Customer Reviews (7)

Personal life
This book is based on original diaries & letters translated from the German. A lot of this information has been published previously but there are many sources previously unknown to me. It isn't a novel or a popularised biography that one would read as light entertainment. It is left to a great extent to the reader to read between the lines. An insight into psychology, sociology & the facts of syphilis helps to make sense of the raw data. You need to spend time thinking about what it all means, which slows down progress through the book. Clara was a musical genius well ahead of her time managing marriage to a frequently sick husband who was himself a temperamental genius, being almost constantly pregnant during her marriage, caring for 8 children. Giving world acclaimed concerts right up to the birth of her children & resuming her recitals shortly after their birth, gives the impression of a super Wunderfrau. If you buy this book you had better be prepared to put in the hard yards as I'm sure Clara would have!

A marvelous book about a remarkable woman
This book is intended to be a gift for my grand daughter, Clara Elisabeth Schumann.But first I am reading it myself.What a woman!

The Artist and the Woman - a MUST READ For Many Reasons
Author Nancy Reich's scholarship is impeccable, her research, comprehensive, and her passion for accuracy, uncompromising.

This is a completely thorough and compelling biography which reads as smoothly as an easy novel. It is powerful and sensitive; objective and personal. Dr. Reich's depth as a scholar and skill as a writer provide us with a rarely-, possibly never-seen view of this extraordinary woman, Clara Wieck Schumann.

Clara's life was fraught with pain, sorrow, frustration, and self-doubt, and how her genius managed to prevail is nothing short of remarkable.I took pause many times while reading to catch my emotional breath.

Dr. Reich also shares with us her enormous insight into the personalities of ill and troubled husband, Robert, dear friend and confidant, Johannes Brahms, and domineering father, Friedrich Wieck, making sense and coherence of the disjointed facts many of us know regarding these three very important men in, not only her life, but in the life of Nineteenth Century European music.

Clara Schumann was a truly astonishing figure - both as an artist (prolific composer, formidable virtuosa - some say Liszt's equal or superior), and as a woman (dedicated wife, mother, daughter, loyal friend). This book takes a major step toward giving a just measure of recognition to this awesome woman.It contains wonderful photos, sketches, pastels, and paintings - some, particularly of Clara alone, are especially moving.Her expressions tell nearly as complete a story as the text.

Though replete with musical discussion and analysis, one need not be a scholar or musician to comprehend and be totally struck by Nancy Reich's telling of Clara's story. If you care anything about wives, mothers, daughters, friends, or music, this book is a MUST READ.

I discovered this marvelous book on the Clara Schumann Society website of Dr. David Kenneth Smith, Geneva College.I recommend doing a GOOGLE on "Clara '96" (the name of the site celebrating the anniversary of her death in 1996).You will get an abundance of hits, all of which are very worthwhile.

Tortured Virtuosa, Talented Writer
Nancy B. Reich certainly did her homework while writing the revised edition of Clara Schumann: The Artist and the Woman.Her resources include translations from primary texts in her native German, as well as other primary sources from the important friends in her life.She updated the 1985 version of the book in 2001 to include "a variety of significant documents-letters, medical reports, and music-that were in private hands and unavailable when [she] was working on the first edition". These texts include Robert Schumann's medical log, and Clara's correspondence with her husband's music publishers, the List family, and texts written by her granddaughter Julie.I felt this book was well laid out, and was able to include many thoughts and emotions from the people involved in Clara's life.By including information from the diaries and discerning when the passage was Wieck's writing or Clara's helped make clear whose feelings were really being expressed.
One thing I found was that Reich draws many of her own conclusions based on the information presented.Due to the difficulty of not having Clara's uninfluenced, uncorrected thoughts from the first twenty years of her life, it is difficult to actually know her true mind.Wieck's influence on her caused many of these primary documents to be soiled with his own opinions.They do, however, provide an interesting look at her motivations behind many of her decisions.He never spared his thought, and so, there is not as much need for speculation of his beliefs.Reich also does not ponder what her conclusions mean, she simply presents the facts, her opinions based on them, and allows the reader to agree or form their own ideas.
Her inclusion of a timeline of Clara's life in the beginning of the book is rather helpful.It allows the reader to follow her life and to find specific events within the book.Also, the division of chapters makes it easy to home in on specific parts of her life and to find the information easily.The second half of the book reemphasizes the themes in her life by forming separate sections with each grouping.These show her relationships with others and discuss the positions she held throughout her life.The second section might lose the reader's interest somewhat because of the recounting of many facts.She presents the information in greater depth, but she does so in a way that common themes are grouped together instead of emphasizing where they occurred in her life.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable read.It was very informative, and easy to follow.The writing flowed easily and the beginning held my attention.Reich wrote a book successful of influencing my emotions and teaching me more than I had ever known about Clara Schumann.This was a very effective story of the woman and artist's life, and I would recommend it as a great account.

