Music for Pianos

Life & Times

The music playing on this page is "Scherzo" Opus 10  by Clara Schumann

An article written by Dr Jill Halstead in the programme notes for a concert of music by Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel at the Royal Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool in March 1998.

From child prodigy to virtuoso pianist and composer, teacher, wife, mother, friend and inspiration to many of her contemporaries, Clara Schumann in the course of her life played many roles. As a girl born in an age when musical talent was considered only an asset in the marriage market, she went on to become one of the greatest performers of the century, competing alongside the likes of Liszt, Thalberg, Chopin and Rubenstein. Her long and illustrious career spanned over sixty years. Her influence on a whole generation, of composers and performers, not least Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, cannot be underestimated.

The Silent Child

The most important influence on Clara Schumann's early years was, without doubt, her father, Friedrich Wieck (1785-1873). He was a highly intelligent and ambitious man who first studied for the ministry. He came to music later in life, eventually becoming a piano teacher. By 1815, Wieck owned a business in Leipzig selling pianos and was renowned as a prestigious teacher of music. In 1816 Wieck married one of his most accomplished pupils, Marianne Tromlitz (1797-1872). In their seven years of marriage, Marianne gave birth to five children. Adelheid, born 1817 (who survived only a few months), followed by Clara (1819), Alwin (1821), Gustav (1823), and Victor (1824). Between concert engagements and household tasks, under the continued tutelage of Wieck, Marianne became a teacher and keyboard performer in her own right. The routine of numerous pregnancies coupled with teaching, practicing and performing, is a pattern of life Clara seems to have absorbed and later repeated.

From her birth on 13th September 1819, Clara Josephine Wieck was surrounded by music both inside and outside the home. Fredrich Wieck was enthused by the new breed of "star" performers, led by virtuoso Niccolo Paganini, who were sweeping Europe. His ambitions for his infant daughter were intense. He regarded her, as he did his wife, as an extension of himself, through them he could attain fame and fortune. Clara’s success as a great concert pianist would prove the value of his teaching method, any fame reflecting on his reputation as a pedagogue. (In later years, when the relationship between Clara and her father became strained, Wieck found another substitute in her step-sister Marie). Wieck was not only an extremely demanding teacher, but also a domineering, often aggressive husband. Consequently, the Wieck household was not a happy one and Marianne and Friedrich Wieck were divorced by 1825. Clara and the other children were assigned to the custody of her father from the age of five.

The first five years of Clara's life were spent primarily with her mother. The family diary reports the extraordinary fact that Clara did not speak and understood very little until she was more than four years of age. Even when she began to speak, her parents thought her hard of hearing because she appeared to be self-absorbed and unconcerned with what went on around her. In 1825 it was decided that contact with other children of her own age would improve Clara's speech. Formal piano lessons, with two other girls seemed to be a suitable way of including other children into Clara's routine. Soon after, Clara began to speak, but the 'deafness' did not totally disappear until she was eight. Wieck tailored Clara's studies for maximum effect, he wrote small pieces expressly for her, encouraging her to concentrate on position, musical phrasing and a singing tone. By the age of seven, she was at the piano three hours a day. Apart from the scales and melodic exercises, she played compositions by Horr, Spohr, Kreutzer and Diabelli. Due to the tremendous progress she had made before she was nine, Clara became a member of the music salon that met regularly at the Wieck's home. On these occasions, Clara became the centre of attention, playing old works and introducing new ones at the piano. Shortly after her eighth birthday, she was technically advanced enough to play Mozart's Piano Concerto in E flat major, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, at a concert at home. Clara's first public appearance was at the prestigious Gewandhaus Concert Hall in October 1828. Although her part in the concert was small, she played the treble in Kalkbrenner's Variations Opus 94, she merited a mention in the review of the concert in Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung.

[...] it was especially pleasing to hear the young, musically talented Clara Wieck, just nine years old, perform [...] We may entertain the greatest hopes for this child, who has been trained under the direction of her experienced father.

The successful year of 1828 ended with Clara's first attempt at composition, a waltz.

During her childhood years of concertising, Friedrich Wieck saw to it that Clara acquired a first rate musical education. She studied theory, harmony, composition, orchestration and voice, with prestigious teachers like Heinrich Dorn, Christian Weinlig and Karl Reissiger.

In 1829 Clara met and played for Niccolo Paganini. He was at the height of his fame and an astounding player. The meeting left a deep and powerful impression on Clara. Here, she saw the glittering star her father would like her to emulate. She recorded in her diary,

I played my Polonaise in E flat, which he liked very much. He told father I had a vocation for art because I had feeling.

Clara was, as yet, unknown beyond German borders and in February 1832 Wieck decided it was time for Clara to go to Paris. Various meetings were arranged, the highlight being an introduction to Chopin, who received Clara with much warmth. Chopin listened attentively to her playing and marveled at the mastery with which she rendered some of his own most difficult compositions.

It was on their return to Leipzig that Clara first met Robert Schumann, at the time he was eighteen years old, she was only nine. Schumann first came to Leipzig to study law at the University. Being a gifted child in music and literature, he was encouraged to be the obedient son and ignore his real love and study for the far more stable profession of law. However, he attended few lectures. Most of his time was spent playing and improvising at the piano, studying and listening to Schubert and Beethoven. In March 1828, Schumann met Friedrich Wieck and heard Clara play. He was very impressed by her musicality and technical prowess and so applied to Wieck for piano lessons. Wieck soon realised that Schumann had many weaknesses (Schumann's own diaries and letters chronicle adolescent enthusiasm for girls, drinking to excess, smoking and total mismanagement of money), and a strict set of rules and requirements were agreed before he was accepted for lessons.

Schumann moved into the Wieck family home as a lodger, and at this time his relationship with Clara was that of brother and sister. When Schumann moved out in 1833, it instigated a change in their relationship, and they began to write to each other daily. The ties that bound them together were musical as well as emotional; Clara was already accepted as a great interpreter of Schumann's works and they spent much time together.

Wieck soon realised what was happening, and though he admired Schumann he did not want him, or any other man, for a son-in-law. From the beginning it had been his dream to turn Clara into the greatest pianist of the century, in this plan there was no room for marriage which he believed would effectively end Clara’s musical career. Wieck decided to take action. He sent Clara away to Dresden for singing lessons and tried to distract Schumann by introducing him to Ernestine von Fricken, one of his other pupils. For a while the plan worked and there was even a rumored engagement between Schumann and von Fricken. Despite these attempts at separation Robert and Clara had fallen in love. Whilst in Dresden Clara outpoured her emotions in composition. She completed her Premier Concerto for piano, which was first performed under the direction of Mendelssohn, on November 9th 1835 at the Gewandhaus.

On her return from Dresden, Clara started to see Robert in secret, when Wieck eventually found out, he was outraged. Immediately all ties were broken with Schumann and the young couple were not allowed any contact. Despite her personal problems Clara’s career continued unabated with her Vienna debut in October 1837. Here, she was honoured as never before, by royalty, as well as musicians. Editions were dedicated to her and publishers fought for the privilege of publishing her works. She was named an honorary member of the prestigious Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and her repertoire was considered of the most impressive proportions.

Marriage and Motherhood

Clara had always been a compliant and obedient daughter and it was very difficult for her to disobey her fathers wishes, but over the next two years, to get her beloved Robert, she took her first faltering steps alone. Eventually disheartened by Wieck’s obsession to keep them apart, Robert and Clara decided to apply for judicial consent to marry ahead of Clara's coming of age. After much legal wrangling they married on September 12th 1840. The first anniversary of the marriage saw the birth of their first child, Marie Schumann, in September 1841. Over the next thirteen years Clara gave birth to seven more children. Evidently the later children did not receive the whole-hearted reception accorded to the first.

Life as a wife and mother was, at first, the source of much emotional fulfillment for Clara, but it also created an equal amount of frustration. Schumann would have been happy to live quietly with Clara caring for the children and home; her performances being limited to salon concerts in the homes of a few close friends. Clara, however, needed to perform. She became restless and unhappy without the adoration and admiration of the public. To cut her off from it destroyed her very personality, her very soul.

Without doubt Clara's playing and composing suffered in direct parallel with her growing domestic responsibilities. She found it difficult to find time to practice, as her playing disturbed Schumann working in the next room. She lamented:

My piano playing is falling behind. This always happens when Robert is composing. There is not even one little hour in the whole day for myself. If only I don't fall too far behind... I cannot do anything with my composing - I would sometimes like to strike my dumb head.

