The Other Manuscript

Happy International Women’s Day! I thought I’d start this blog off with everyone’s favourite 19th century pianist (and perhaps composer), Clara Schumann. Here are three of my favourite C Schumann pieces:

Liebst du um Schonheit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=920tkjbCCNQ Liebeszauber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JB3hY3ZQkw Scherzo No.2 in C minor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7f9SoDuHjY

Clara Josephine Wieck, born 13 September 1819, was a German child prodigy, celebrity concert pianist, composer and teacher.

Clara Wieck Schumann had an incredible life. She had a concert career spanning 61 years, composed 23 works, bore 8 children, premiered and popularised many important works of the composers of her time, married a man who needed a lot of care and was also the main earner for her family, at a time where not many woman could be.

At 8, she began her concert career, with her first public piano recital at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, an extremely popular and prestigious concert hall. A man remarked on her incredible playing and when he learned it was her own father who was her teacher, begged to be taught by him. Her father agreed and the pupil moved into the family home. This man was 19 year old Robert Schumann, Clara’s future husband.

At 12, Clara was undertaking an international solo tour, appearing alongside Nicolo Paganini in concert in Paris. She also published her first composition, 4 Polonaises, Opus 1. Throughout her early teens Clara composed one of her most famous works, Piano Concerto in A minor, which was premiered at the Leipzig Gewandhaus at aged 16, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn, with herself as the soloist. Isata Kanneh-Mason, who recorded all of Clara’s works for her solo album Romance in 2019, said of the piece “The piano writing is fiendishly difficult…One can see what a virtuoso she must have been – it’s full of enormous leaps and crazy octave passages. It seems a very mature piece and sometimes I can’t believe how young she was when she wrote it.”

At 18, while on another international tour, Clara performed in Vienna and was named “Royal and Imperial Chamber Virtuosa”, Austria’s highest musical honour. She was the youngest person and only woman to receive this honour. At this age Clara had started a relationship with Robert Schumann which, when her father found out, forbid Robert from seeing Clara again. Any correspondence that Clara received from Robert was took by her father and burned. To counteract this, the couple used their friends to carry letters to each other.

At 20, Clara and Robert were married. The couple went through a lengthy court battle with her father as he did not want the couple to be married. At this time, women were their father’s property so without her father’s consent, Clara and Robert could not legally wed.

At 23, Robert presented Clara with a published copy of Liebesfruhling for her birthday, the song cycle they had both written pieces for. Robert wrote nine while Clara wrote three, with one of her most well known songs Liebst du um Schonheit, being in the cycle. The couple were extremely close, even sharing a marriage diary.

At 24, Clara went on another tour with Robert accompanying her. She was invited to Russia for four months as she was now the most famous pianist of her time. Robert did not do well being known as just Clara’s husband , as all the attention of this trip was on Clara. One person even asked the couple “and does Mr Schumann play?”. This trip exacerbated Robert’s mental and physical health, something that was already declining. He composed nothing on this trip. The marriage diary was ended after this trip.

At 35, due to a severe mental health episode, Robert was put in an asylum and the doctors did not allow Clara to see him for two years. Even sadder, when she finally saw him four days before his death, he did not recognise her as he was incoherent and had been starving himself.

At only 37, Clara lost her husband. Family and friends expected to Clara to stay with them for comfort, however she continued to tour internationally, promoting Robert’s work. After his death she did not compose much but she did say that when she toured she had to constantly repeat her Scherzo No.2 in C Minor, Opus 14 as her audiences loved it so much.

At 59, she accepted a position at Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt where she taught until she was 72. She continued to edit and arrange Robert’s work.

At 76, Clara Wieck Schumann passed away. She was buried, as per her wish, next to her husband.

Clara was a trailblazer in every sense of the word. She performed her pieces from memory, something she pioneered as it is today standard. She programmed pieces by prominent, living composers, which set her apart from the pianists as before Clara, it was common for pianists to perform technical pieces. Her choosing these pieces by new, unknown composers and sandwiching them between what the audience wanted and expected to here also started how we programme recitals, with contemporary music being paired with the canon in many programmes. She also performed in the advanced stages of her pregnancy when women at that time would not leave the house when they were visibly pregnant. Clara nowadays is most famous for being the wife of Robert Schumann and while that was something she was happy to be, she was and is just so much more.