The Guardian Retrieved 8 October 2019 Worl Gayle 9 March 1997 Women of Historic Note The Washington Post Online sources Berliner Philharmoniker Clara Schumann und die Berliner Philharmoniker Zum 200 Geburtstag der Pianistin und Komponistin berliner philharmoniker de in German Berliner Philharmoniker Retrieved 9 October 2019 Braunstein Joseph 1971 Clara Schumann Michael Ponti piano LP liner notes Candide CE 31038 Buja Maureen 10 September 2015 Linds and Clarchens Women Musicians and National Currency interlude hk Interlude Retrieved 16 October 2019 The Clara Schumann Story The Loretta Young Show TV series Season 1 Episode 26 21 March 1954 Loretta Young actor Retrieved 16 October 2019 Dunsmore David R December 2013 Review Clara Schumann Three Romances for violin and piano Op 22 musicweb international com Fruhlingssinfonie Spring Symphony 1983 Motion picture in German Retrieved 16 October 2019 Geliebte Clara Beloved Clara 2008 Motion picture in German Helma Sanders Brahms director Retrieved 16 October 2019 a href Template Cite AV media html title Template Cite AV media cite AV media a CS1 maint others in cite AV media notes link Klassen Janina 2011 Schumann Clara Josephine sophie drinker institut de in German Bremen Sophie Drinker Institute Retrieved 12 September 2019 Nauhaus Julia M Clara Schumann nee Wieck 1819 1896 wife schumann portal de Translated by Ma Katharina Schumann Portal Retrieved 12 September 2019 Nauhaus Julia M Eugenie Schumann 1851 1938 daughter schumann portal de Translated by Ma Katharina Schumann Portal Retrieved 12 September 2019 Nauhaus Julia M Mariane Wieck Bargiel nee Tromlitz 1797 1872 mother of Clara Schumann schumann portal de Translated by Ma Katharina Schumann Portal Retrieved 7 October 2019 Paper Money Guaranty 15 May 2018 Clara Schumann German Mark pmgnotes com Paper Money Guaranty Retrieved 16 October 2019 Savage Mark 8 March 2017 Five forgotten female composers will be celebrated on BBC Radio 3 BBC Retrieved 9 October 2019 Schumann Clara 2001 Piano Music Selected and with an Introduction by Nancy B Reich Mineola NY Dover Publications ISBN 978 0486413815 Originally published 1836 1840 1845 1854 1855 Schumann Robert 1879 1893 Schumann Clara ed Robert Schumanns Werke Breitkopf amp Hartel Schumann Portal Clara Schumann s concert tours schumann portal de Schumann Portal Retrieved 9 October 2019 Schwarm Betsy 28 June 2013 Piano Concerto in A Minor Op 54 work by Schumann Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 12 September 2019 Song of Love 1947 Motion picture Katharine Hepburn actor a href Template Cite AV media html title Template Cite AV media cite AV media a CS1 maint others in cite AV media notes link Traumerei Dreaming 1944 Motion picture in German Harald Braun director a href Template Cite AV media html title Template Cite AV media cite AV media a CS1 maint others in cite AV media notes link Further reading editBeer Anna Sounds and Sweet Airs The Forgotten Women of Classical Music Chapter 6 Schumann pp 205 41 Oneworld Publications 2016 ISBN 978 1 78074 856 6 Boyd Melinda Gendered Voices The Liebesfruhling Lieder of Robert and Clara Schumann In 19th Century Music Vol 39 Autumn 1975 pp 145 62 Burk John N Clara Schumann A Romantic Biography Random House NYC 1940 Burstein L Poundie Their Paths Her Ways Comparison of Text Settings by Clara Schumann and Other Composers In Women and Music A Journal of Gender and Culture Vol 6 2002 pp 11ff Gates Eugene Clara Schumann A Composer s Wife as Composer Kapralova Society Journal 7 no 2 Fall 2009 1 7 Gould John What Did They Play The Changing Repertoire of the Piano Recital from the Beginnings to 1980 In The Musical Times Vol 146 Winter 2005 pp 61 76 Kuhn Dieter Clara Schumann Klavier Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag March 2009 ISBN 9783596142033 in German Makela Tomi Den Lebenden schulden wir Rucksichtnahme den Toten nur die Wahrheit Eine Einfuhrung in Friedrich Wiecks Welt der philisterhaften Mittelmassigkeit und besseren Salonmusik In Friedrich Wieck Gesammelte Schriften uber Musik und Musiker pp 15 49 Frankfurt am Main Peter Lang 2019 ISBN 978 3 631 76745 0 in German Rattalino Piero Schumann Robert amp Clara Varese Zecchini Editore 2002 ISBN 88 87203 14 8 in Italian Saremba Meinhard 2021 Clara Schumann Johannes Brahms und das moderne Musikleben 1st ed Hamburg Osburg Verlag ISBN 978 3 95510 259 3 Semerjian Ludwig Clara Schumann New Cadenzas for Mozart s Piano Concerto in D Minor Romantic Visions of a Classical Masterpiece Kapralova Society Journal 17 no 2 Fall 2019 1 9 Vloed Kees van der Clara Schumann Wieck De pijn van het gemis Soesterberg Netherlands Aspekt 2012 ISBN 9789461531773 in Dutch External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Clara Schumann nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Clara Schumann Free scores by Clara Schumann at the International Music Score Library Project IMSLP The Creative Art of Clara Schumann by Claire Flynn National University of Ireland thesis August 1991 Clara Schumann A Composer s Wife as Composer by Eugene Gates Kapralova Society Journal Clara Schumann website at Geneva College Clara Schumann pages at Schumann Portal website German and English versions March in Es dur on YouTube for piano duet Clara Schumann s last work Scherzo Nr 2 Op 14 on YouTube Clara Schumann Piano Trio in G minor played by Galos Piano Trio at St Martin in the Fields on 26 May 2015 on YouTube Portals nbsp Classical music nbsp Biography nbsp Music Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Clara Schumann amp oldid 1220575306, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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