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. She runs the Clara Schumann Channel platform, dedicated to educating the public about women composers, and performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Symphonic Choir, including an appearance in the choir scene of the movie Maestro. Fritz teaches on the faculty of the Westminster Conservatory in Princeton, New Jersey.
We discuss how Clara Schumann’s compositions deserve to be heard and studied on their own merits. Clara’s achievements were often discussed in relation to her husband Robert Schumann, even though she was internationally famous and hugely influential in her own right. Then there is all the conjecture about whether she and Johannes Brahms had an affair? This episode goes into depth about all that Clara Schumann was, as well as debunking some of the long-held narratives about her.
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