Clara and Robert: The Schumann Story

National Gallery

ONE ACTOR and three musicians animate the dramatic story of Robert and Clara Schumann via narrative, songs and piano music in this semi-staged one-hour touring presentation.

The performance was commissioned by Opera Theatre Company to mark the Schumann bicentenary.

The narrative was delivered in brief, intense segments by actor Ingrid Craigie who was elegant, serious and intelligent as Clara Wieck. She traced her journey from concert pianist to widow of one of the 19th century’s great composers.

It’s a very well-documented story, above all in the letters and diaries of its two central characters, who in turn contend with an outraged father vehemently opposed to their marriage, with the conflicting demands of art, income, and family, and with the tragedy of mental illness and untimely death. Schumann spent the last two years of his life in an asylum and was dead at 46.

Interspersed with these narrative episodes were songs and piano pieces by Schumann.

The pieces were carefully selected both to reflect the Schumanns’ story and to provide a representative sampling of the composer’s work.

Mezzo-soprano Imelda Drumm and baritone Julian Hubbard were persuasive, treading a careful path between a more operatic presentation and the recital style that is the songs’ natural milieu.

Pianist David Bremner occupied centre-stage throughout, not called upon to act, yet nonetheless providing something of the presence of the composer. Although too expressively reserved to mine the romantic riches contained in solo piano pieces from the collections Kinderszenen and Carnaval, he was a responsive partner to the singers in emotionally diverse songs including selections from Liederkreis and Dichterliebe.

Director Annilese Miskimmon’s staging is minimal but effective, benefiting from small but significant decisions.

Contrary to the conventions of song recitals, for example, the singers sang from memory, and assumed roles, which had the effect of heightening the sense of close correspondence between art and life. Very much the story of two people and not just one, Opera Theatre Company’s presentation gives an engaging glimpse into the intertwined lives and music of one of the Romantic era’s most important couples.

The tour continues in Castletown House, Kildare, tonight and in the Norman Gallery, Enniscorthy on Sunday.