Truly fine biography
Reich's beautifully written, thoroughly researched and objective book is certainly the best biography on Clara Weick Schumann in English. It is also one of the finest biographies I have read of any subject by any author.

From her childhood as a piano virtuoso through her 50 year performing career, Schumann was an international star of the concert stage, a composer and champion of the composers close to her, a woman who astounded and compelled those who knew her, a legend in her own time.

She was, as we know, beset by personnal tragedies of the most anguishing kind, beginning with her complex relationship with her taskmaster father, who taught her, drove her mercilessly, and made her a star at the age of 12, then refused to allow her to marry the love of her life,

She defied him at a dear price and married Robert Schumann anyway. The book explores at length her life as a beloved, then shunned daughter; as a lover, wife, mother, composer and performer.

She suffered terribly Robert Schumann's early and probably syphilis-induced insanity and death, the deaths of most of her seven children at a young age, and extreme financial straits in which she found herself most of her life.

Reich takes us step by step through all of the contingencies ofher professional life: her lifelong celebration of Schumann's work; the 'Young Werther' relationship with her beloved Johannes Brahms, whose career she promoted tirelessly; her complex personality and deep involvement in her career and their effect on her maternal relationship with each of her children.

Throughout, Reich draws a richly variegated picture of the world of classical music in Europe from the early 19th century onward -- its characters, creations, rivalries, performances, highs and lows. Schumann interacted with many of the centuries' finest composers and performers: Chopin, Joachim, Liszt, Schumann (of course), Brahms...the list goes on.

Reich presents the incredible strength and courage for which Schumann is well-known, but does not flinch at exploring her more problematic qualities, for which friends, family, children and Schumann herself, paid a price.

Clara's deep understanding of the music of Robert Schumann and others, and its profound physical and emotional effects on its her play throughout. Here is Clara Schuman, de-mythologized, de-romanticized, and still amazing.

Intriguing, richly embued with testimony from original sources, a pleasure to read, Reich does not just tell the tale. She performs a symphony. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Talent plus Hard Work Equals an Incredible Woman
Fascinating story of an incredible musical talent.This book is perfectly aimed at middle school readers, or anyone wanting an overview of a fascinating life.The language and detail are specific enough, without going into unnecessary depth for the audience.Not that the author sugar-coats Clara Schumann's life: her personal difficulties and family tragedies share time with her concert triumphs, her love for her husband, and her personal work ethic. I would recommend this book to any young reader, particularly a person with a single notable talent, or to any girl.

clara schumann
This book is very enjoyable and easy to read. It is well researched and based on her ( the author's) mother's extensive study on Clara Schumann's life. The pictures and illustrations really bring this biography to life. I couldn't put the book down. Read it all in an afternoon. It is wonderful to have this history on women's music. I remember years ago during the eighties all this wasn't available. But now thanks to authors and writers like this one, we can recognizethe accomplishments of women.This is a must have especially for music majors.

Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso
This book is obviously aimed at children, which I wasn't aware of when I ordered it.Nevertheless I found it a wonderfully inspiring account of Clara's life and her great love for Robert Schumann. Very touching.She was a very modern (for her times) working mother with a large family and had to keep playing to support her family when Robert became ill.She must have been a wonderful pianist - it was her life and she loved playing. How amazing that she was able to keep going during the years from 1841 to 1854, during which she had eight pregnancies!
Thank you for including the events in her life section at the end of the book.How sad that five of her eight children as well as her husband, Robert Schumann, predeceased her.

Virtuoso of the 19th Century
(...) That reason is because this book provides all the necessary information needed to fill your brain with a river of knowledge about this musical genius. A few templates of information I had read from the book were:
* At age 5, Clara Schumann (her name was Clara Wieck, up until she married) had amazing talent for the average child in the world at the time. As it says, as soon as she layed her fingers on the keys of the piano for the first time, she already yielded her amazing skill at music.
* Amazing for a child in her pre-teens, her first concert was conducted at age 12, at the Gewandhaus Theatre in her birthplace and what was one of her many hometowns of Leipzig, Saxony, in Germany. One of the many guests she played for were the King and Queen of Prussia.
* Not suprising for a 16-year-old, she fell deeply in love with Robert Schumann, which, like all superstars, affected her music by how emotional her music sounded to her audience, although this aspect did not affect the quality of her music, as her emotions leaked into her music and it either told her audience whether she felt gloomy or joyful. A way it affected her personal life was by angering her father, Frederick Wieck, because he did not want anything to do with Robert Schumann. He threatened Clara that if she didn't break up with Robert, he would launch her career into mass jeopardy. So that didn't stop her from communicating with Robert. She wrote letters secretly to Robert, and all the letters she wrote to Robert up unto his death in the 1850s would fill severalbookshelves.
* She had seven children total, of which a few suffered terrible fates. Her son Ferdinand served in the military and he died of morphine addiction.
* Some of her friends were Felix Mendelsohnn and Johannes Brahms.

