V-Grams

V-Gram 13

March 19, 1996


Clara Rodham Schumann

The world of classical music is as distant from the contemporary political scene as art in general must be from the minds of President & Mrs. Clinton. Yet all the above met up in an apparently innocent announcement by National Public Radio the other day. At the conclusion of some rather uninspired music, we were told that it was a Piano Concerto by one "Clara Wieck Schumann."

Clara Wieck was a child prodigy who went on to become one of the great musical personalities of the 19th century. A legendary pianist and exceptional human being, her gifts did not extend to the composition of first-rate music. But as a performer, she remained the idol of fellow-musicians and audiences alike while bringing up 7 (that is seven) children after she married the composer, Robert Schumann.

Henceforth she has been known to all the world as Clara Schumann. Her father, an outstanding teacher of pianists, was now the only "Wieck" in the profession. No one, but no one ever referred to Clara as "Clara Wieck Schumann" until the Age of Rodham conferred this posthumous designation upon her. Incidentally: already as a child, she played the piano all by herself, with no assistance from the village.