Clara Schumann

(1819 - 1896)

Clara Wieck was an eleven-year-old piano prodigy when Robert Schumann, nine years older, moved into her family’s home to study with her father. The two composers fell in love, keeping a joint diary when together and continually sending letters when apart. In 1880, twenty-four years after Robert’s death, a lavish monument was erected over the couple’s cemetery plot. It depicts a seated Clara gazing admiringly at an idealized portrait of her husband.