Clara Schumann’s Marriage, Family, and Musical Works

ONLINE MODULE

https://www.schumann-portal.de/leipzig-1819-1844.html
 Technology for this online
module
These slides have a voice track with lecture recorded
over slide – starting with the next slide, click on the icon
for sound in center of slide to hear recording
Be sure to have your speakers turned on to hear lecture
component
Slides have links to sound recording clips or YouTube clips
– when directed to do so, click on links to see/hear music
After listening to musical examples, return to slide show
to continue with lecture
Topics for this Module

Clara’s Courtship with Robert

and early married life
Musical works:
Scherzo in d minor
Romance in e flat minor
Piano concerto in a minor
“Er ist gekommen” (He Came to Me in Storm and Rain)
“Ihr Bildnis” (Her Likeness)

https://www.schumann-portal.de/id-1894-1344.html
 Clara’s professional & private
worlds
1824 - Clara begins piano lessons (age 5)
1830 – solo concert at Gewandhaus (age 11)
1831 – 1834 – concert tours of Germany
1835 – Robert begins to court Clara
1837 – Robert and Clara secretly engaged, concert tour of Vienna,
Robert asks to marry Clara, but is denied
1838 – Clara named Royal and Imperial Virtuosa to Viennese court
1839 - Clara and Robert petition court to be married
1840 – Robert and Clara are married
1841 – Marie born – between now and 1854, 8 births & 10 pregnancies
Clara’s compositions before
marriage (selected)
Mainly character pieces and virtuoso works for concerts
Op.1 - Four Polonaises (1828-30)
Op.2 - Caprices en Forme de Valses (1831-33)
Op.4 - Valses Romantiques (1833-35)
Op.5 - 4 Pièces Caractéristiques for Piano (1835-36)
Op.6 - Soirees Musicales for Piano (1835-36)
Op.7 - Piano Concerto in A minor (1835-36)
Op.8 - Variations de Concert for Piano (1834-37)
Op.11 - 3 Romances for Piano (1839)
Scherzo in d minor

Composed in 1838, just before Paris tour

Scherzo means “musical joke”
Definition: movement of a symphony, sonata, or quartet
played in a fast triple meter – usually the third movement
Concert encore: repeated or additional performance of
an item at the end of a concert, as called for by an
audience
Technically difficult to show virtuosity
Form: rondo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccBD0PQnaYU
 The break with Wieck
Once Clara declares her intent to marry Robert, her father
disowns her
Clara embarks on a concert tour with a female companion to
accompany her
Because her father kept meticulous records, Clara manages own
tour
Clara pockets proceeds
Legal battles wage between her father and Robert
While apart, the two compose music for each other through
letters

http://www.classichistory.net/archives/clara-schumann
 Robert Schumann
Major composer in Western canon
Composed in small and large forms:
Symphonic works (four symphonies)
Concerto
Opera and oratorio
Chamber music
Lieder – some most significant in canon
Solo instrumental works for piano – staple on recital
programs
Plagued by mental health issues = create bursts of creative
activity

http://scihi.org/robert-schumann/
Romance in E Flat Minor
Composed in 1839 in Paris
Part of a set of three romances
Romance – short, lyrical instrumental or vocal
composition in a romantic or sentimental mood
Ternary form A – B – A
Written during a period of great tension, while
fighting for permission to marry and estranged from
her father

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnKmS5ikKjA
 Married Life with Robert
Robert expects Clara to maintain house as a first duty
Daytime - Robert composes and Clara can’t practice – once he
visits the pub at night, she fits in practicing
Compose musical works for each other as gifts
Truly collaborate on music that expresses their love
Clara becomes the vehicle to introduce Robert’s works
Robert publishes music periodical about new music
Robert conducts and publishes works to gain income
Clara concertizes
 Domestic life with Robert
Soon after marriage, children are born in rapid succession
For almost all of marriage, Clara is pregnant
Robert suffers from frequent and severe bouts of depression
Robert becomes jealous of Clara’s success and ability to earn
income
Even after first child is born, Clara must tour to earn money
Through letters, Robert torments Clara about leaving her
children
Little time left for Clara to compose
 Clara Wieck Schumann – domestic challenges

Struggled to combine roles of

professional
musician/composer/mother
Concert stage: in control
Financial needs took
precedence over composing
Psychosocial issue – anxiety of
authorship

Source:www.geneva.edu/~dksmith/clara/gallhall.html
 Piano Concerto in a minor
Concerto for solo piano and orchestra
Written when Clara was 14
Robert wrote some of the orchestration
Focus on virtuoso performer
Public sphere venue for performance
Large scale musical form = masculine sphere
Piano Concerto in a minor
Premiered in 1835 at Gewandhaus in Leipzig under
baton of Felix Mendelssohn
Published in 1836 in Leipzig, but no modern edition
available until 1993
Three separate movements – played without pause
Allegro Maestoso
Romanze
Allegro non troppo – allegro molto
Listen to interplay between piano and orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1K9TD0xu8o
 Gender Boundaries:
Clara’s compositions after marriage
Chamber Music forms:
◦ Solo instrumental works (piano)
◦ Piano Trio
◦ Piano Sonata
◦ Lieder
Chamber music fits well with
societal expectations for women
Private sphere = feminine
genre of composition
SOURCE: HTTP://WESTMINSTERCHAMBERMUSIC.WORDPRESS.COM/NEWS/PAGE/11/
 “Er ist gekommen” (He came
to me in Storm and Rain)
From same set of four Rückert songs as “Liebst du um
Schönheit” – 1841 = Clara’s first published songs
Form: through composed = each stanza has a new
musical theme (no repeats)
Subject: questioning lover’s commitment
Driving piano accompaniment echoes rainy scene and
passionate feelings
Vocal line reflects changing emotions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkDZ3OcD05Y
 “Ihr Bildnis” (Her Likeness)
First version of Clara’s setting of this poem by Heinrich Heine
Later version published as part of Sechs Lieder, Op. 13, 1844
Composed during her first years of marriage (1840-1843)
Not published until 1992
First line of poem – “I gazed upon her picture”
Subject: loving for lost love
Genre: lied
Form: through composed – song with new music composed for each stanza
Uses word painting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSEMf9vuKIo
 For follow up
Be sure to do readings
Listen to sound recordings
for works discussed in
lectures
There is no further
assignment associated with
this module

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