![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve_primeIt's time for our university's annual Musicking conference, which focuseds on the practice of music - mostly but not entirely early music. I attended a talk this afternoon about Clara Schumann, who is certainly not "early" - she was a concert pianist and composer in her own right as well as the wife of Robert Schumann. The talk was by Beverly Taflinger, a member of our music school faculty - she explained her dissertation topic and illustrated what she was talking about by singing various pieces, accompanied by a pianist. Her topic was the way that Clara Schumann has a reputation for being rather conventional, but if one looks at the works she didn't bother to publish, and the versions of her works before they were published, it was clear that she was much more sophisticated and dramatic in the pieces and versions that she kept private. Taflinger thinks she toned down the published ones to better fit the gender stereotypes of the time. Very interesting!
It was fun to be on campus during the daytime, which I hardly ever do anymore. Afterwards I went to two stores looking for the flavor of hummus that J prefers, which has been discontinued at the stores where we've bought it in the past. I also finally made it to Black Sun books, but it would have been more fun had I remembered not to leave my reading glasses in the car!
It was fun to be on campus during the daytime, which I hardly ever do anymore. Afterwards I went to two stores looking for the flavor of hummus that J prefers, which has been discontinued at the stores where we've bought it in the past. I also finally made it to Black Sun books, but it would have been more fun had I remembered not to leave my reading glasses in the car!
no subject
Date: 2024-04-11 11:31 pm (UTC)What an interesting talk that must have been though.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-12 09:30 am (UTC)I should look for that book! I told the author about my blog post about the Schumanns, and she sent me her dissertation, so I'll have that to look at soon too.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-12 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-12 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-14 01:53 pm (UTC)What a complex life her and a few other women musicians in her shoes had. Always supporting their husbands first and the sacrifices she and others made. From what I understand they were very in love though and for me that provides some solace for what she had to put up with.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-14 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-14 10:10 pm (UTC)I think she was a genius too. Women can be geniuses right? You wouldn't know it from history, hmpf.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-15 08:27 am (UTC)In her dissertation, she wrote a lot about how our culture has identified "geniuses," and the women who we'd consider a genius have often been seen as "vessels" for some male in their lives, such that he gets all the credit. Clara Schumann's father, Friedrich Weick, actually told his wife that he wanted a daughter so he could raise her to be a genius - he knew if he did it with a son, then the son would get credit for it, whereas with a daughter, the dad could get the credit. He didn't give any credit at all to Clara's mother, who came from a musical family and had musical talent, which he himself did not.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-17 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-17 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-20 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-21 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-21 09:10 pm (UTC)