CLARA’S LATER

WORKS AND FINAL

YEARS
Online Module

https://www.schumann-portal.de/id-1894-1344.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
 Besure to have your speakers turned on to hear lecture
component
 Slideshave links to sound recording clips or YouTube
clips – when directed to do so, click on links to see/hear
music
 Afterlistening to musical examples, return to slide show
to continue with lecture
TOPICS FOR THIS ONLINE MODULE
 Clara’s life and compositions
during marriage
 Clara’s relationship with family
and Brahms
 Musical works:
 Variations on a Theme by Robert
Schumann
 Piano Sonata in g minor, Mvt 1
“Allegro”
 Piano Trio in g minor – mvt I
“Allegro moderato”

https://www.schumann-portal.de/around-1888.html
CLARA AS COMPOSER, POST MARRIAGE
 Often compared her works to Robert’s
 Suffered from anxiety of authorship – her works were never good
enough
 Robert’s composition time took precedence
 Expectation for Clara to oversee house and children
 Only practice when Robert was out at tavern
 Robert saw himself in role of creator, Clara as performer
 Clara composed works often as presents for Robert
• Robert’s opinion of Clara’s works mattered
• Robert could be petty
 Clara’s concertizing took precedence over composing as it
brought in money
 ROBERT’S DETERIORATION

 Mental health issues become pronounced

 Fits of feverish activity and debilitating depression
 Eventually, not able to conduct or compose
 In 1854, throws himself into the Rhine in suicide
attempt
 Remains in Endenich mental hospital for two
years
 Only visited by Brahms
 Dies on July 29, 1856

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schumann
 JOHANNES BRAHMS
1833 - 1897

 One of most important composers in the Western canon

 Composed in all large and small scale musical forms (except
opera)
 Exquisite lieder
 Significant chamber music
 Significant solo instrumental works
 Major symphonies in Western canon
 One of the “Three Bs” Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms
https://www.vpr.org/post/timeline-johannes-brahms#stream/0
CLARA AND JOHANNES BRAHMS

https://www.schumann-portal.de/brahms-johannes-1175.html
CHIEF CAREGIVER

 Marie – oldest daughter

 Assistant to Clara
 Never married

 Ran household
 Took care of younger siblings
 Also dealt with Clara’s pupils

https://www.schumann-portal.de/Marie-Schumann.html
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Schumann#/media/File:Robert_und_Clara_Schumanns_Kinder.jpg
LIFE AFTER ROBERT

 After Robert’s death, Brahms withdraws

 Clara stops composing completely
 Maintains regular concert tours
 Begins editing Robert’s published works
 Takes on caregiving of some grandchildren as her children
pass or cannot support them
 1878 - Principal piano professor at Hoch Conservatory
 Performs until hearing and vision affect her performing
 Dies on May 20, 1896

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Schumann#/media/File:Elliott_&_Fry_-_Clara_Schumann
PERSONAL LIFE AFFECTS PROFESSIONAL
LIFE
 Robert’s mental illness meant financial instability
 Clara was forced to concertize to earn money
 Robert often resentful of Clara’s role as breadwinner
 Robert’s hospitalization means family support falls to Clara
 Brahms assists Clara in personal life
 Robert dies, Clara assumes all financial responsibility
 Little time left for composition – concert appearances bring in
more money
 Children often farmed out to others for caregiving – four of
them die before Clara
https://www.schumann-portal.de/id-1854-1333.html
 VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY ROBERT
SCHUMANN, OP. 20

 Piano solo work composed in 1853

 Form: theme and variations – form where a theme is clearly
stated followed by a series of variations
 Theme written by Robert, but 7 variations are Clara’s
 Variations differ in tempo, tone, and modulate to different keys
 Written as gift for Robert
 Chamber music: private sphere/feminine/small scale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP6-K8CAx0A
PIANO SONATA IN G MINOR, MVT 1 “ALLEGRO”
 Composed 1841-2
 Sonata: multi-movement composition for solo instrument with piano accompaniment
 Four movements total – this first movement and third movement scherzo written
first – written as a Christmas gift for Robert
 1st movement arrangement: sonata form
 Exposition – theme introduced
 Development – theme is transformed
 Recapitulation – theme returns
 Coda - ending
 Considered a masculine composition form
 More ambitious and complex than other solo piano works
 Not published until 1991

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik7f3LKxTfA
PIANO TRIO IN G MINOR – MVT I
“ALLEGRO MODERATO”

 Chamber music - private sphere

 Composed in 1846 – time of great stress
 Instruments: piano, violin, cello
 Four movements
 Form of Mvt I: sonata form
 Compositional highlights:
 Distinctive piano part, more than mere accompaniment
 Close interplay between instruments
 Usehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5dBOpy0_zg
of polyphony to present thematic material
SCHUMANN THE COMPOSER

© 2016 Taylor & Francis, Women, Music, Culture, Routledge

 PARALLEL LIVES?
FANNY
 Performer, composer, and
patroness
 Excellent training
 Shadow of brother’s music
 Mainly private sphere, late
acceptance in public
 Composed mainly small, but a few
large scale works
 Constraints: society, gender
prejudice, family obligations
 Wealth – income not issue
 Brief life
CLARA
 Performer, composer, and teacher
 Excellent training
 Shadow of husband’s music
 Public sphere
 Composed both large and small
scale works
 Constraints: family obligations,
anxiety of authorship
 Working class – financial worries
 Long life – much of it widowed
 Hensel and Schumann rose to
prominence in a world that
strongly suppressed public
musical roles for women.

 Today, the “sister of Felix

Mendelssohn” and the “wife of
Robert Schumann” are returning
to the position of renown that
they once held in their own
lifetimes.
FOLLOW UP

 Read CS, pp. 129-138, 211-219

 Listening List: #21-#23

https://music.washington.edu/events/2014-03-09/circle-friends-music-brahms-schumann-and-mendelssohn