In my opinion, I feel the author of this book, Sussana Reich, should be renowned the world over because of all the thought, effort, and precision she put into this biographical journey. She gives you every little detail you need to know about this genius. While some biographies just have the basic texts of a book, she included a timeline which I found especially helpful when I was writing a biographical report about her. This author is truely an individual who stands out from the rest of the crowd. In fact she has "convinced" me so much about her that I feel she will convince you the same way!

A Heroine for All Ages!
Clara Schumann (nee Wieck) lived a heroic life that would inspire anyone in any age.She lived a life of amazing contrasts:unable to speak with other people when she was young; a piano virtuoso at age 6; the student ofa domineering father; the oldest child in a broken home at a young age; themajor source of income for her family all her life; a young woman who hadto defy her father to marry the man of her dreams; mother of 8 children;young widow; wife of one of the world's most famous composers; constantlyon tour while raising her children; friend of the most prodigious muscialtalents of her day; and the dominant piano performer of her time.

Thisbook is written at a level that will appeal to all but the most seriousmusical fans and students.The book is full of interesting illustrationsand exhibits.I enjoyed the discussion of the sources in the back of thebook.The author's mother has also written about Clara Schumann, so theywere able to share data.Ms. Schumann's diary was started by her father,so it contains information from both of them.She also loved to write toher friends, and spent several hours a day doing that.As a result, thereare a lot of quotes in her own words.

Amazingly modern, yet little knownto many modern people, Clara Schumann faced many of the conflicts andcontradictions that today's young women and mothers face.Her brave andextraordinary life can provide inspiration and guidance for today . . . andtomorrow.

I especially encourage you to share this book with youngpeople who have extraordinary talent or a calling at a young age, to helpthem understand what some of the issues are that they will face over therest of their lives.

Overcome your misconceptions about what it meansto be a career woman in the 21st century by examining one from the 19thcentury!

... Read more

Product Description
Original compilation of the composer’s most popular, most mature piano works, including Witches Dance, Op. 5, No. 1; Four Fleeting Pieces, Op. 15; Three Preludes and Fugues, Op. 16; Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Op. 20; Romance, Op. 11, No. 2; and Three Romances, Op. 21. Selected and with an Introduction by Dr. Nancy B. Reich.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

lovely lady
After playing piano for a long time, I have finally discovered a wonderful woman composer.The music is great and not too difficult to play if you are a medium to good pianist.A wonderful discovery.

clara schumann
I am only so glad there is music out there that is published of Clara Schumann's works. So thank you Dover Publication for this and for the reasonable price. I really don't like the print on the book. It does not have the nice crisp clarity thatyou normally expect of music print. It would have been nice if the music type set could have been adjusted for ease of readability. Also, it would have been nice if the music could have been edited[...]
I think this music if very important because it is Clara Schumann and her music has been unjustly neglected. This edition should be prized and therefore given the best publishing tools available. Get with it Dover! ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Based On Material Found In Diaries And Letters. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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CLARA SCHUMANN AN ARTIST'S LIFE BASED ON MATERIAL FOUND UN DIARIES AND LETTERS by BERTHOLD LITZMANN. Originally published in 1913. AUTHORS PREFACE TO VOL. II. That the second volume has been so long delayed is ac counted for, and I hope excused by, the fact that it was im possible to find any time for the work except during the leisure of my spring and autumn holidays. These have been devoted to it, almost without a pause, and by this means alone has it been possible for the continuation to appear even now: the continuation, not the conclusion for the latter a third volume will be necessary. The over-abundance of material, the full mass of which revealed itself only as I worked through the preceding volume which grew into a dual biography of Robert and Clara Schumann has necessitated this deviation from the original plan. Those to whom the former volume appealed will find the continuation a surprise and possibly a disappointment, since in the second volume the actual letters of Robert and Clara, which gave the first a peculiar character, have far less pro minence, and in their place the biographer speaks, if not ex clusively, yet to far greater extent The critical reader will, however, realise that this was necessitated not only by the difference in the material available for this period of their lives, but also by the peculiar artistic problems of these years. In conclusion it is scarcely necessary to state that in the third volume which is to come which includes a period of40 years the present system of following the heroine step by step through her life will have to give way to a method of grouping events in larger masses. The portrait of Robert Schumann is from a drawing by Eduard Bendemann made in 1859 from the Hamburg Daguerreo type of March 1850; tho frontispiece is from Sohn's painting, with which Clara surprised her husband at Christmas 1868. Dated the 65* wedding-day of Robert and Clara Schumann, Sept 12* 1905. Rlnggenberg on the Lake of Brien*. Berthold LiUmann, AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO VOL. III. The third volume has also been delayed longer than all those concerned in it author, publisher, and readers could have wished, and for the same reason as that which made the production of the two former volumes so difficult This time, in addition, my holidays in Interlaken where alone the material was at my disposal were thrice interrupted by ill-health. The subject itself, and the material for this third volume, wsre not without their influence on the pace of the work. In one place in her diary, Clara writes: In an artist's life, as in every other, things repeat themselves more or lass, so that there if much on which I barely touch. If she herself ia her diary feels a certain monotony in the externals of a life which goes on in the same groove year after year, naturally the biographer, who has to represent forty such years, is still more conscious of it. But though it was plain from the first that on no account was each one of Clara's tours to be followed in her diary from place to place; yet, on the other hand, the positive side of the work was by no means so clearly defined. For in these isolated, constantly recurring episodes lay the chief meaning of her life. ... Read more

