The Clara Schumann Channel
Dedicated to one of the most influential composers and pianists of the Romantic Era.
Tag: Clara Schumann
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It’s official! I’m writing a new Clara Schumann biography for Pegasus Books entitled MADAME COMPOSER, to be published in 2026. I’m so grateful to Pegasus Books, to publisher Jessica Case, and my literary agent, Elias Altman at MMQA, for signing onto #TeamClara and for believing in my work. I am overjoyed at the privilege—thoroughly daunted by…
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Time for some romantic indulgence. I’ve written multiple posts, probably hundreds of tweets, emphasizing Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann’s professional relationship. But it was not strictly professional between them. It was also very personal. Music was love for Clara – thanks to her relationship with Robert – and that rubbed off on Johannes real fast.…
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Thanks for another wonderful year of Clara Schumann moments on social media, #TeamClara! Here’s a recap of some highlights:
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This post written in conjunction with research from Hensel Pushers. Composer and pianist, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel and Clara Wieck-Schumann had an uncanny amount in common. Their artistic lives worked in parallel during the 1830s and 40s, in separate cities without meeting until the last months of Hensel’s life. They promoted similarly undervalued repertoire, shared a deep…
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This story is classic. A historic day in music history, the day 20-year-old Johannes Brahms met the woman who would make his career and, in many ways, define the rest of his life. The story has been told and retold so many times, it’s hard to know what’s true anymore. The details of the day…
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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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Many of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms’s orchestral works have Clara Schumann’s fingerprints—quite literally—all over them. Her input is most obvious on Robert’s piano concerto and on Johannes’s first piano concerto, but third on the list of works she most influenced is, perhaps, Johannes’s German Requiem. Early seeds of the work are visible in Clara’s…
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One of the most searched questions about Clara is… What are Clara Schumann’s best works? Because Clara was an epically self-critical composer, (famously so) she didn’t publish anything unless she knew it was good—damn good. Her standards were impossibly high, so it’s no exaggeration to say there’s greatness in all of Clara Schumann’s works. But…
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“When I was 14, I studied composition… I recognized the kind of enthusiasm I had when I was that age. It made me feel so close to this person while studying the concerto.” ~Beatrice Rana For the NY Times article, Clara Schumann and Florence Price Get Their Due, I interviewed pianist, Beatrice Rana, who debuted…
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“The only way we can get institutions to do it is if the leaders take it really personally.” ~Yannick Nézet-Séguin For the NY Times article, “Clara Schumann and Florence Price Get Their Due At Carnegie Hall,” I spoke with Yannick Nézet-Séguin about WHY he’s doing programs like Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 and Clara Wieck’s…
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