Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann (ca.1890)

Clara Schumann (née Clara Josephine Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era. She was the wife of composer Robert Schumann.

Quotes by Schumann

• How much one has to do to leave town with a few dollars! ...I arrive home, dead tired, at 11 or 12 o'clock [at night], gulp a mouthful of water, lie down and think, "Is an artist much more than a beggar?" Yet, art is a beautiful gift. What, indeed, is more beautiful than to clothe one’s feelings in sound, what a comfort in sad hours, what a pleasure, what a wonderful feeling, to provide an hour of happiness to others. And what a sublime feeling to pursue art so that one gives one’s life for it.
  • Letter from Clara Wieck to Robert Schumann (Spring 1838)

• I’ve been playing the songs by Liszt, with which you so surprised me, with great enthusiasm, especially “Gretchen,” “Erlkönig,” and “Sei mir gegrüßt.” Is Liszt coming to Vienna in the summer? Thalberg as well? Is he still coming to Leipzig as promised? Liszt as well? - What is Mrs. von Cibbini doing? Lickl, Vesque von Püttlingen, Fischhof?
  • Letter from Clara Wieck to Herr von Doppler, asking about a number of composers and musicians (14 Jul 1838)

• Music is now quite another thing for me than it used to be. How blissful, how full of longing it sounds; it is indescribable ... I could wear myself out now at the piano, my heart is eased by the tones and what sympathy it offers! ... Oh, how beautiful music is; so often it is my consolation when I would like to cry.
  • Letter from Clara Wieck to Robert Schumann (Aug 1838)

• I stood at the body of my dearly loved husband and was calm; all my feelings were of thankfulness to God that he was finally free, and as I knelt at his bed I had such a holy feeling. It was as if his magnificent spirit hovered above me, oh–if he had only taken me with him!
  • Diary entry (29 July 1856)

• My heart bled as I said goodnight to Felix and went to the concert. The contrast was so dreadful. Throughout the entire concert I saw only him, his emaciated body, his lifeless appearance, and alas, his lack of breath–it was horrible. And yet I played quite well, without even one wrong note!
  • Diary entry about a performance Schumann gave two days before her youngest son died (Feb 1879)

Quotes about Schumann

• With the exception of Madame Schumann there is no woman and there will not be any women employed in the Conservatory. As for Madame Schumann, I count her as a man.
  • Joachim Raff, Director of the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt (1879)

• Miss Fanny Davies, who was studying with Madame Schumann at the same time as myself, is a very good example of easy muscular movement and finely developed finger technique. Leschetizky was a fine teacher; so was Liszt (when he took the trouble). L. Deppe and Caland were the last exponents of this perfectly simple and natural way of playing. For simple and natural it is, as is proved by the fact that all great concert pianists of today play in this way, whether they themselves realise it or not. (I was told that Backhaus, on being asked how he did it, replied that he didn't know.)
  • Marie Fromm, "Some Reminiscences of My Music Studies with Clara Schumann", The Musical Times, Vol. 73, No. 1073 (Jul. 1, 1932), pp. 615-616

• Clara was sort of a modern woman in many ways, suffering the tension between her career and home life, because it was very important for her to keep playing concerts. On the other hand, she was [Robert] Schumann's wife and he wanted her around; he hated it when she traveled. But she was very much his great muse and inspiration, and virtually everything he wrote for the piano, Clara would have been the first to play.
  • NPR Morning Edition music commentator Miles Hoffman (2010)