Frauenliebe und leben is one of Robert Schumann’s song cycles during his Year of Song, or Liederjahr in German, the year of 1840. During this year, he wrote 168 songs (!!). This song cycle in particular gives us some insight into the way Robert viewed Clara. In no way do I mean that Robert objectified Clara and saw her as a possession, but it does give us an idea of their love story and how their music came to be.
The text for Frauenliebe und leben (“Woman’s Life and Love”) was written by Adalbert von Chamisso. He wrote this set of poetry at the age of 40, when he married a 17-year-old girl. During Schumann’s time, men would marry young girls, and this young girl would then spend the next ten years or so of her life continuously having children. Because birth control was banned (it was forbidden to even ask about it), the wives of men would have no other option than to keep producing child after child. Most of these girls would pass away because they wore out their bodies by having too many children. After the death of a wife, a man would usually marry another girl, and this girl would be expected to continuously have children, and the process would keep going. This was clearly the case for Chamisso; he must have lost a wife (or two), and then found this young girl to marry. He wrote this poetry with her in mind, which is an idealized version of what a man wants a woman to feel and think when she is in love and married. Essentially, the poetry is written in the point of view of the girl, saying that all she wants to do is live her life to make the man happy, and she will be happy in doing so.
Something had to have drawn Robert to this poetry, and it would be odd to assume he didn’t have Clara in mind when he set this poetry to music. Clara, being a musical prodigy ever since she was young, would have had a very different life had she not fallen in love with Robert and married him. She would not have needed to limit her performing, which int turn would have boosted her reputation far more than she already had it. She would have had a life dedicating herself solely to music, and who knows what more she could have given us if she hadn’t married Robert.
However, in having her beautiful relationship with Robert, we get beautiful works from Robert that were written with her in mind, like the ever so famous Widmung that he gifted to her for their wedding. Without Clara, Robert’s music would not be filled with as much emotion, as their relationship fueled his writing. She lives in his works and he in hers. Much of Clara’s compositions found their way into Robert’s music (themes written by Clara can be found in many of his works, including his great a minor concerto, Op.54, and his g minor sonata, Op.22, and of course, his Impromptus on a Theme by Clara Wieck, op.5).
Frauenliebe und leben shows us what men thought women should feel in a marriage, and Robert was no different. Women, ideally, would devote their lives to making her husband happy by simply having lots and lots of children and taking care of these children. In making her husband happy, she herself would be happy. When Robert married Clara, the thought of her happiness stemming from performing and composing could have been described as “charming”, “cute”, or even “silly”. She was expected, ideally, to be happy simply by staying home and having children, and taking care of these children. Robert and Clara had eight children, and having that many children would have definitely taken a toll not only on Clara’s physical being, but also her mental and emotional health. She limited her performing due to this, and composed a little bit on the side of taking care of the seven children that survived out of the eight that she had. To say that Clara was unhappy, though, would be wrong. She loved playing and she loved performing, but the love that she had for Robert allowed her to give up some of her musical life without resenting Robert.
After Robert’s death, Clara returned to concertizing. From the time of Robert’s death until Clara’s, she spent her time performing only Robert’s works, showing her unending, unconditional devotion to him and his love for her.
Through Robert’s and Clara’s relationship, I find that there isn’t really a “wrong” way to play Robert’s or Clara’s music if you play with the same sort of unconditional love they had for each other. If you’re thinking of someone that you love with every fiber of your being, you’re sure to create something beautiful.
Dream big, music-makers!
(Further reading if interested: Nancy B. Reich – Clara Schumann : The Artist and the Woman)
thelittlepianist 