Editing Clara Schumann (section)

=== Performance repertoire ===
During her lifetime, Schumann was an internationally renowned concert pianist.{{sfn|Weingarten|1972|p=96}} Over 1,300 concert programs from her performances throughout Europe between 1831 through 1889 have been preserved.{{sfn|Kopiez|2008|pp=50–73}} She championed the works of her husband and other contemporaries such as Brahms, Chopin and Mendelssohn.{{sfn|Kopiez|2008|pp=50–73}}

[[File:Famous Composers and their Works v2 117.jpg|thumb|alt=Drawing of a woman sitting at an upright piano and a man standing in front of the instrument, looking at her, with his right hand at his chin|Clara and Robert Schumann, illustration from ''Famous Composers and their Works'', 1906]]

The Schumanns were admirers of Chopin, especially of his ''[[Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" (Chopin)|Variations on "Là ci darem la mano"]]'', and she played the piece herself. When she was 14 and her future husband 23, he wrote to her:
{{blockquote|text=Tomorrow precisely at eleven o'clock I will play the adagio from Chopin's Variations and at the same time I shall think of you very intently, exclusively of you. Now my request is that you should do the same, so that we may see and meet each other in spirit.|author=Robert Schumann{{sfn|Jensen|2012|p=79}}}}

In her early years, her repertoire, selected by her father, was showy and in the style common to the time, with works by [[Friedrich Kalkbrenner]], [[Adolf von Henselt]], [[Sigismond Thalberg]], [[Henri Herz]], [[Johann Peter Pixis]], [[Carl Czerny]] and her own compositions. She turned to including compositions by Baroque composers such as [[Domenico Scarlatti]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], but performed especially contemporary music by Chopin, Mendelssohn and her husband, whose music did not attain popularity until the 1850s.{{sfn|Klassen|2011}}

In 1835, she performed her [[Piano Concerto (Clara Schumann)|Piano Concerto in A minor]] with the [[Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra]], conducted by Mendelssohn. On 4 December 1845, she premiered Robert Schumann's [[Piano Concerto (Schumann)|Piano Concerto]] in Dresden.{{sfn|Schwarm|2013}} Following the advice of Brahms she performed Mozart's [[Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mozart)|Piano Concerto in C minor]] at the [[House of Hanover|Hanoverian court]]{{sfn|Nauhaus Images|2019}} and in Leipzig.{{sfn|Avins Book|1997|p=231}}

Along with [[Arabella Goddard]] she was one of the first woman pianists to perform Beethoven's [[Hammerklavier Sonata]] in public, doing so on two occasions before 1856.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://crumey.co.uk/beethoven_8_hammerklavier_sonata.html |title=Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata |website=crumey.co.uk |last=Crumey |first=Andrew |access-date=25 July 2023 |author-link=Andrew Crumey}}</ref> Her busiest years as a performer were between 1856 and 1873, after her husband's death.{{sfn|Kopiez|2008|pp=50–73}} During this period, she experienced success as a performer in Britain, where her 1865 performance of Beethoven's [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)|Piano Concerto in G major]] was met with enormous applause. As a chamber musician, she often gave concerts with violinist Joachim. In her later career, she frequently accompanied [[lied]]er singers in recitals.{{sfn|Kopiez|2008|pp=50–73}}