Postage stamps: Women of German History - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1986 - 80 Pfennig

With »Women of German History« the Deutsche Bundespost replaces the series »Industry and Technology« begun in 1975/76. The new series is intended to help raise awareness of women's achievements in society. The postage stamps appear at the same time and the same motif as the inscription "Deutsche Bundespost Berlin". Clara Schumann was born on September 13, 1819 in Leipzig. Already at the age of five, she received piano lessons from her father, the piano pedagogue Friedrich Wieck, whose pupils included Hans von Bülow and Robert Schumann. Clara began to fantasize on the piano at an early age. Already on 20 October 1828 she appeared in the Leipzig Gewandhaus for the first time in a public concert and received much applause. On November 8, 1830 Clara Wieck first appeared in front of the public in Leipzig. In the spring of 1831 her first composition appeared in print. She gave a copy to Robert Schumann. They had met in 1828. From 1832 Clara made with her father major concert tours, u. a. to Berlin, Vienna and Paris. On September 12, 1840, she married after years of opposition from her father Robert Schumann. Clara's intense interest in the work of her husband and also the increasing strain of the family let her artistic work take a back seat. On July 29, 1856 Robert Schumann died after a long and serious illness. Clara Schumann now had to look after seven children, the oldest of whom was only fifteen. Clara Schumann is particularly prominent as the interpreter of the piano works of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Brahms, whom she had met in 1853 as a still completely unknown composer, but above all Robert Schumann's. Having made friends with Brahms after Schumann's death, she edited the complete edition of her husband's works. Clara Schumann is described as the most important pianist of the 19th century. Her compositional work is of particular importance, because at that time there was a strong prejudice to the women's musical creativity. Clara Schumann created works that will survive after more than a century. Almost until her death, Clara Schumann died on May 20, 1896 in Frankfurt am Main.