13/09/2019
2019 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Clara Schumann, born as Clara Wieck on September 13, 1819 in Leipzig, Germany. She lived such a remarkable and fascinating life, full of tragedy, love and music. Explore her life story and listen to her music.
200th anniversary of the birth of Clara Schumann by Sonata
Below is a selection of recommended titles available at OPL.
Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason debut album showcases the works of Clara Schumann and it's release was timed to celebrate the 200th anniversary year of Clara Schumann's birth. To celebrate female composers, all her fellow accompanying musicians are also women.
Pianist Lucy Parham plays the music of Clara and Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms interspersed with readings from their letters and diaries.
The New York Times described the impact of the late Nancy B. Reich's biography of Clara Schumann as establishing Clara Schumann "as an important musical figure independent of her husband, the composer Robert Schumann, and helped turn the musicological spotlight on female composers." --New York Times Obituary, Feb 11, 2019.
This filmed project is a combination of a narration about Clara and Robert Schumann's lives, performed by Derek Jacobi with Sting and his wife Trudie Styler reading passages from Robert and Clara's letters and diaries, interspersed with some musical excerpts from musicians.
This is the first book I read about Clara Schumann's life and I really enjoyed and recommend it. If you want something light that is not too scholarly or in-depth, try this Children's book written by the daughter of musicologist Nancy B. Reich, author of "Clara Schumann, the Artist and the Woman".
Ragna Schirmer's 2015 CD "Liebe in Variationen" (Love in Variations) was released to celebrate the 175th wedding anniversary of Robert and Clara Schumann. "The hub of the four sets of variations is Clara: each composition, whether by Robert Schumann or by Johannes Brahms, relates directly to a work by her and at the same time treats her as the content of its musical ideas."--from the booklet.
Ragna Schirmer's 2nd album championing the work of Clara Schumann. Also included is Beethoven's Concerto No.4 in G major, op.58, which Clara performed frequently during her concerts.
Madame Schumann
works for solo piano and chamber ensemble : Clara's original concert programmesRagna Schirmer marks Clara Schumann's 200th birthday by releasing "Madame Schumann", an album containing 2 original concert programmes that had been performed by Clara.
In eight lectures, Professor Robert Greenberg talks about the lives and music of Robert and Clara Schumann. Professor Greenberg is passionate about music and his lectures are entertaining as well as educational. After watching these lectures, check out other Robert Greenberg lectures about classical music and other great composers from The Great Courses. The library has a good selection of them.
Comments
German Culture
Nice to see that the Library is promoting German culture. It has been my experience that the Ottawa Library is very anti-German. They sold or disposed of over 1,000 books that were given to them in trust by the Goethe Institute. The present collection of German material is so pathetic that hardly anyone borrows anything and therefore the library can justify selling all the books given to them and not buying or circulating any new ones. Stephan Hobbs