From child prodigy to concert pianist: the extraordinary life of Clara Wieck Schumann

Australia Broadcast Center

26-05-2025

Most women in 19th-century Europe were encouraged to learn the piano as a way to attract husbands, but it was never intended that they would pursue a career in music.
Despite these constraints, Clara Wieck Schumann became a concert pianist and composer.
"She was really a pioneer with so many things," says Australian pianist Andrea Lam, one of the judges in the new ABC iview series The Piano.
Many are still inspired by Schumann's life story and music today.
Born in Leipzig, Germany in 1819, Schumann made her debut when she was nine years old.
She later married fellow pianist and composer Robert Schumann, becoming his musical partner and staunchest advocate.
After her husband's death, Schumann supported her family by touring as a concert pianist, teaching students and mentoring younger composers. Some became lifelong friends.
Clara Schumann's father, Friedrich Wieck, was a self-taught musician who sold pianos and ran a music-lending library. Her mother was a well-known singer and pianist as well as Schumann's first teacher.
When the couple separated, Schumann remained under her father's custody.
Wieck devised his own methods to teach the piano, and Schumann was his model student, who he used to shore up his reputation.
Her daily routine was planned to the minute.
Wieck would give his daughter a one-hour lesson on the piano as well as violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint. On top of this, Schumann was expected to do an extra two-hours practise on her own.
In later life, Schumann wrote: "[My father] was exceedingly strict, that he reprimanded me when I deserved it and in so doing, prevented me from becoming arrogant from the praise the world showered on me."
Her future husband Robert Schumann was impressed with Schumann's talent after seeing her perform as a nine-year-old. He took lessons from her father, living in their house for a year.
By her mid-teens, Schumann had toured all over Europe to perform piano recitals under her father's management.
"Recitals, where people bought tickets to hear a pianist or [other instrumentalists] perform in a public auditorium, were a new concept in the 19th century," says Andrew Ford,host of The Music Show.
Schumann was admired for her musical interpretations, which she played from memory, unlike most of her fellow performers. One Austrian poet even wrote a poem called "Clara Wieck and Beethoven" after hearing her play the Appassionata Piano Sonata.
Schumann's relationship with her father broke down when he refused to give her permission to marry Robert Schumann, resulting in months-long legal battles.
The young couple won their case in court and married a day before Schumann's 21st birthday in 1840.
Schumann premiered her first piano concerto at the age of 16 under the baton of renowned composer Felix Mendelssohn.
After their marriage, Robert and Clara collaborated musically for many years. But Robert's physical and mental health deteriorated soon after.
Touring to Russia in 1844 exhausted him.
As Robert continued to decline, Clara began to take the role of the family's breadwinner through performing and teaching.
Robert committed himself to a mental asylum in 1854 and died two years later, leaving Clara a single mother of seven children.
Schumann reforged her earlier career as a concert pianist, giving public performances at home and overseas.
Ford says: "The idea that you can buy a ticket to sit in a large auditorium listening to a great pianist play Bach or Beethoven owes a lot to Clara Schumann."
Schumann was the first performer for many of her husband's compositions. In later life, she premiered many piano pieces by Johannes Brahms, who became a close friend of the family.
There are over 1,300 preserved concert programs which detail the music she performed in recitals between 1831–1889.
Although Schumann did much to champion other composer's music, even making them staples of classical music concerts, her own compositions were rarely performed after her death.
But Schumann is far from being forgotten.
In Germany, there are streets named after her in Berlin, Leipzig and other cities. Before the introduction of the Euro in 2002, Schumann was featured in one of Germany's notes for the 100 Deutsche Mark.
"She's not lost, but I think she needed to be rediscovered," says British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.
To mark Schumann's 200 birthday in 2019, Kanneh-Mason recorded an album of her music, including the piano concerto Schumann premiered as a young woman.
That same year, her birth town in Leipzig organised a festival to honour her life and music.
The town had a memorial plaque to mark the place where she was born, and her marital home is now a museum and music school dedicated to both Clara and Robert Schumann.
Kanneh-Mason was inspired by Schumann's life story when she chose to record her music.
"Not only did she manage to sustain a long and demanding concert career, she also raised a large family and dealt with inconceivable tragedies," Kanneh-Mason says.
Schumann also has a young torch-bearer in ABC iview's The Piano.
Just like Schumann, "I practise everyday," says 12-year-old Stefania, one of the younger performers in the series.
"I think of the piano as an extension of my soul and body," Stefania says.
After wowing judges Harry Connick Jr and Andrea Lam with her flawless performance of Bach's English Suite No. 2, Stefania was invited to perform for the Finale concert.
Stefania performs music by Clara Schumann in The Piano's finale, mentored by Lam, who herself was a prodigy, debuting with the Sydney Symphony aged just 13.
"It's really important to be able to identify with your idols and with people that you respect," Lam says.
Stream The Piano free on ABC iview or watch Sundays at 7:30pm on ABC TV.
Vote for your favourite piano music in the Classic 100: Piano and hear what made the top 100 across June 7 and 8 on ABC Classic and the ABC listen app.