Schumann, Clara (1819-1896)

Schumann, Clara

PIANIST, COMPOSER (GERMANY)

BORN 13 Sep 1819, Leipzig, Sachsen: Hause "Hohe Lilie", Neumarkt - DIED 20 May 1896, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen
BIRTH NAME Wieck, Clara Josephine
CAUSE OF DEATH stroke
GRAVE LOCATION Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen: Alter Friedhof (Abteilung IV, Grabnummer 860)

Clara Wieck was the daughter of pianist and piano teacher Friedrich Wieck (1785-1872) and Marianne Wieck-Tromlitz (1797-1872), a pianist and a singer. A younger brother, Alwin, was born in 1821 but her parents divorced in 1825. Her mother soon married the piano teacher Adolph Bargiel and moved with him to Berlin. Her father started teaching Clara when she was only five years old. She impressed her surroundings by playing difficult piano pieces by head when she was sixteen. In 1828 she made her public debut at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. In the same year Wieck married Clementine Fechner, who was twenty years his junior. Also in 1828, Robert Schumann started piano lessons with Friedrich Wieck.

Clara and her father went on concert tours to Hamburg, Paris and other cities. She played for Goethe, met Paganini, became friendly with Liszt and was supported by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. When Clara and Schumann started to spend more time together around 1935, Wieck tried to keep them apart by taking her to Dresden in 1837. But Clara and Robert entered into a secret engagement on August 14, 1837 and on September 13, 1837 Schumann asked for her hand. Wieck refused boldly and Clara left for Vienna where Emperor Francis I called her 'Wundermädchen' (wondergirl).

In 1839 Clara asked for legal permission to marry Schumann. She left her father's house and lived with friends and with her mother until they were married on 12 September 1840 in Schönefeld near Leipzig. They lived at Inselstrasse 5 in Leipzig (now Inselstrasse 18 and a museum). In 1841 their daughter Marie was born and in 1843 another daughter, Elise. In 1843 they were reconciled with Wieck. Clara and Robert travelled to Russia in 1844 for concerts. In December 1844 they moved from Leipzig to Dresden. In 1846 they travelled to Vienna, Brno and Prague for concerts. They had four more children between 1845 and 1849.

In June 1849 they fled Dresden for the revolution. At the time Clara was once more pregnant. They returned in June 1849. In 1850 the Schumanns moved to Düsseldorf, where Robert became musical director. Soon Clara gave concerts in Düsseldorf and Cologne.

In 1854 their last child Felix was born. By that time Robert Schumann suffered from a mental illness that was probably caused by syphilis. He died in 1856. Clara's contacts to the young Johannes Brahms, whom she had met in 1853, became closer and he was probably in love with her. Details are unknown because Clara and Brahms destroyed many letters they wrote to each other between 1853 and 1858. Certain is that he lived with her in Düsseldorf for a while.

Clara sent most of her children to relatives. She moved with her children to her mother in Berlin in 1857 and lived in Berlin until 1863. In tht year she moved to Lichtenthal (now part of Baden-Baden) in 1863. Several successful concert tours followed. In 1864 she toured Russia once more. Like her husband when he was still alive, Clara did not like the music of Richard Wagner and she called the enthousiasm for his music 'a disease that sweeps across a country and takes away the best people'. In 1882 she attended "Das Rheingold" but it bored her.

In 1873 she moved back to Berlin, where her sons Ferdinand and Felix lived. She didn't feel well in Berlin and arm pain prevented her from performing from 1873 tot 1875. From 1878 onwards she lived in Frankfurt am Main, where she became first piano teacher at the new conservatory. In Frankfurt she gave her last concert on March 12, 1891. She died suffered two strokes and she died on 20 May of that year. She was buried with her husband in Bonn.

