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Donald Macleod asks how Robert and Clara Schumann reconciled their domestic creative tension.

Donald Macleod asks how Robert and Clara Schumann reconciled their domestic creative tension.

The 1840s was the decade when Robert and Clara Schumann鈥檚 married life began, and was the decade in which he established himself as a significant composer.

Schumann鈥檚 marriage to Clara gave him the stability he needed, and brought out the best in him as a composer. But the major question was whether the creative tension between the couple could ever be reconciled. Clara's greater fame, her desire to practice at home, and to go away and perform concerts was firmly set against Robert's desire for her to be a wife and home-maker, to leave her public behind.

Today, Donald Macleod looks at how the Schumanns strove to reconcile these seemingly opposing outlooks.

3 Gedichte, Op 30 (No 3, Der Hidalgo)
Thomas E. Bauer, baritone
Uta Hielscher, piano

String Quartet No 1 in A Minor, Op 41, No 1
I, Introduction: Andante espressivo 鈥 Allegro
IV, Presto
Hagen Quartet

Dichterliebe, Op 48 No 16, Die alten, bosen Lieder
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Christoph Eschenbach, piano

Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 38, "Spring"
I. Andante un poco maestoso - Allegro molto vivace
IV. Allegro animato e grazioso
London Symphony Orchestra
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Frauenliebe und leben, Op 42 (No 6, Susser Freund, du blickest mich verwundert an)
Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano
Bengt Forsberg, piano

Produced by Iain Chambers for 成人快手 Audio Wales & West

59 minutes

Last on

Mon 15 Jul 2024 16:00

Music Played

  • Robert Schumann

    Der Hidalgo (Three Poems, Op 30: No 3)

    Performer: Uta Hielscher. Singer: Thomas E. Bauer.
    • NAXOS : 8.557080.
    • NAXOS.
    • 15.
  • Robert Schumann

    String Quartet No 1 in A minor, Op 41, No1 (1st and 4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Hagen String Quartet.
    • Deutche Grammophon : E4471112.
    • Deutche Grammophon.
    • 5.
  • Robert Schumann

    Die alten, bosen Lieder (Dichterliebe, Op 48: No 16)

    Performer: Christoph Eschenbach. Singer: Dietrich Fischer鈥怐ieskau.
    • Deutche Grammophon : 4456602.
    • Deutche Grammophon.
    • 16.
  • Robert Schumann

    Symphony No 1 in B-flat major, Op 38, "Spring" (1st and 4th mvt)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • LSO LIVE : LSO0844D.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • 1.
  • Robert Schumann

    Frauenliebe und leben, Op 42 (No 6)

    Performer: Bengt Forsberg. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter.
    • Deutche Grammophon : E4458812.
    • Deutche Grammophon.
    • 6.

Broadcasts

  • Mon 17 Oct 2022 12:00
  • Mon 15 Jul 2024 16:00

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