Guido Gonzalez/Staff Writer
FIU’s School of Music will be hosting a piano recital to commemorate the 200th anniversary of accomplished 19th-century pianist and composer, Clara Schumann.
“We especially wanted to include music by Schumann to showcase her music from an era that did not do justice to female performers, composers and creators,” said Jose Lopez, an FIU associate professor of keyboard studies and director of the recital.
Schumann is often considered one of the most distinguished pianists and composers of the Romantic Era, which prevailed during the 19th century.
Seven piano performance undergraduate students will play various compositions by Schumann and her inner circle of composers including Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt and her husband Robert Schumann.
Sophomore Beatrice Dalov is one of seven students who will be performing at the recital. Like many of the other students, she was knowledgeable of Schumann, just not extensively.
“We didn’t know as much about her works and compositions until professor Lopez initiated the event,” said Dalov. “We knew a bit about her, but we weren’t aware it was her 200th anniversary until he mentioned it.”
The FIU piano area usually presents two concerts per year featuring combined piano majors from two existing piano studios. The students were informed of the recital’s theme and repertoire during the summer.
“We’ve been rehearsing since mid-August,” said Dalov “I’ve been preparing for this event all semester.”
Dalov will be performing Schumann’s Nocturne op.6 no.2 at the start of the event.
“Her music is very sentimental,” she said. “It’s longing and compassionate. There’s a tone in her music you don’t often hear in others.”
Born in Leipzig, Germany in 1819, Schumann was taught to play the piano by her mother at the age of five, quickly to become a child prodigy. Her father was a strict and controlling mentor, planning her entire life down to the last detail.
In 1840, she married composer Robert Schumann against the wishes of her father. The couple had eight children.
Her husband passed away in 1856 and Schumann continued to perform and write composition until her death in 1896.
Gabriel Freeman, a sophomore, will also be performing at the recital. The piano major will be performing a composition written by Liszt, another romantic composer who Schumann had an interest in.
“Romantic composers are really special because, in that period, music changed,” he said. “It was a period of more introspection. they started to write in a way that expressed their inner world and feelings.”
Freeman will be playing Liszt’s “Vallée d’Obermann.”
“It belongs to a collection of piano solos he wrote called years of pilgrimage. Each piece contains a specific story about a different location,” he said.
The recital will be taking place on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center, Concert Hall. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.
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