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Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman
This absorbing and award-winning biography tells the story of the tragedies and triumphs of Clara Wieck Schumann (1819–1896), a musician of remarkable achievements. At once artist, composer, editor, teacher, wife, and mother of eight children, she was an important force in the musical world of her time. To show how Schumann surmounted the obstacles facing female artists in the nineteenth century, Nancy B. Reich has drawn on previously unexplored primary sources: unpublished diaries, letters, and family papers, as well as concert programs. Going beyond the familiar legends of the Schumann literature, she applies the tools of musicological scholarship and the insights of psychology to provide a new, full-scale portrait. The book is divided into two parts. In Part One, Reich follows Clara Schumann's life from her early years as a child prodigy through her marriage to Robert Schumann and into the forty years after his death, when she established and maintained an extraordinary European career while supporting and supervising a household and seven children. Part Two covers four major themes in Schumann's life: her relationship with Johannes Brahms and other friends and contemporaries; her creative work; her life on the concert stage; and her success as a teacher. Throughout, excerpts from diaries and letters in Reich's own translations clear up misconceptions about her life and achievements and her partnership with Robert Schumann. Highlighting aspects of Clara Schumann's personality and character that have been neglected by earlier biographers, this candid and eminently readable account adds appreciably to our understanding of a fascinating artist and woman. For this revised edition, Reich has added several photographs and updated the text to include recent discoveries. She has also prepared a Catalogue of Works that includes all of Clara Schumann's known published and unpublished compositions and works she edited, as well as descriptions of the autographs, the first editions, the modern editions, and recent literature on each piece. The Catalogue also notes Schumann's performances of her own music and provides pertinent quotations from letters, diaries, and contemporary reviews.
385 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
January 18, 2019
What amazed me about Clara Schumann was how much she managed to do, she gave regular concert tours, had 7 children, walked for an hour every day and answered every letter she received (by hand of course) often spending several hours a day on her correspondence, she produced editions of her husband's work, and also found time to write quite a lot of music of her own. I felt sad after reading it about the amount of time I spend staring at computers and the fact that I hardly write by hand at all these days. Liszt's piano music runs to 90 CDs in Howard Shelley's recordings but Liszt not only composed all that music but wrote it out by hand. I remember reading somewhere that if a professional copyist set to work to copy all the works of Bach, the job could not be completed in one lifetime.
December 13, 2019
One of the best biographies I have read. The story of this woman gave me even more respect to her - she lived a complex life and through all of it remained strong and determined. It was so interesting to read about not only details of her life as a pianist, composer, student, and teacher but also had a deep inside look of her personal life as a daughter, wife, mother, friend to influential composers and musicians and as an individual. I will be going back and reading again later in life. Great biography!
August 23, 2018
One of the best biographies I’ve read, though I might be somewhat biased by my love for Clara. Reich not only gives us fascinating insight into how Clara became a world-class artist, but also how she had to balance family and other aspects of her life. This is a fascinating lens to view women’s rights and place in society during this time period. Well worth reading for music experts and amateurs alike!
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October 31, 2025superbly researched biography. Hats off to Frau Reich.
December 18, 2020
It has become rather cliche to describe a woman's plight in a misogynistic world as having to do everything a man does but "backward and in high heels" (as once was said of Ginger Rogers in reference to her dancing with Fred Astaire). But one of the tropes that has come to fascinate me is the woman who has great success in a world in which the odds are stacked so thoroughly against her, and Clara Schumann was the very essence of such a woman.
Schumann was born Clara Wieck to a father who determined from the beginning she was going to be a prodigy. Friedrich was a prominent piano salesman and teacher, and he wanted Clara as his showpiece. Reportedly, even he was surprised at the heights to which she was able to aspire. When she was still quite a young girl, the composer Robert Schumann began to take lessons from her father, and immediately a bond was formed between them. Though this sounds rather sinister, at the beginning this connection was an artistic one, as they began to realize just how sympathetic their sensibilities were when it came to music and the piano in particular.
