Madame Composer

The Virtuosic Genius of Clara Schumann

Sarah Fritz

A triumphant and striking portrait of a cultural icon who changed the course of music history, and an invitation to reconsider artistic legacies.

A child prodigy equal to Mozart, Paganini called her a “genuine artist;” Goethe said “she plays with the strength of six boys.” She premiered the “unplayable” works of Chopin at age twelve, brought Bach fugues and Beethoven sonatas into the concert hall at sixteen. By age eighteen, the Austrian Emperor gave her a royal title, catapulting her to international fame. During her sixty-year career, she made Robert Schumann a household name and premiered Brahms’s famous “Lullaby.” Many critics—who dubbed her "Saint Cecilia," "queen of the piano," and "priestess of art"—preferred her piano playing to her rival Franz Liszt.

Why is her name not uttered in the breath as Liszt or Brahams or Mozart today? In Madame Composer, Sarah Fritz reveals the truth—why Clara Schumann, a giant of Romantic music, has been overshadowed and sometimes deliberately obscured, despite the reverence she commanded during her life. By peeling back the Nazi propaganda which buried Clara Schumann’s professional achievements under the Third Riech version of “tradwife,” the power Clara wielded in the industry comes to the fore.

Yet despite Clara's position as an impersario, even she was still obliged to wear a veil of humility. She devoted her career to promoting men’s works instead of her own creations, but her melodies were quoted in their works over and over—including new discoveries by the author in famous works by Brahms and Liszt, published here for the first time.

Clara life was more fascinating than fiction. A neurodivergent child, she shared a forbidden love with the poor composer Robert Schumann, whose tragic death in an asylum left her a single parent of seven children, who she supported with her performing. A scandalous 40-year relationship with Brahms turns into a cover-up for one of the most important artist-mentor partnerships in cultural history. An all too relatable woman who longed to have it all—a traditional family and career success—she also suffered burnout, imposter syndrome, and clinical depression.

Yet without Clara, many of history’s best-loved musical works would have been buried, or never written at all. WIth dynamic prose, Sarah Fritz's Madame Composer is the definitive biography on a singular musical force and a woman in full.

Sarah Fritz is a musicologist, mezzo-soprano, and music historian who’s contributed to the New York Times, given pre-concert talks for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and appears in the PBS documentary, Mozart’s Sister. Her popular Clara Schumann Channel platform—dedicated to educating the public about women composers—is followed by scholars, quoted in academic articles, and studied in graduate musicology classrooms. She teaches on the faculty of the Westminster Conservatory in Princeton, New Jersey, and performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Symphonic Choir including an appearance in the choir scene of the movie Maestro.

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