The power woman of classical music: Clara Schumann | Music - DW (English)

Two centuries after her birth, the composer, critic, impresario, pianist, celebrity, mother and Robert Schumann's wife — and not necessarily in that order — is recognized as a 19th century power woman, continues DW (English).
 

This lithography served as the model for Clara's image on the 100 mark bill
Photo: stock&people

In the Clara Schumann anniversary year, there are special concerts everywhere in Germany and exhibitions in Zwickau, Frankfurt, Bonn and Leipzig. In the latter city alone — her birthplace — there are some 170 events honoring Schumann in 2019. New biographies and diaries of her youth have been published, and Clara Schumann's compositions, long forgotten, are turning up on playbills.

Her image is nearly universally familiar in Germany — at least to those who were around before the euro was adopted in 2002 — as "the woman on the 100 Deutsche Mark bill" that was introduced in 1989. Beyond that, though, Clara Schumann left an indelible mark on music life, one still palpable today...

Clara Schumann died in Frankfurt on May 20, 1896, 77 years old. Apart from her compositions, her most enduring influence probably rests in her concert programs, which evolved from the virtuosic but trifling pieces of her youth to complete sonatas and cycles by a canon of composers including Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Bach — and of course Schumann, whose posthumous fame she tirelessly promoted.
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Source: DW (English)