She did find time to write three songs, on texts by Heinrich Heine, which she presented to Schumann as a gift in 1841.

Amazingly, by 1842 Clara had organized a full scale renewal of her solo career. Determined that motherhood should not necessarily tie her down, she took on wet nurses. Clara composed, toured, played and was feted as in the old days before marriage. She accepted all invitations to perform, fifteen concerts at least between January and April 1842.

Clara's career created problems which started to put a strain on the marriage. At this time a woman, not even a married woman, could travel alone. Schumann had to accompany Clara on most of her tours – a role he did not enjoy. He was uncomfortable about leaving his home and children. The difficulties of travel robbed him of his energy, concentration, and above all the peace and stability he needed to compose, often he became ill and suffered serious bouts of depression. Clara, however, managed to ignore these warning signals continuing to practice, perform and sight-see. Throughout the Russian tour of 1844, Robert filled a pageboy role, trailing in the shadow of his wife's glory. In St. Petersberg a somewhat ill informed admirer of Clara’s greeted Robert with the words, "Ah, the fortunate Herr Schumann. Do tell us, are you musical?"

In the Schumann's many disputes over Clara's career, the question of money loomed large. They both knew that Clara could make more in one three week tour, than Schumann obtained, from composing and editing, in a year. Eventually, a solution was found where Schumann could stay at home, whilst Clara would go out on the concert tours accompanied by a friend from Bremen. However, being at home without Clara made Schumann lonely and depressed. Clara toured Denmark, from March 20th to April 18th 1842, performing seven times in Copenhagen, her reception was tremendous and she enjoyed great acclaim everywhere she played. Meanwhile, Robert suffered at home, his letters to Clara show his desolate feelings.

I am calmer now and a little bit more used to our lonely life... may the sacrifice be worth it and bring you satisfaction as an artist.

Schumann's spirits lifted when Clara settled back in Leipzig in April 1842. He was working with great intensity, so again, Clara was unable to practice or compose during this period. Following Schumann's periods of intense creativity he became depressed, these periods of illness and depression became more frequent. For a long time Clara had ignored his behavior, but as his depressions deepened she realised something had to be done. Clara wrote to her father in Dresden, asking for advice about the situation. His reply urged the young family to move to Dresden, which they did during Christmas 1844.

During the Dresden years Clara's amazing health and stamina carried her forward as she tried to continue her concert career; aided her husband artistically, emotionally and financially; supervised a household that included three servants; gave piano lessons and composed her best works. During the first two years in Dresden she produced her Preludes and Fugues for piano (Opus 16), the Trio (Opus 17), and a number of still unpublished works. Clara drove herself unstintingly to satisfy all the demands placed on her by her family, in addition, to her own artistic ambition. In July 1847, after a year that included; concert tours in Vienna and Berlin, a Schumann festival in Zwickau, the death of her youngest child and the start of a new pregnancy, Clara wrote:

I am lazy, but I cannot help it because I am always ill and terribly weak. Oh! if I could only work, that is my one sorrow.

In early 1850 Schumann accepted a post in Düsseldorf, the job offered many benefits, including a fixed salary. The fame of Robert as a composer and Clara as a celebrated pianist had preceded them. From her arrival Clara was honoured as an artist in her own right. In January 1853 the Schumann's moved into a large apartment on Bilkerstrasse. For the first time in their married life, they owned a house big enough for them both to work comfortably, and with rooms enough for their six children. Clara took advantage of the privacies of the new house to revive her composing skills. of your order within three months she wrote the pieces that were to be her last works. Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann (Opus 22) and six songs with texts by Hermann Rollet (Opus 23). She wrote:

When I can work regularly I feel once more really in my element. A quite different feeling comes over me, lighter and freer and everything seems to become brighter and cheerful. Music is a large part of my life, and when I must do without it, it is as if I were deprived of bodily and mental vigour.

Although long concert tours were not possible, because of her many young children and continuing pregnancies, Clara still performed in Düsseldorf, Bonn, Cologne and Krefeld as frequently as possible. One pregnancy between the birth of Eugenie, the seventh, and Felix, the eighth child, ended in miscarriage in August 1852. Even with several servants and wet nurses, the pressures on the artist-mother were immense.

September 1853 brought Clara's thirty-fourth birthday, soon after she found she was pregnant, yet again, and lamented in her diary.

