Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

But Clara carried a composer’s talent as well, and despite Schumann’s tytanic shadow she produced many works that have become part of the repertoiries of present-day artists - an extensive series of piano pieces in various genres, chamber instrumental opuses, numerous songs, and cadenzas to piano concerts by ftozart and Beethoven. She started to compose at the age of ten and wrote her CONCERTO FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA opus 7 (dedicated to Ludwig Spohr) when she was thirteen. She probably received some help with the orchestration of the concert from Robert Schumann, who at the time was still a student of Friedrich Wieck. Three years later, the sixteen-year-old pianist herself performed the premiere of her concerto in Leipzig, accompanied by the Gewandhaus Orchestra under the direction of Mendelssohn. This work of such a young musician already shows independent, innovative thinking and inventive virtuosity. The solo piano part she wrote especially for herself gives a clear picture of her talent for performance and the beautiful duet with a solo cello in the second movement - Romanze - reveals her inherent nature of a lyrical composer.