Sarah Fritz is a musicologist, mezzo-soprano, and the creator of the Clara Schumann Channel platform. Her forthcoming biography of Clara Schumann entitled MADAME COMPOSER: The Virtuosic Genius of Clara Schumann will be published by Pegasus Books September 29, 2026 and in the UK by History Press in October.
Advanced praise for Madame Composer:
“I thought I knew Clara Schumann. Sarah Fritz brings us closer to the woman behind the legend, and she is even more remarkable than the myth.”
– Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera
“Madame Composer is a revelation and a reckoning — a work of meticulous scholarship and genuine fire that restores Clara Schumann not as a footnote to the men around her but as a central figure: a prodigy, a virtuosa, a composer of radical originality, and the woman who shaped classical music as we know it. Sarah Fritz has cracked open one of music history’s most consequential cover-ups, and she does it with a novelist’s instinct for scene and a historian’s precision. Fritz’s detective work is thrilling. She uncovers, for the first time, the melodies Brahms and Liszt borrowed from Clara and never credited. She doesn’t just restore Clara Schumann to her rightful place; she shows us, note by note, exactly how she was removed from it. The erasure of Clara Schumann is a story about how canons get made and who gets left out. Now, she finally has the biographer she deserves.”
– Elizabeth Winkler, Shakespeare Was a Woman—and Other Heresies
Contact
Please contact Sarah Fritz via email at ClaraSchumannChannel at gmail dot com for writing program notes, speaking engagements, and other consults inquiries. Her specialty topics include German Romantic music, the status of women composers in the industry, along with music by composers Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms.
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More about Sarah Fritz
Her writings on Clara Schumann are in numerous publications including the New York Times. She appears in the documentary Mozart’s Sister, broadcast around the world and on PBS. An in-demand guest speaker and lecturer, she presents her research at pre-concert talks, on radio shows, and in academic settings, including for the Philadelphia Orchestra, WWFM The Classical Network, and the book launch of Clara Schumann Studies for Cambridge University Press. Her passionate advocacy for historic women composers seeks to change the dialogue around classical music, challenging the misbelief that the only great composers in history are the famous canonized men. She is represented by Elias Altman at Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary Agents.
The Clara Schumann Channel is a blog resource, enhanced by popular social media platforms on Substack, Instagram, YouTube, and X-Twitter, dedicated to debunking myths around the infamous Madame Schumann. The platform is followed by radio hosts, academics, music industry professionals, and classical music fans around the world. With a modern feminist lens, Sarah places Clara Schumann’s life and music within the context of popular history. Her fresh perspective challenges traditional narratives around Clara’s composer status in the classical music canon, her professional influence on her husband Robert and her “beloved friend” Johannes Brahms, and the role of women in music history.
The Clara Schumann Channel platform is studied in public musicology courses, and Sarah’s articles are quoted in program notes and academic publications. She holds a master of music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a bachelors of music degree from Westminster Choir College. She also teaches on the faculty of the Westminster Conservatory, Rider University, in Princeton, New Jersey.
“What distinguishes Fritz’s work is the way in which she writes openly about Clara Schumann’s life and art debunking myths and capturing the wonders of her artistry in ways at once engaging and accessible, intellectual and empathetic. That her tweets and articles speak to a wide audience across scholarship, performance, and the industry pays testament to Fritz’s eminence as both an educator and interlocutor.”
~ Joe Davies, editor of Clara Schumann Studies from Cambridge University Press
Links to Articles, Lectures, and Interviews
New York Times article: “Clara Schumann and Florence Price Get Their Due at Carnegie Hall”
Philadelphia Orchestra’s pre-concert talk on Clara Wieck-Schumann’s Piano Concerto
Presentation at the launch of Clara Schumann Studies from Cambridge University Press, March 2022 (Sarah’s presentation begins at the video’s one hour mark.)
Interview on WWFM The Classical Network
“Advocating for the music of Clara Schumann” for VAN Magazine
Mozart’s Sister documentary trailer
Performance Bio
Under her singer hat as a mezzo-soprano, Sarah Fritz-Sensenig performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Symphonic Choir, including an appearance in the Oscar-nominated movie, Maestro, also heard the film’s Grammy winning soundtrack. With the symphonic choir, she performs yearly at Carnegie Hall, works with world-class musicians, and gives world premieres of works by composers like Gabriela Lena Frank and Kevin Puts. In her opera singer years, Sarah debuted with the New York Lyric Opera Theatre in the title role of Handel’s Alcina; other operatic roles include Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Nancy in Albert Herring, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, and Dido in Dido and Aeneas. Now, Sarah enjoys giving recitals with her pianist husband, especially singing the Lieder of her favorite composer, Clara Schumann. Also, as a pedagogue, she loves teaching amateurs how to sing and explore their love of music making.
There’s nothing I love more than answering questions about the endlessly fascinating Clara Schumann. My DMs are open on all social media platforms! Please contact me or email me at claraschumannchannel @ gmail.com.
The Clara Schumann Channel is an expanding project, also on TikTok, BlueSky @sarahfritz, Threads @sarahfritzwritr, and Reddit. Also signup for the newsletter on Substack:
The Clara Schumann Channel 