My last good years are passing my strength too. I am more discouraged than I can possibly say.

At this difficult time an element of hope came into the Schumann home; Johannes Brahms. He arrived in Düsseldorf in September 1853 from Hamburg. Brahms stayed with the Schumann's well into the spring of 1854, calling daily and spending long evenings at their piano. One of his first requests was that Clara should give him piano lessons.

Robert Schumann’s Mental Breakdown

Schumann's final fatal breakdown began early in 1854. He now had to sleep alone, with the door to his room locked, for fear of Clara and the children's safety. The final straw came when Schumann attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine on February 26th 1854. On 4th March, he was transferred to an asylum at Endenich. Clara was not allowed to visit him for the next two and a half years. Only two days before Schumann’s death in July 1856 were the couple reunited. On hearing the news Clara recorded in her diary, "so all happiness is gone from me with his going [...] another life has begun for me." During Schumann’s confinement and subsequent death, Brahms became a great support to Clara, they saw each other everyday and when they were apart they corresponded by letter. Brahms stayed on in Düsseldorf composing and trying to make a little money by teaching. His main job, however, was helping Clara's housekeeper and servants with her children, only gradually did Clara perceive that his affection had turned to love.

Clara remained in Düsseldorf with her children until after the birth of her eighth and last child Felix, in June 1854. Soon after she threw herself headlong into her concert career. Apart from the need to focus her mind away from her problems, the tour had a more practical function of easing her financial situation. The extent of her restlessness can be seen in her relentless schedule, between 1854-1856 she toured Belgium, Holland, Austria, Hungary, England and Denmark. Clara continued to tour until, at a triumphant concert in Munich, she strained a tendon in her left arm, this grew steadily worse and she was forced to cancel engagements. After recovering from her injury Clara spent 1859-1861 on increasingly extensive concert tours. She was acclaimed everywhere, securing her reputation as one of the greatest pianists of the century.

Clara's children remained a great source of worry throughout her life. Many of them suffered ill health and premature deaths. Her son Ludwig suffered, like his father, with mental illness. He spent thirty-one years of his life confined in a mental hospital, during which time Clara visited him twice only. In 1884, her other son Ferdinand, and his wife, were diagnosed with terminal illnesses, leaving Clara, then aged 65, to take responsibility their six children. Throughout her life Clara seems to have become emotional very remote from all her children. This was shown vividly in the death of Julie, her third daughter. Julie died in 1872, whilst pregnant with her third child. On 10th November, when Clara received news of her death, she told no-one and went ahead with the concert scheduled for that night. Throughout her years of concertising Clara drove herself relentlessly, no amount of physical or emotional pain stopped her - music and performance were her very life blood. Up until 1873, Clara toured from September to May with few stops in between. After 1873, however, she was forced to slow down slightly as she had become plagued by pains in her arms and other minor illnesses.

Among the musical highlights of her later years were the Bonn Music Festival of 1873 (here she played Schumann's Piano Concerto), and her 50th and 60th Jubilee Concerts. In 1878, she took up a permanent teaching position at the Frankfurt Conservatory. Her new position did not, however, stop her from touring and over the next nine years she toured England, Holland, and Switzerland. During the last decade of the life Clara was plagued with arthritis in her hands, hearing difficulties and growing infirmity. Fearful of the future she wrote in 1894, "What will become of me if I cannot play any more." Nevertheless, until she was incapacitated by a stroke in March 1896, she continued to play, improvise, edit and arrange. She died peacefully on May 20th, 1896.

Clara Schumann’s influence on Robert Schumann

Decked with her name, my name shall rise and then our blended harmonies will thrill the angels in the skies.

Robert Schumann Vienna 1838

Clara played a huge part in Robert Schumann’s life. Through his many psychological turmoil's she supported him emotionally and cared for him physically, however, her influence on his life goes much further than a warm and compassionate partner. Clara had direct impact on Schumann’s musical life in two distinct ways. First, as a renowned concert pianist she played a prime role in introducing Schumann’s music across Europe. Her immense reputation secured an interested and appreciative audience for Schumann’s music. Obviously, Clara had first hand knowledge of Schumann’s intentions in each work and executed them accordingly. Second, and probably the most direct influence of Clara on Robert's music, is his use of direct quotes from her own compositions. These can be found in some of his best known works. For Schumann, Clara was the ear to which his music was attuned; the hands that would eventually bring it to life. Musical representations of Clara often functioned as an organising principle in his compositions.

