Clara Schumann : a romantic biography / by John N. Burk.
| Author/creator | Burk, John N. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York : Random house, [1940] |
| Description | ix, 438 pages : portraits ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | A persistent young man establishes himself in Leipzig, 1814 -- An artist is born, 1819 -- Clara is put on display, 1827-1828 -- Enter Robert Schumann, "Studiosus Juris" -- Fellow Romantics -- A Saxon of twelve invades Paris, 1831-1832 -- Two roads to Parnassus, 1832-1833 -- The Davidsbundler, 1834-1835 -- The course of true love... 1835-1837 -- Resistance and evasion from Wieck -- Clara conquers Vienna, 1837-1838 -- Problems of adjustment -- Clara faces the world alone, 1838-1839 -- When all persuasion has failed... 1839-1840 -- Haven at last, 1840-1844 -- The Schumanns move to Dresden, 1845 -- Routine and revolution in Dresden, 1847-1850 -- Dusseldorf, a Rhineland welcome, 1850-1853 -- The new John the Baptist, 1853-1854 -- Dark shadows -- Devoted Johannes, 1854-1855 -- Robert Schumann's ordeal ends, 1856 -- Clara spreads the gospel of Schumann and Brahms -- The family circle -- Brahms at home with the Schumanns -- Tragedy without ends -- Johannes creates, Clara interprets -- The cycle closes, 1896. |
| Abstract | No woman in all the history of music has contributed as much to her art as Clara Schumann. In a concert career that lasted almost seventy years, she became the champion and the living symbol of the whole romantic movement in music. The giants of her day--Chopin, Mendelssohn, Joachim, Jenny Lind--felt and relied upon her influence. Even her artistic antagonists--Liszt, Wagner, Berlioz--held her in deepest admiration. To her the world owes the music of her husband, Robert Schumann, and of her protégé, Johannes Brahms. Her life encompassed the birth, flowering and establishment of all that survives of nineteenth-century music. Her courtship by Robert Schumann, their marriage and his tragic death will always remain a love story to hold the world's sympathy and reverence. The love and devotion and musical deference that Johannes Brahms gave to Clara Schumann in the autumn and winter of her life were the second blossomings of her influence. A pioneer, she helped revolutionize the art of the concert pianist. One of the first to expound Beethoven, and always the crusader for Schumann and Brahms, she succeeded by sheer musical sensibility and nobility of character in giving a new direction to creative music. That no full-length biography of Clara Schumann has appeared in America is one of those accidents of oversight now happily corrected. The life of the woman who dominated the romantic era, so sensitively recorded by John N. Burk, historian and programme annotated for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is at once a scholarly contribution on the chief figure of the golden age of music and a heartening human document. Illustrated with photographs, and with an index. |
| Bibliography note | "Sources": pages 431-432. |
| LCCN | 40027304 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Closed Stacks - Ask at Circulation Desk | ML417.S4 B8 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |