Schumann and Schumann
This course was on the music and careers of Robert and Clara Schumann, how they were entwined and the influence on each other. The course was run thematically with the first week being an overall chronology and then each week concentrating on one type of music such as Piano Muisc, Songs, Choral, Orchestral and Chamber, to each of which field both made contributions.
I ran this course at Crayford Manor (Bexley College) January-April 1999.
Clara Schumann – a Composer in Her Own Right
Even in these supposedly enlightened times Clara Schumann is still often regarded merely as the wife of her more famous husband, Robert. Yet he himself did not think of this virtuoso pianist and talented composer in those terms alone. Hear music that Robert once described as being like “a bud…before it breaks out in the splendid colours of the blossoms” and find out about the fascinating woman who wrote it.
I gave this talk to the DfE Music Society in June 2001.
Clara Schumann chronology
Below are the set of spreadsheets I created for the course.