Family
• Father: Wieck, Friedrich
• Daughter: Schumann, Julie
• Son: Schumann, Felix
• Husband: Schumann, Robert (1840-1856, Schönefeld, Sachsen (near Leipzig): village church)

Related persons
• was a friend of Arnim, Gisela von
• is half-brother/half-sister of Bargiel, Woldemar
• visited Baudissin, Sophie von
• was a friend of Brahms, Johannes
• performed with Clauss-Szarvady, Wilhelmine
• was teacher of Goldschmidt, Otto
• performed with Hellmesberger, Josef (senior)
• was a friend of Joachim, Amalie
• performed with Joachim, Joseph
• was visited by Lehmann, Liza
• was painted by Lenbach, Franz von
• performed with Liszt, Franz
• cooperated with Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix
• visited Oriola, Maximiliane, Gräfin von
• knew Radecke, Robert
• knew Reinecke, Carl
• visited Schadow-Hasenclever, Sophie
• supported Smetana, Bedrich
• knew Soldat-Röger, Marie
• was a friend of Stockhausen, Elisabeth von
• knew Thalberg, Sigismund
• was a friend of Viardot-Garcia, Pauline
• disliked the work of Wagner, Richard
• was a friend of Wasielewski, Alma von

Events

12/5/1824	Clara Wieck's mother Mariana leaves her husband Friedrich Wieck [Wieck, Friedrich]
17/9/1824	Clara Wieck returns to her father. Her mother had left her father in May and she had spent the summer with her mother. But she came into the custody of her father because she was five years old now. [Wieck, Friedrich]
27/10/1824	Clara Wieck starts piano lessons by her father Friedrich Wieck [Wieck, Friedrich]
20/1/1828	First public performance of Clara Wieck at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig
31/3/1828	Robert Schumann meets Clara Wieck. At the occasion he heard her play the piano. [Schumann, Robert]
3/7/1828	Friedrich Wieck marries Clementine Fechner. He had divorced his first wife Mariane Tromlitz in 1825. [Wieck, Friedrich]
0/8/1828	Robert Schumann starts his piano lessons under Friedrich Wieck [Schumann, Robert][Wieck, Friedrich]
6/3/1830	Clara Wieck starts her private concerts in Dresden. They would continue until 7 April 1830.
14/5/1830	Concert by Thalberg in Leipzig. The 10-year old Clara Wieck was in the audience. Two days before she had played the first movement of a four handed Sonata of Hummel together with him. [Thalberg, Sigismund]
8/11/1830	Clara Wieck's first solo concert at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig
25/11/1830	Clara Wieck starts a concert tour together with her father [Wieck, Friedrich]
0/1/1831	Clara Wieck and her father return from their concert tour [Wieck, Friedrich]
8/6/1831	Robert Schumann calls Clara Wieck 'Zilia' in is poems. This relates to the "Schmetterlinge" poems. [Schumann, Robert]
25/9/1831	Clara Wieck starts a concert tour in Paris. She was in the presence of her father Friedrich Wieck. [Wieck, Friedrich]
1/5/1832	Clara Wieck returns from her concert tour in Paris [Wieck, Friedrich]
0/7/1832	Clara Wieck performs solo concert in Leipzig. She would do it again in September.
0/11/1832	Clara Wieck performs in Altenburg, Zwickau and Schneeberg
0/0/1833	Clara Wieck gives concerts in Leipzig, Chemnitz, Karlsbad and Schneeberg. She did this in January, February and April.
11/11/1834	Clara Wieck starts a concert tour to Hamburg and other cities. She would also perform in Hannover and Magdeburg.
0/4/1835	Clara Wieck returnes from her concert tour. After her return she spent much time with Robert Schumann. Schumann was secretly engaged to Ernestine von Fricken, but he started to withdraw in August after he heard of Ernestine's heritage. [Schumann, Robert]
25/11/1835	First kiss between Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck. Friedrich Wieck would take his daughter to Dresden in January 1836 to keep her away from Schumann. [Schumann, Robert][Wieck, Friedrich]
