Clara Schumann: Life And Music In The 19th Century

Clara Schumann like most women of her day, faced a myriad of obstacles to becoming recognized composers in the 18th and early 19th century. Clara Schumann was an accomplished composer of her times but recognition of this feat did not come with ease. Clara faced many of the common stumbling blocks to women during this time to include the idea that a woman’s place was in the home and that her life focus is to please her husband, run the home and take care of the children. Despite this mindset, this musical prodigy was able to wittingly break ground for other women to come after her. Even in death, as history cannot be rewritten, all of her musical accomplishments are rarely mentioned in musical history textbooks. Clara Schumann

Clara was however, coddled into this setting by the reputation of her father.

Clara seemingly fell right back into the traditional expectations after her marriage to Schumann. Schumann an accomplished composer himself, and in keeping with the times, made his wife put his career ahead of hers and virtually made it impossible for her to even practice her craft anymore. She was eventually able to find an hour or so daily to practice and continue doing what she loved. It was fortunate because after the death of her husband, it was how she was able to provide for her family of 7 children that she and Schumann produced. Although the path was narrow for women composers, she and others like Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel continued to break the tradition of social stereotypes for composers and did become successful composers. While Fanny (and others) were warned to focus on “the only calling for a young woman – that of a housewife.” (Kristen Forney, 2015), she remained active in composing and performing

Women no longer have to follow a given path of a domesticated life lived behind her husband’s pant cuff. So one would wonder why the increase in women composers has not happened as did in other areas such as literature and the visual arts. According to Kerry Andrew of theguardian.com, there is a decline in confidence in teenage girls to compose and the issue must be addressed with education and “if girls are presented with examples of successful female creators in all genres, they might view composition as a viable profession for themselves.” The promotion of composition as a profession and the use of women examples in curriculum will serve to foster this change. Hence while Clara Schumann did face a myriad of obstacles to becoming a recognized composer, her accomplishments are noted and serve as a catalyst even today as historical information is relooked and understood.

Clara Schumann’s small creative output in the area of composition can be likened unto today’s small input of only14% of the PRS for Music Foundation's (the Performing Rights Society of composers, songwriters and music publishers) members being female in that, it may be a direct result of the negative attitudes of society and how it views women in this