By all reports, Clara was an incomparable pianist, who from a very young age showed not only technical mastery, but a feel for the subtleties and emotion her instrument could evoke. She was a somewhat sad, melancholy child, though it is impossible to know if this was in her nature, or an outgrowth of what we would now consider to be an unnatural childhood, filled with the demands of practice, instruction, and performing all over the world. This was the golden era of wunderkind, with hundreds of talented (and sometimes merely showy) children being paraded about Europe to gain the thalers they could while still young. Yet even in this crowd, Schumann stood out as a true genius of the keyboard, sought in all of the salons and concert halls of European capitals and the provinces alike. Her touring schedule was brutal by any standards, and today would not be tolerated by any artist, but she seemed to thrive in this environment, and basked in the praise that had come to substitute for the unconditional love she never received from her parents.
From adolescence on, Robert Schumann came to dominate her life, so that she moved from the domination of one man to the neediness of another without pause. Friedrich objected to the relationship and fought to withhold his consent, which was required even for adult children up to a certain age, but Robert and Clara successfully sued in court and eventually married. They had eight children, seven of whom survived into adulthood. But under mysterious circumstances, Robert began to have delusional thoughts and experience deep depressions. Eventually he was placed in a psychiatric hospital which he would never leave alive. (Later speculation is that he may have suffered from late stage syphilis, but there is no way to know for sure).
After Robert's death, Clara thrived. She was most likely driven by her need for money, though she also found her sense of self-worth mostly on the stage. She was driven and somewhat ruthless in her striving for artistic excellence and financial independence. The lessons she learned from her father, a tireless promoter of her early career, served her well in these years, and she continued to concertize for decades playing professionally for a total of 61 years.
All of this Reich lays out in rich detail. The first half of the book is a compulsively readable narrative of the ups and downs of her life, with fascinating glimpses into her inner life (the Schumanns kept a joint diary for their entire marriage, and her father narrated a journal to her that she was required to pen, so there is no shortage of material). Clara possessed a complex character, seemingly both immensely sad and vastly joyful in her youth. She thrived on the concert stage and in society, while also becoming wholly dependent on it for her emotional well-being. In such an atmosphere, any slight, every failure, became a trigger for depression. But she was also the most resilient of women and would come out swinging immediately after. As one might imagine, this made her both formidable and not the easiest person to live with. Indeed, her relationships with her children, while loving, were distant and uninvolved. Though it was common in this era for children to largely be raised by nannies and maids or in boarding schools from quite a young age, Clara Schumann seems to have kept her children at a remove even exceeding what was the norm for the time.
Another fascinating aspect of Clara's life is the astonishing range of composers and performers with whom she was personally familiar, many of whom played in her home and on stage with her, including Brahms, Chopin, Wagner, and Liszt. She herself was a composer of some note, though this was not her forte, and most of her pieces are considered to be second tier. A few are still performed regularly, but she will always be remembered primarily as a performer.
After Robert Schumann dies, Reich makes the rather odd choice to abandon the narrative and begin writing what can only be called an extended coda of individual pieces describing her relationships with each child in turn, then with the musicians of her inner circle, her life as a composer and editor (the latter primarily of her husband's oeuvre), a recitation of her performance life, and finally her role as a student and teacher. I found this a rather odd choice, as the narrative of the early parts of the book were so effective. It was also telling, though one would think unintentional, that the author's narrative interest wanes immediately after the death of the remaining dominant male influence in Clara's life. It is clear she led a rich and varied life after the death of Robert Schumann, so for the author to abandon the narrative in favor of these choppy descriptive passages is strange indeed.
Still, this does not take away from the overall quality of this wonderful book. I had for years wondered what exactly made Clara Schumann tick in the world of male dominance that was the 19th century's European music scene, and I could not have asked for a better guide.
