As an amazing child prodigy Clara Wieck was praised and fawned over by royalty and the artistic and intellectual elite of the time, from the Austrian emperor to Goethe and the Austrian poet Grillparzer. As a young woman her romance with and marriage to the charismatic and gifted Robert Schumann seemed to offer a unique new model for artistic partnership, as the couple traded musical ideas and shared compositional projects.
An eighth child died in infancy. And Clara was duly celebrated as the devoted wife and mother. Clara was the daughter of Marianne Tromlitz Wieck, a talented soprano and pianist, and Friedrich Wieck, an ambitious piano teacher and gifted businessman, owner of a piano rental and parts business in Leipzig.
Marianne, a former student of Wieck, contributed to his reputation through her concerts and teaching, but left the domineering, even abusive man when Clara was not quite five. Determined to capitalize on the then popular fashion of young female piano virtuosi, he set about turning his daughter into a child prodigy.
Yet such close monitoring also taught Clara practical tips that would prove useful in her adult life about managing concerts and touring, for example. NR In your Romanze I can hear all over again that we must become husband and wife […] Every one of your thoughts comes from my soul, just as I owe all of my music to you.
Schumann, Clara und Robert Schumann. Ed Eva Weissweiler. Vol 2, Critical ed. My piano playing is falling behind. This always happens when Robert is composing. There is not even one little hour to be found in the whole day for myself! Gerd Nauhaus. Moreover, to add to her responsibilities, Clara had given birth to a daughter Marie on September 1, , the first of what would be eight children Clara would bear.
He was more comfortable in the quiet surroundings of home, where he could work; moreover he had mixed feelings at seeing his wife applauded so publicly, especially before he became well known and celebrated himself. When Clara, by now an experienced concert organizer, did leave him to tour on her own, Robert fell into despondancy and depression. He reluctantly agreed to accompany her on an arduous tour of Russia in which Clara mastered with bravoura, but during which he endured serious physical and emotional suffering.
The family, which now included a second daughter, Elise, left the humming musical capital of Leipzig and moved to Dresden, possibly in hopes that a change to the quieter atmosphere would be salutary for Robert. Moreover, during the five years in Dresden Clara bore four more children and experienced one miscarriage.
Despite the fact that her own career took second place during these years, she still was an important source of family income, by giving lessons and through concerts in Dresden, Leipzig, and on tours to Vienna, Prague and Berlin.
Eventually they settled in an apartment which was spacious enough for Clara, for the first time, to have a room with her own piano where she could practice, even when Robert was composing. Along with his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim, Brahms would be among the most important contacts and supports of the Schumann famiily in the difficult months and years ahead. After mounting dissatisfaction with his performance, the city administrators informed Clara in November that he would be allowed to conduct only his own works; all other conducting responsibilities would be carried out by the assistant conductor.
He lived on there for two and a half more years with periods of greater and lesser lucidity. As a mother with a demanding performing career, Clara Schumann conscientiously tried to provide her children with an adequate education, even though it often meant sending them away from home from an early age, to relatives or boarding school — a common practice among middle class families in the 19 th century.
While she was concerned with their progress and problems, her actions and letters suggest that she was often not as sensitive to their emotional needs as they might have wished.
Clara Schumann died following a series of strokes, forty years after the death of her husband. He also had her schooled in composition and in foreign languages, complemented by long walks and physical exercise, which built the child's strength. At age nine, Clara gave her piano debut in the Leipzig Gewandhaus.
Soon afterward, Friedrich Wieck had his daughter's opus 1 published, "Four Polonaises. Father and daughter went on extended concert tours — first in Germany, later to Paris and other foreign destinations. Often lasting two or three months, the journeys in a coach were strenuous. Sometimes the piano had to be brought along.
Clara Wieck's playing was described as feisty and passionate. Those who met her in person came away with a different impression. Felix Mendelssohn described her as shy and quiet. In Franz Liszt called her "a very simple person, very well raised, no coquette, totally absorbed in her art, but in the most noble sense. Her concert programs, which often included her own works, must have been impressive. Among her pieces was an A Minor Piano Concerto filled with cascading runs and daring leaps on the keyboard, premiered by Clara Wieck on November 9, as a year-old.
German pianist Ragna Schirmer, who has performed original programs in the Clara Schumann anniversary year, admitted to being "exhausted" afterwards. Liszt, Mendelssohn, Goethe, as well as Paganini and Chopin knew the young girl. And: Robert Schumann. She was nine years old when they first met, he a year-old student of law living for a year in the Wieck household to take lessons from her famous father. Intimate friendship evolved into love when Clara was When Friedrich Wieck got wind of it, he forbade any sort of contact between the two, organizing concert tours for his daughter and supervising her day and night.
Secretly engaged to be married in August , the two fought for the right to marry in court. The court ruled in their favor, and Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck married on September 12, , one day before her 21st birthday. Robert Schumann initially hoped his wife would discontinue concertizing and concentrate on her duties as spouse.
Before long though, the couple's financial situation — and her determination — led to her comeback: Her first concert as Clara Schumann came in the autumn of If I did, I'd never forgive myself," she wrote.
Clara: the internationally celebrated pianist; Robert: the little-known composer. The couple banked completely on his compositional activities however, and because Robert needed peace and quiet in order to work, Clara had to strongly curtail her practicing. Her strongest wish was "that Robert can completely live in and for music and his pleasure, that no care can cast a shadow on his life as an artist. Despite 10 pregnancies and eight live births, Clara gave at least performances in their 14 years together.
Those performances sometimes took the couple far afield, to northern Germany , Russia , Vienna and the Netherlands On tour, Robert had to deal with feelings of inferiority at the side of his famous wife. She, for her part, played his works and made them famous to an international audience.
In her recitals, she promoted contemporary composers, particularly her Robert and young Johannes Brahms, as well as performing lesser-known music by Bach and D. It was through Joachim that the Schumanns first met Brahms, who became very close to the Schumann family. Tragically, Robert suffered a mental collapse in , attempted suicide, and was placed in an asylum, after which she never saw him again.
He died there two and a half years later at Had she composed more, Clara Schumann might well have risen to the artistic heights of her composer husband, who often encouraged her. Composing was just one small piece of her remarkable artistic life, but it is the main way audiences today can explore her rich legacy.
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