Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, Clara Schumann (née Wieck) was born in Leipzig, Germany on September 13, 1819.  At the age of five, Clara’s parents divorced, and five-year-old Clara remained with her domineering father, Friedrich Wieck. A highly praised piano teacher, Friedrich pushed Clara to become a child prodigy and taught her to memorize and play music by ear. Clara loved piano lessons with her father and learned music without difficulty.

Under her father’s strict tutelage, Clara made her official debut in 1828 at the age of nine. That same year, she met her future husband, Robert Schumann, nine years her senior. Robert was so taken by Clara he asked his mother for permission to take piano lessons from Clara’s father. Nine years later, Robert proposed to Clara, and she accepted despite her father’s ardent objections. They married in 1840, one day before Clara’s 21st birthday.

Before her marriage to Robert, Clara had begun to compose, and gave the premiere of her own Piano Concerto in A minor at age 14. By the time she was 18, she had become one of the leading piano virtuosos in Europe. After her marriage, Clara continued to compose and perform, but she also had eight children, took charge of the household responsibilities, and championed her husband’s works, putting her own composing career on hold.

Tragically, after only fourteen years of marriage, Robert Schumann suffered a mental collapse, attempted suicide, and was placed in an asylum. Clara was only allowed to see Robert once before he died two and a half years later at the age of 46. 

Clara composed little in the years following Robert’s death, but still performed and toured actively throughout Europe. In 1878, at the age of 59, Clara Schumann was appointed the first piano teacher of Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium in Frankfurt, where she was the only female faculty member.

During her 61-year career, Clara Schumann was a well-known and highly regarded pianist whose technical proficiency and sensitive interpretations were widely respected. She wrote sixty-six musical compositions, twenty-three of which were published. Clara also promoted the works of her husband Robert, and music by Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn, and Frédéric Chopin. Clara died in May of 1896 at the age of 76.