The Rule She Was Taught
In late 1839, Clara Wieck was twenty years old and living in Berlin with her mother, Mariane Bargiel. She had been performing on concert stages across Europe since she was nine. Her father, Friedrich Wieck, had trained her, but now they were fighting in court in Leipzig. Clara wanted to marry the composer Robert Schumann, and her father refused to give his permission. To punish her, her father began praising another pianist, Camilla Pleyel, and told local papers that Pleyel was far better. Clara read the reviews in Berlin and opened her private diary.
She wrote down a sentence that was completely wrong: "I once thought that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose — not one has been able to do it, and why should I expect to?" The line was later printed in Berthold Litzmann's biography, Clara Schumann: An Artist’s Life, volume I, page 259 (1913). Clara had been told all her life that women could play instruments, but only men could invent new music. Her father was attacking her, and in her exhaustion she turned his anger into a rule about her own sex. People do this whenever they face steady criticism. It is easy to look at an empty field and assume no one can cross it.
Therefore
Do not take the absence of people like you in a field as proof that you cannot do the work. A long history of exclusion is not an argument against your talent.
The Piano Trio in G Minor, 1846
Clara did not stop composing after writing that diary entry. She married Robert Schumann in September 1840 after winning her case in court. Over the next fifteen years, she wrote songs, piano pieces, and her Piano Trio in G minor, Opus 17, which became her most famous work. She finally stopped writing music in her mid-thirties, but not because of a lack of skill. Robert fell ill and died in 1856, leaving her with seven children to support. Clara spent the next forty years touring Europe as a concert pianist and editing Robert's scores, leaving her own work behind to keep the family afloat.
A small reminder, on the piano lid or the desk, that a lack of pioneers does not mean you cannot do the work.
$3.50
2.5 inches vinyl · weatherproof · ships in 1–3 days
Mix & save: 3 for $9 · 5 for $14 · 10 for $25· free shipping at ten
- Weatherproof vinyl
- Ships from Wayzata in 1–3 business days
- Secure checkout
If anything is wrong, we'll refund or replace it. Read the policy
Related patterns
contrasts with
Beethoven's Creative Calling Quote
Beethoven felt an obligation to create, while Clara had been taught to abandon hers.
pairs with
Charlie Parker Vinyl Sun
Parker knew that music comes from lived experience rather than other people's permission.
extends to
Impossible To Be Silent Quote
Hugo names the urgent need to make music even when speaking feels impossible.