The Early Music Podcast: Clara Wieck-Schumann

This episode is a myth buster on the “other Schumann”: Clara Wieck (1819-1896), married to Robert Schumann in 1840. Both were significant pianists and composers of their times, and their marriage embodied the ideal of artistic life in the romantic period… until it ended with Robert’s death in 1856. We can imagine the poor Clara in the shadow of her husband, sacrificing her own career to support his own, as it was the fate of most wives at that time. However, Professor Natasha Loges’s research shows a slightly different conclusion: was Clara Schumann a victim of the patriarchy, or merely a business-woman who capitalized on her late husband’s fate to spread her own artistic views on concert programming and piano performance, leaving behind her a strong heritage of students and followers? 

In the second half of the XIXth century, concerts “as we know them today” found their actual shape; and in general, this century’s vision of music and earlier repertoires left a strong mark on how we understand and perform music… until the Early Music movement began to question this tradition!

CREDITS

guest Natasha Loges, musicologist

interview & editing Andrew Burn

production REMA

Platée, Act 1, Orage - Jean-Philippe Rameau

performed by Les Talens Lyriques, dir. Christophe Rousset

Camera Lucida 2014

All rights reserved - Courtesy of Les Talens Lyriques

design Doretta Rinaldi

original drawings Vincent Flückiger

cover score Folio, An einem lichten Morgen, op. 23, 1872 (Library of Congress, ML96.S4148)

Piano Sonata in G Minor 2. : Adagio, Scherzo & Rondo - Robert Schumann

performed by Franz Vorraber

Hommage à Schumann, Thorofon 2012

Romanze, Leidenschaftlich schnell - Clara Schumann

performed by Flóra Fábri, Martin Jantzen

live recording, 2021

Moments musicaux Op. 94 D. 780: III. Allegro moderato in F Minor - Franz Schubert

composed and performed by Josep Colom

Moments musicaux, MarchVivo 2022