Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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344 SCHUMANN
England, playing at the Philharmonic on April
14 and 28, at the Musical Union on four
separate occasions, and elsewhere, herlastappearance
being on June 24. On June 17 she gave an
afternoon ' Recital ' at the Hanover Square rooms,
the programme of which is worth preserving.
1. Beethoven, Variations in Eb on Theme from
the Eroiea ; 2. Sterndale Bennett, Two Diversions
(op. 17), Suite de pieces (op. 24, No. 1)
3.
;
Clara Schumann, Variations on theme from
Schumann's Bunte ' Blatter ' ; 4. Brahms,
Sarabande auJ Gavotte in the style of Bach ;
5. Scarlatti, Piece in A major ; 6. R. Schumann's
Carnaval (omitting Eusebius, Florestan, Coquette,
Replique, Estrella, and Aveu). She returned
from London to Bonn just in time to receive
her husband's last breath (July 29, 1866).
After this event she and her family resided
for some years in Berlin with her mother, who
had separated from Wieck and had married a
musician named Bargiel ; and in 1863 she settled
at Baden-Baden, in the Lichtenthal, which then
became her usual headquarters till 1874.
Her reception in this conservative country
was hardly such as to encourage her to repeat
her visit ; she appeared again at the Philharmonic
on June 29, 1857, and on June 27, 1859.
In a few years the appreciation of Schumann's
music had greatly increased on this side the
Channel ; and the anxiety of amateurs to hear
an artist whose fame on the continent was
so great, became so loudly expressed, that
Mme. Schumann was induced to make another
visit. She played at the Philharmonic, May 29,
1865, Musical Union, April 18, 26, and June 6,
etc. etc. In 1867 she returned again, and
after this her visit became an annual one up to
1882, interrupted only in 1878, 1879, 1880,
when health and other circumstances did not
permit her to travel. She came again in 1885,
1886, 1887, and 1888. In 1866 she again
visited Austria, and gave six concerts at Vienna
and any coldness that the Viennese may have
previously shown towards her husband's compositions
was then amply atoned for.
In 1878 she accepted the post of principal
teacher of the pianoforte in the Coriservatoire
founded by Dr. Hoch at Frankfort, where she
lived and worked with great success until the
end of her life. She died there. May 20,
1896.
This is not the place or the time to speak of
the charm of Madame Schumann's personality,
of the atmosphere of noble and earnest simplicity
which surrounded her in private life no less
than in her public performance. Those who
had the privilege of her acquaintance do not
need such description, and for those who had
not it is unnecessary to make the attempt.
She was deeply and widely beloved, and at a
time when there appeared to be a prospect of
her being compelled by ill health to abandon
her public appearances, the esteem and affection
of her numerous friends took the practical form
of a subscription, and a considerable sum of
money was raised in Germany and England for
her use.
I am indebted to Mr. Franklin Taylor for
the following characterisation of Mme. Schumann's
style and works.
As an artist, Mme. Schumann's place was
indubitably in the very first rank, indeed she
may perhaps be considered to stand higher
than any of her contemporaries, if not as
regards the possession of natural or acquired
gifts, yet in the use she made of them. Her
playing was characterised by an entire absence
of personal display, a keen perception of the
composer's meaning, and an unfailing power of
setting it forth in perfectly intelligible form.
These qualities would lead one to pronounce
her one of the most intellectual of players,
were it not that that term has come to imply
a certain coldness or want of feeling, which was
never perceived in her playing. But just such
a use of the intellectual powers as serves the
purposes of true art, ensuring perfcot accuracy
in all respects, no liberties being taken with
the text, even when playing from memory,
and above all securing an interpretation of the
composer's work which is at once intelligible to
the listener—this certainly formed an essential
element of her playing, and it is worth while
insisting on this, since the absence of that
strict accuracy and perspicuity is too often
mistaken for evidence of deep emotional intention.
With all this, however, Mme. Schumann's
playing evinced great warmth of feeling, and a
true poet's appreciation of absolute beauty, so
that nothing ever sounded harsh or ugly in her
hands ; indeed it may fairly be said that after
hearing her play a fine work (she never played
what is not good), one always became aware
that it contained beauties undiscovered before.
This was, no doubt, partly due to the peculiarly
beautiful quality of the tone she produced,
which was rich and vigorous without the
slightest harshness, and was obtained, even in
the loudest passages, by pressure with the
fingers rather than by percussion. Indeed,
her playing was particularly free from violent
movement of any kind ; in passages, the fingers
were kept close to the keys and squeezed instead
of striking them, while chords were grasped
from the wrist rather than struck from the
elbow. She founded her techniqiie upon the
principle laid down by her father, F. Wieck,
who was also her instructor, that 'the touch
(i.e. the blow of the finger upon the key) should
never be audible, but only the musical sound,'
an axiom the truth of which there is some
danger of overlooking, in the endeavour to
compass the extreme difficulties of certain kinds
of modem pianoforte music.
Mme. Schumann's repertoire was very large,