Clara Schumann – art is the air I breathe

After her last concert on English soil, in London in 1888, the stage was transformed into a sea of flowers: having inspired the people of Britain with her art since 1856, the audience celebrated the famous German pianist with more than 150 bouquets of flowers. There is no question about it: born on 13 September 1819 in Leipzig in what is today the federal state of Saxony, Clara Schumann was a superstar of her time. And she was a self-assured woman with many facets to her life: child prodigy, virtuoso, wife, mother of eight, widow, teacher, composer and editor of her husband Robert Schumann’s works. At her last concert in England, she played his piano cycle Carnaval op. 9. 

Self-assured woman and superstar

“The practice of art is a large part of my self, it is the air I breathe,” Clara Schumann once noted. Perhaps it was music that saved her after she was separated from her mother on her fifth birthday: a pianist and singer herself – and most likely a self-assured woman – her mother had divorced, thereby forfeiting custody of her children under the law at the time. The sensitive daughter fell silent throughout all the years of quarrelling. But after moving in with her father, Leipzig music dealer and piano teacher Friedrich Wieck, she not only found her tongue again but also discovered new ways to express herself: on the piano.

Father stands between the lovers Clara and Robert

No wonder his father wanted to see this career continue unabated. When one of his pupils took an interest in Clara and she in him, Wieck was enraged and tried to get rid of the troublemaker – whose name was Robert Schumann. But he underestimated the enormous powers his daughter was endowed with. She dedicated her Opus 3 entitled Romance variée pour le piano to Schumann; in return, he dedicated his Impromptus op. 5 to her, in which he developed the theme from her piece. Wieck prohibited contact with Schumann, sending his daughter first to Vienna and then to Paris on a concert tour. In his efforts to prevent Clara from losing her artistic standing as a result of marriage, he brought a lawsuit against Schumann, whom he considered unworthy and an alcoholic – but it was all in vain. They became secretly engaged and after they had obtained court permission, the wedding took place on 12 September 1840. 

There is enough literature on this marriage between two artists to fill entire libraries. The early years in Leipzig, the continuation of her career against all odds, such as a husband who needed peace and quiet to compose, meaning that she couldn’t practise, the reconciliation with her father, the move to Dresden in 1844, six years later the move to Düsseldorf, where Robert Schumann took up a position as music director – every detail of Clara’s life, however small, is documented: in letters and diaries, in reports by contemporaries and concert reviews. They paint a picture of a woman trying to find fulfilment in her career and her family, writing to her friend Johannes Brahms: “I feel a sense of vocation.” 

Her relationship with her colleague Brahms, who was 14 years younger, has also been the subject of repeated debate. Might he have been the father of the youngest son Felix? Which brings us to Clara’s children in general. Only three survived their mother in good health. These included her daughters Marie and Eugenie, who went with her to Frankfurt in 1878 as assistants to the new “First Piano Teacher” at the newly founded conservatory there. The director called Clara “an exception”, saying: “I can probably count Mme Schumann herself as a man.” 

Clara Schumann’s most famous works

But no matter what contemporaries thought of her and what posterity has published about her: Clara Schumann’s importance as an artist is indisputable – as a pianist who introduced playing from memory on stage and always felt obliged to maintain unconditional fidelity to the composer’s intentions. She knew how to combine the very highest level virtuosity with a sense of lightness, with a repertoire consisting of more than 300 works by 37 composers. Of her own œuvre, comprising almost 50 works, the beautiful Piano Concerto op. 7 and the Piano Trio op. 17 are still performed from time to time. 

After the death of her husband in 1856, she focused on her work as a performer and teacher – for four decades, until she was buried in Bonn in 1896. “Make the most of the minutes,” she would often say to her children, “they are irretrievable”. She herself took this advice to heart with every fibre of her being.