Schumann was born Clara Wieck to a father who determined from the beginning she was going to be a prodigy. Friedrich was a prominent piano salesman and teacher, and he wanted Clara as his showpiece. Reportedly, even he was surprised at the heights to which she was able to aspire. When she was still quite a young girl, the composer Robert Schumann began to take lessons from her father, and immediately a bond was formed between them. Though this sounds rather sinister, at the beginning this connection was an artistic one, as they began to realize just how sympathetic their sensibilities were when it came to music and the piano in particular.
By all reports, Clara was an incomparable pianist, who from a very young age showed not only technical mastery, but a feel for the subtleties and emotion her instrument could evoke. She was a somewhat sad, melancholy child, though it is impossible to know if this was in her nature, or an outgrowth of what we would now consider to be an unnatural childhood, filled with the demands of practice, instruction, and performing all over the world. This was the golden era of wunderkind, with hundreds of talented (and sometimes merely showy) children being paraded about Europe to gain the thalers they could while still young. Yet even in this crowd, Schumann stood out as a true genius of the keyboard, sought in all of the salons and concert halls of European capitals and the provinces alike. Her touring schedule was brutal by any standards, and today would not be tolerated by any artist, but she seemed to thrive in this environment, and basked in the praise that had come to substitute for the unconditional love she never received from her parents.
From adolescence on, Robert Schumann came to dominate her life, so that she moved from the domination of one man to the neediness of another without pause. Friedrich objected to the relationship and fought to withhold his consent, which was required even for adult children up to a certain age, but Robert and Clara successfully sued in court and eventually married. They had eight children, seven of whom survived into adulthood. But under mysterious circumstances, Robert began to have delusional thoughts and experience deep depressions. Eventually he was placed in a psychiatric hospital which he would never leave alive. (Later speculation is that he may have suffered from late stage syphilis, but there is no way to know for sure).
After Robert's death, Clara thrived. She was most likely driven by her need for money, though she also found her sense of self-worth mostly on the stage. She was driven and somewhat ruthless in her striving for artistic excellence and financial independence. The lessons she learned from her father, a tireless promoter of her early career, served her well in these years, and she continued to concertize for decades playing professionally for a total of 61 years.
All of this Reich lays out in rich detail. The first half of the book is a compulsively readable narrative of the ups and downs of her life, with fascinating glimpses into her inner life (the Schumanns kept a joint diary for their entire marriage, and her father narrated a journal to her that she was required to pen, so there is no shortage of material). Clara possessed a complex character, seemingly both immensely sad and vastly joyful in her youth. She thrived on the concert stage and in society, while also becoming wholly dependent on it for her emotional well-being. In such an atmosphere, any slight, every failure, became a trigger for depression. But she was also the most resilient of women and would come out swinging immediately after. As one might imagine, this made her both formidable and not the easiest person to live with. Indeed, her relationships with her children, while loving, were distant and uninvolved. Though it was common in this era for children to largely be raised by nannies and maids or in boarding schools from quite a young age, Clara Schumann seems to have kept her children at a remove even exceeding what was the norm for the time.
Another fascinating aspect of Clara's life is the astonishing range of composers and performers with whom she was personally familiar, many of whom played in her home and on stage with her, including Brahms, Chopin, Wagner, and Liszt. She herself was a composer of some note, though this was not her forte, and most of her pieces are considered to be second tier. A few are still performed regularly, but she will always be remembered primarily as a performer.
After Robert Schumann dies, Reich makes the rather odd choice to abandon the narrative and begin writing what can only be called an extended coda of individual pieces describing her relationships with each child in turn, then with the musicians of her inner circle, her life as a composer and editor (the latter primarily of her husband's oeuvre), a recitation of her performance life, and finally her role as a student and teacher. I found this a rather odd choice, as the narrative of the early parts of the book were so effective. It was also telling, though one would think unintentional, that the author's narrative interest wanes immediately after the death of the remaining dominant male influence in Clara's life. It is clear she led a rich and varied life after the death of Robert Schumann, so for the author to abandon the narrative in favor of these choppy descriptive passages is strange indeed.
