- Clara Wieck began composing this work in 1833 (when she was 13 years old) and completed it in 1836.
- Stylistically, this work can be compared to Chopin’s concertos, which were written around the same time. Like Clara Wieck, Chopin composed his concertos for his own performance; original compositions and virtuosic concertos were expected parts of any young virtuoso’s repertoire in the early 19th century.
- Robert Schumann assisted Clara Wieck with the on the orchestration of this composition. In turn, this concerto influenced Robert’s later orchestral works. Robert did not begin work on his own piano concerto until 1841.
- Clara Wieck played the premiere of her Piano Concerto in a minor in November 1837 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Felix Mendelssohn conducted the performance.
- Clara Wieck dedicated her concerto to composer Louis Spohr.1
- Clara Wieck had visited Spohr in 1834 and played him some of her character pieces for piano. She wrote that “They pleased him so much that his cold but otherwise pleasant face beamed with joy and he kept nudging his wife with great delight while I played.”2
Sources
- Nancy B. Reich and Natasha Loges, “Schumann [née Wieck], Clara,” Grove Music Online (March 29, 2021), accessed June 15, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-90000380188.
- Nancy B. Reich, Clara Schumann: The Artist and The Woman, Rev. ed. (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001), 294.
Cut IDs
13458 23115