Program Notes

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200 Years

Queen Clara

A strong case could be made to prove that Clara Schumann was a superhero, although she probably wouldn’t have described herself that way. Looking at Clara through the lens of 2026, when we are least AWARE of the difficulties that gender roles can create, we can see the scope of her accomplishments. From her perspective, living at the end of the 19th century, things probably looked different. But as it relates to this program, the thing that is most impressive about Clara’s practicing is that she had time to do it at all.

Clara Schumann (born Clara Wieck) was one of the most famous child prodigies of her time. Actually, most likely of all time, given that we still talk about her. Clara was the daughter of Friedrich Wieck, who was a prominent piano teacher. He trained many leading concert pianists, including Robert Schumann, which is, of course, how Robert and Clara met. We don’t hear much about Clara’s mom, Mariane (herself also a famous singer, and a pianist and teacher), partially because she and Friedrich divorced when Clara was very young. Clara remained with her father.

Clara’s childhood was full of practicing. As is probably obvious, the training required to support prodigiousness can be a full time gig. She began lessons when she was four - which meant daily hour-long lessons from her dad that included not only piano but also violin, singing and composition - as well as 2 hours a day of additional practicing. At four years old. And things progressed from there.

We’re going to skip over a lot, and jump to when Clara and Robert married. Clara was almost 21, and at this point, she had an international concert pianist's schedule. Being married would have introduced all the expectations that come with being a wife in the year 1840. The long-story-short is that Clara eventually had 8 children (though not all survived), she had a house to run, she continued to give concerts, she composed, she edited Robert’s music for his publisher, she did all the planning for her own tours herself, she was a sought-after piano teacher, and she had Robert, who eventually was ailing and, we assume, required care for a long time before he eventually became too sick to provide for the family. At that point Clara also supported the family financially.

Playing concerts, especially international-tour level concerts, requires extensive practice, no matter how talented you are. So let's put that squarely on Clara’s plate. At the same time, ALL of the other things she was doing required practice in some sense as well - practicing composition in itself is also a full time gig.

It seems that perhaps Clara underestimated herself in a way that is uncomfortable to consider, especially when we understand what her life entailed. She eventually (at age 36) stopped composing. In order to discover why this happened we will pivot to the fancy quotes section of our program notes. Quotes are great as evidence. Here are a few…

We can start with proof that Clara really liked composing - she wrote the following in her diary…

There is nothing greater than the joy of composing something oneself, and then listening to it.

Robert actually directly referred to the limits of the hours in her day and the effect that had on her output…

Clara has composed a series of small pieces, which show a musical and tender ingenuity such as she has never attained before. But to have children, and a husband who is always living in the realm of imagination, does not go together with composing. She cannot work at it regularly, and I am often disturbed to think how many profound ideas are lost because she cannot work them out.

So that’s a bit disturbing, but not surprising. But here’s the most disturbing one. This one from Clara…

I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?

So obviously it was not only a lack of time that eventually halted Clara’s writing practice. And here we have come to a whole OTHER topic for a concert. Another time, we hope, which is partially why we are not playing the whole trio on this program - we’re saving it. Anyway, Clara sits quietly in the background of any list of 19th century composers. She was not a prolific composer like her husband, or her friend Brahms, or any of the other guys we know and recognize when we talk about classical music - those whose lives were probably not quite so mired in such diverse responsibility as hers. Still, we can say with confidence that in general, Clara accomplished so much more. We would like to take just a minute to acknowledge the outrageously demanding schedule she must have accommodated, and the absolute focus needed to accomplish what she did. She was the practicing queen.

Program notes

or Things you Might Like to Know

Johannes the Careful

Johannes is notorious for careful, well crafted writing - probably we could accurately describe him as a perfectionist. Here are some examples…

He destroyed (usually by burning) works he deemed not-good-enough. This list (and these are only the works that we know about) include at least one violin sonata and by Brahms’ own admission, over 20 string quartets, along with a LOT of sketches and drafts.

Johannes spent about 5 years writing his first piano concerto. In that time, the work went through many changes - it began as a sonata for 2 pianos and became a symphonic sketch before finally settling as a piano concerto.

It took him about 20 years to bring his first symphony from inception to a premiere. (Plus a bit more time for the version of the work that we know today, because after the first performance he replaced the original slow movement with a different one.)

Admittedly, this would probably have been his way of writing no matter when he lived. Still, there was an element of being overshadowed that affected Brahms quite powerfully, especially when it came to the symphonies.

Brahms was born six years after Beethoven died, and Beethoven was the groundbreaking master of symphonic writing, the GOAT of all things symphony. (That’s the official title, we believe, and it still applies today). So Johannes felt the pressure that anyone would naturally feel in following an act like Beethoven’s. Brahms was hugely influenced by Ludwig, he wanted to pay homage to him, he wanted to follow in his footsteps and uphold his legacy. At the same time, he felt overshadowed and perhaps not-up-to the task of being one of the first prominent composers to write symphonies after Beethoven. At one point Brahms said

I shall never write a symphony... you have no idea how the likes of us feel when we hear the tramp of a giant like him behind us.

(Just a note that in the end this was untrue - Brahms wrote 4 amazing symphonies. Very slowly.)

But practicing played more of a role in Brahms' life than just in his meticulous writing style. Johannes was also an excellent pianist, and he had to work piano practice into his day as well. And ultimately, he couldn’t fit everything in. Here’s the story -

Brahms was a great pianist when he was a young man. He was never the virtuosic superstar that Clara Schumann was, though, and one element of their friendship included some coaching from Clara. As Johannes’ career as a composer progressed and his fame grew, he found that there were not enough hours in the day to both compose and practice the piano with regularity. By the middle of his life, he was aware that he was losing his piano chops simply because he didn’t have time to practice. And Clara, who was apparently not one to mince words, at one point put into a letter that Johannes’ piano playing had deteriorated to the point that it was now little more than “banging and scrabbling”. It sounds like Clara might have fit right into the modern conservatory setting. Just sayin’.

Anyway, given how self critical Johannes was about his writing, it is lovely to think that there were some works that he really did like when all was said and done. And - SURPRISE! - the C major Piano Trio is one of them. We know this because Brahms told his publisher it was a good one...

(you have) not yet had such a beautiful trio from me and very likely have not published its equal in the last ten years.

Way to self-promote, Johannes! We love that you love this piece. We also love it. Love is all around.

You often find Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms on the same program, and that’s in part because we are all fascinated by their friendship. But their friendship is not why we put them together on THIS program, so other than this brief mention - Clara and Johannes were friends - we’re gonna leave that alone.