Still, this does not take away from the overall quality of this wonderful book. I had for years wondered what exactly made Clara Schumann tick in the world of male dominance that was the 19th century's European music scene, and I could not have asked for a better guide.
February 28, 2017
A wonderful book
Anyone with an interest in piano music will find this book fascinating, not only for the portrait of an amazing pianist and multifaceted musician who was a pioneer along with Liszt of the modern piano recital, but for the pen portraits of the musicians she worked and performed with including Brahms, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt and of course her husband. Very readable despite the huge amount of research that clearly went into its writing.
Anyone with an interest in piano music will find this book fascinating, not only for the portrait of an amazing pianist and multifaceted musician who was a pioneer along with Liszt of the modern piano recital, but for the pen portraits of the musicians she worked and performed with including Brahms, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt and of course her husband. Very readable despite the huge amount of research that clearly went into its writing.
August 28, 2024
Clara Schumann (1819-1896) led a complicated existence as a world-class concert pianist, composer, editor of her own and other musician’s works, teacher, mother of eight children, and spouse to the composer and journal editor Robert Schumann (1810-1856).
She began musical life as a child prodigy trained by her stern father, Friedrich Wieck. She concertized to great acclaim for some sixty years in continental Europe, England, and the United States, reshaping piano concerts to emphasize serious art over virtuosic show pieces. She composed piano works, a piano concerto, chamber works, choral works, and songs, many of which are being rediscovered and reappraised positively today.
She helped edit the standard works of her husband, as well as many of Chopin’s pieces. She was friend or enemy to seemingly every important person in the world of Romantic music. She taught music until nearly the time of her death and was a highly sought after instructor.
Her personal relations were tricky. Key people in her life included her father, her husband, and Johannes Brahms, with whom she had a very close (but apparently Platonic) relationship before and after the death of her husband. All four professed to love each another, and one assumes they meant what they said, but they also had complex, often vituperative relationships throughout their lives.
She was a great support to her husband Robert, especially in showcasing and championing his music, but she nearly buckled under the (practical and financial) strains of supporting him as his mental health deteriorated. Robert wanted to turn Clara into a hausfrau, having her focus on the children and to play piano only at home for him and his friends, but this was not realistic, since Robert never had much income. And this certainly did not mesh with Clara’s wishes.
Her father, again, claimed to love her deeply, and to have worked only for his daughter’s success, but he often made her life a living hell, particularly in terms of interfering for years in the marriage plans of Robert and Clara. Clara claimed to love her father deeply yet deeply resented his angry influence and, while wanting his attention and praise, also sought a life separate from his control. Before and after Robert’s death, Brahms was an extremely close friend, and they claimed to love each other, but she eventually pushed him from her and they often fought over his cold, blunt, judgemental attitudes.
She was, in most respects, lacking as a mother though everyone involved, of course, claimed to love one another endlessly. She provided little emotional sustenance for her children and behaved toward them, overall, as her father behaved toward her. Some of her children died while she was on tour and this wasn’t enough to bring her home.
There is a good listing of her known works which I will use to guide some snooping and listening on YouTube.
She began musical life as a child prodigy trained by her stern father, Friedrich Wieck. She concertized to great acclaim for some sixty years in continental Europe, England, and the United States, reshaping piano concerts to emphasize serious art over virtuosic show pieces. She composed piano works, a piano concerto, chamber works, choral works, and songs, many of which are being rediscovered and reappraised positively today.
She helped edit the standard works of her husband, as well as many of Chopin’s pieces. She was friend or enemy to seemingly every important person in the world of Romantic music. She taught music until nearly the time of her death and was a highly sought after instructor.
Her personal relations were tricky. Key people in her life included her father, her husband, and Johannes Brahms, with whom she had a very close (but apparently Platonic) relationship before and after the death of her husband. All four professed to love each another, and one assumes they meant what they said, but they also had complex, often vituperative relationships throughout their lives.