7/2/1836	Secret meeting between Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck in Dresden. Clara's father Friedrich Wieck disapproved of their meetings and thus they met in secret. The meeting lasted until 11 February 1836. [Schumann, Robert][Wieck, Friedrich]
8/4/1836	Clara Wieck's concert tour to Breslau ends
0/6/1836	Clara Wieck returns Robert Schumann's letters [Schumann, Robert]
0/11/1836	Concert tour by Clara Wieck to Naumburg, Jena and Weimar
3/5/1837	End of German concert tour by Clara Wieck. The tour brought her to Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen. She also visited her mother Mariana.
14/8/1837	Secret engagement between Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck [Schumann, Robert]
13/9/1837	Robert Schumann asks Friedrich Wieck for Clara's hand. He did this on her eighteenth birthday, but Friedrich Wieck refused his daughter permission to marry Schumann. [Schumann, Robert][Wieck, Friedrich]
15/10/1837	Clara Wieck leaves for Vienna for a concert tour
15/3/1838	Clara Wieck is named 'Royal and Imperia Virtuosa' in Austria. She was in Vienna for a concert tour.
21/3/1838	Emperor Ferdinand I calls Clara Wieck 'Wundermädchen' ('Wonder girl')
0/4/1838	Clara Wieck hears Franz Liszt for the first time in Vienna [Liszt, Franz]
0/5/1838	Clara Wieck returns from her concert tour to Vienna
8/1/1839	Clara Wieck leaves for Paris without her father Friedrich Wieck [Wieck, Friedrich]
15/6/1839	Clara Wieck asks for legal permission to marry. This was because her father refused to let her marry Robert Schumann. [Schumann, Robert]
14/8/1839	Clara Wieck returns from Paris
3/9/1839	Clara Wieck joins her mother Mariana to live with her in Berlin
20/3/1840	Franz Liszt performs at the home of Robert and Clara Schumann in Leipzig. On 31 March he performed again at their home. [Liszt, Franz][Schumann, Robert]
17/4/1840	Robert Schumann visits Clara Wieck in Berlin. The visit lasted from 17 April to 30 April. [Schumann, Robert]
5/6/1840	Clara Wieck returns to Leipzig
1/8/1840	Legal permission for the marriage between Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck is granted. The Court of Appeal allowed them to marry. Before that Clara's father Friedrich Wieck had stopped the marriage. [Schumann, Robert][Wieck, Friedrich]
5/9/1840	Clara Wieck performs her last concert before her marriage to Robert Schumann
27/2/1841	Friedrich Wieck returns her piano to his daughter Clara [Wieck, Friedrich]
31/3/1841	Clara Schumann first performs under her married name at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. She had maaied Robert Schumann on 12 September 1840. [Schumann, Robert]
0/11/1841	Clara Schumann gives concerts in Weimar
14/2/1842	Clara Schumann leaves for a concert tour. With her husband Robert Schumann she travelled to Hamburg. She continued alone to Kopenhagen. [Schumann, Robert]
0/2/1843	Clara Schumann visits her father Friedrich Wieck for reconciliation [Wieck, Friedrich]
25/1/1844	Start of a concert tour of Robert and Clara Schumann to Russia [Schumann, Robert]
5/3/1844	Clara Schumann is decorated in Saint Petersburg. She became a honorary member of the Philharmonic Society.
30/5/1844	Clara and Robert Schumann return from their Russian tour [Schumann, Robert]
3/10/1844	Clara and Robert Schumann visit Dresden [Schumann, Robert]
13/12/1844	Clara and Robert Schumann move to Dresden [Schumann, Robert]
0/11/1846	Start of the concert tour of Clara and Robert Schumann to Vienna. They visited Brno and Prague as well. They took their daughters Elise and Marie with them. [Schumann, Robert]
4/2/1847	Clara and Robert Schumann return from their concert tour to Vienna [Schumann, Robert]
5/5/1849	Clara and Robert Schumann flee from Dresden. Clara was seven months pregnant and they fled for the revolution. [Schumann, Robert]
12/6/1849	Clara and Robert Schumann return to Dresden. They had previously left Dresden in May for the revolution. [Schumann, Robert]
