What is Clara Schumann?
[[File:E Bendemann - Clara Schumann (Kohlezeichnung 1859).jpg|right|thumb|Clara Schumann]] '''Clara Schumann''' (born [[Leipzig]] 13 September, 1819; died [[Frankfurt am Main]] 20 May, 1896), was the wife of composer [[Robert Schumann]]. She was a famous [[pianist]] and [[composer]]. Clara was born Clara Wieck. Her father taught her the [[piano]] and [[music theory]]. She was a [[prodigy]] and by the time she was thirteen her father was taking her on concert tours. She was only nine years old when Robert Schumann came to [[Leipzig]] to study [[law]] at the [[university]]. Robert Schumann’s family had told him that he had to study law, but he wanted to be a [[musician]]. He took piano lessons from Clara’s father, Friedrich Wieck. Clara not only learned the piano, she also studied [[singing]], the [[violin]], [[instrumentation]], [[score reading]], [[counterpoint]] and [[Composition (music)|composition]]. By 1835 she was famous in the whole of [[Europe]] and was admired by [[Goethe]], [[Mendelssohn]], [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]], [[Niccolò Paganini|Paganini]] and, of course, Robert Schumann. Clara’s father did not want them to marry. He did everything he could to stop the marriage. For several years life was very difficult for them, but in the end, by 1840, they were married.they married by court permission They had a happy marriage and had eight children. Clara played her husband’s piano works (Schumann had a hand injury and had to stop playing the piano). She ran the household and earned money by teaching and performing. Life was not always easy. When they went on tours together Clara was more famous than her husband, and this was difficult for him. Robert often had [[depression (illness)|depression]]. They both taught at the Leipzig Conservatorium and Clara also taught privately in [[Dresden]] and [[Düsseldorf]]. Robert Schumann died in 1856 after two years in a mental [[Psychiatric hospital|asylum]]. Clara was left with seven small children to bring up. Nevertheless, she continued her career as a pianist