She was a great support to her husband Robert, especially in showcasing and championing his music, but she nearly buckled under the (practical and financial) strains of supporting him as his mental health deteriorated. Robert wanted to turn Clara into a hausfrau, having her focus on the children and to play piano only at home for him and his friends, but this was not realistic, since Robert never had much income. And this certainly did not mesh with Clara’s wishes.
Her father, again, claimed to love her deeply, and to have worked only for his daughter’s success, but he often made her life a living hell, particularly in terms of interfering for years in the marriage plans of Robert and Clara. Clara claimed to love her father deeply yet deeply resented his angry influence and, while wanting his attention and praise, also sought a life separate from his control. Before and after Robert’s death, Brahms was an extremely close friend, and they claimed to love each other, but she eventually pushed him from her and they often fought over his cold, blunt, judgemental attitudes.
She was, in most respects, lacking as a mother though everyone involved, of course, claimed to love one another endlessly. She provided little emotional sustenance for her children and behaved toward them, overall, as her father behaved toward her. Some of her children died while she was on tour and this wasn’t enough to bring her home.
There is a good listing of her known works which I will use to guide some snooping and listening on YouTube.
December 25, 2023
This book's publication was arguably one of the events most responsible for the Clara revival of the late 20th century, and while it sticks to certain academic conventions (separating biography from discussion of the works, for instance), it manages to cross the boundary of accessibility and doesn't assume too much of its reader. I appreciate how three-dimensional Clara appears in this portrait, prone to insecurity and lashing out at times but very much the victim of a life dominated by her father and husband, the two men she loved and wanted to please most.
June 29, 2020
This was a fantastic peek into the life of an oft-overlooked virtuosa of the Romantic period. If you're looking into knowing more about not just the life of the woman herself, but also that of her husband Robert Schumann and their large coterie of friends--a who's-who of Romantic-era musicians, writers and intellectuals--this book is well worth the read. Sympathetic, well-written and incredibly in-depth, this book was probably the best four dollars I've spent all year!
August 14, 2020
While the first half of this book is a fairly straightforward and linear biography, the second half is where it gets really interesting with chapters devoted to the pianist-composer's relationship to Brahms, her life as a concert performer, and her legacy as a teacher. There's also some riveting info about her strategic championing of her husband's music and her ongoing distaste of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Last year was her 200th birthday! How did I miss it?
April 24, 2021
This was such an engaging and interesting read about an amazing person- a celebrity and master pianist in a decidedly male-dominated world, she had a grueling touring schedule, financially supporting her household and 7 children, a the sensitive egos of her narcissistic father and emotionally unstable husband. There were these little beautiful gems of insight into her personal and professional world all throughout the book and I really enjoyed every page.
October 8, 2020
Very well written carefully following the details of C Schumann's career and the influences that life events had upon her musical choices and her career as a concert pianist, composer, and teacher. It was an enjoyable and educational read.
March 23, 2019
Always love a good biography. This one was interesting, mainly because Clara Schumann's life was FASCINATING, but the writing itself was a little repetitive. The book was also organized oddly into choppy topical chapters, and I would have preferred everything seamlessly blended into the chronological story of her life. I also think readers with musical expertise would enjoy this because Reich goes into detail about Schumann's compositions and performances.
May 4, 2020
Wonderful!!! I consider myself a complete devotee of the Schumanns!
March 16, 2022
Clara is such an inspiration. She overcame so many personal challenges. This book has led me to study her music, and also to appreciate Brahms in a new way. Highly recommended read if you love piano.
September 22, 2023
A rich and nuanced biography of a talented, difficult woman who had a profound and long-lasting effect on music, art, and womanhood.
January 3, 2024
Excellent! What a woman.
March 12, 2024
So much research. So helpful for a project I'm working on
June 19, 2024
What an incredibly interesting life; and a criminally underrated composer.
March 12, 2017
Enjoyed most of the book. The last fifty pages were a bit of a drag.
Clara Schumann was a rare, talented female pianist in the 1800s, devoted wife of composer Robert Schumann, daughter of over controlling father, mother of 7 children, beloved friend and life-long love of Johannes Brahms.
