Philharmonics play Chamber I Sense and romantic

This time on family Sunday, we will present two fascinating composers: Schumann and Mendelssohn – we know these names well. But Mrs Schumann and Mrs Mendelssohn?

Clara Schumann is such a passionate character that we wonder why there hasn't been any series about her yet. She lived in a world absolutely dominated by men, and therefore all her achievements were further strengthened by the fact that she was a woman – at that time such activity was unthinkable.

At the age of several years, Clara began her piano concert activity and was one of the first performers to play by heart (which is the norm today). She was also interested in composition. For years, she hadn't only taken care of the home and brought up children, but also she was the main provider for the family. She left a few of her own songs. As she said: ‘I used to believe that I had creative talent, but I gave up this idea. A woman can't want to compose. None has ever been able to do that. Should I expect to be a special one?’ Listening to her trio, we know what a great loss this view has brought.

Fanny Mendelssohn could also make a name in the history of music, but all her fame was seized by her brother – Felix. She was as talented as he was, she had an absolute hearing as well as outstanding piano and compositional skills. She left behind nearly 450 works, but these are mainly piano miniatures and children's songs (some of which were even performed by British Queen Victoria – of course, all published as Felix's works). Apart from the trio, her greatest work preserved to our times is a fourteen-part cantata written in 1831 to celebrate the end of the cholera epidemic in Berlin. Both Fanny and Feliks died prematurely in the same year – 1847.

A word about the trio form. One hundred and fifty years ago, there was an informal division into male and female instruments, also transferred to musical forms. The quartet was the domain of men, and the female form of music was the trio. In this context, the words become clear: Once friendships were formed at the chalice, but soon the sense of bond born of the game in the quartet will be replaced by the community formed at the counter at the bar ...