Madame Composer: The Virtuosic Genius of Clara Schumann

A long overdue new biography of Clara Schumann that establishes her as a powerful presence in the elite circle of German Romantic composers and rightfully asserts canonical status History has not been kind to Clara Wieck Schumann. A child prodigy, she was lauded as a ‘genuine artist’ by Paganini and noted as playing ‘with the strength of six boys’ by Goethe, and her virtuosic talent blossomed into an impressive career that spanned sixty years. During that time, she played thousands of concerts across Europe, and her original melodies were featured in famous works by such luminaries as Brahms and Liszt. So why is this ‘queen of the piano’ missing from the lists of the greatest composers of all time? Despite her unmistakable talent, she is now almost solely defined by the men she was associated with: the wife of Robert Schumann, the muse of Johannes Brahms. Was this a result of a society’s and her own internalised misogyny, or were there more intentional attempts to obscure Clara’s achievements? In Madame Composer, Sarah Fritz finally puts Clara back at the heart of the classical canon. From uncovering the Nazi propaganda that purposefully buried her achievements to revealing the personal power she once had in the musical world, Fritz paints a triumphant and striking portrait of a cultural icon who changed the course of music history.