Clara Schumann was a rare, talented female pianist in the 1800s, devoted wife of composer Robert Schumann, daughter of over controlling father, mother of 7 children, beloved friend and life-long love of Johannes Brahms.
September 24, 2012
This biography of Clara Schumann was really interesting, and very well-written. It focuses primarily on the events of Schumann's life, with only minimal technical discussion of her compositions. I do wish that there had been more detail about her life after Robert's death, but, to be fair, her and Robert's courtship and marriage probably were the most complex events in both of their lives. Nonetheless, this book still provides a very well-rounded and balanced view of her life.
I especially liked the second part of the book, where Reich explores the different aspects of Schumann's life: composer, concert pianist, teacher, mother, etc. Reich provides examinations of how Schumann conducted these parts of her life, how these activities influenced later musicians, and how they fit into or contrasted with nineteenth century musical life and social constructs. Best of all, Reich consistently views and presents Clara Schumann as an artist in her own right, and never just as a composer's wife. Clara Schumann was a very influential and important artist and Reich's biography treats her as such.
I especially liked the second part of the book, where Reich explores the different aspects of Schumann's life: composer, concert pianist, teacher, mother, etc. Reich provides examinations of how Schumann conducted these parts of her life, how these activities influenced later musicians, and how they fit into or contrasted with nineteenth century musical life and social constructs. Best of all, Reich consistently views and presents Clara Schumann as an artist in her own right, and never just as a composer's wife. Clara Schumann was a very influential and important artist and Reich's biography treats her as such.
February 26, 2008
Clara Schumann was a child prodigy, shaped by the ingenius teaching of her gifted by controlling father, who fell in love with and married Robert Schumann. This incredible artist continued her impressive performing career while she raised 7 children and collaborated with her husband until he fell seriously ill. Clara also composed many impressive works which I think deserve more recognition. This biography, despite its seriousness, and impressive documentation, remains very readable and accessible to non-musicians. Highly recommended.
April 14, 2009
This book was more a list of facts about Clara Schumann than the story of her life. I was disappointed when I finished it. I was hoping to get a good look at what kind of person she was, and instead I got a long list of her accomplishments, famous people she new and was a contemporary of, and the author's poor opinion of her mothering skills. I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is learning about Clara Schumann for the first time.
May 10, 2012
Loved this book, learning about an amazing woman who had amazing talent, energy, passion, strength and life. I read this after hearing some of her original piano music and her variations on her husbands work played. They were so beautiful I wanted to learn more about her. Her biography was not a letdown. The author did a great job of presenting the person, history, musicality, life and every aspect of Clara Wieck Shumann. Wish I would have been able to see her perform.
May 16, 2012
This book was a very well written and interesting Biography. One thing that I found hard though was that important parts of Clara's life would be mentioned out of order, especailly really good quotes. Whenever I found a good quote I would make sure to mark where it was, but if you didn't mark your quotes then it would be almost impossible to find them later, because they would be in a totally different chapter then you would think it would be.
May 5, 2020
I read this book every 4 years. It's required reading for a class I teach called The World of Clara and Robert Schumann, and the students enjoy knowing about this remarkable woman, her father and husband and 7 children, her Germany, her beloved music. Reich's research is thorough. She writes honestly. The book is a bit dry, but only a bit.
July 3, 2013
This book looks a bit dry and pedantic, but it's quite a page turner! I had no idea there was so much drama in Clara Schumann's life. It's very interesting, from both a music and a story perspecitve.
April 30, 2015
A truly remarkable woman, a truly remarkable musician. Robert Schumann may have the greatest legacy through his compositions, but Clara was without doubt the greater person -- by far. The impact of her recitals in terms of certain conventions and her choice of repertoire is still with us today.
February 11, 2016
Superb. Detailed biography of Schumann, with insights into the life of a virtuosa in 19th Europe, her life with Robert, her relationships with her father (tragic) and her children. Scholarly discussion of all of Schumann's compositions.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews