Clara Schumann

Nancy Reich

Description

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facing female artists in the nineteenth century, Nancy B. Reich has drawn on previously unexplored primary sources: unpublished diaries, letters, and family papers, as well as concert programs.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 She has also prepared a Catalogue of Works that includes all of Clara Schumann's known published and unpublished compositions and works she edited, as well as descriptions of the autographs, the first editions, the modern editions, and recent literature on each piece.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.

Sujets

• Musician

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juillet 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801468308
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 24 Mo

Extrait

C L A R A S C H U M A N N

Clara Schumann, age 38, Munich. Photograph by Franz Hanfstaengl, 1857. Robert-Schumann-Haus, Zwickau.

C L A R A S C H U M A N N The Ar tist and the Woman Revised Edition

Nancy B. Reich

Cornell University Press

ithaca and london

Copyright © 1985 by Cornell University Revised edition © 2001 by Nancy B. Reich

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First edition published 1985 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1987 Revised edition published 2001

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reich, Nancy B. Clara Schumann : the artist and the woman / Nancy B. Reich.—Rev. ed. p. cm. “Catalogue of Works”: p. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-3740-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8014-8637-1 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Schumann, Clara, 1819–1896. 2. Pianists—Germany—Biography. I. Title. ML417.S4 R4 2001 786.2'092—dc21 00-011932

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing Paperback printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

In memory of Haskell A. Reich, 1926–1983

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

List of Illustrations Preface to the Revised Edition Preface to the First Edition Acknowledgments to the Revised Edition Acknowledgments to the First Edition Chronology Abbreviations

Contents

Part I.The Life of Clara Schumann

Prelude: The Wiecks of Leipzig Clara’s Career Begins Robert Schumann and the Wiecks The Break with Wieck The Marriage The Dresden Years Düsseldorf and the Death of Robert Schumann The Later Years

Part II.Themes from the Life of Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms Other Friends and Contemporaries Clara Schumann as Composer and Editor The Concert Artist Clara Schumann as Student and Teacher

Catalogue of Works Notes Bibliography Index

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viii ix xii xvii xviii xxi xxv

3 18 37 55 80 100 111 131

169 190 211 249 279

289 338 361 375

Illustrations

Clara Schumann, 1857 Marianne Tromlitz, June 7, 1816 Friedrich Wieck’s letter to Marianne Wieck, November 7, 1825 Cover of Clara’s diary Clara Wieck, age 8 Clara Wieck’s piano, Gewandhaus concert, October 20, 1828 Program, Clara Wieck’s first Gewandhaus concert Clara Wieck, 1832 Clara Wieck, 1835 Robert Schumann, 1839 Clara Wieck, 1840 Friedrich Wieck, ca. 1853 Clara and Robert Schumann, 1847 Six Schumann children, 1855 Clara Schumann with Marie Marie Schumann Elise Schumann Julie Schumann Ludwig Schumann Ferdinand Schumann Eugenie Schumann Felix Schumann Clara Schumann, 1878 Clara Schumann, 1854 Johannes Brahms, 1853 Concert program, March 12, 1891 Concert program, January 13, 1833 Autograph, “Volkslied”

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frontispiece 10 12 19 23 25 26 30 36 70 74 76 105 137 140 141 143 144 148 151 154 156 165 171 173 252 258 320

Preface to the Revised Edition

I n the fifteen years since the first edition of this biography was published, in- terest in Clara Schumann has exploded. Performances, editions, and recordings of her music, films, dramas, radio and TV programs inspired by her life, piano competitions in her name, dissertations, scholarly papers, articles in the schol- arly and popular presses, program notes, publication of letters, biographies in several languages and revisionist biographies, all attest to the significance of and fascination with Clara Wieck Schumann as an artist and as a woman. Some part of the fascination was generated by the feminist movement, which stirred the demand for courses in women’s studies, women’s history, and gen- der studies now found in universities around the globe. Clara Schumann—ca- reer woman and single mother—was an ideal subject for students interested in women, history, and music. Indeed, many of the lecture invitations I received the first few years after the publication of the book were from groups more in- terested in women’s issues than in music history. As awareness of her accom- plishments grew, however, she increasingly came to be seen not only as a sym- bol of women achievers but as an acknowledged composer of the new romantic school of the early Romantic period and a towering influence on pianists in the nineteenth century. The need for a new edition has grown more pressing as a result of the publi- cation of a variety of significant documents—letters, medical reports, and music—that were in private hands and unavailable when I was working on the first edition. The publication in 1994 of excerpts of the medical log kept by Robert Schumann’s physicians in Endenich, Clara Schumann’s correspon- dence with Dr. Härtel of the publishers Breitkopf & Härtel (published in 1997) and with the List family (published in 1996), and the letters and diaries of her granddaughter Julie (published in 1990) were among the documents that, though they did not change my basic conceptions of the character and person- ality of Clara Schumann, have informed this revised edition and enriched my understanding and admiration of this remarkable woman.

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