Clara Schumann—a symphony of love, tragedy & mystery 

She was a supremely talented pianist, who literally had a musical romance with her loving husband. And then, one day, while her fingers still played the piano expertly, her heart stopped her from composing new music. What happened to this wonder woman?

Have you listened to one of the most popular Hindi film songs of our times? It’s called Hum tere bin ab reh nahin sakte (I cannot perceive living without you), from the film Aashiqi 2.

The opening notes of this song remind me of the opening notes of a composition by an admirable woman – someone, if she were alive, I would have loved to meet.

She is Clara Schumann, a German who lived between 1819 and 1896. She was among the leading pianists of her time.

I don’t know if the Hindi song’s opening notes are inspired or if they just sound similar. But the song gave me a chance to remember Clara, who is inspirational, especially to women. As we will see, her talent, strength and love for family had to survive amidst some painful events.

In fact, Clara is particularly inspiring for the way in which she handled tragedy. Thanks to her father, she became an expert in piano playing as a child. Popular composers adored her skills and she got great applause in her concerts. She married Robert, a pianist himself and a composer. Overall, they had a loving family life. They shared a joint diary, and took turns to make entries – a loving exercise we could emulate today, when relationships need mending.

And then, she had to bear the death of four of her eight children. One of her sons ended in an insane asylum. As did her husband, Robert.

Clara refused to accept help other than from friends. She continued her musical tours after Robert’s death. On one of the tours, Clara’s daughter wrote in a letter to a friend that Clara ‘was received with tempestuous applause and had to give an encore’. (An encore implies that the audience wanted her to carry on playing even after the conclusion of the performance).

Another interesting facet about Clara – her ability to play piano from memory. She would memorise the pieces and play fluently. This was not common during her time. By all accounts, she was a supremely talented and hard-working artist...

As well as a wonder woman who never gave up on her husband despite his problems – physical and mental. Before he turned insane, Robert had permanently damaged fingers on his right hand. Clara helped him by playing his piano pieces for him at concerts. And after his death, she worked selflessly to make him popular. Theirs is an actual musical love story, yet, there’s another note of tragedy.

Clara performed others’ works – though she played the piano very efficiently, she was playing works composed by other musicians. However, she ached to be a creator and said that: "composing gives me great pleasure... there is nothing that surpasses the joy of creation, if only because through it one wins hours of self-forgetfulness, when one lives in a world of sound".

With eight children, many of them seriously ill, an ailing husband whom she loved, she had too much on her mind to be able to be a creator. Or perhaps she got too used to the habit of playing others’ creation – we don’t know. But it’s certainly not her husband Robert’s doing. This is what he felt:

“Clara has composed a series of small pieces, which show a musical and tender ingenuity such as she has never attained before... She cannot work at it regularly, and I am often disturbed to think how many profound ideas are lost because she cannot work them out.”

It would then be easy to point a finger at society then? And that’s what you’d think if you read this:

"I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose—there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?"

However, we must remember that Clara loved her family. And the renowned composers, all men, respected Clara’s talents. Not to mention the love she received from the audience.

In addition, she stopped composing only in her mid thirties, after her husband’s death.

Was it the tragedy of losing children and husband that impeded her? Was it her love for her family, that naturally required her attentions? Or a sense of being unequal as a composer to Robert, Brahms and other renowned composers she knew?

It is far too easy to squarely blame society for discouraging her, but the reason could well be the nagging self-doubt that artists bear in their heart. Add to it the sadness of losing people you love the most.

Things were better for her when she was eighteen and performing at Vienna, and I’ll conclude with the words of a critic:

“In her creative hands, the most ordinary passage, the most routine motive acquires a significant meaning, a colour, which only those with the most consummate artistry can give.”