A biography

Taught by her father, Friedrich Wieck, Clara became one of the greatest pianists of the 19th century, an artist of consummate skill.

She maintained a highly successful touring career both before and after she married Robert Schumann (1840). She was a great champion of music by her contemporaries (Chopin, Schumann and Brahms). She also taught extensively, both privately and at the conservatories in Leipzig and Frankfurt.

As a composer she showed imagination and flair but her ambitions were not directed in that direction (she ceased composing in 1854, the year of Robert’s collapse). She prepared a complete edition of Robert’s music, raised a large family and maintained a close relationship with Brahms to the end of her life.