0/0/1850	Johannes Brahms sends his compositions to Robert Schumann in vain. Robert and Calra Schumann were in Hamburg for concerts. The young Brahms sent a package with his compositions to their hotel room, but it was returned unopened. [Brahms, Johannes][Schumann, Robert]
5/2/1850	Start of the concert tour of Robert and Clara Schumann to Leipzig and Hamburg. Bremen was a station in their tour as well. [Schumann, Robert]
29/3/1850	Robert and Clara Schumann return to Dresden from their tour to Leipzig and Hamburg [Schumann, Robert]
31/3/1850	Robert and Clara Schumann decide to move to Düsseldorf [Schumann, Robert]
2/9/1850	The Schumanns arrive in Düsseldorf to live there. Robert Schumann was appointed musical director by the City of Düsseldorf. [Schumann, Robert]
12/8/1852	Robert and Clara Schumann go on holiday to Scheveningen in the Netherlands. The vacation lasted until 17 September 1852. They hoped that a stay in Scheveningen would improve Robert's health. They took Clara's half-brother Woldemar Bargiel with them. Clara miscarried during their vacation. [Bargiel, Woldemar][Schumann, Robert]
0/5/1853	Clara Schumann performs at the Niederrhein Music Festival
30/9/1853	Clara and Robert Schumann meet Johannes Brahms. the 12-year old Marie Schumann was also present. [Brahms, Johannes][Schumann, Robert]
28/10/1853	Robert Schumann introduces Johannes Brahms to the public. Johannes Brahms had visited Schumann, who had listened to him playing. Schumann was impressed, called his wife Clara and told her that she would hear music like she had never heard it before. Schumann wrote an article in the Neue Zeitschrift Für Musik in which he introduced Brahms to the public. [Brahms, Johannes][Schumann, Robert]
24/11/1853	Start of concert tour by Clara and Robert Schumann in the Netherlands. It lasted until 22 December 1853. Schumann accompanied his wife who played his compositions. Schumann was surprised how much the Dutch public liked his music. [Schumann, Robert]
6/12/1853	Sophie Offermans sings a work by Robert Schumann accompanied by Clara Schumann. She sang a part from "Der Rose Pilgerfahrt" by Schumann in The Hague. Clara Schumann accompanied her on the piano. Robert Schumann was in the public. [Schumann, Robert]
21/1/1854	Robert and Clara Schumann give concerts in Hannover. They gave concerts from 21 January to 30 January. In Hannover they met Brams. [Brahms, Johannes][Schumann, Robert]
27/2/1854	Robert Schumann jumps from a bridge into the Rhine. He jumped from the Oberkasseler Pontonbrücke in the river Rhein with the intent to kill himself. His attempt failed because fishers helped him out of the water. Afterwards physicians advised Clara, who was pregnant, not to see him in his current state. She went to a lady friend with her children. She wasn't told until 1856 that he had tried to commit suicide. [Schumann, Robert]
25/4/1854	Clara Schumann hears Liszt's "Piano sonata in B Minor" and strongly dislikes it. She received it on this day and it was dedicated to her husband Robert. Johannes Brahms played it for her and she strongly disliked it. The piece was performed in public in 1857 by Hans von Bülow and it would become both popular and influential. [Brahms, Johannes][Bülow, Hans von][Liszt, Franz][Schumann, Robert]
14/9/1854	Robert Schumann is able to correspond with his wife Clara. He was committed to an institution in Endenich after a suicide attempt in a state of confusion. From now on he would correspond for seven months with his wife. [Schumann, Robert]
23/7/1856	Clara Schumann is called to Endenich. The situation of her husband Robert was supposed to be critical, but they didn't meet on this day. [Schumann, Robert]
27/7/1856	Clara Schumann is finally admitted to her husband Robert. Robert Schumann was committed to an institution in Endenich. She hadn't seen him for two years because she wasn't admitted to him. Two days later he would die. [Schumann, Robert]
