It cannot be discounted that Clara also met Johannes Brahms around this time. Under the strain of perpetual concert tours necessary to support her seven children, the luxury to compose fell on the sacrificial pile. “There is nothing greater than the joy of composing something oneself, and then listening to it.”Īmidst her extraordinary career, full of laurels and unparalleled success, her statement, “There is nothing greater than the joy of composing,” implies her love of writing music soared above her joy in performing.Īt age thirty-six, Clara’s leisure time all but disappeared when she became a single parent. At age twenty-seven (already a mother of four), her confidence was growing. ![]() Her desire overpowered her self-doubt.Ĭlara’s passion for composition shines through in her diary on October 2nd, 1846. Though society told her she should “not desire to compose,” she never could suppress it or condemn other women for it. ![]() The works of other women composers, especially Fanny Hensel and Pauline Viardot, were in her high esteem. Her opuses 12 through 23 included some of her best works-her piano sonata, piano trio, dozens of lieder, piano romanzes, violin romanzes, a first movement of a second piano concerto, and more. Her desire to write music, no matter her turmoil, was irrepressible.She composed for another fifteen years after these writings. Self-doubt echoes in almost all her diary entries about her composing.īut it didn’t stop her. The inner struggle-were women supposed to compose or not?-plagued her and inhibited her work. But this battle waged within her all her life. Her recognition of these thoughts as self-doubt hints that she knew it wasn’t true. Whenever Clara battled with insecurities about her work, she fell victim to the parroted misogynies of her time-that women shouldn’t compose. She realizes, even as she’s writing it, that to judge herself based on gender is a statement of self-doubt-or what today is termed imposter syndrome. Given how impactful this popularized isolated quote has become, exposing its full context is overdue. Composer Patricia Wallinga tweeted, “It makes me feel deep sympathy for Clara, and makes me want to ensure no other girls grow up thinking this.” Composer Elizabeth Gentner added, “The comment sits on an open wound for most of us,” but she also prefers to include an ellipsis, “…she must do it anyway.” ![]() However, we can write, and there is nothing to stop us.”įor most, Clara’s quote inspires a strong reaction. Gender equality and get to where we are. It has been quite a historical struggle. ![]() “Of course, we women can write. It has been a very complex process to achieve Though an equal number said they’d never heard the quote before, thankfully, only around ten percent answered it was empowering and motivating, and even fewer answered it affected them indifferently.Ĭomposer Gabriela Ortiz, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to write a work about Clara for a performance in March 2022, responded in a recent interview for La Jordana: In a recent Twitter poll of over 150 responders, nearly forty percent said the quote had impacted them negatively, hurtfully. The decontextualization of such a harsh, painful statement from one of the most promising and well-educated women composers of the nineteenth century has caused unbridled rippling effects. Out of context, it implies that the reason Clara stopped composing was due to her gender. Twenty-year-old, Clara Schumann née Wieck’s quote, “A women must not desire to compose,” is among her most famous one-liners.
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