The diaries kept by the great pianist Clara Schumann as a child and a young woman are published for the first time complete and with a commentary. The creation of Clara's diaries was unusual in that they were initially kept on her behalf by her father, the piano teacher Friedrich Wieck. Only when she reached the age of 18 could she express herself without paternal censorship. By then she had developed the loving relationship with Robert Schumann, which would lead, after severe conflicts with Wieck, to their marriage and the happy conclusion of the diary entries.The entries are complex and stimulating from the perspectives of both biography and cultural history. Particularly pithy and often amusing are the depictions of the young pianist's extended concert tours: towns, concert halls, instruments, colleagues, rivals and of course Clara's successes create a highly attractive historical panorama.The editors are the Schumann expert Gerd Neuhaus (Zwickau), who has already edited Schumann's diaries and household books, and the renowned biographer of Schumann, Nancy B. Reich (New York).
