Hear 19th Century Romantic Music by Women Composers at the Grand Rapids Symphony

The 19th century wasn't the best of times for women as performing artists and composers. Women were encouraged to perform and occasionally indulged as composers. That is, until they married.

Fanny Mendelssohn, same as her younger brother, Felix, was a talented musician. A family friend, who also was a professional musician, offered his highest praise for Fanny's abilities at the piano, declaring, "She plays like a man."

Clara Wieck, a child prodigy, was a prize pupil for her father, Friedrich, a professional pianist and teacher who also taught Clara's future husband, Robert Schumann.

Fanny's father tolerated his daughter's efforts at composition until her marriage. Clara's father, who orchestrated her public debut performance at age 9, opposed his daughter's marriage to Robert, who was nearly nine years older.

Nonetheless, Fanny, who had one child, would compose more than 460 pieces before her death in 1847 at age 41. Clara, who had eight children and who returned to work as a professional pianist following her husband's death in 1856 at age 46, composed intermittently until her death in 1896 at age 76.

"Fanny's brother had the career as a composer, and Clara's husband had the career as a composer," said Marcelo Lehninger, Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony.

With guest conductor Ruth Reinhardt and guest pianist Gabriela Martinez, the Grand Rapids Symphony performs music by both Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann for its concert titled Clara's Circle of Friends at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 13 for its Holland Home Great Eras series in St. Cecilia Music Center, 24 Ransom Ave. NE.

Highlights of the evening concert will be given at 10 a.m. that morning for the Porter Hills Coffee Classic series, a one-hour program held without intermission. Doors open at 9 a.m. for complementary coffee and pastry.

Both concerts are in St. Cecilia's Royce Auditorium.

Ruth Reinhardt, who served as assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2016-17, leads the Grand Rapids Symphony in Fanny Mendelssohn's Overture in C Major.

"Ruth is a very nice colleague and a very nice conductor," Lehninger said. "She has an up and coming career."

The native of Germany served as a conducting fellow at Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Center in 2015 and with the Seattle Symphony in the 2015-16 season. In 2017-18, she was a Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and she has conducted major orchestras throughout the United States and Europe.

Pianist Gabriela Martinez, a native of Venezuela, will be soloist in Clara Schumann's Concerto for Piano in A minor, Op. 7. Martinez was the First Prize winner of the Anton G. Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Dresden and a semifinalist at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition where she received the Jury Discretionary Award.

Lehninger performed Manuel De Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" recently with Martinez and the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

"She one of the few pianist who play the Clara Schumann piano concerto," Lehninger said.

Rounding out the program will be Serenade No. 1 in D Major of Johannes Brahms, who was a close friend of Robert and Clara Schumann and who remained close with Clara, who was 14 years older, for the rest of her life. The final work Clara performed in public, five years before her death, was a two-piano version of Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn.

Brahms never married, and the exact nature of his relationship with the widowed Clara Schumann is something of a mystery.

"He had a very special relationship with Clara," Lehninger said.

Robert and Clara Schumann, remarkably, were joint partners in their personal and professional lives. For much of their life together, Clara was the primary breadwinner and generally managed the financial affairs of their home. She also premiered many of her husband's composition, a necessity, in part, after Robert injured one of his hands and could no longer perform.

Though Felix Mendelssohn didn't particularly encourage his sister Fanny to compose, she became his muse and his primary musical confident whom Felix often sought for advice and counsel.

The complete Clara's Circle of Friends will be rebroadcast on May 3, 2020, at 1 p.m. on Blue Lake Public Radio 88.9 FM or 90.3 FM.

Tickets start at $26 for the Great Eras series and $16 for Coffee Classics, available by calling the GRS ticket office at (616) 454-9451 ext. 4. Phone orders will be charged a $3 per ticket handling fee ($18 maximum per order). There are no fees for tickets purchased in person at the GRS ticket office at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Ticket office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

Special Offers

Full-time students of any age can purchase tickets for $5 on day of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Tickets program, sponsored by Calvin University. Discounts also are available to members of MySymphony360, the Grand Rapids Symphony's organization for young professionals ages 21-35.

Students age 7-18 also are able to attend for free when accompanied by an adult. Free for Kids tickets must be purchased in advance at the GRS Ticket office. Up to two free tickets are available with the purchase of a regular-price adult ticket. Go online for more details.

Symphony Scorecard provides members up to four free tickets for most Grand Rapids Symphony concerts. Members of the community receiving financial assistance from the State of Michigan and members of the U.S. Armed Forces, whether on active or reserve duty or serving in the National Guard, are eligible. Go online for information on signing up with a Symphony Scorecard Partner Agency.