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CLARA SCHUMANN AN ARTIST'S LIFE BASED ON MATERIAL FOUND IN DIARIES AND LETTERS by BY BERTHOLD LITZMANN. Originally published in 1913. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE: The task of translation can never be a light one, since every language has not only its own peculiar shades of meaning, but also its own peculiar charm a fragrance which evaporates as soon as the national frontier is crossed. This is especially true of the German of Robert Schumann. His delicate, poetic imagination found perfect expression in the language of his hero, Jean Paul, and the endeavour to render his love letters, and still more his poems, in another tongue is foredoomed to failure; the original words alone fitly express the poet's thought In the following pages an attempt has been made to give as far as possible the spirit of the German, but only a poet could hope for success in such an enterprise, and I am conscious of many shortcomings. It is with great pleasure and the warmest gratitude that I acknowledge my indebtedness to Miss BL C. Deneke and to Miss Eugenie Schumann,, both of whom read through the manuscript and gave me much valuable advice and criticism. Miss Schumann went through the translation word by word, and to her never wearying patience and consideration is due whatever in it there may be of good. It was unfortunately found necessary to turn the original three volumes into two in the English edition, and by so doing the balance of the whole had necessarily to be re adjusted. Prof. Litzmann in his prefaces explains the principle which underlies the whole work. I have endeavoured to interfere as little as possible with his method, though some Translator's Preface. slight changes were necessary in order to avoid any abrupt break between the volumes, vol. ii of the German edition being divided between the two volumes of the English edition. It is with sincere apologies and deep regret that I have ventured to make what omissions were called for by reason of space, and I have to tender my thanks to Prof. Litzmann for his courtesy in permitting such changes. Cirencester 1912. Grace E. Hadow, PREFACE: The reproach is commonly brought against musical bio graphies that they are monotonous : and indeed the life of the musician has not often afforded much scope for incident or variety. If he be a composer he treads the accustomed course of early struggles, hard-earned victories and posthumous fame: if he be a virtuoso his career is one triumphal progress which leaves little to record except the successive trophies that he has planted and the successive laurels that he has won. The concentration required by his art removes him in some degree from the stir and stress of public events: for the most part he dwells in an ideal city of his own and breathes the more freely when he has shut its gates upon the world. To this it may be added that the biographers of our great musicians have too often tended to merge the historian in the advocate. They are full of a generous enthusiasm for their subject; they are anxious above all things to present it in an attractive light; but they sometimes neglect Cromwell's advice to Sir Peter Lely and spoil their portrait by giving it a classic regularity of feature. No doubt every biographer is something of a partisan ; it is no use writing a man's life unless you think well of him: but the worst of all ways to arouse interest in your hero is to represent him on a faultless pala din and to treat as a paynim and a miscreant everyone who ever offered him the least opposition. No man can build the monument of departed greatness if he is using up all the stones to pelt his adversaries. ... ... Read more

Product Description
For the first four years of their marriage, from 1840 to 1844, Robert and Clara Wieck Schumann kept a detailed account of their lives together.Now available in English for the first time, this edition of the complete marriage diaries reveals the strains as well as the happiness of the union of the two renowned musicians. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Volume: v.1Publisher: Leipzig : Breitkopf ... Read more

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Based On Material Found In Diaries And Letters. ... Read more