The expression of Robert's love for Clara is seen most clearly in his early piano compositions. Schumann himself wrote in 1837, "I have but one thought to depict everywhere in letters and chords, CLARA". As early as Schumann’s opus 5, the flow of ideas between himself and Clara is evident. The Impromptus on a Romance by Clara Wieck, was written in 1833. Its principle theme was taken from Clara's Romance Varié, opus 3. Schumann’s Piano Sonata in F sharp minor, opus 11, is dedicated; "To Clara from Florestan and Eusebius". Robert worked on the sonata during their separation, he wrote to her that the work was, "One entire heart's cry for you, in which your theme appears in all its possible forms." The opening of the sonata is taken from, Le Ballet des Revenants, from Clara's opus 5.

Davidsbündlertänze, opus 6, was composed in the autumn of 1837 - a year of mixed fortunes for Robert. By this point he was banned from seeing Clara, yet on 14th August they were secretly engaged. The work begins with a direct quotation from Clara's Soirees Musicales no.5, opus 6, written in 1836. This work was chosen specifically because it was the work that she had written when they were last together.

Of Novelletten, composed in 1838, Schumann wrote to Clara,

I have composed a shocking amount for you, egmont stories, family scenes with your father, a wedding and I have called the whole Novelletten.

Again, Schumann quotes directly from Clara's works. In the section marked Stimme aus der Ferne (voice from afar), the theme is taken from Clara's Nocturne, opus 6. It also uses the same harmonic progressions, although in a different key.

The forty year friendship of Clara Schumann and Brahms has been subjected to much speculation, often the accounts of the couple’s growing relationship overemphasizes the "passionate" and ignores the deeper personal and artistic bonds between them. There is no doubt that they felt a deep love for each other, but all evidence points to a platonic relationship. The basis of their enduring friendship lay in the musical and personal interaction. Clara was the inspiration and guide for much of Brahms' music and the sharer of his genius, as she had been for Schumann. The twenty-year-old Brahms made a deep impression on both Robert and Clara and an intimate friendship developed between the young master and the two great artists. These feelings first found expression in Brahms' Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann, opus 9. The original manuscript bears the title, "Little variations on a theme of his, dedicated to her". The young man's devotion is expressed in the choice of the theme which is taken from Schumann's Bunte Blätter, no.4, opus 99. In the tenth variation he managed to weave in the theme from Clara's Romance Varié, opus 3. This is also the theme used in Schumann's Impromptus on a theme by Clara Wieck, (No.1 bar 17).

When Brahms heard of Schumann's growing illness and hospitalization, he rushed to be with Clara. He remained with her in Düsseldorf, although he had no opportunities for advancement there. In effect, the two years following Robert's suicide attempt were virtually sacrificed for Clara and her children. It seems only too natural, that the reverent friendship which Brahms at first felt for her, should gradually have changed to love. He then became torn, between his love for Clara on the one hand, and his wish to remain true to his friend and benefactor, whose recovery he desired with all his heart. These stormy moods are reflected in the somber and passionate first period of his musical life, often referred to as his Sturm and Drang period.

In 1856, after Schumann's death, Brahms moved away from Clara, at which point he started sending compositions to her for criticism. Of his 122 compositions later published with opus numbers, he had asked for her advice, reactions and comments on at least 82. The close musical bonds continued to the end of Clara's life. In 1893, he referred to his opus 119 as, "your and my little pieces". Both publicly and privately Brahms acknowledged his indebtedness for her support, advice, criticism and friendship. Even as a young man when he had little patience with lesser musicians, he appreciated her unique qualities. He honoured her by programming several of her works in the 1850s including her Trio, opus 17 (1854), the unpublished Volkslied, (1856) and her Drei Romanzen, no.1, opus 21 (1856). Brahms was devastated by Clara’s death and almost immediately his own health started to fail and he died April 3rd 1897, less than eleven months after Clara. Clara Schumann's impact on Brahms is often underestimated, but she was undoubtedly a major force throughout his life, in his own words;

The most beautiful experience of my life, its greatest wealth and its noblest content.

10/05/08

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