Mainz Music Lectureship: Dr. Ulrike Kienzle on Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann (1819–1896) was undoubtedly the most important pianist of her time. This lecture describes the life of an unusually strong and courageous woman marked by artistic triumphs and personal tragedies, who found her way in a male-dominated world: as a child prodigy, wife, widow, and mother; as an artist and teacher; as the editor of her husband's works; and as the center of a circle of important figures from the worlds of art, business, nobility, and bourgeoisie in Frankfurt during the Wilhelmine era.
Contemporary accounts, images, and audio examples—including compositions by Clara Schumann, but also rare recordings of her students—paint a vivid picture and invite reflection on the significance of music in people's lives.

Dr. Ulrike Kienzle is a musicologist and literary scholar. She works as an academic author, lecturer, and exhibition curator. She has published numerous works, including on Richard Wagner, Franz Schreker, Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Robert and Clara Schumann. She is the curator of the research project ›Musikstadt Frankfurt‹ (Frankfurt, City of Music), and her two-volume book ›Musikstadt Frankfurt. Facetten aus tausend Jahren Frankfurter Musikgeschichte‹ (Frankfurt, City of Music: Facets from a Thousand Years of Frankfurt Music History) will be published in June 2026. She designed the musical stations and a continuous music track for the Romanticism Museum in Frankfurt. Together with tenor Julian Prégardien, she has led master classes on Franz Schubert's song cycle »Die schöne Müllerin« and on settings of poems by Clemens Brentano.

The event is being held in cooperation with the Mainz University of Music.
Registration is requested: https://musikdozentur-kienzle-schumann.eventbrite.de
Admission is free.

Invitation flyer