| International Standard Book Number |
9798897101887 hardback
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| Personal Name |
Fritz, Sarah (Musicologist), author.
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| Title Statement |
Madame composer : the virtuosic genius of Clara Schumann / Sarah Fritz.
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| Edition Statement |
First Pegasus Books cloth edition.
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| Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice |
New York : Pegasus Books, 2026.
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| Physical Description |
xviii, 382 pages, 8 pages unnumbered plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm.
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| Bibliography, Etc. Note |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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| Formatted Contents Note |
Part one: Clara Wieck, Queen of the piano (1819-1840 -- Part two: Clara Schumann, wife, mother, compower (1840-1855) -- Part three: Madame Schumann, the priestess of art (1855-1896).
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| Summary, Etc. |
A child prodigy equal to Mozart, Paganini called her a "genuine artist;" Goethe said "she plays with the strength of six boys." She premiered the "unplayable" works of Chopin at age twelve and brought Bach fugues and Beethoven sonatas into the concert hall at sixteen. During her sixty-year career, she made Robert Schumann a household name and premiered Brahms's famous "Lullaby." Many critics -- who dubbed her "Saint Cecilia," "queen of the piano," and a "priestess of art" -- preferred her piano playing to her rival Franz Liszt. Why is her name not uttered in the breath as Liszt, Brahms, or Mozart today? In Madame Composer, Sarah Fritz reveals how and why Clara Weick Schumann, a giant of Romantic music, has been diminished and sometimes deliberately obscured. By exposing the Nazi propaganda which buried Clara Schumann's achievements, the power Clara once wielded in the industry comes to the fore. Fritz exposes the truth behind why Clara devoted her career to promoting men's works instead of her own creations, even though her melodies were quoted in famous works by Brahms, Liszt, and others, which is revealed in print for the first time. Clara's life was more fascinating than fiction. A neurodivergent child, she shared a forbidden love with the poor composer Robert Schumann, whose tragic death in an asylum left her a single parent of seven children. And her forty-year relationship with Brahms is one of the most important artist-mentor partnerships in cultural history yet has long been relegated to tabloid scandal. Filled with new discoveries and insight, Sarah Fritz's fierce and dynamic Madame Composer is the definitive biography on a singular musical force and reveals Clara as a woman in full.
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| Subject-Personal Name |
Schumann, Clara, 1819-1896.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Pianists Germany Biography.
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| Index Term-Genre/Form |
Biographies.
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