The Clara Schumann Channel
Dedicated to one of the most influential composers and pianists of the Romantic Era.
Category: robert schumann
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“How men have to fight for a little freedom! When will the time come when all men will have equal justice?” – Clara’s diary, Dresden 1849 The Dresden Revolution There’s a weird myth that Clara Schumann was a staunch apolitical conservative. Which is easily disproved by her diary entries detailing the Dresden Revolution. Not…
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[CW: Depression, SI] Clara Wieck first learned about Robert’s ill health in a letter he wrote to her, a few months after their engagement, while she was on her first tour of Vienna. (His timing was far from ideal, poor Clara, but whatever.) He described to her experiences of suicidal ideation. She was terrified. At…
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To call Clara Schumann “the muse of Brahms” is a reductive stereotype. It’s like saying Wolfgang played piano, or Ludwig wrote nice tunes, or Pauline Viardot sang pretty. Those things are technically true, but as descriptors, they laughably miss the point. They are limiting and dismissive of the truth. If you’ve read Clara and Johannes…
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Clara Schumann is famous for “hating Liszt,” but that’s not exactly accurate. Her feelings about Franz Liszt were much more complex and changed over the course of her life. Their relationship, in its conflicts and commonalities, was much more nuanced than simply like / hate. Clara admired Franz a great deal, referring to him as…
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[CW: Suicide, depression, grief.] Robert Schumann’s attempted suicide was a tragedy on many levels. When he jumped in the Rhine, it was an inconsolable loss, not only for the musical world but for his family. Clara was six months pregnant, at the time, with their eighth child—a boy named after Felix Mendelssohn who would never…
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When Clara and Robert met, she was only 10 years old and he was 19. They loved each other madly. There is zero doubt their affections endured without waning throughout their sixteen year marriage. And on Clara’s part– she loved him another forty years, past his death to her own. There are no signs that…
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It’s pride month! So I can’t help digging into this question. And the answer is one giant YES! There was so much queer in Clara Schumann’s life– starting with her own husband! 1) Robert Schumann was probably bisexual. We’ll never know for sure, but the Peter Ostwald bio has a quote from a letter Mendelssohn…
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Clara Schumann (1819-1896), the Queen of the Piano, the Priestess of Art, was a powerful force in classical music’s Romantic Era. Her career as a composer and pianist shaped the piano repertoire as we know it and influenced the most prominent European musicians of the mid to late 19th century. Today, she’s most famous as…
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What are my research sources? Here’s a compilation of the sources I use for most of my tweets, posts, videos, etc. It’s not exhaustive as I’ve read more articles than I can remember. They’re not listed in alphabetic order (sorry librarians!), but in order of how frequently I use them or how relevant they are…
The Clara Schumann Channel 