0/10/1857	Clara Schumann moves to Berlin. She lived there from 1857 to 1861 at Dessauerstrasse 2 and from 1861 to 1863 at Schöneberger Ufer 22. Her children Marie, Elise, Eugenie and Felix lived with her.
30/10/1865	Clara Schumann performs with her daughter Elise in Frankfurt am Main. This is the only known public performance of Clara with one of her children. Joseph Joachim performed as well. [Joachim, Joseph]
10/4/1868	"German Requiem" by Johannes Brahms is performed at Bremen Cathedral. It was the first complete performance of this work. Joseph Joachim and his wife Amelia had joined their friend in Bremen. Amelia sang "I Know that My Redeemer Liveth" and Joseph played Schumann's "Abendlied". Afterwards Brahms and his friends, including the Joachims, Clara Schumann, Max Bruch and Albert Dietrich, gathered at the Rathskeller. [Brahms, Johannes][Joachim, Amalie][Joachim, Joseph]
22/9/1869	Julie Schumann marries and Brahms loses another love. He was in love with Julie Schumann, the daughter of Robert and Clara Schumann. He dedicated a composition to her and hinted at 'settling in Vienna'. Neither mother nor daughter understood what he meant and Julie married the Italian count Vittorio Amadeo Radicati di Marmorito. On the evening of her marriage Brahms showed Clara his "Alto Rhapsody" and declared that this was his song for her engagement. It contained the text "Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen" (who will heal the pain) and this was the first sign for Clara of Brahms' interest in Julie. [Brahms, Johannes][Schumann, Julie]
27/11/1871	Clara Schumann and Julie von Asten play Brahms' "Ungarischen Tänze zu vier Händen" in Berlin [Brahms, Johannes]
0/0/1873	Clara Schumann moves back to Berlin
17/8/1873	Commemoration of Robert Schumann in Bonn to raise funds for a memorial. The music festival took place on 17-19 August. Funds were raised to replace Schumann's tombstone for a more worthy monument. The performances were conducted by Wilhelm von Wasielewski and Joseph Joachim. Clara Schumann herself was a performer. Others were Marie Wilt, Amalie Joachim, Marie Sartorius, Franz Diener, Julius Stockhausen, Adolph Schulze and Ernst Rudorff. [Joachim, Amalie][Joachim, Joseph][Schumann, Robert][Stockhausen, Julius][Wilt, Marie]
24/10/1878	Clara Schumann's 50th jubilee as a concert artist is celebrated in Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig
26/10/1888	Clara Schumann's 60th anniversary is celebrated in Frankfurt am Main
12/3/1891	Last public concert by Clara Schumann in Frankfurt am Main. She was 71 years old and she played Brahms's "Variations on a Theme by Haydn" in a duet verion with James Kwast.
26/3/1898	Clara Schumann suffers a stroke
26/11/1937	First performance of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto. It was performed by Georg Kulenkampff and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Karl Böhm was the conductor. The manuscript had been given by Clara Schumann to Joseph Joachim. Joachim had stated in his will that it should not be performed until 1956, 100 years after Schumann's death. This was because he thought that the piece showed signs of Schumann's mental illness. Joachim's heirs gave permission for an earlier performance. [Böhm, Karl][Joachim, Joseph][Schumann, Robert]

Images
Clara Schumann painted by Franz von Lenbach when she was nearly 60 years old. (1878)	The grave of Robert and Clara Schumann at the Alter Friedhof, Bonn. Picture by Androom (23 Apr 2005)	Plaque at Bilkerstrasse 15, where Robert and Clara Schumann lived in Düsseldorf. Picture by Androom (06 Nov 2005)
The grave of Robert and Clara Schumann at the Alter Friedhof, Bonn. Picture by Androom (17 Jun 2012)	Clara Schumann is remembered in the pavement in Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen. Picture by Androom (21 Mar 2022)