<Tr> <Th> Children </Th> <Td> Eight </Td> </Tr> <P> Clara Schumann (/ ˈʃuːmɑːn /; née Clara Josephine Wieck; 13 September 1819--20 May 1896) was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era . She exerted her influence over a 61 - year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital and the tastes of the listening public . Her husband was the composer Robert Schumann . Together they encouraged Johannes Brahms . She was the first to perform publicly any work by Brahms . She later premiered some other pieces by Brahms, notably the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel . She was an influential piano educator at Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium in Frankfurt . </P> <P> Clara Josephine Wieck was born in Leipzig on 13 September 1819 to Friedrich Wieck and Marianne Wieck (née Tromlitz). Marianne Tromlitz was a famous singer in Leipzig at the time and was singing solos on a weekly basis at the well - known Gewandhaus in Leipzig . The differences between her parents were irreconcilable, in large part due to her father's unyielding nature . After an affair between Clara's mother and Adolph Bargiel, her father's friend, the Wiecks divorced in 1824 and Marianne married Bargiel . Five - year - old Clara remained with her father . </P> <P> From an early age, Clara's career and life were planned down to the smallest detail by her father . She received daily one - hour lessons (in piano, violin, singing, theory, harmony, composition, and counterpoint) and had to practice for two hours, using the teaching methods her father had developed . In March 1828, at the age of eight, Clara Wieck performed at the Leipzig home of Dr. Ernst Carus, director of the mental hospital at Colditz Castle . There, she met another gifted young pianist who had been invited to the musical evening, Robert Schumann, who was nine years older . Schumann admired Clara's playing so much that he asked permission from his mother to stop studying law, which had never interested him much, and take music lessons with Clara's father . While taking lessons, he rented a room in the Wieck household, staying about a year . He would sometimes dress up as a ghost and scare Clara, and this created a bond . </P>

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