The Stories about Music Films: 54. Geliebte Clara (2008)

 

Basic Info

Title: Geliebte Clara

Genre: Biography, Drama, Music

Country: Germany, France, Hungary

Language: German

Running time: 107 minutes

Release date: 4 December 2008 (Germany), 13 May 2009 (France)

Staff

Director: Helma Sanders-Brahms

Producer: Alfred Huermer

Screenplay by: Helma Sanders-Brahms

Music: Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann

Cinematography: Jürgen Jürges

Edited by: Isabelle Devinck

Cast

Martina Gedeck as Clara Schumann

Pascal Greggory as Robert Schumann

Malik Zidi as Johannes Brahms

Summary

"Geliebte Clara" is a 2008 Franco-German-Hungarian film directed by Helma Sanders-Brahms and the last film she directed before her death in 2014. The film tells the story about the pianist Clara Schumann and her marriage with the composer Robert Schumann.

Clara Schumann

Plot

After performing Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor in Hamburg, where the Schumanns get to know the young composer Johannes Brahms, Clara and Robert Schumann live in a new home in Düsseldorf, where Schumann begins his new job as musical director. 

Clara and Robert Schumann

The demands for his new composition, the Rhenish Symphony, creates tension between him and Clara. Shortly thereafter, Brahms introduces some of his works to the Schumanns, and they are impressed by his compositional and pianistic skills. Allowed to stay with them, 

Johannes Brahms

Brahms takes care of their children. Shortly after the successful premiere of the Rhenish Symphony, Schumann gets to know Dr. Richartz who will help him with his health problems. Schumann considers the talented Brahms as his successor, but Brahms leaves Schumann's house when he realizes that he has feelings more than just friendship for Clara... (Continue)

Movie Review

“Really Hearing the Music”

“Music draws you into the story”

“Lifetime love story”

“Really good”

“Must see”

Interesting stories about the film

1. Helma Sanders-Brahms, who was a director and writer of the film, is a great-great-grandniece of depicted composer Johannes Brahms in the film.

Helma Sanders-Brahms

2. Nikolai Kinski, the actor playing young Robert Schumann, is the half- brother of Nastassja Kinski, who played Clara Schumann in the film “Frühlingssinfonie (1983).” However, the opening scene of young Robert and young Clara was cut for theatrical release.

Frühlingssinfonie (1983)

From this week, I would like to introduce my film writer page to below links, which I established on the film site “FilmFreeway,” to submit a video to a film festival in Germany, to which I was invited at the beginning of this year.

Thank you.

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98. Classical Music: 13. Robert Schumann, ACJ Music Academy

 

How are you?

This week's lecture is “Robert Schumann”, the 13th topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “98. Classical Music: 13. Robert Schumann” introduced on August 12th, 2017.

Robert Schumann, born on June 8, 1810 and died on July 29, 1856, was a German composer, pianist and music critic, regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era.

Birthplace of Robert Schumann, Zwickau

He was born in Zwickau, in the Kingdom of Saxony (today Central Germany), the fifth and last child of Johanna Christiane Schnabel and August Schumann. Although he already began composing before the age of seven, in his boyhood, he spent his time for the cultivation of literature as much as music, absolutely influenced by his father, a bookseller, publisher and novelist.

Johanna Christiane Schnabel

He began studying general music and piano at the age of seven with Johann Gottfried Kuntzsch, a teacher at the Zwickau high school, and at 14 he wrote an essay on the aesthetics of music and also contributed to the book "Portraits of Famous Men" edited by his father.

Schumann's interest in music was sparked when he attended a concert of Ignaz Moscheles at Karlsbad, and he later developed an interest in the works of Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. 

Ignaz Moscheles

In 1828, while traveling, he met the poet Heinrich Heine in Munich and then he began studying law at the University of Leipzig. But he instead focused on improvisation, song composition, and writing novels there. 

Heinrich Heine

He also began to seriously study piano with a famous pianist Friedrick Wieck, who assured him that he could become the best pianist in Europe. However, his dream of being a pianist was ended by his hand injury, and Schumann then concentrated his musical energies on composing.

Friedrich Wieck

In 1840, Schumann married Clara Wieck, the daughter of his teacher Friedrick Wieck, after a long and fierce legal struggle with Friedrick, who opposed the marriage to his daughter. 

Clara Wieck

As a result, Clara, who herself was a good pianist and musical prodigy, became a lifelong musical partner with Schumann, and the two also maintained a close relationship with German composer Johannes Brahms.

Johannes Brahms

Schumann first suffered from a mental disorder in 1833 that is now thought to have resulted from a combination of bipolar disorder and mercury poisoning, which led him from an active composer to a depressed patient.

Schumann House, Leipzig

On February 27, 1854, Schumann, who attempted suicide by throwing himself into the Rhine River but was rescued by boatmen and returned home, asked to be taken to a psychiatric hospital. 

Robert and Clara Schumann

He entered Dr. Franz Richarz's hospital in Endenich, near Bonn, where he stayed until he died of pneumonia on July 29, 1856 at the age of 46. While he stayed there, Brahms was free to visit him, but he was not allowed to see Clara and finally Clara was able to see him two days before he died.

Grave of Robert and Clara Schumann, Bonn

Despite adopting more conservative modes of composition after his marriage, Schumann's music had considerable influence in the 19th century and beyond. Until 1840, he composed exclusively for the piano, but after that he composed various forms of music, leaving a legacy of acclaimed music in almost all the forms known at the time. 

Robert Schumann monument, Zwickau,
Germany

His most famous works include Carnaval, Symphonic Studies, Kinderszenen, Kreisleriana, and the Fantasie in C. 

Bust of Robert Schumann, Museum of
Zwickau

Schumann was known for infusing characters into his music through motifs as well as references to works of literature, and these characters also influenced his editorial writing in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal for Music), a Leipzig-based publication that he co-founded.

Schumann's music room, Zwickau

Thank you.

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